I have been working since before it was legal for me to do so – my first real job, as a tiny 14-year-old, was stripping and refinishing furniture for $3.50 an hour under the table. I can still remember riding home from work on the bus, coated from shin to chin with noxious goo — paint stripper mixed with paint and varnish and who knows what else. It set a good precedent for me; nearly every job since has seemed pleasant and easy by comparison.
Here is a partial list of the jobs I’ve performed since that first one in 1986:
- furniture restoration (refinishing, etc.)
- fast food: every station (x2)
- dressing room attendant
- dishwasher
- cash register operator (x7)
- temp work:
- proofreader
- furniture mover
- assembly line worker
- general labor
- data entry
- software training
- laundromat attendant
- convenience store clerk
- front desk clerk for housing complex
- copy shop clerk/operator
- night-shift janitor
- water & fire damage cleanup guy
- painter (buildings, not paintings)
- telephone book deliverer
- food delivery driver
- print shop delivery driver
- taxi driver
- airport shuttle driver
- dispatcher/office worker
- telemarketer (just for one day, I swear)
- Rainbow cleaning machine (i.e., vacuum cleaner) salesman
- online forum administrator
- entrepreneur/CEO
- newspaper delivery
- newspaper subscription sales
- wine grape picking
- landscape install laborer/rock worker
- book editor/proofreader
- computer tech support
- PR writing
- business writing
- newsletter production (w/ writing and editing)
- XML Accessible Media Developer
- website design
- website design training