What Was Your Favorite Job?

Did you ever have a job you loved?

You couldn't wait to start and didn't want to quit.
Tell about it.

6/27/2011


Alice..

Before moving here from NYC, I worked for The
Metropolitan Museum Of Art , Special Exhibitions Dept.
We helped set up exhibits, including a sales showroom
which would have copies of art, jewelry, books all for
sale. I saw so many shows when I worked there for two
years, " Tiepolo," " Byzantium , " Corot," " Jewelry from
1930's." It was fun and I met once Lady Astor, she donated
money for the employee Christmas party. She's the only wealthy
lady that I read of who donated hundreds of millions of dollars
to New York City. It was a great place to work, educational and
I loved the Egyptian Wing.....

Cheers..Joe

From 1980 until about 1991, I had one of those jobs. It was especially so between 1983 and 1989 or '90.

I've talked about it before. The program had begun in 1978, and when I got there, many of the early kinks had been straightened out. Several of the original staff members who found they didn't fit had moved on. I was a little put off at first, especially when I noticed the bullet holes in the iron panther on the front exterior wall at the main entrance. That was the day I went to interview for the job. In spite of the look and feel of the neighborhood, I liked the secretary, the principal, and the assistant principal immediately, and as they told me about the program, I grew more and more intrigued. I had never before heard of high school classes being taught in such a way as was being described to me.

I learned that my maximum class size would be fifteen. I also learned that there would be no bells, that my students would know their schedules, and would come and go as they needed, and that while no one would be enrolled for less than an hour, the schedules would be varied, and some students would be arriving and/or leaving every 30 minutes. I would be available to teach each student on an individual basis; I might have students from every grade level, 9-12, and every intelligence level, correlated, regular, advanced, and honors, at any time of day. There were about 400 students in the program, and between 6-8 English teachers who worked staggered eight-hour schedules so that classes were offered from 6AM until 6PM. I worked the 10AM to 6PM schedule for three years between '87 and '89. I think it was my favorite.

The way this worked was that each student had an individualized plan, based on skill level and needs, and they were assigned lessons in written supplements to the textbooks, which were called modules, but bore little resemblance to what I had learned about modules or packets in my education classes. Since nothing was available that met our needs, we wrote the modules ourselves.

Students were issued modules one at a time, and worked on them independently, in the classroom, at round tables of about four to five students each. When a student had mastered the skills in one module, that student simply moved to the next. When a student had mastered all the skills necessary to pass a semester course, that student was given a report card and immediately enrolled in the next class. Sometimes the students needed to change teachers in the middle of a course, so individual records were kept for each student, and moved with that student to his new teacher, who would see to it that the student's plan was always followed. My job was to facilitate their learning and keep them on task. Sounds easy - no lesson plans, but it meant that I had to be able to answer any students question at any time, since no two students were at the same place or even on the same grade or intelligence level, and the questions would range from how to construct a simple sentence to explaining Hamlet's tragic flaw from one moment to the next. And, I had to keep every paper graded on a 24 hour basis. After the first couple of years, I wrote most of the new modules. Most of the teachers hated doing it, and I loved it. I didn't get extra pay for them,but at one point, I had an extra 1/2 hour without students, so I could focus on writing.

We had frequent faculty meetings, and everyone on staff had a voice. Since the staff was small, we got to know each other quite well, and would frequently meet at a restaurant/club in the neighboring school district, so that when it was obvious to the other patrons that we were partying teachers, they would think that we taught in that neighborhood, rather than our own.

The school was so successful that our principal was promoted to the largest high school in the district. It turned out to be as bad for him as for us. He was never able to translate his approach to what was needed for such a large school, and the new guy they sent us never got the hang of how our program worked. I transferred to the new night high school as soon as it opened (in 1995) and taught there until I retired. We did some good stuff at the night school, but the rapport was never quite the same as it had been throughout the 1980's at the first school.

But it was worth it, just having had a job like that one for that long.

Ann

Joe and Ann,

Thank you. Sounds good.

I loved decorating and wallpapering. I did it for love -not money. The best was our daughter's house in England. One vacation I flew over and laid a tile floor.

It was a real undertaking.

Piano player in a striptease club in Washington, DC in 1958. I understand some of the strippers I knew have retired now.

