This Week's Meaningless Topic (#168)(Nov 24)

[Rodger Pettichord]

Hi all. Over the years, I've been lucky enough to experience a number of different kinds of work. I liked and took pride in them all, and I now enjoy fond memories of them and the people I worked with. My list is -- farm laborer, grounds maintenance crew, factory basic laborer, skilled factory worker, night watchman, university lecturer, university administrator, and parish clergyman. And that leads to this week's topic.

 

THIS WEEK'S MEANINGLESS TOPIC:  What jobs have you held in your lifetime?

Edited November 23, 2023 by Rodger Pettichord

[boetie]

Have always been in the optical trade since arriving in Australia with my family aged 17. Did a four year apprenticeship as an Optical Mechanic ( making, cutting lenses etc). Had a 4 year working holiday in the UK in the early/mid 90's and worked for a Specsavers franchise and loved it. Got back to Oz and completed my diploma in Optical Dispensing. Fast forward to 2008 and I opened my own Specsavers in Oz. Now employ 26 awesome people and love helping people see! Have been very fortunate to be mentored by some amazing people. I digress....

Cheers

Graeme

[BradB]

Ski lift operator back in the 70's in the winter time at Mt. Spokane , and worked the pro shop at Downriver Golf course in the Summer time . From 1978 on until my retirement in 2011 I was a partner in a local wholesale company distributing bakery supplies in Montana , Idaho , Oregon and Washington state .

 

Cheers

John

[Iain Emms]

Apprentice boilermaker in the seventies then grave maintenance early eighties then moved onto house maintenance in the eighties for awhile then I went back into shipbuilding late eighties then in early nineties went into being electicians labourer doing re wiring buildings ect.

Then got a job on security staff in halls of residence in a university college then moved on to a security job for virgin worldwide records then had a break for awhile then was in security at Her Magistrates Courts service for twenty one years until I had to retire two years ago due to health reasons. 

cheers 

Iain 

[John Burgess]

My first paid 'vacation' job was with the Provincial Insurance company in Kendal. My Mum was the receptionist there.

First experience of it's not what you know it's who you know!

 

Next vacation job was making Kendal Mint Cake. I knew the Quiggin family who ran one of the companies so you can guess which brand I would recommend 

Iain at least should know what I'm talking about.

 

After university I spent time doing research with the UK Met Office (mainly based at RAF Cardington).

After that I spent the next 34 years until my retirement teaching Maths and Physics, first of all in Bedford then up here in Perth, Scotland.

 

Not sure if Beta tester counts as a job!

Give me a 100% pay rise and I'll still be getting the same 

 

All the best,

 

John

[Iain Emms]

Sure do John I have eaten loads of Kendal mint cake over the years.

cheers 

Iain 

[gumbypickett]

Ok here goes my long list.

A Florist shop worker for 2 mnths. I hated it so I had to

think of a way to get the sack. What better way than to accidently

chop the heads of some Carnation posies. That did the job plus

Summer was around the corner and I wanted to go swimming with

my mates. My longest time was working in a bottle shop where I then

had to leave because I went blind.(no not blind drunk}.Type 1 diabetes

got the better of me so I had to leave there and then.

 

Any donations to the Gumby foundation will be gratefully excepted.

cheers

Gumby🍺😎

[flyingleaf]

I applied once for a job at a brewery. They said: "Sorry Karl we can't hire you. We'll need some beer left to selland make a profit. Cheers k 

[gumbypickett]

11 hours ago, boetie said:

Have always been in the optical trade since arriving in Australia with my family aged 17. Did a four year apprenticeship as an Optical Mechanic ( making, cutting lenses etc). Had a 4 year working holiday in the UK in the early/mid 90's and worked for a Specsavers franchise and loved it. Got back to Oz and completed my diploma in Optical Dispensing. Fast forward to 2008 and I opened my own Specsavers in Oz. Now employ 26 awesome people and love helping people see! Have been very fortunate to be mentored by some amazing people. I digress....

Cheers

Graeme

Graeme where were you when my

eyeballs needed a good polish?

cheers

Gumby

 

[John Heaton]

I started to answer this yesterday but dropped it because I didn't think that anything I had done was Meaningless

- but after reading all of the above from you lot - Maybe I was wrong

 

Apprentice fitter at 15 - rose in the same company over 18 years to General Manager of a division - joined a rival company

as Managing Director of a large engineering factory - transferred to Australia in 1971 - as MD of an engineering group belonging

to the English parent - Joined another Large English Group as Managing Director of all SE Asia/ Pacific region of a number of 

manufacturing companies. Travelled extensively for the next 11 years around the operations

Fed up with working for someone else - at 45 - I resigned - and bought a hardware business on the South Coast of Victoria for 3 years

