Sunday, September 5, 2010

Where have you labored?

To commemorate last year's Labor Day, I did a 3 part blog-a-thon detailing the labors of our little bundles of joy...I'm gonna go ahead and not do that again.  But, if you really want to read all the juicy (ewwwww!!!) details, feel free here.

For this Labor Day, I thought it would be swell to share our working backgrounds...where have you actually labored?  As in work...not birthin' them babies.

My first job, I guess you could call it, was working for a mini-golf course haunted house...getting paid under the table, of course.  It was my esteemed pleasure to welcome visitors, advise them not to touch the "monsters" and "ghosts", and make empty promises that the ghouls would not touch them.  It was a horrible job.

Next, I worked at The County Seat...for all you youngsters, it's a now defunct clothing retailer that specialized in matching entire outfits.  I could hook you up with some Levi's, a t-shirt, Henley, flannel and scrunchy in under 10 minutes.  Boom!  That lasted for about a year...

Then, I moved onto Deck The Walls...a custom framing and art store.  I really enjoyed this job at the mall because it did involve (some) skill and culture.  I stayed with this job for about 5 years....

Lastly, I was an Educational Interpreter for Deaf students in public schools.  It sounds cooler than it really was...and yes, I know sign language and no, knowing how to do the alphabet isn't the same thing.  I did this for 6 years until I went into LABOR (ha!) with our Joe.

Since having kids, I dabbled briefly with an office supply distributor where I was able to work from home and a kids' safety program (that gave me nightmares)...other than that, I sit around and eat Bon-Bon's all day while watching my "stories".

What about you?  What's your work history?

7 comments:

Happy said...

I love your flair Rachel! I knew about Deck the Walls, but never knew you were an interpreter for deaf kids or that scrunchy was even still in your vocabulary! The scrunchy totally ruled the 90's and I have no idea why they ever went out of style. And no, I don't have any hidden in the closet.

I held most of my jobs in the glorious automotive industry. A two year stint with a Chevrolet (the heartbeat of America) and then seven years with two different Toyota dealerships. Inbetween I also worked at Lowe's Home Improvement in the plumbing department where my favorite line quickly became, "jiggle the handle."

Christina said...

Okay, Rachel, here you go, and I'm going to give geographic locations just to make it a little more interesting, although this isn't really that exciting at all. Also, I'm skipping internships. No money = does not count as job:

First jobs I got paid for, although not what I would consider "real" jobs -- babysitting, cleaning a neighbor's house, giving flute lessons.

First "real" job (aka, I couldn't walk there and I got an actual paycheck) was at a clothing store in Carrollton, Georgia (where I was living when I was in high school) called Goody's.

Then I was a secretary in a law firm in Birmingham, AL (where I went to college).

Then after my first year of law school I worked at a small firm in Pittsburgh. After my second year of law school I worked at a law firm in New Haven, CT. During my third year of law school I worked part-time at a bridal store selling wedding dresses (The White Orchid on 51). After law school I clerked for a judge in Blair County, PA. Then my current job working as an attorney at Zimmer Kunz in Pittsburgh.

Next job....TBD! :)

Rachel said...

I love it!!! See? I think these are so interesting!

Happy - How did you choose the automotive industry???

Christina-Are you from Georgia or just living there? How'd you choose a college in AL?

Courtney said...

I don't even know if I can remember them all!! Here goes...

In high school:

The Buckle- selling Lucky Jeans, and Doc Martens. All bustforms had to have a minimum of 3 shirts on. Multiple belts was a bonus too. It was comission and I hated every second of pushing people to buy watches and Fat Pharm hoodies.

Red Robin-Hostess and Expeditor. I worked with all my friends, and picked up a little spanish from the kitchen folk. My script when answering the phones was: "Thank you for calling Red Robin, home of the smiling burger. My name is Courtney how may I help you?" You should call and see if they still make them do that....

BMV- issuing drivers licenses and plates. I don't mind menial tasks, and I actually liked taking the photos. I passed the time by trying to guess people's age before they turned in their old ID's. After a while I got quite good. In hindsight I should have concentrated more on stealing the hologram tape. I could have made a killing selling that stuff.

In college I never worked part time, but had 5 internships (unike Christina, I did get paid, so I'm counting them!)
American Eagle- accessory design. Big City, big job. Love it, loved it.

Atrium- a small company that did production for fashion and visual merchandising. Interesting, but a little too business-y for me.

Limited Too- designing shirts, skirts, sweaters. If it had glitter- we made it.

Lion Uniform group- designing uniforms for flight attendants, gas station workers, and park maintenance men. It was exactly as exciting as it sounds. Only a little less.

Genuine Kids by Osh Kosh- infant and toddler girls clothing designer. So cute!

Then on to the main event- visual merchandising for AE. I love every second of it, and I will die there. ;)

Crafty P said...

Hmmm, can I remember them all?

In high school I worked at Lemstone's (a Christian bookstore) in the mall. Ireally liked helping people and listening to all the new music that came into the store.

I babysat for a few families and one of the family's I babsat for hired me to work in their office during the summer- organizing and filing.

Then there were my Arena and Stadium days working concession cashier and suite catering for Penguin, Pirate and Steeler games and concerts. That had it's ups and downs including a boy named Matt that adored me and had more tattoos than I had fingers and toes.

Chicos was an interesting retail experience I had during high school(?) and I commuted downtown to 5th Avenue place by bus or The Carl.

I did some missions work in the city of Pittsburgh for a summer with PYN. I volunteered to be a youth minister at my church during college.

And who could forget my job as a speaker to high school students where I traveled to Mass. and St. Louis and found my husband along the way?!?

My first professional job out of college was teaching first grade at Aquinas in Gibsonia. Best job ever next to being a speaker and discipler during the summer at youth conferences.

Now I hold down an amazing job as mom to 4 little boys, wife to one pretty cool guy and hobbiest extraordinare!

Christina said...

I moved to GA (from CT, before that TX, born in MO....not really from anywhere in particular...and no, no parents in military) right before I started 4th grade and was there through high school. College...Samford (in Birmingham) was the only college I looked at in the south, the rest were back up in PA or New England, but I liked it and went there. (It made sense living in GA at the time, otherwise I'm sure I would've never considered it.)

Anonymous said...

You forgot Andrew Jackson’s Big Block of Cheese with nary a macaroni in sight.