The summer after college football was invented. I was living in my dads' NorCal basement and contemplating transferring out of Gas Pump U because Cal had accepted my pore academis ass for the Winter semester as a transfer. My dads' neighbor ran the local Coors distributor and he asked me, a twenty year old without a fake ID, if I wanted to work in beer. It seemed like the path of least resistance to kill time until January and it would still be another year until I turned 21.
The job, Tuesdays through Friday the job entailed fixing broken palates of beer. Or essentially pulling out unbroken bottles out from packages where someone had ran a forklift through them. Then repackaging them with other beers that had met the same fate, finding enough of them to make a new case, and then sending them off into the world as if nothing had happened. Sometimes I had gloves to do this. Other times, the forklift drivers stole my gloves and I had to stick my hands into broken glass barehanded. On Mondays when everyone else was off, I washed the entire fleet of delivery semis. There were perks. I learned how to be an unlicensed forklift driver, one of the drivers was the drummer in Zak De La Rocha's high school band and introduced me to new music, and I was usually able to smuggle out enough beer for me and my underaged friends undetected.
But still sometime around Labor Day, I made the decision that life as a gas pumper wouldn't be as bad as this and told that job to piss off.
Worked in a call center for an automotive finance company.
Nothing like talking to people from a script. It is so below anyone with an IQ above 50. Actually called my beard and was in tears on the way home one time. People that are judging you/grading your calls that you wouldn't let water your grass.
Worked the door at Bananas tavern in Fremont. It is a Greek restaurant now. Taking $2-4 dollars per person and all the pissing and moaning for usually $2 drove me nuts. I used to let lots in who said they would pay next time - mostly people like work on the boats like on the Deadliest Catch. Basically guys that could and probably would make my face into pulp. So I let them in. Made more money at the door than they had ever made before which amazed me - just hated dealing with drunks all the time, should have felt sorry for those guys as I was an obnoxious drunk myself. At 2 AM I had to go across the street to the Too High tavern and get the nights receipts then back to the Bananas gather both places take for the night. No body guard, just me strolling around Fremont at 2 AM. Safety first slogan comes to mind. Only once got jumped and knew the guy he was a customer I wouldn't let in - he was so drunk I was able to knock him over and get indoors and lock the door.
Got fired after eating spaghettajuana one night before coming to work. Did not know it at the time, after pigging out was told they replaced oregano with about (this one dates me) a $10 lid of weed. I walked from upper QA across the Aurora Bridge then down to Fremont. I remember crawling quite a ways - traffic and height was kind of scary. Made it to work, can't remember much but after an hour they had to replace me at the door.
OT but I was at some party in Ballard in about 2005. I think it was just more just 5 or 6 of us at 3 am or something. I was never a pothead but I did smoke at the time. I took a hit off some really weird fucking contraption the druggies up there invented. I was on a really bad trip for about 18 hours. They may have laced it with something.I think it took about 30 until it totally wore off. I swore off weed about 9 months later and tried to grow up. Sort of.
It was a one day job. Moving doors into a new condo complex in Seattle. It was one floor, 4th, if I remember correctly. You would be shocked on how many doors are on one floor. Took us all day, plus the fire doors were a bitch, and this was when I was in shape and young full of piss and vinegar. Sucked. Finally, to add insult to injury, there was no water on the site. The water was still "test water" and milky, not drinkable. Double sucked.
I think I spent half the money I made that day on food after I was done.
It was a one day job. Moving doors into a new condo complex in Seattle. It was one floor, 4th, if I remember correctly. You would be shocked on how many doors are on one floor. Took us all day, plus the fire doors were a bitch, and this was when I was in shape and young full of piss and vinegar. Sucked. Finally, to add insult to injury, there was no water on the site. The water was still "test water" and milky, not drinkable. Double sucked.
I think I spent half the money I made that day on food after I was done.
During an internship me and three other interns had to move individual carpet squares to the second floor in a new 90'000 square foot building one day and it was a monster. I can imagine the doors were miserable.
It was a one day job. Moving doors into a new condo complex in Seattle. It was one floor, 4th, if I remember correctly. You would be shocked on how many doors are on one floor. Took us all day, plus the fire doors were a bitch, and this was when I was in shape and young full of piss and vinegar. Sucked. Finally, to add insult to injury, there was no water on the site. The water was still "test water" and milky, not drinkable. Double sucked.
I think I spent half the money I made that day on food after I was done.
I was going to make a "moderator of a hobby board" joke, but DNC beat me to it.
My first job was picking raspberries. Working the fields was the only job you could do before you were 13 or something, so the kids my age lined up to do it. I don't remember what hours I worked other than it starting at some ungodly time in the morning and going until the U-pick opened. Rasperries have got to be the most difficult produce to pick. They're super fragile, so it's hard to be fast. We were all set off with a shallow bucket, and we'd come in and have that bucket weighed and loaded into flats, then back out with another bucket. I was picking for $.27 per pound. Know how many raspberries are in a pound? All of them, that's how many.