- sold that - opened a computer shop -sold that - and moved to Queensland - bought into a block of 30 flats in Noosa - and managed that for 3 years -

sold out in 1989 - and retired for the first time at 53

Joined the Queensland Govt. - to set up a small team of small business consultants to 12 local Councils in the Central West of Queensland

and after it was all working well - retired again in 1995 and haven't worked a day since - just playing at piloting airplanes and Oil Paintings -

and I suppose the latter occupation - could be referred to a Meaningless

Edited November 24, 2023 by John Heaton

[John Burgess]

39 minutes ago, John Heaton said:

I didn't think that anything I had done was Meaningless

 

An impressive list and definitely not meaningless, John.

However to be pedantic, (did I mention I used to be a teacher ), according to Roger's original post it's the topic that's meaningless, not the jobs 

 

All the best,

 

John

[John Heaton]

39 minutes ago, John Burgess said:

 

An impressive list and definitely not meaningless, John.

However to be pedantic, (did I mention I used to be a teacher ), according to Roger's original post it's the topic that's meaningless, not the jobs 

 

All the best,

 

John

Thanks John - 'Sir - for the comment -- I don't think I meant to say meaningless - to the extent that it meant "little" meaning  -

the subject that is - I correctly realised quickly - all be it 24 hours later - that it was not meant as I had at first thought as something 

meaningless - as a waste of time -- and what it might mean  - to others as boasting of one's boring  achievements

My engineering maths were far more useful In all my jobs than the correct use of the Queens English - especially the subject of English 

Language - as will be pretty obvious from this diatribe.

Even my broad Lancashire Accent - didn't help me over the years - soooh in the words of a Lancashhire comedian -

Ahh'll get me coat !!

 

PS love Kendal Cake - especially after beating Kendal at Rugby 😆

[John Burgess]

26 minutes ago, John Heaton said:

PS love Kendal Cake

 

Still carry it with me on the hills - almost pure sugar so ideal for a quick energy boost.

 

When working down the Mint Cake 'mines' they let you eat as much as you wanted knowing full well that after half an hour you wouldn't ever want to touch the stuff again 

 

I spent the first few years of my life living just round the corner from the Kendal Rugby club.

My parents were originally from Lancashire, however, and even after 40 years in Scotland people still let me know I sound 'Northern' 

 

All the best,

 

John

[TuFun]

1. Owned my own lawn service at 11 for two years... $1.00 per yard (1968).
2. Janitor Castle AFB FTD building. Paid for my new 1973 Honda CB350.
3. Drive (1940s Dodge M37) for Delmonte Farms hauling peaches for two years.
4. USAF EGRESS Tech F-105F/G, F-4C/D/E/F/G aircraft.
5. Warehousemen City School District.
6. AAFES gas station attendant (Castle AFB).
7. USAF EGRESS Tech B-52G/H, A-10C, and F-16C/D aircraft.
8. US Treasury Department
9. Painter
10. FedEx Computer Service Tech
11. Target Stores Security until (retired 2018).

 

[gumbypickett]

3 minutes ago, TuFun said:

1. Owned my own lawn service at 11 for two years... $1.00 per yard (1968).
2. Janitor Castle AFB FTD building. Paid for my new 1973 Honda CB350.
3. Drive (1940s Dodge M37) for Delmonte Farms hauling peaches for two years.
4. USAF EGRESS Tech F-105F/G, F-4C/D/E/F/G aircraft.
5. Warehousemen City School District.
6. AAFES gas station attendant (Castle AFB).
7. USAF EGRESS Tech B-52G/H, A-10C, and F-16C/D aircraft.
8. US Treasury Department
9. Painter
10. FedEx Computer Service Tech
11. Target Stores Security until (retired 2018).

 

So you haven't done much then.

cheers

gumby

[wain71]

as a young teenager I used to tow a little push mower around the neighbourhood and cut grass for a few quid...

left school worked fruit & veg in supermarket.....

joined the army for 7 years.....best job.....

tow truck driver......

courier (self employed) with DPD for 21 years.....

now running a small family cleaning business with the wife....(2004- now)

at 58 I am now looking forward to the mortgage finishing and I can work part time somewhere, maybe in 5 or 6 years....

[Stillwater]

One of the most interesting collection of member stories here, since years. There is another thread somewhere with "Forum Member" presentations, I just forgot the exact title, and it has been dormant for many years now.

 

Before I start my little comments, I would like to remind of Terry @teecee Carr. With one of the most exciting stories, starting in York, UK, sometime mowing to mining in West Australia, then worker in a chemical plant in Tasmania, working on YMLT airport, before retiring in Jackson, MS. So sad he passed away some months ago.

