What have you done?

[Jeff V]

Whenever this thread pops up as the top thread I read it as an accusation. I'm sorry for whatever I did!!!

Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads starts playing in my brain when I see it.

[stessier]

Nah, it's good to know that there are exceptions to my rules. And I think engineers, doctors, lawyers, administrators, etc. tend to have a better idea higher sunk costs than liberal arts majors.

As an engineer, I'd say I have the same sunk costs as liberal arts (MS was fully covered and I got a stipend), but I've never done any chemical engineering. There aren't a lot of jobs that specifically do that, but there are a lot that use the same concepts we learned (statistics and problem solving). Not that I knew that while I was in school. I just knew that I liked math, liked chemistry, and chemical engineering jobs paid better right out of school than pure chemistry jobs did. I didn't know if I'd like those jobs or even what those jobs entailed. (Looking back, I likely would have hated the day to day work had I ever done the hard core chem eng stuff.) When you pick the major, they don't tell you about being on call 24/7 or being in the middle of nowhere working on a pipeline.

[YellowKing]

I did forget one, but it also had a great lesson so I'll share.

Was working cleaning a spa/gym after hours. It was nasty work hosing down saunas and cleaning toilets, but on the bright side we got paid for a set amount of hours regardless of how long it actually took us. So we had incentives to work hard, work fast, and go home early.

At the time I was this scrawny introverted nerd (same as today, except for the scrawny part). My partner on the job was a tattooed, facial pierced punk chick and her record store working tattooed jock type boyfriend. You could not have placed with me a more oppositely aligned set of co-workers.

Yet over the few months I worked there, we all grew really close. We talked about music and how much our jobs and school sucked. We caught employees jumping in the pool naked after hours. We had to call the police when a homeless man broke in to take a shower. We played practical jokes on each other. All these little adventures grew into this shared history.

I remember the last day on the job. The owner of the cleaning company was moving to a new city, and this would be our last night at the spa. We had finished up and were just hanging out talking before we left. The boyfriend said, "You know, if not for this job we would have never talked to you, and you would have never talked to us. And we would have never known how cool you were." And his girlfriend started crying and gave me a big hug.

I've never forgotten that, and often when I catch myself pre-judging someone from their appearances I think of that guy. I don't even remember their names now, but that conversation had a profound effect on me. It was one of those rare shared epiphanies where the curtain was pulled back and we all realized how we artificially divide each other by appearances and in so doing, miss out on a lot of life.

[Tao]

When I saw the thread title I immediately started humming "I will be light", this song is often stuck in my head, although I had no expectation there would be any correlation.

You've got one tiny moment in time
For life to shine, to shine
To burn away the darkness

[LordMortis]

Whenever this thread pops up as the top thread I read it as an accusation. I'm sorry for whatever I did!!!

Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads starts playing in my brain when I see it.

At first I hear an accusation but then I just hear the interrogative pleas of John Lennon.

[gbasden]

High School:
McDonalds
Busboy at steak house

College:
AV Tech
IT tech for computer labs
Library assistant
Pizza Delivery

Post college:
Substitute teacher
Flight Instructor - Helicopters
IT at multiple corporations
Technical Account Manager

[Moliere]

At a local fast food chain:
Started by mopping floors,
then washing lettuce,
bumped up to Fry cook,
promoted to the grill.
Pretty soon I expect to make assistant manager with the big bucks!

[Madmarcus]

College work
Library shelving
Truck farm laborer (summers)
Civilian research intern @ Wright Patterson AFB

Post undergrad
Grad assistant (both teaching and research type)

Real job
HS science teacher in one suburban county

You guys change jobs way too often!

[Skinypupy]

You guys change jobs way too often!

I've only worked at 2(.5) companies since graduating college. One job for 10 years (the .5 being a part time gig at night) and my current job for going on 15. I switched roles a number of times within each company though.

[Kraken]

I mentioned having had more cashiering jobs than I can remember. One that I do remember came while I was on an unpaid leave after having quit being the manager of a B. Dalton in Horseheads NY and moved to Albany in anticipation of a new store opening there. I took a job running a cash register at a Damart underwear outlet. Damart was a hot brand that used some wonder fiber to attain unheard-of warmth in a light fabric. This was their first store and it got a lot of attention. We're talking prestige underwear.

