ODD JOBS YOU'VE HAD

[NA4BH]

When I was 13, a friend and I started a car wash business. We would come to your home and wash and wax your car in the driveway. Made good money. We pulled our supplies behind our bikes in a Radio Flyer wagon. I progressed on to work at a pool hall, my hours were 6pm to 6am. My interview consisted answering the following question. "If somebody comes in here and puts a gun to your head and demands money, what would you do"? My answer was the stupid heroic one, "I'd jump over the counter and kick their ass". The owner gave me a life lesson that day. "You don't die over my money". Made excellent sense. He went on to tell me that if they wanted a pool table I should not only dismantle the thing, but help them load it. Great job, great boss. After a couple of years I ended up at a 7-11. This lasted for about 3 months, I quit. Funny thing, they got robbed about 3 weeks after I left. Then came the non-odd jobs and here I am. Somewhere scattered in there was a grocery store and a veterinarian. Oh yeah, I was a Fuller Brush salesman for one night. Told them to go fsck themselves.

So what are some of the odd ball jobs you had?

[NQ6U]

Almost all the jobs I've ever had were oddball but let me pick out a few of the weirder ones:

Harvesting pumpkins. Picking apples. Pulling green chain at a plywood mill (lasted one day). STV (Subscription Television) installer/service tech. As a school bus driver, I drove "The Special Bus" (AKA "The Short Bus").

There are probably others but I've purged a lot of them from my memory banks.

[W7XF]

As a school bus driver, I drove "The Special Bus" (AKA "The Short Bus").

As a school student, Da Pope RODE in da short bus.

[n6hcm]

IT Director at an adult film studio.

overnight guy at a convenience store ... so yes, i made the donuts

summer bank teller at chase manhattan (as it was called at the time). we got held up four times in five weeks that first summer.

night guard in the university dorms

[N7YA]

I can no longer hide the oddball job i currently have...you got pics AND video!


Outside of that, here are a couple of odd jobs i've had over the years....

Phone sales (otherwise known as "Asshole who rips off little old ladies").

Political guerrilla marketing pollster (worked for Steve Wynn in an unmarked office calling bible belt voters, pretending to be a political pollster, asking questions that were crafted for the desired answer...get casinos in there!)

Door to door sales (i had to wear a tie and carry the product...childrens toys...in 110 degree heat and was instructed to hit Every. Single. Door! One was a leatherman/bears only gay bar...i made no sale there. One guy just smiled and said "I dont have any children")

Theater janitor, Basic stuff...but i often came home with a silo worth of stale, greasy popcorn.

I spent 9 - 10 hours a day screwing floorboards to joists with this thing that looked like a belt fed machine gun. I actually kind of enjoyed it, i was left alone all day.

Razorback clam digger in rural Alaska. It was hard work. Cold, wet, dirty and definately considered 'roughing it'...but left a lasting impression. Im glad i did that one.

Iditarod checkpoint. I did a couple of years doing that at various checkpoints. It wasnt a pay gig, but again, im glad i did it.

I took calls for my dad's short lived aircraft heating service in Alaska. The old man was never really good at sticking with anything that wasn't the military or labeled Coors, Dewars or porn.

Vacuumed out cars at a car wash.

...also washed lots of dishes, prepped lots of food, worked as a line cook, waited tables, supervisor, trainer...all the restaurant shit. Prepped new homes for sale, repaired old homes and framed houses. Lots of cabinetry and finish carpentry. Drove a tractor. Drove an intertstate delivery truck. Worked in quite a few warehouses and loaded a lot of trucks. All sorts of other boring shit.


basically, the only job i stuck with was musician.

[KG4CGC]

As a child (no child labor laws in the 70s in SC) I was a door to door seed and fruit cake saleskid.

[NQ6U]

I forgot about the time I was paid to guard a hole for three days.

[KG4NEL]

IT Director at an adult film studio.

One of the largest manufacturers of sex toys is ironically next to the county building where we have our ham meetings :D

I've sent them a few resumes, but nothing...

[KG4NEL]

The job wasn't odd, but the oddest product I've ever worked with was when I was the international shipping guy for these guys:



They paid me to go to the Netherlands to open their Euro warehouse, so there's that...

[W7XF]

I can't talk about my teenage years odd jobs.....