Jobs I have Had...

In honour of Labour Day I thought I would try to remember all the jobs I had had.  So here they are; the good, the bad, and the ugly:

1. Babysitting (because really isn't this the first job for most people?) -- although I really did relatively little babysitting during my teen years.  Certainly I didn't make my fortune at it.  I did, however, take a babysitting course when I was 12 or 13.
   
2. Ticket Seller at Klondike Days -- Summer of 1987 -- this was a 10 day job that pretty much falls into the ugly category.  SPent a whole shift either standing or perched on a little stool selling ride tickets in a booth that became an oven in the hot sun.  Even wore I was 18 so I was put on the late shift and so was ther until the ex closed each time I worked.  THe biggest drawback though were the people with whom I worked.  IT is hard to spend an 8 hour shift beside someone who is doing everything he can to scam the system (or outright steal from the customers as one person did).  Oh and if you didn't balance at the end of the night any shortage was taken of your check.
3. Gas Bar Attendant -- 1988-1992 -- this started as a weekend graveyard position the summer after first year university.  ANd then I moved to take some morning and afternoon shifts as needed by the end of the summer.  Then during 2nd-4th years of University I worked 3 or so afternoon/evening shifts a week.  It was a great job during school since I could usually get some schoolwork done during my shift.  On a few occassions I helped out with paperwork during the owner's absence.
4. Lumber Yard -- summer 1988 -- a two week job cutting fence boards that grew into 6 weeks of general lumber yard assistant (a whole lot of stacking and strapping cedar).  Worked with good people but not a job I care to repeat.  ANd since during that time I worked at the Lumber yard all day (8-16) Monday to Friday and then graveyards at Job #3 Friday and Saturday I was really well tired out by the end of the 6 weeks
   
5. Devotions Director -- Summers of 1989 and 1990 -- this was my intro to Camp ministry and, as it turned out, my starting on the road to Ordained ministry.  I first applied because it was the sort of summer job that provided career-relevant experience to an Education student.  But it had an infectious quality that remains to this day.
6. Bull Cook -- Summer 1991 -- my 3rd year at camp.  I had finished my 4th year of Education but still had one round of Student Teaching to complete so I suddenly needed a summer job.  As it happened the camp needed to fill their 3rd cook position, sort of a glorified help-all, and so I went back to the lake.  IT was alright, unfortunately the Head Cook was a bit difficult to work with.
   
7. Dishwasher/General Kitchen HElper -- fall/winter 1991/92 -- after camp ended I now needed a job.  Friends of ours were opening a restaurant in town so I aplied.  I started as the daytime dishwasher (with some janitorial work at the beginning of each day) and then when it came time for me to finish my student teaching I moved to an evening line cook position where I stayed until May.  I had a great time at that job and learned more about cooking than I had expected.
8. Golf Course Clubhouse -- Summers 1992, 1993, 1994 -- I left job #7 to work at my home congregation for the summer.  Unfortunately the grant that was funding the job was for summer students and since I had only taken one course the preceding year I was not eligible so I had to find a job.  I had one offered at a Pizza place but after showing up for the first shift and, half-way through, being told that since this was training it was an unpaid shift I decided tht wasn't a place I wanted to work.  Then I got a job serving in a golf course clubhouse.  I enjoyed it so much I went back the next 2 years (in -between years at seminary).  The 2nd and 3rd summers I did both serving out front and worked in the kitchen (we were short a cook one day and I said "well I can do that" and then the die was cast). 
9. Assistant Cook -- Summers 1995 1996 -- the year of my first internship I reconnected with camp.  And the next summer I was teh Assistant cook. It was a much better atmosphere in the kitchen these years.  The HEad Cook and I worked well together.  And it worked out that I got to do some programming as well as work in the kitchen.  Actually had the manager/director known it he had a cook who did far more programming and general non-kitchen work than was common.
10. Car Detailer -- Fall 1995 -- without a doubt the worst job I have ever had.  Not only was the work mind-numbingly dull and mindles but the company was (IMHO) violating the labour code.  The code stated that once you arrived at work you were automatically there for 3 paid hours and ou were always paid for at least 3 hours a day.  But the trick was that you had to be there 11 hours a day while only being paid for the time you were clocked in.  SO if you spent most of the day in the break room because it was slow it was a (free) waste of your time.  It is telling (both in terms of turnover rate and quality of people employed there) that after being there a week they approached me about becoming the assistant manager of the detail area.  I lasted 6 weeks there before I left.
    
11. Line Cook -- Winter 1995-96 -- finding myself unemployed and wanting to save money for a trip to England I applied at a new restaurant that was opening.  I didn't get the hours I had hoped for (partly because they didn't get the amount of business they hoped for) but I moved from a relatively limited position to working the full line fairly quickly (along with a few prep and dishwashing shifts as needed).
12. Line Cook -- Fall 1996 -- My 3rd restaurant opener.  AFter camp ended I was looking for work that would be a little more meaningful.  That didn't come around so I went back to applying at restaurants.  I got a job as breakfast cook and ended up working evenings (again they had less staff than they originally planned because they had less business than orginally planned.
13. Family Support Worker -- 1996-1999 -- WIthout a doubt one of my favourite jobs.  WOrking at a Crisis Nursery.  Once I got this job (part-time at first) I quit #12 to free myself up for more shifts.  Within a few months I had moved into a 0.9FTE and after about  year into a full time spot.  Being shift work it meant I could do some other things (like spend lots of the summers at camp and do an extended CPE unti one winter).  I worked with great people and of course there was the rewards of helping people in crisis and having shifts where the main job was to play with kids.  I only left this job because it was time to return to working on my MDiv.
14. Camp Director -- SUmmer of 2000 -- the summer betwen internship and final year of seminary.  Of course I needed work both for time usage and for $$$ so I worked at a different camp.  I likely could have gotten the director job at my "home" camp but didn't really want it both due to geography (this camp I could base out of the city where the seminary was, thereby making saving myself a move right before school) and because that job included recruiting 15-20 volunteers a week.
15. Ordained Ministry -- 2001 onward -- and that brings me to where I am now.  Wow!  15!  I had never stopped to count them all up before.