I worked ALL summer in the hot ass sun, all that kept me going was visions of that check I was going to get when it was all over. I was planning all of these things I was going to buy (I think a Walkman was top of the list). At the end of the summer, being one of the better pickers there, I was handed a check for $42.
That was the moment I lost all interest in growing up to be a responsible adult and earning an honest living. That day, another fast strategy kid was born (RIP DDY).
My tim moderating Dawgman was *real* but it was not spectacular.
Yeah, but I thank Allah for every shitty job I ever had. Builds character and all that.
Do kids these days have shitty starter jobs? I thought I read somewhere that’s on the decline.
I'm pretty sure they just play fortnite then go to school for gender studies and take out 200k in loans. Then work at Starbucks and protest against capitalism.
Burger King closing shift, The rust colored corduroy pants were auce. Swamp ass nut huggers. Especially after hosing down the fry racks and disassembling the salad bar. Free meal every shift! I guess graduating from BKU was my first degree.
7-11 graveyard shift. All the pop you could drink. Unlimited nachos too.
Spent one summer measuring every street and road in Eugene OR. Also rated the road surface using a system developed at UW. CSB.
Farmhand for my Uncle at the family farm in Kansas for a couple of summers. Let’s see... fixing fence, putting up electric fences, replacing fence posts in limestone, shoveling cow shit out of the barn, driving old pick ups, grain trucks and tractors with no air conditioning and few radio stations, cutting grass, plowing fields, herding cattle various places, bible study every morning, digging out weeds cows won’t eat like musk thistle... and zero girls to look at.
I also did the car counting thing for the dept of transportation of WA through TRAC while at UW. Sitting around counting how many people where in vehicles to measure average occupancy and use of HOV lanes was pretty boring. Having to sit outside in the rain and cold at certain sites sucked. I was doing that when 9/11 went down.
Farmhand for my Uncle at the family farm in Kansas for a couple of summers. Let’s see... fixing fence, putting up electric fences, replacing fence posts in limestone, shoveling cow shit out of the barn, driving old pick ups, grain trucks and tractors with no air conditioning and few radio stations, cutting grass, plowing fields, herding cattle various places, bible study every morning, digging out weeds cows won’t eat like musk thistle... and zero girls to look at.
I also did the car counting thing for the dept of transportation of WA through TRAC while at UW. Sitting around counting how many people where in vehicles to measure average occupancy and use of HOV lanes was pretty boring. Having to sit outside in the rain and cold at certain sites sucked. I was doing that when 9/11 went down.
Comments
The job, Tuesdays through Friday the job entailed fixing broken palates of beer. Or essentially pulling out unbroken bottles out from packages where someone had ran a forklift through them. Then repackaging them with other beers that had met the same fate, finding enough of them to make a new case, and then sending them off into the world as if nothing had happened. Sometimes I had gloves to do this. Other times, the forklift drivers stole my gloves and I had to stick my hands into broken glass barehanded. On Mondays when everyone else was off, I washed the entire fleet of delivery semis. There were perks. I learned how to be an unlicensed forklift driver, one of the drivers was the drummer in Zak De La Rocha's high school band and introduced me to new music, and I was usually able to smuggle out enough beer for me and my underaged friends undetected.
But still sometime around Labor Day, I made the decision that life as a gas pumper wouldn't be as bad as this and told that job to piss off.
Nothing like talking to people from a script. It is so below anyone with an IQ above 50. Actually called my beard and was in tears on the way home one time. People that are judging you/grading your calls that you wouldn't let water your grass.
Taking $2-4 dollars per person and all the pissing and moaning for usually $2 drove me nuts. I used to let lots in who said they would pay next time - mostly people like work on the boats like on the Deadliest Catch. Basically guys that could and probably would make my face into pulp. So I let them in.
Made more money at the door than they had ever made before which amazed me - just hated dealing with drunks all the time, should have felt sorry for those guys as I was an obnoxious drunk myself.
At 2 AM I had to go across the street to the Too High tavern and get the nights receipts then back to the Bananas gather both places take for the night. No body guard, just me strolling around Fremont at 2 AM. Safety first slogan comes to mind. Only once got jumped and knew the guy he was a customer I wouldn't let in - he was so drunk I was able to knock him over and get indoors and lock the door.
Got fired after eating spaghettajuana one night before coming to work. Did not know it at the time, after pigging out was told they replaced oregano with about (this one dates me) a $10 lid of weed. I walked from upper QA across the Aurora Bridge then down to Fremont. I remember crawling quite a ways - traffic and height was kind of scary. Made it to work, can't remember much but after an hour they had to replace me at the door.
I think I spent half the money I made that day on food after I was done.
Do kids these days have shitty starter jobs? I thought I read somewhere that’s on the decline.
7-11 graveyard shift. All the pop you could drink. Unlimited nachos too.
Spent one summer measuring every street and road in Eugene OR. Also rated the road surface using a system developed at UW. CSB.
I also did the car counting thing for the dept of transportation of WA through TRAC while at UW. Sitting around counting how many people where in vehicles to measure average occupancy and use of HOV lanes was pretty boring. Having to sit outside in the rain and cold at certain sites sucked. I was doing that when 9/11 went down.