I'm a very busy, retail assistant manager. The hours aren't fun, and I end up closing a lot of the nights because I'm a better recoverer than the other assistant manager. (Not to be so modest, but I do work my butt off. It must be the good work ethic I go from my mom and dad) It is nine bucks an hour. But somedays I wonder...Would the grass be a bit greener at another retail place? I wonder if I'd have to lift totes weighing over half my size?
I'm a university student. That's kind of a job right? The last job I had was waitressing for a wedding, and years ago I had a paper round which was not worth the effort or money. I have been volunteering for the past few months at an Oxfam bookshop so I'm hoping to work in a bookshop or library or stationery shop if/when there are vacancies and places want me.
Blargh, all I've ever got is volunteer jobs. At the moment I'm the communications officer at my university's student union, which means, among many things, I edit the magazine, have to go to meetings and stuff to do with running the SU, and do craploads of grunt work along the lines of production line packing of things, manning booths/offices/etc and hefting heavy things all around campus for the greater good. All while doing a degree as well. And writing all those novels. Argh. Nothing pays, but eventually I hope to convert all the experience into money. Here's hoping.
I study full time, but I also work part-time at a bookstore (which contrary to most people's dreams is actually a nightmare of a place to work, except for the fact that you get discounted books), and I also intern at an art gallery...setting up shows, manning the bar during openings, generally being the gallery bitch. But I love it
I'm a Mum with three under 7 - home educate. Have had a variety of part time jobs since getting sick. Before that worked as a museum assistant. At uni did all sorts. Oh and spent time as a computer person doing variety of computer related things
Well, unpaid part-time intern, and part time landscaping/construction/tech aide, but mostly I am a full time bum by some accounts.
I started out as a research electrochemist. Among other things, I was involved in the early research on lithium batteries, before they were commercially viable. I also worked on organic electrolyte fuel cells. When the company started developing a microprocessor based laboratory X-Y recorder, I volunteered to work on the programming for it, and found I had an aptitude for it. I developed the floating point arithmetic package that enabled a whole set of new feature sets, and at that time changed professions to software engineer. I've now been a software engineer for over three decades. At this point, I am looking to a future career of teaching math and science at the college level.
I am an interpreter, but I have had a host of jobs in the past. In order from my very first job: Burger flipper at McDonald's Bag-boy at Publix supermarket Quasi mechanic at Sears Automotive Russian interpreter in the USAF Retail manager after the Air Force (Gap Inc.) Worked at an antiques auction house during uni. Worked at a steak house during uni. Worked for Bassett Furniture for more years than I care to mention. Currently working again as an interpreter.
True, I left out a number of "other jobs" from my younger years: Concession worker at a speedway (high school) Farm hand (3 days, high school - allergies and sunburn had me swollen like a red blowfish) Maintenance worker (plumbing, masonry, electrical, painting) as a summer worker (high school, starting college) Short order fry cook, dishwasher, shift manager (college cafeteria) leather dyer (between college terms) restaurant staffer (between college terms) dairy wholesale order clerk (between college terms) photographer (small side business while I was doing electrochemical research) Some were fairly interesting. The maintenance work was for a low security behavioral facility for teenage boys, where my mother worked as a psychiatric social worker. The kids there worked along with us, so they were learning trades and how to get by in a structured work environment. As a summer worker, I was both learning a trade and mentoring boys, some who were only a couple years younger than me. Of course, they were constantly rebelling in little ways, but only the youngest were what you would call "hard cases", because if they were older with that kind of behavior, they'd be in more secure facilities. The leather dyeing was for a small leather goods boutique owned by a guy from Korea. Most of the workers were Asian, and many of the clientele were what could be called gangsta. But I did learn a bit about leatherworking there. My hands were orange for a couple weeks after I moved on. even though I wore rubber gloves.
Me too, Peerie. My background is in Microbiology and Biochemistry, and I work primarily on patents, though I also handle trademark and copyright work. The patent work is interesting in that it keeps me around scientists and science, which is something I enjoy. I hate law firms, though, and when my youngest graduates high school in a little under three years I'm probably going to switch to teaching. I've been talking to a private school that has a really neat curriculum for kids, and I'd fit in well in their 8-12th grade program. Looking forward to it, and to keeping the patents on the side. In the past: -Had my own law practice for a short while. -Worked as a research scientist for the Department of Energy for a short while. -Graduate research and teaching assistant. -Bartender. -Factory Worker (one of them was a hot dog factory - there's no getting rid of the smell). -Construction Worker. -Tech support for a biotech company -Customer Service -Various jobs at a golf course in high school. Oh, I was also on the Editorial Board of an academic publication for a while, and I'm an editor for a small electronic publication now.
