Thirteen Thursday # 5

Thirteen jobs I've had:

1. Sweeping up hair at Adorn Coiffures. It was one of those hair places that women went into once a week for a wash n' set. Older crowd. I used to empty the little ashtrays that were set into the arms of the drying chairs. Can you imagine? All that ammonia, hair spray and toner smell, mixed with cigarette smoke? Gross.
2. Fryer/cashier at Jack in the Box. Yep. Made $2.85 an hour there, plus a meal allowance of $3.50 if I worked more than four hours in a shift. Red, orange and yellow uniforms. Double-knit polyester. I worked the graveyard shift, 6 pm to 2 am, Thursday through Sunday nights when I was a freshman in college. I wouldn't recommend it.
3. Resident Assistant. The 10th floor, all girls. 6o girls to be exact. I was 20, they were all 18. I got free housing and meals.
4. University Children's Center aide. I adored this job. I never babysat as a teenager, but this was so much fun. I rode my bike to work and was happy to go every day. I almost became a preschool teacher, but the pay sucked.
5. Clerk at 7-Eleven. I couldn't get a real job after getting an English degree, so I worked here and as a...
6. Clerk at a Hallmark store. I had to wear skirts and hose at this one, and it was one of those , "if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean" kinda places. Every time someone bought a card, I'd scurry over to replace it. I broke a lot of things there. Not my fault! Too many knick knacks anyway.
7. Living instructor at St. Vincent's Academy. This was a boarding school for developmentally disabled children and teens. It's not there any more. It was started by Catholic nuns for orphans way back. I worked in one of the group homes with the 14-16 year olds. I was attacked more than once. It wasn't a nice place.
8. Resident instructor, Work Training Programs. I actually lived in a group home with six severely behavior disordered, developmentally disabled adults (try to say that ten times fast). Okay, so I lived in a converted garage apartment that attached to the house by a door. Oh the stories I could tell. The night one of the residents ripped the front door off the house chasing me? Another day.
9. Special Education aide, severely/multiply handicapped class. At one point I thought I'd go into special education. This job was another one I really enjoyed. Not taxing on the brain, and I loved the people. Both my coworkers and the students.
10. Teacher of English as a foreign language. I've talked about this before. Three years at a private girl's school in Japan.
11. Custodian. I did this for two weeks, two hours a day, and made $250. Gross gross work, but good pay. This was in 1991.
12. Apartment Manager. Ew. Don't do this if possible. I mean, Torn has to do it, but his financial security relies on it. My building had 16 apartments in it, all populated by crazies. I was also teaching and working at the winery at the same time. Too much.
13. Beckmen Winery, wine pourer. This job was great, until they hired a bee-otch as a manager. I worked there four years, every Sunday, and always had fun. Very few grouchy people go wine tasting. I learned a lot about wine, and got 50% off the wine there (and most other wine in the Santa Ynez Valley).