The job was about as interesting as you would expect selling underwear to be until the day a Hell's Angel came in and quizzed me about our semi-magical long johns. I gave him the company line (because what the hell do I know about underwear?) and he outfitted himself. Then he grabbed me by the collar and said "This shit had better keep me warm or I'm coming back, and you're gonna be dead before you hit the floor."

I looked him in the eye and said in a blase voice "Oh, I'm scared. See my hand trembling?" and held out a steady hand. That satisfied him. As soon as he left, I was outta there. Not gonna die for underwear.

That wasn't my worst job ever, but that moment might have been a lifetime low.

[ImLawBoy]

You guys change jobs way too often!

I've only worked at 2(.5) companies since graduating college. One job for 10 years (the .5 being a part time gig at night) and my current job for going on 15. I switched roles a number of times within each company though.

I'm at 20 years with the same company (Ameritech => SBC => AT&T, but it's all the same) since graduating law school.

[msteelers]

I do have a degree in Radio and TV Broadcasting. Never used.

Smart man!

This is largely everything, minus an odd job here or there.

High School
Food Runner
Odd jobs at step-fathers machine shop

College
Sold alpaca furs
Barista
Promotions with Clearchannel Radio
Server

Post College
Server
Textbook Editor
Radio Sales
Radio Broadcaster
Sound Engineer with New York Mets
CNC Machinist
Wedding DJ
Bar Trivia Host

I needed a job after my freshman year in college and saw an ad in the paper for a sales job. I called and scheduled an interview, not knowing what I would be selling. When I walked in and saw alpaca furs, I actually turned around to leave. That's when the store manager saw me. The interview happened, he offered me a job on the spot, and I took it. Worst job ever. I would go entire shifts without a single person coming into the store. I left that job when a friend's cousin opened a coffee shop. He would import the beans from all over the world and roast them himself. I found out that I don't really care for the expensive Jamaican Blue Mountain or Hawaiian Kona. I liked the darker blends like Australian and Sumatran. Ethiopian was good too.

Left college with a degree in Radio/TV Broadcasting and promptly went to work writing math books. Spent a couple of years doing that. Went through a breakup and decided it was time to make a push to get into radio, which is what I had always wanted to do. Moved back in with parents (because radio jobs don't pay well) and got my foot in the door with a locally owned AM radio station. Started out doing sales and sports play-by-play for the high school games. Within a few years I was the morning show host. All of the other stuff after broadcaster are things I do to help supplement my income. Mornings at the radio station. Afternoons at the machine shop. Evenings with the Mets or at a trivia event. Weekends as a wedding DJ.

[mori]

Dairy farmer, hog farmer, shepherd, cowboy
Dishwasher
Drone and loss prevention at a big box store
Janitor
Plastic injection press operator
Liquor store stocker/cashier
Automobile race team crew member eventually crew chief
Barn roofer and demolishing
Bartender
Aircraft mechanic
Brewery ambassador *edit (a volunteer as I get paid in beer)*
Now if I could just make a living drinking beer.

[Matrix]

Hmmm,
HS:
Pizza making and delivery
Selling knifes

College:
Selling Knifes (almost door to door)
Selling legal insurance for multilevel level marketing (this gave me clear perspective, that it is total bs) .
Working for college trying to get donations
Catering
Teaching SAT prep class for HS

After College:
Teaching martial arts
Worked for paper company, sold paper products
Started Dating biz full time
Wrote and sold dating book
Doing seo part time
launching a number of project sites
One hit big in management (slowly whittled where realized there was no proper market and i didn't like the field)
wrote a book in management and sold through my site
Trying to launch dating start up (This project failed hard)
Started digital agency
Moved to digital strategy full time
Was offered to be professor for grad class in digital marketing (due to time constrains had to turn it down, but otherwise could have had that too)
launched media / news site
launched ecommerce store
moved from digital marketing space to more block/chain/crypto space full time
This latest saga still continues

I am sure i am missing some elements, but that should mostly cover it.

[EvilHomer3k]

Walking beans

Huh, I guess this term is only used for soybeans? I did this when I was small on my grandfathers farm but it was for snap peas, green beans or other beans. He didn't call it walking beans just simply hoeing weeds.

