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cellboy1. During my adolescent years, my first job, was as most kids of my generation was Lawn mowing. I for 2-5 bucks would mow peoples lawns, weed. The usual.
2. Baby sitting. Mostly for the neighbors across the street. They $1/hr. 2 kids. One of them a baby. And yes. I changed diapers. The old fashioned way. With cloth and safety pins.
3. As I noted in past posts, I would set the clock an hour or so ahead to get the kids to bed earlier, so I could watch Star Trek. Kids never caught on :).
4. I also painted houses in the neighborhood. Some interior and some exterior jobs.
5. Then in my freshman year in High School, I got an after school job at a recreational center in Atherton. Mostly setting up for meetings, parties, weddings. This also involved cleaning after meetings, parties, and weddings. I actually did not mind it. It paid OK. I bought my first car quite quickly (Austin Healy Sprite), and later a Toyota Corona.
6. Then in my senior year of High School, through the first year of University, I landed a great summer job, though a neighbor friend, at the Del Monte Pickle Plant in San Jose. The plant had been in operation since 1900. And I don't think the building had changed since. Jobs included, monitoring the jars on the conveyor tracks (like Lavern and Shirley (lol)), stacking the heavy boxes filled with of pickle jars onto the pallets, which were then delivered to the stores. 8-10 hours of lifting boxes? Now I know why my back is always sore.
But the most tedious job, was the dreaded vat. A huge wooden barrel, 2 of them, side by side, at a height of about 60 feet, and width of 15 feet or more. We had to stand on cat walks next to the vat, with large nets attached to poles, and scoop out the cucumbers, that had been boiling in brine water for days. These nets full would weight 50 lbs or more. Once scooped, we had to turn to our left or right, and dump the cucumbers onto the conveyor belt behind us. So after 8-10 hrs of doing this, your back and arms are just spent. And your gloves? They needed changing constantly. The brine would eat right through them. And if you fell in (apparently one guy that was drunk did), the brine stings like murder.
The worst chore was watching the jars on the conveyor. 8-10hrs of watching jars go by you is not only boring, but hypnotizing.
The physical labor, was still the best aspect of work. You were sore everyday, but at least the days went by fast. The best chore, was to go out into the fields of San Jose (now dot com commercial parks), and top off the wooden barrels with brine. Del Monte at the time had coopers, men that made the barrels, like wine barrels. Those barrels made it to the fields to where the cucumbers were stored in the hot sun, and topped off daily, with brine. We would be there all day, in the hot sun, taking the cork off each barrel (there were thousands of them), being sure they were topped off. Unfortunately, the idea of Fresh Pack evolved (the cucumbers pickling themselves in a jar), to compete in production numbers with the other makers. The coopering trade died. The "new brand" pickles, to me, were just not as good. Eventually the cannery died, closed, and land sold for housing development. Sometime old things just should not be tinkered with... and old trades, and things that the makers make revered.
http://www.historysanjose.org/cannerylife/index.html
The only bad thing about this were the hours. One day your in at 7am out at 6pm. Then the next morning you get a 1 am call to be there at 3am (new shipment of cucumbers have arrived!). But the pay was incredible. I think with overtime and all, it was about $20/hr. And that was in the mid 70's. This covered a lot of college expenses.
7. Then Real Estate. In the early 80's I sold Real Estate. Had good and bad yrs (3-4 rescission's). And during one bad recession, I ended up working part time at Nordstrom. Men's furnishings.
8. Two things learned from that.
a. I will never ever work for commissions again
b. I will never work in Retail, or at least Men's Furnishings again. The pay was great, but to this day, I never leave clothes in a dressing room. I used to clean those rooms up; fold and re-pin the shirts. Not a fun job. And I feel for anyone that has to do it
9. Property Management. That is now. Paperwork, leases, cleaning, negotiation, settling disputes, reports, surveys,....
10. I'm tired
2. Baby sitting. Mostly for the neighbors across the street. They $1/hr. 2 kids. One of them a baby. And yes. I changed diapers. The old fashioned way. With cloth and safety pins.
3. As I noted in past posts, I would set the clock an hour or so ahead to get the kids to bed earlier, so I could watch Star Trek. Kids never caught on :).
4. I also painted houses in the neighborhood. Some interior and some exterior jobs.
5. Then in my freshman year in High School, I got an after school job at a recreational center in Atherton. Mostly setting up for meetings, parties, weddings. This also involved cleaning after meetings, parties, and weddings. I actually did not mind it. It paid OK. I bought my first car quite quickly (Austin Healy Sprite), and later a Toyota Corona.
6. Then in my senior year of High School, through the first year of University, I landed a great summer job, though a neighbor friend, at the Del Monte Pickle Plant in San Jose. The plant had been in operation since 1900. And I don't think the building had changed since. Jobs included, monitoring the jars on the conveyor tracks (like Lavern and Shirley (lol)), stacking the heavy boxes filled with of pickle jars onto the pallets, which were then delivered to the stores. 8-10 hours of lifting boxes? Now I know why my back is always sore.
But the most tedious job, was the dreaded vat. A huge wooden barrel, 2 of them, side by side, at a height of about 60 feet, and width of 15 feet or more. We had to stand on cat walks next to the vat, with large nets attached to poles, and scoop out the cucumbers, that had been boiling in brine water for days. These nets full would weight 50 lbs or more. Once scooped, we had to turn to our left or right, and dump the cucumbers onto the conveyor belt behind us. So after 8-10 hrs of doing this, your back and arms are just spent. And your gloves? They needed changing constantly. The brine would eat right through them. And if you fell in (apparently one guy that was drunk did), the brine stings like murder.
The worst chore was watching the jars on the conveyor. 8-10hrs of watching jars go by you is not only boring, but hypnotizing.
The physical labor, was still the best aspect of work. You were sore everyday, but at least the days went by fast. The best chore, was to go out into the fields of San Jose (now dot com commercial parks), and top off the wooden barrels with brine. Del Monte at the time had coopers, men that made the barrels, like wine barrels. Those barrels made it to the fields to where the cucumbers were stored in the hot sun, and topped off daily, with brine. We would be there all day, in the hot sun, taking the cork off each barrel (there were thousands of them), being sure they were topped off. Unfortunately, the idea of Fresh Pack evolved (the cucumbers pickling themselves in a jar), to compete in production numbers with the other makers. The coopering trade died. The "new brand" pickles, to me, were just not as good. Eventually the cannery died, closed, and land sold for housing development. Sometime old things just should not be tinkered with... and old trades, and things that the makers make revered.
http://www.historysanjose.org/cannerylife/index.html
The only bad thing about this were the hours. One day your in at 7am out at 6pm. Then the next morning you get a 1 am call to be there at 3am (new shipment of cucumbers have arrived!). But the pay was incredible. I think with overtime and all, it was about $20/hr. And that was in the mid 70's. This covered a lot of college expenses.
7. Then Real Estate. In the early 80's I sold Real Estate. Had good and bad yrs (3-4 rescission's). And during one bad recession, I ended up working part time at Nordstrom. Men's furnishings.
8. Two things learned from that.
a. I will never ever work for commissions again
b. I will never work in Retail, or at least Men's Furnishings again. The pay was great, but to this day, I never leave clothes in a dressing room. I used to clean those rooms up; fold and re-pin the shirts. Not a fun job. And I feel for anyone that has to do it
9. Property Management. That is now. Paperwork, leases, cleaning, negotiation, settling disputes, reports, surveys,....
10. I'm tired