 

I just had a 2-month-job in road and warehouse construction, studied Chemistry, worked (still work) in that field in lab, plant management, purchasing, project management, auditing. All this iin Germany and Switzerland. So no much changes, compared to many others here.

[boetie]

Teecee was a very generous community member. I echo your sentiments Gerold

[Ken Q]

Paper route and odd jobs as a kid.  First job after high school was as wood shop counsellor at a summer day camp.  Then two years active duty in the US navy, followed by 19 years of Navy part time as a drilling reservist.  This concluded with a seven month recall to active duty in support of Desert Shield/Storm (Naples, Italy and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). During some of those years I was in graduate school, finally earning the Ph.D.  in 1986.  During grad school I also taught literature, composition and advanced writing courses.

 

In here I also attended four years of seminary.

 

My intention was to get a teaching job at a college or university, but that didn't happen, so I went for my second choice, a career as a museum educator.  I started on that path by enrolling in a Museum Studies program, and soon landed a job at our regional Living History Museum.  In 2011 I retired after 21 years.  Then five years later I went back part time, this time with my wife working beside me (well, next door).

 

The beauty of museum work is it operates on different levels, and one can simultaneously have a profession and a trade.  My profession is a Museum Educator, and currently my trade is a Hatter.  But over the years I've been a farmer, a blacksmith, a cider maker. While it doesn't pay as well as my first choice, it pays well enough and has great fringe benefits.  I've been happy, and have no regrets.

 

Ken

[Iain Emms]

Forgot to add when I was 14 I was walking with my dad in town when he met a man he knew my dad said hello Ron have you got a job on Saturdays for the lad Ron replied yes come down the fruit Market 4am he owed a mini Market and fruit and veg warehouses so there I was every Saturday at 4 am unloading fruit and veg wagons in all kinds of weather until 1 o'clock in the afternoon. 

I never really thanked my Dad enough  for this as Monday till Friday I worked on a milk round getting up at 4 am again and working till 08.30 then in the house quick wash and change of clothes and of to school. 

cheers 

Iain 

 

[gumbypickett]

44 minutes ago, Iain Emms said:

Forgot to add when I was 14 I was walking with my dad in town when he met a man he knew my dad said hello Ron have you got a job on Saturdays for the lad Ron replied yes come down the fruit Market 4am he owed a mini Market and fruit and veg warehouses so there I was every Saturday at 4 am unloading fruit and veg wagons in all kinds of weather until 1 o'clock in the afternoon. 

I never really thanked my Dad enough  for this as Monday till Friday I worked on a milk round getting up at 4 am again and working till 08.30 then in the house quick wash and change of clothes and of to school. 

cheers 

Iain 

 

Iain isn't around 3am over there now?

I think your a man of all hours.🤔

cheers

Gumby

[Ken Q]

2 hours ago, gumbypickett said:

Iain isn't around 3am over there now?

I think your a man of all hours.🤔

cheers

Gumby

Speaking of all hours- I forgot about a job I had shortly after leaving active duty in the Navy (the first time) in 1973.  For several months I worked the graveyard shift.(10:00 PM-6:00AM) tor Jay Printing in Warwick, Rhode Island.  This was not your local print shop, but rather a large factory specializing in retail packaging.  They printed the cards, vacuum molded the blisters, and inserted the product into the resulting package and heat sealed it all up.  This type of packaging is ubiquitous, but I actually worked at doing it.  I did a few different operations, but the most fun and rewarding was setting up the vacuum molding machines.  It wasn't in my job description, but the boss taught me how to do it, and so I did.  I also got to run a fork lift.  Incidentally, the factory was on the east side of T.F.Greene Airport (KPVD)  with runway 5 just a few yards away.  Got to watch planes landing and taking off.

 

Incidentally, one Saturday morning, after having worked these hours all week, I had to take the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) for admission to Grad School.  Off work at 6:00 AM, report to Providence College by 8:30 AM to sit for a three hour exam upon which hung my future.  But I did alright, obviously.

 

Ken

Edited November 25, 2023 by Ken Q

[John Heaton]

5 hours ago, Iain Emms said:

Forgot to add when I was 14 I was walking with my dad in town when he met a man he knew my dad said hello Ron have you got a job on Saturdays for the lad Ron replied yes come down the fruit Market 4am he owed a mini Market and fruit and veg warehouses so there I was every Saturday at 4 am unloading fruit and veg wagons in all kinds of weather until 1 o'clock in the afternoon. 

I never really thanked my Dad enough  for this as Monday till Friday I worked on a milk round getting up at 4 am again and working till 08.30 then in the house quick wash and change of clothes and of to school. 

cheers 

Iain 

 

Iain - you reminded me of something I missed in my resume above - for 3 years - 12/14 I did something almost identical -- working for an old bloke

who had a veggie stall on Leigh Market.