That's what we called it. It wasn't something we did a for an hour or two. It was 8-12 hours a day (same for detassling) of weeding 20 acres of soybeans. At least you had a hoe and didn't have to pull the weeds by hand.
Corn was worse because it's tall, you had to reach up to get the tassel, and the corn cuts your arms up (think tiny paper cuts) when it's dry. When it's wet your clothes get soaked but you are still sweating because it's already 85+ degrees and every single leaf has water on it. The corn blocks every bit of wind and makes it feel 10 degrees warmer than a typical July day. I'd take making pizzas in a 600 degree oven any day over that. It was easily the worst job I've ever had. It paid minimum wage, too.

[mori]

Castrating, branding, and dehorning cattle was by far my worst job. Each animal gets more terrified than the last. And each one of them has the ability to fuck you up. I have come out of bar fights less fucked up after many of those encounters. Of all my agriculture endeavors, this is not one I would want to go down again. And I have been down the slaughter plant line. That is humane in comparison.

[Rip]

Castrating, branding, and dehorning cattle was by far my worst job. Each animal gets more terrified than the last. And each one of them has the ability to fuck you up. I have come out of bar fights less fucked up after many of those encounters. Of all my agriculture endeavors, this is not one I would want to go down again. And I have been down the slaughter plant line. That is humane in comparison.

Have you tried castrating and ringing hogs? Pretty fun as well.

As far as cattle yea, been pretty messed up by them just from putting milkers on them. They can kick your socks off, or just throw their weight into you you make the mistake of getting between them and pretty much any solid object.

[paulbaxter]

I remember trying this for myself a year or two ago. It's just hard to remember all the different paid work I've done, but I'll give it a shot.

1. Paper boy (Westland Eagle)
2. Taco Bell
3. Summer musician/dishwasher
4. Dining hall janitor
5. College tour guide (maybe my favorite of all the jobs)
6. Summer musician/snack shop manager
7. Admissions office aid (stuffing and addressing envelopes)
8. Linen laundry factory worker
9. Summer musician/kitchen salad prep guy
10. McDonalds
11. Sold life insurance
12. Deli clerk at Meijer
13. Landscaping
14. Cleaning/janitorial business
15. Occasional paid music gigs
16. Piano tuner
17. Piano sales
18. ESL tutor
19. Test rater for the TOEFL
20. Actor (only one paying gig, but I'm counting it)
21. OR nurse
22. Triage nurse

[storz]

Pre-College
Food Prep
Busboy/Waiter
Barista

College
Math tutor
USAF active duty / biomedical equipment repair technician
part time BMET for hospital while going through rest of college on GI bill (best time ever)

Post-College
Clinical System engineer/project manager - mostly dealing with medical devices integration for the hospital/region

[Lassr]

Walking beans

Huh, I guess this term is only used for soybeans? I did this when I was small on my grandfathers farm but it was for snap peas, green beans or other beans. He didn't call it walking beans just simply hoeing weeds.

That's what we called it. It wasn't something we did a for an hour or two. It was 8-12 hours a day (same for detassling) of weeding 20 acres of soybeans. At least you had a hoe and didn't have to pull the weeds by hand.
Corn was worse because it's tall, you had to reach up to get the tassel, and the corn cuts your arms up (think tiny paper cuts) when it's dry. When it's wet your clothes get soaked but you are still sweating because it's already 85+ degrees and every single leaf has water on it. The corn blocks every bit of wind and makes it feel 10 degrees warmer than a typical July day. I'd take making pizzas in a 600 degree oven any day over that. It was easily the worst job I've ever had. It paid minimum wage, too.

Never detassled but did pick it then shuck it. I hated it, as you said, small cuts from the leaves all over your arms and the shucking was just a pain trying to remove all the hairs.

[Bakhtosh]

Hung pizza coupons on doors one summer
Night-shift & closing at a donut store.
Order picker at a pharmaceutical warehouse for 2 summers
Worked at a community center for a year
Intern programmer at a major cellular carrier

- Post Degree (Computer Engineering) -
Computer Engineer at a big data processing company (we had 500 billion credit applications on file and could do scary things with your data)
Design Analyst at a Generation & Transmission electric utility (12 years)
-Promoted to Engineer after passing my Fundamentals of Engineering exam (4 years and going)