Wednesday, June 10, 2009

jobs I have held...


In chronological order (I think):


file clerk (at my dad's medical lab and you would not believe some people’s names)


sales/cashier at a hippie novelty store in Chicago (bong anyone? lasted two weeks because I decided to move back to Texas)


lunch hostess at a restaurant (free lunch with the job which only lasted a few months because I needed a better job)


sales/cashier at a department store (surprising what goes on where the shoes are kept - fueled my erotic fantasies for years)


painting canvases for a local artist (copies of his originals that he would touch-up and sell)


sales at a costume store (not actual costumes but all the stuff you would need to make something/anything...favorite haunt of strippers, transsexuals, drag queens, and gay men)


1st grade teacher at a small daycare/school (that was a disaster especially since I wasn’t qualified but I needed a job and my friend who had the job wanted to quit and convinced me to take over the rest of the semester)


sales/stocker/shipper at a bookstore (worst boss ever, mean spirited guy, never satisfied with anything no matter how good a job you did)


cosmetic/facial and body care salesperson (self-employed type - also a disaster since I personally didn't wear make-up or use any products and I had to have 'parties' like the Avon ladies and I didn't have the personality for that)


driver for a medical lab picking up blood and other body goo (also for my father's lab and you didn't want to look in the cooler!)


nude model for life drawing classes (even posed a few times with my newborn daughter)


etched glass artist/studio owner (the one that stuck, this was my career for over 40 years until I retired from that work)


river guide (did this for 10 years during my late 40s and 50s, probably the most fun thing I ever did)


pate de verre cast glass instructor (can’t sell the stuff, guess I’ll teach how to do it)


oh, and full time mom but I didn't get paid for that  


The etched glass/cast glass artist and pate de verre instructor are the only two of those jobs I still do. edit: now retired though I still make the occasional pate de verre sculpture.



14 comments:

  1. A career of careers, eh? That's the checkered past of my work life, too. Variety is the spice ... bravo!

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  2. What a list, rich in the human experience. Now here's the question - where to next?

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  3. Now you've had some interesting jobs - probably make for great stories!

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  4. you have great job experiences! certainly you have learned so much from it.

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  5. An unusual selection for sure. Except for the filing (teen ager) all in my early to mid 20s. Long about 26 I started out with my little studio (you can read the 'becoming a glass artist' tag). I quit the modeling soon after my daughter was born (27). All fringe jobs. I dropped out of college and had no credentials.

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  6. Fascinating, Ellen. I hope you do posts on each one of those stints!

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  7. Thats a great list, with so much variety! I'm intrigued by the river guide, can you tell us more?

    My list is considerably shorter:

    department store
    steward at student union
    actuary

    Though thats excluding the vast amout of voluntary stuff I do!

    p.s. found you on POTD :D

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  8. Wow, Ellen, and I thought MY working past was checkered.

    Please tell us more about what you observed in shoes...

    I came over from David's. A treat.

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  9. I love glass art. Are you a Dale Chihuly fan?

    I came by way of David's blog. Congrats on post of the day nomination.

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  10. What a wide range of jobs. I'm impressed.
    I came over from David's blog...

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  11. Welcome to all my new visitors.

    Chapati...one of my very first posts back in Jaunary...swept away...tells a little about it but I do plan to post some of my trip reports that I used to write up so check back.

    San...lots of touchy feely from a good looking male employee.

    Pouty Lips...yes, I am familiar with his work and do like some of it but there are other glass artists whose work I like a great deal more.

    Willow...like I said above, I wasn't qualified for much more than fringe jobs. Not great money but wealthy in other ways.

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