In 5 days I (officially) start my history PhD. Hopefully it will still allow me time to do some fiction writing. I'm going to try to stick to a 9-5 work routine (i.e. fiction writing in evenings and weekends), at least at the start, because I really want my WIP finished by Christmas. My previous jobs have generally been of the office monkey variety. I was a trolley boy at a small supermarket between the ages of 16 and 18 though. Best job I've had so far!
@Steerpike. I really enjoyed Intellectual Property Law at university in fact. I thought it would be dry but it was actually quite interesting. As for the legal world, there are law firms (bad enough) and then there are ambulance chasing law firms... I fall into the latter category. I really don't know how we have the nerve to call ourselves lawyers when most of what we do is push through nefarious whiplash cases as if they were on a factory line. It's really quite soul destroying but I concede it's my own fault for choosing the first traineeship that came my way.
Big law firm politics and attitude is what I don't like. Used to work for an almost 800-attorney firm with offices everywhere. Was a nightmare. The main thing I hate now, at a firm that's a bit smaller, is our rates are so high I can't work with my ideal clients - individual inventors and entrepreneurs. As a consequence, I dedicate a fair amount of my time to helping those groups where I can. The patent process is so expensive that an individual inventor has a hard time coming up with the funds to proceed, and even then doesn't know how to go forward once the patent is in hand. Ah, well...there's always the career change option
Student... that is all. My two preferred fields however would be Journalism or Law. So I'll be doing one of those in uni no doubt.
Jobs I've done include: Hairdresser's assistant at my aunt's salon (All through highschool and part of 6th form) Telesales (6th form - did two weeks and couldn't stand bothering poor old ladies anymore, just to try to con them into time share) Hotel Maid (Last summer before uni) Aaaaaaaaand that's all. I've been applying to work in book shops and supermarkets for ages, but never get anywhere. Hopefully I'll get something after all my applying when uni starts.
I'm a full-time student and an usher at home sports events. In the past I've worked as a concession stand person (middle school), waitress (part of high school), and personal assistant (all of high school).
My work history bounces around, but ends up in the same place, and the way things all unfolded could make for an interesting story. In a nutshell, it goes like this: - started as short order cook at age 16 in a local small town restaurant. Stayed for almost 15 years. I tried a desk job for a couple years, but didn't care for it and went back to the restaurant. At this time, a friend had bought it from the original owners. - He wanted to retire and so sold the place to our head waitress. This didn't seem like a bad idea at the time, but she single handedly brought the business to its knees, driving away both long-time customers and all the old staff (myself included) after only 1 year into her reign of terror. She struggled on for about another year after we all left, but business by this time was literally down by well over 50% - In the meantime, I took a factory job and got on a 3x12 shift. That's when my writing really took a turn for the better. Hated the job, but damn that long weekened was nice. - After a year of this, the villain in my story defaulted on her loan and my friend got stuck right back with the business he wanted out of to begin with. He took over once again as owner and a lot of the old crew (myself included) went back to help him reestablish the place. We succeded far beyond our expectations. Thing was, he still wanted out and felt like he was stuck with it. - Me and another friend-- also a longtime employee-- made an agreement with him to buy it. The deal was made, and now here we are about 6 months in. So far so good.
The restaurant business is a tough one. I hope you can strike all the right balances to make it thrive: tyrant vs pushover, miser vs wild spender, culinary innovation vs stable menu.
Man you aint a kidding. Me and my business partner make a pretty good team though. He's more the strict authority type while I'm pretty laid back and easy-going. Makes for a pretty good balance. The blueprint for what worked in the past seems to be working pretty well so far. As long as we stick the core and don't do anything stupid, we should be alright.
that is a blooming job and a half, at least mine was. I wore holes in every pair of jeans I had, blisters on my hands not to mention the time I would be working my socks off for nothing whilst some construction worker was getting paid handsomely to stand and watch with a JCB whilst I dug the trench with a pickaxe and shovel. Hours of walking. Then the hours with my hands peeling from standing with them in cold water. Eyes hurting from looking at little things. Never been so exhausted in my life Mind you I did also walk about seven miles a day between uni and two jobs, and went swimming. Hmm wonder why I collapsed Then there is wind burn, sun burn and anything else they can throw at you. It has taken years for my hands to recover - gloves were such a pain in the neck for close work
