Sometimes the best antidote for a crappy job is a joke!
I’ve had no fewer than 18 jobs in my lifetime – and I’m only in my 30s! I’ve earned money as a babysitter, garden-waterer, dog sitter, cat sitter, lawyer’s assistant, restaurant milk shake maker, research assistant, sales associate, restaurant reviewer, music critic, music writer, musician, reporter, columnist, blogger, freelance writer, event organizer, and social media consultant. One of these jobs I abhorred. Two of them I loved.
What are the best and the worst jobs you’ve had?
Best Job – Tie between working as a reporter and as a blogger. My reporter’s badge was a passport into other people’s lives. It still amazes me that I could knock on a stranger’s door, tell them my name and what newspaper I worked for, and they would invite me into their living room. Ten minutes later, I knew things about them that their children didn’t know.
As a reporter, I stepped into immaculate, sprawling homes, and I spent time in homes where people slept on bare mattresses. I talked to people who were famous for 15 minutes, and to mothers whose children had just been killed. I contributed to stories that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage, and I wrote an obituary about a woman who loved to read. I was sent to Tennessee with a few hours notice to track down a grieving mother accused of murdering her severely disabled daughter. And I wrote about more airplane and motorcycle crashes than I care to remember.
My job as a blogger has been just as challenging and exciting. I discovered my true writing voice and I learned to set my own work schedule. I’ve managed a team of writers, and developed business skills to ensure a paycheck. After being in charge for so long, it’s hard to imagine NOT working for myself.
Worst Job – I walked into my new boss’s office on my first day of being a lawyer’s assistant and got a welcome speech that almost made me quit. My boss the lawyer told me flat out, “I don’t do this job because I like it. I do it because it gives my family a comfortable life.”
How cruel! To spend eight hours a day – or more – at a job you hated?! And yet, this lawyer knew that and he continued to practice law. He made it clear that making a lot of money was more important than pursuing a satisfying career. I was mystified.
I resolved to do work that I enjoyed. Forty hours a week was too much of my life to waste on something I hated.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
worst hands down: ___ in the Box, fast food from 11-7am, rude and obnoxious customers during those hours. Lasted 2 months.
best: tie between NBC (in Beautiful downtown Burbank) and Taco Bell (across the street from Warner Bros. studios) Great bosses, job variety, and wonderful (fun) co-workers.
@Di I can only imagine how grumpy or out of it ___ in the Box customers were from 11pm-7am. The night shift is never fun!
Surprised to hear that Taco Bell ties for your best job! I’ve always imagined working at any fast food joint would be greasy, smelly, and low pay. But I guess having a great boss and fun coworkers makes a huge difference!
we were right across from Warner Bros, down the street from Universal/NBC/etc. lot so stars and the customers were always cool. It made a big difference,
Best job: Working in the purchasing department of a college. Learned so many valuable skills!
Worst job: Tie….working in the purchasing department of a college with a woman who clearly thought she was my boss when she wasn’t….being an administrative assistant to a woman who told me that my work had to come before my family. Didn’t last long in that position.
@Evie K. Ha! Isn’t it funny how the best and worst jobs can be one in the same? As with Di, coworkers and your boss can make or break a job. I had a FANTASTIC boss at my last newspaper. I went into her office about 1-2 times a week when I needed help, and only one time in the 2.5 years I worked there did she ever say she was busy. Amazing!
@di and Evie K. ~ What do you do now?
work in a library, and I love my customers
I have been fortunate to have only two professions, both of which I enjoyed immensely. I’m still working in the second. As a kid, I only wanted to be a teacher. I played “teacher” as a child; my stuffed animals were my students. I taught junior high for 20 years, 99.9% of them at the same school. I even student-taught there. Loved it except for correcting papers at home almost nightly and no A/C in my room. That was in the late 60s to late 80s.
I am now a legal assistant. For the first time in my life, I had some “job-hopping” experience in my early days and had to create a resume. My “job-hopping” honed me for my present position with an attorney who is the opposite of BB’s. Had I landed with him earlier, I would not have been able to handle the position. He is a sole practitioner, and I am assistant, secretary, office manager, etc. As it has worked out, I now live less than a mile from the office and on nice days I walk through a beautiful park to go to work.
@Diane Did you teach a specific subject? I had multiple teachers by subject in junior high school. And why did you switch careers? Burnt out? Laid off? Different salary/benefit needs?
I’m glad you enjoy your current position. I truly believe enjoying your job is essential to being a happy person. Walking to work sounds amazing! (Perhaps second only to being able to wear your pjs to work…at home). I’m guessing part of what keeps you happy is the responsibility and variety of tasks/challenges you come across. Am I right?
@BB ~ I taught English and health. I suspect you went to LAUSD schools and had six teachers for six subjects. I had thought I would die with chalk dust under my fingernails. 🙂 However, there were several factors, professional and personal, that converged, and I resigned–with no regrets. I’d had a great ride and was then fortunate to find a satisfying second profession. I agree with you that if we work, it is essential to enjoy what we do. That we spend so many hours of our life doing our jobs is but one reason. How awful if that time was not well spent. And, yes, you are correct about what I like about my work plus it fits nicely with my abilities.
When I wrote that on nice days I walk through a beautiful park, I was referring to Warner Center park. I believe your footprints might be found deep within the soil. 🙂 The DN is just down the street from where I live.
@Diane I didn’t go to LAUSD but I did attend a large public school system in Northern California.
While at the LADN, I liked to take my lunch to Warner Park and eat in the shade. Such a quiet, underused park. I also ran around the park after work when I was on a running kick. (I’m into swimming these days.)
@BB ~ Now I remember you originally hailed from the east coast, so I cancel my comment about your attending an LA secondary school.
@Diane Nope, I attended college on the East Coast, but I grew up in Northern California.
@BB ~ How long did you stay at your worst job?
@Diane I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was not longer than six months. When the school year ended, I took another job.
@BB ~ From your description of the attorney, that’s longer than I was guessing. Sounds like it was a part-time job since you mentioned the school year.
@Diane…I no longer work. Unfortunately, I am on permanent disability.
Best job Hands Down- Midwife- I meet and care for women in perhaps their most vulnerable moments, support them through labor and birth, catch their babies and place them on their bellies.
2nd best job-peace corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa
after much thought, i can’t think of a job I didn’t like. bagging leaves for 5 cents a bag in elementary school was actually a lot of fun.
@Aicha I bet it didn’t seem fun at the time! Oh, the things we would do for a nickel.
@ Aicha ~ Now that’s a profession we don’t hear about a lot (and timely for the Mother’s Day weekend). I enjoyed your description. How long have you been a midwife? Obviously, you have to be well-trained, but how do you protect yourself from a lawsuit if something goes wrong? Do you carry medical malpractice insurance or something like it?