Al Stevens wrote:

Piano player in a striptease club in Washington, DC in 1958. I understand some of the strippers I knew have retired now.

I would think so. 53 years is awhile.

It's hard to name a favorite. Going to work has always been something I looked forward to. It's easier to claim the worst job. It was truly the easiest. I was a purchasing clerk at an aircraft company. It was my job to type one row of numbers on purchase orders that were in a stack on the left side of my typewriter and stack the finished ones on the right side of the typewriter. The typewriter had a blue carbon ribbon that made the air blue with its dust. The special ribbon made it possible to make many copies.

The job started with a punched time card and a "get ready" whistle with whistle breaks and a long one at the end of the day. I was covered in blue ink dust by the end of the day. Men from the upper management levels, from the lowest to higher ups, would wander down to our section of "girls" to flirt with those they sought for their liaisons and for the apartments that were used to entertain foreign guests on tour to purchase large numbers of aircraft.

My typing speed was high, and I received a promotion. I stood at the copy and staple machines where I made copies on colored paper of the stacks of purchase orders and stapled them - red, blue, green and orange - I still remember the colors and order of making the color packages.

The job paid so well that I was trapped by my rent, my corvette and my ski trips. One day I was approached one time too many by a man I knew was married. I was sick of the blue ink, the monotony, the gray building with no windows, the whistles, the time card lines, the traffic at the end of the day from the parking lot (there were 45000 employees) and the constant sexual harassment. My boss said he'd make sure I never got another job (I was a fast worker and brought up his production quota - I was too young to be worn out like many who had been in that job for many years.)

I did find another job - the opposite in environment and the variety of work. I learned many life lessons from that aircraft factory job that have stayed with me.

I haven't had that many jobs, I guess. I tend to stick with the ones I have, sometimes even when they aren't working anymore, out of a sense of loyalty.

My first job -yes, job - was my marriage. that lasted 14 years and produced 3 super people, so I consider it a success.

My second job had two parts: one school district, two campuses -14 years at the first; eight at the second. It would take some time to list the successes that occurred during those 22 years, but they far outnumbered the problems.

Since I retired I have published a non-fiction book that has sold close to a thousand copies, served, sometimes with pay, sometimes without, in the office of the church I was attending, as a part-time receptionist and communications assistant (I edited and produced the Sunday service bulletins, among other things), and spent several years tutoring (and getting paid).

I like to think that I am working as I write, especially when I am making progress on a product that I hope to complete and publish.

It is hard to define jobs and work, it seems.

I have been more happy than unhappy with each of those stages and positions, when I look back.

I did feel most productive during the years I worked at the job I described earlier, but overall, I have generally liked what I was doing often enough to develop a feeling of loyalty and commitment to the places and people and tasks. I think that's worth something - maybe not tangible somethings, but still valuable.

I think that is what it is about - doing something of service to the society you live in and are a part of.

Maybe it isn't about jobs or work. Maybe its about having a calling.

Ann

Ann,

You have described it very well.
At home, when a child, the dishes were my job. I have a dishwasher now.

I ironed shirts in a laundry from age 14 during the school year. The money went on my bill. Shirts now are wash and wear.

I began working summers after my Junior year in High School. That was the Nursing Home job.
My friends were there working and we had fun.
I worked during Christmas vacations there too.
i decided to become a nurse.
After four summers of work there I married. Dave was in the army,
I worked for Sears in Retail. No fun at all.

Took care of a deaf ladies child--fun.

Had my own kids--fun, fun, fun! This job was the most important one to me. I was a perfectionist and worked day and night.

Went to school and got my AA in Accounting. Had three nightmare accounting jobs from 1988-1991.
Had full time accounting job from 1991 until I became unable to work in about 2002.

Best paying job was the last one. it was varied and there were few dull moments.

This app seemed appropriate here:

Quote :

Survival,
security, personal relationships, prestige, self-development-- in my
experience, those are exactly the values that a mythically inspired person
doesn't live for.


Pathways
to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation

Ann

Thanks, Ann!

How true.

I'm enjoying reading the variety of experiences.
I think the work (not job) I especially liked was teaching at sales/motivational seminars. When someone comes up to you 20 years later and tell you that you made a difference in their life (in a positive way) that is rewarding.
I think there are many teachers, like Ann, who know they made a difference in someone's life. Money can't buy that.