It seems that lots of folks are listing "jobs" ( and I use the term loosely) that they have been paid for over the years. Mine won't be nearly as interesting as Old Hats or as amusing as Kate's but...it is MY list!!! And here you have, not necessarily in chronological order I made and sold those silly loop hot pads door to door in the neighborhood. I am sure our poor neighbors very soon learned to be very very quiet when I knocked on their door, hoping I would go away. My Dad used to pay me to go out and dig dandelions, we had neighbors who grew the finest crop of dandelions in the county and my Dad refused to allow a single little yellow flower to bloom in our yard!!! I still have vivid memories of him, all dressed for church in his suit, out in the front yard, popping dandelions off at the neck, while he waited for Mom and I to get out to the car. I loved gathering the glass soda pop bottles and putting them in my little red wagon, then wheeling them down to Dormans Drugstore on the corner, just a half block from my folks real estate office, and selling them for three cents apiece. Then I would spend my fortune before I ever made it back out of Mr. Dormans door...lol. My first "real" job was as a file clerk for the Social Security Division at the Federal Building in downtown Kansas City, Mo. The huge floor was filled with row upon row of metal filing cabinets. We would receive request for particular files from other departments and pull them and send them to the place they were needed. And of course refile them when they were done with them. I had been taught by my parents to pride myself on doing my best at whatever I had was doing so I was setting all sorts of land speed records as I pulled files and refiled them. One of my coworkers ( I was working part time, just a summer job and these were adults who worked there full time) pulled me aside and explained to me that I needed to slow down because there were evaluators on the job...keeping track of how much work we did, and they would use that to determine what was the expected output for the next year. I was killing them with the amount of work I was doing. lol Typical "government workers". I worked in a snack bar at a local bowling alley for several years. That was a really interesting job, never two shifts the same, lots of interesting people to interact with and it was my first experience at real responsibility because I was in charge of closing up the snack bar at night. My next job was as a sales clerk at JC Penneys at the shopping center across the highway from our home. I had several interesting experiences, we had a bomb threat during the busy Christmas Shopping season, and then I had to keep a customer busy while the police came to arrest her, she had stolen checks and medicine from an elderly woman she worked for!! I also worked as a sales clerk at a JC Penney store in Monterey,California, when we were stationed there and Pat was going to The Defense Language Institute. It was a much smaller store than the one in Missouri had been and was a much nicer experience too. When we came back from Thailand I was able to spend a lot of years being a stay at home Mom which, although I didn't get monetary pay...was most definitely that most rewarding "job" I have ever had in my life!!! I have always told Pat how grateful I am that his job enabled me to stay at home with the girls and give them all of the love and attention that they deserved. In about 1990, my friend Donna asked me if I would be interested in coming to work for her at Sears. I decided it sounded like a good idea...the money would come in handy and the girls were old enough to do well on their own if they happened to be at home while I was at work. I worked there for the next 9 years, moving from a receiving clerk ( I could write about that for hours...what a challenge THAT was!!! ) to receiving supervisor then I became a replenishment supervisor. In 2000 I started my present job...a clerk in a Pharmacy. I love the job, and I don't miss the pressure, hard physical work and deadlines that I dealt with on a daily basis at Sears. I am starting to look forward to my NEW job...that of "RETIREE"...I am not sure how much longer I am going to continue to work. I guess when I want my free time more than I want the pay check!!!
Following in the idea of my comments about my "job" as a stay at home Mom being so rewarding. I must end by telling you that some of my nonpaying "Jobs" have been the ones that I have loved the most and gotten the most out of. I have been church pianist, Sunday School teacher, Praise and Worship Team leader, and I spent the 3 years that we were in Thailand putting in thousands of hours with Army Community Service. I have many warm memories of the people that I helped there and I hope that I made a difference in a few lives. And there you have it....not a very long list...how many paying jobs have YOU had????? Edit...I almost forgot one job....lol Pat and I were poor as the proverbial church mice when we lived in Hiawatha, Ks and he was a Probation and Parole Officer. We used to spend our weekends, walking the highways, gathering aluminum cans to sell!!! I can't remember ever making a great deal of money out of it but we sure had fun, and exercise and just enjoyed being together!!! Ah the joys of young love!!!!! And Kate...you reminded me of the "Job" that I love and adore the most right now....Kieran's Grandma!!!!! What a joy!!! And soon I will have another little one to love...I can't wait!!! | 
