Ten on Tuesday: 10 Jobs I've Had

Today my co-workers were talking about what you say in a resignation later. Apparantely, I've had a lot more experience with resignation letters (not sure if that's really worth bragging about though!). So let me tell you about my resume of experiences so far in life.

1. My first job, though dont' tell the government that I didn't pay taxes, was when I was quite young. Not really for sure how old, maybe 10. My Dad had a produce stand and also grew several acres of vegetables. I remember filling the baskets and weighing the tomatoes. I bet my cuteness helped us sell more! But to this day, I think the smell of a tomatoe plant still reminds me of the day we planted like 10,000 of them. Maybe this is why I pretty much don't like any vegetables.


2. When I turned 16, I landed my first "real" job, or should I say a job with a real paycheck. It was at Wal-Mart. I worked in the Fabrics & Craft Department. Back in those days, Wal-Mart closed at 10pm. After closing, we had to make sure all the shelves were pretty before it reopened at 7am. Sam Walton would have been proud. My high school friend, Jennifer's, mom (Dana) was actually my department manager. And in the small world we lived in, the other lady who had worked their forever, Elvira, had 8 kids--1 of which later would be married to Matt's older brother. I learned a lot from Dana and Elvira. I worked at Wal-Mart through college even and really enjoyed it...except I remember how much my feet ached.


3. Probably one of the best jobs I have ever had was in college. I was a Child Development major and they had a program you could sign up for to do babysitting. It's landed me two jobs. The best was when I got to watch baby Lois. She was just 6 weeks old and her totally cool parents trusted ME to keep her when they went to work. I just hung out at their house. Thinking back, Lois was just such a great baby! We went on walks, watched talk shows, played, etc. I just loved her. The family ended up moving to Oklahoma. They were so sweet that before they left, they even had me come stay with them for a few days that summer so we could all say good-bye. It still makes me tear up a little. I kept in touch with them for a long time, but unfortunately, they all have common names and I haven't found them yet on Facebook. But I believe Lois is now 15 or 16 to put it into perspective. After them I went to work for sort of a weirdo family. They were tree huggers who fed their child weird, healthy food I had never heard of. The Dad worked in an office upstairs and the mom was a part-time professor. Oh, so many stories. Examples: I had to take this 2 year old to her mom's office sometimes to breast feed. Gross! I had to drive this little brat around till she fell asleep and then carry her upstairs for her nap, hoping that as I ackwardly got her out the car using all my muscles, that she wouldn't wake up--because if she did, we would drive the mini-van around some more. More? Let's see, they also had a lady come in and cook up meals for them occasionally, and when I left another girl from my college classes came to watch the girl (whose name has left me). Oh, and lots of ackward moments when I took her to the Kangaroo class at the park district for mommy & me like classes. So wanna know the kicker--right before graduation, the other "nanny" told me to look in Time Magazine. I tracked down a copy and discovered that these weirdo's had a big secret--Daddy and his brother had started Netscape, one of the first versions of the internet!


4. For some reason, the rich folks must not have been paying me enough. So I had 3 other random jobs in college. One is quite comical...can we say desperate? I cleaned a house. It was also weird. Again, I think they were two lazy professors. I literally went and filled & emptied the dishwasher, washed and folded laundry (gross!), watered plants (and they had tons), and weekly cleaned the sinks. It was easy and I could go when I wanted. But really, I can't believe I ever did that job!


5. The other random job I had only lasted a few weeks, but I won't forget it. I was a telemarketer for the University's Alumni Association. I was living on campus one summer and my roommates convinced us we should all do this. It was only a few weeks, but let's just say that now understand what it's like to be on the other end of those annoying calls. It was ackward and brutal but a good story.


6. My last job in college started my love with 4-H. I interned at the State 4-H Office, helping the Marketing Director. She was a super hard worker that passionately believed in giving her interns lots of responsibility but lots of control. I try to block out the memories of weeks at the state fair, sweating away. Instead, I think about the time she took me and the other intern to tea at the Governor's Mansion to meet First Lady Ryan. (Whose husband now sits in jail, but still). The summer after my Junior year and Senior yes (yes, I actually have had more than 10 jobs, but let's clumb them together so you won't notice) I was the 4-H Assistant at the Macon County office. There I met one of the coolest bosses ever, Cathy! It's kind of amazing that both of us were able to keep our jobs because we sure had a lot of fun together! Right, Cathy? But unfortunately my plans to work for 4-H forever ended when they changed the criteria my senior year to require you to get a Master's Degree. No thanks!


7. Matt says you are all done reading this by now, but I will pretend that's not true. It's time to say I graduated and I had to really get "real" jobs. My first grown-up job out of college was working at the elementary school where I went K-8 grade. Barb Thiele had faith in me and gave me a start. I headed up a fairly new program, which was providing parent education to kids 0-5 years. She let me do whatever, whenever. I had school hours, with a few nights and weekends (which I thought was rough...should I remind you how many more I work now?). My favorite thing I added was the Itty Bitty Music classes. I can not sign worth crap, but I sang like a fool and played the autoharp like a pro. Those kiddos are now in Junior High but I remember them well. Unfortunately it was a grant and I got freaked out when Blagojevich came in with that big hair threatening for reform. Sadly, Growing Together ended this year due to state budget cuts.


8. And that's when I thought Girl Scouts sounded like a great place to work. I commuted to Springfield for 5 years, then went to Decatur for 1 more. I made lifelong friends and lifelong memories. I would have never guessed that I would work for Girl Scouts in Arkansas, and I definitely would never guess that I would supervise 10 people. It's still scary to me! But as they say, my blood must run green.


9. While in South Carolina, I took a break from GS and went back to my field of infants, doing home visits with children under the age of 3 mainly. I usually had 18 kids that I went to see weekly, who I came to adore (well, some I dreaded let's not lie). Just last week I had one of my kiddos call me on the phone--2.5 years later she had "graduated" from speech therapy. She was one of the first kids I got. I nearly cried when she told me about her new bike, thinking that when I last saw her we were cheering when she just would have labeled the picture of a bike with such a simple word. I keep in touch with 2 or 3 families still, but most don't have internet access so I'll just wonder and pray that they turn out okay.


10. So before I start crying like my sisters, let me tell you about the BEST job I ever had. Dippin' Merv's changed my life! Matt's ice cream store is where I reunited with Matt, where we went in the middle of our first day, where we spent 3 years counting money, cleaning machines, frying fish. I had flexible hours, a fun atmosphere, a great boss, and maybe a few "extra" benefits :)

I wonder what my next 10-15 jobs will be?

Stay tuned for next week's edition when I feature 10 jobs I want to have when I retire!