Tuesday, July 26, 2011

First Jobs

At a confernce recently a group of us got to talking about our first jobs and it turned into a lively topic. My agent, Jenny Bent's first job was at a chicken packing plant. (Poor thing). Kathy Caskie's first job was modeling (but of course, she's tall and Grace Kelly beautiful.) My editor, Lucia Macro's first job was at a summer camp.

My first gig was Six Flags.


I have to admit that it was really fun. Lots of flirting going on behind the scenes at an amusement park and when you're sixteen, being around so many other kids you'll never see again after the summer is over has a liberating effect. Of course that led some kids into trouble. But I was a shy girl, so I didn't have as much fun as most everyone else did. I was the only one in my group who came to work without hickeys.

I worked in an area called La Cantina--food service, mexican food. I went home smelling of grease. My uniform consisted of a really short skirt and peasant blouse. There was an amauesment ride right next to our food booth that was similar to Disney's Small World. The ride played an abrievated song that went: La, La, La Fiesta. All. Day. Long. That was the extent of the tune. We used to fantasize about getting axes and chopping down the singing figures.

I was a closer, so I stayed until eleven o'clock at night. I had to wash dishes which included washing out glass ashtrays. Touching them freaked me out, so I started dropping them on purpose so I wouldn't have to wash them. "Oops!" I'd exclaim as another one crashed to the cement.

On certain nights, after the parks closed, we were allowed to ride the rides. It was spectacular fun. But alas, I was accepted into the license vocational nursing program during that summer and so ended my Six Flags career.

What was your first job?

12 comments:

  1. LOL Sounds like fun! :)

    My first job was as a telemarketer.. UGH! I will never do that again! Enough said... HAHAHAHA

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  2. Oh poor Vanetta! That was rough.

    Lori

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  3. Office temp. I hated it. That's when I discovered I didn't like being "looked through" and invisible. People would just ignore you and walk by, never say "Hi" or "bye." It's like I didn't exist. Any attempts at conversation were met with dead stares. My last temp job I found myself sitting in my car, at the curb, eating my lunch in subzero weather and thinking, "There has to be something better than this."

    J.

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  4. I worked at Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Ga. I loved it. It was my first job and I was there for 3 years. Yes, lots of flirting and fun and you meet so many people (workers and guests). Shoot, I even lost 30 pounds working in 3-didgit-degree weather.

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  5. My first job was picking strawberries and green beans.

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  6. Hmm, Julie, I see a story idea lurking in that post.

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  7. Ouch, Estella, that work is hard on your back. My mama always had a garden but I didn't consider it a job as much as punishment because I didn't get paid.

    Lori

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  8. Heather,

    Amusement park jobs are great first jobs!

    Lori

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  9. My first job was working for a friend of the family in a little store on the beach that sold hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries,pop,ice cream and other assorted sundries... There was usually had a couple of shifts to work each day. You could start working in the store when you were about 13, with lots of supervision of course. We opened at 11am and closed at 6pm. It was a public beach so you would get hundreds of visitors, plus the people who had cottages in and around the Beach area on Georgian Bay in a place called Wasaga Beach..
    Oh the great times we had.. Oh to have those days back again. Care free, earned pocket money for the summer and all the swimming we wanted..

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  10. My first job was at Bible Factory Outlet at the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, TN. I loved it! We were encouraged to borrow the books so we could be more informed for the customers. I borrowed every Christian romance that come through the door.:)

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  11. LOL Lori... I was thinking the same thing when I was writing it. Now to just figure out what the heck it is.

    J.

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  12. My first job was at age 16 at Cunningham's Drug Store behind the soda fountain counter. I worked afternoons and was all alone. I took orders, cooked(burgers,fries,hotdogs, grilled cheese, soups and sandwiches, made the Pharmacists dinner every night and cleaned up the place before I left. I got to make the ice cream sodas, milk shakes and malts as well as in those days we made the cherry cokes and lemon cokes using coke from the fountain and adding the syrup for flavoring. They were the best! Sometimes it was pretty crazy busy and a difficult job for one person to do but I got through it 4 nights a week!

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