Late Friday went with him in his truck to the wholesale market in Manchester - came back set up the stall - and worked all day on it -  knee

deep in tomatoes and lettuce. On the Thursday before - lit the boiler in his store shed -- boiled and peeled the beetroot and washed  the celery

I hate beetroot

All to pay for my first bike - a Hercules 3 speed gears - I rode most Sundays to Southport and Cheshire -- after doing the Sunday papers.

[adambar]

Usual stuff as a kid, mowing grass, working at the YMCA and going into the bars to purchase beer for all of my under age friends because I was over 6ft tall in junior high school as well as being there body guard. 😁  

Tech school for mechanical drafting.

US Navy 

Built and high speed balanced large turbines and compressors up to 80 thousand pounds to be used in the oil and gas industries for 39yrs.

Retired in 2004, now I'm just sitting around taste testing different brands of craft beers. 😁

 

[boetie]

Retired in 2004, now I'm just sitting around taste testing different brands of craft beers. 😁

 

Best not tell Karl Adam, you'll regret it mate......

[boetie]

What pleases me is to see many mates have retired (my aspiration) and are enjoying life with no demands. It's been great to see all the back catalogue of members' working life, so many interesting stories! Thanks Rodger for discovering our back stories. I'm sure there's more to come?

[BradB]

9 hours ago, boetie said:

What pleases me is to see many mates have retired (my aspiration) and are enjoying life with no demands. It's been great to see all the back catalogue of members' working life, so many interesting stories! Thanks Rodger for discovering our back stories. I'm sure there's more to come?

I nominate Rodger to VIP status ASAP , thanks my friend for everything you do around here . 🙂🙂

[Rodger Pettichord]

49 minutes ago, BradB said:

I nominate Rodger to VIP status ASAP , thanks my friend for everything you do around here . 🙂🙂

Thanks for the kindness, John. What a great group of guys we have here, yes?

[Rob Abernathy]

Y'all are a busy lot!  🙂

 

Seems I've always had a job until being able to retire 12 years ago.

Started out at 10 with neighborhood lawn service, paper boy, then a fast food joint.

Fast forward to a 4 year stint in the US Navy as a photographer.

University for Horticulture '71-75.  Stayed in this field the rest of my working life.  Built a retail nursery from scratch, was the head grower for a wholesale nursery (field and greenhouses), managed a retail nursery for 3 years, had my own business for 3 years and ended up as the head Groundsman for a large school district doing landscaping and maintenance.  Still have lots of garden interests and taught gardening to K-5th grade kids for 6 years.

[Nick Cooper]

22 hours ago, BradB said:

I nominate Rodger to VIP status ASAP

 

Nomination accepted. 

[larryisenor]

During University I worked surveying in the summer. After graduation I ended up working surveying for several engineering companies for about 8 years. I was laid off because of a recession and started working as a courier. I did this for 23 years including about 3 as an air courier where I flew between Calgary and Edmonton every weekday. I also worked in the warehouse loading semi trailers at night. I retired but worked part time as a travel insurance agent. I also did some scenery work for Orbx during this time. Now back to being retired which gives me more time for flight simulation.

Larry

[Rodger Pettichord]

3 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

 

Nomination accepted. 

Nicest thing to happen in years. Thank you, Nick, and all who said yes.😇

[craigeaglefire]

7 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Nomination accepted. 

Good move, Orbx

 

Congratulations, Rodger, for creating this special corner for interesting topics

[wolfko]

Congratulations Mr VIP Rodger.

[Iain Emms]

Yes congratulations Rodger on becoming a VIP well done indeed for all your contributions on the forum.

cheers

Iain

[wain71]

nice one Orbx, congrats Rodger, I really feel you deserve it, I really look forward to these every week, even if I have nothing to say they are always very interesting...

[flyingleaf]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:55 PM, Rodger Pettichord said:

Nicest thing to happen in years. Thank you, Nick, and all who said yes.😇

Well earned and well deserved Rodger. k

[Bluebear]

Indeed, well deserved Rodger, congrats to the VIP status

and thank you for all your interesting contributions on the forum.

 

Cheers

Ulrich

[John York]

No wonder you always look tired out Iain! 4am is ridiculous.  For jobs I worked as a shipping and forwarding agent and earned a duodenal ulcer and the I took a job as Premises Manager for Wella, the world famous supplier of ladies and mens hairdressing products.

 

Oh, and hooray, I've at last been able to get on to this forum again!

 

JohnY

[Iain Emms]

Great to see you back on John. 

cheers 

Iain