Thursday Thirteen -- Jobs and Livings

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. It's a peculiarity of our use of language that we tend to define ourselves by our jobs ("I'm a teacher," we tend to say, rather than "I teach"), but it's also become a natural way of thinking of ourselves and others--how often, when meeting someone new, is one of the first questions "So, what do you do for a living?" This being the case, I thought I might take today's Thursday Thirteen to talk about about jobs I've had and--since I couldn't get to thirteen just with jobs I've held--jobs I would like to have.

1. Mowing lawns. It started as a chore at home, but I managed to get work from a neighbor mowing his lawn. It's not like I had a whole lawn-care business; I only had one client, but he paid me pretty well at $25/week for a couple hours' work.

2. Burger Jockey. My first salaried job was working at McDonald's. I first worked there in the summer after my sophomore year of high school (I'd gotten my license, so I needed to pay for gas). Mom didn't want me working during school, so I didn't, but when I went back to Mickey D's after my junior year, I stayed on to work part-time during my senior year. Somehow I managed to juggle band, choir, drama, quiz bowl, tennis, school work, and paid work. The truth was, I loved the job because I loved the people I was working with. I was already friends with two of the girls I worked with (I had a crush on one and ended up dating the other) and we had a lot of fun, especially once we were entrusted with the headsets. The work itself was fairly crappy, of course: greasy work even when you worked at the cash register, as I mostly did (I was too pretty to make a burger flipper), lousy dealing with cranky customers, and managers constantly pushing for more and faster and better, but with the right people at the right time in life, it was great. I was promoted up to Crew Trainer and could have been a manager if I hadn't see what a trap that was: as a Crew Trainer I made more than some of the starting managers and I had less responsibility. Stupidly, I worked here two summers during college.

3. College Writing Center. This was a good job to have in college. It was minimum wage for just a few hours a week, but all I had to do was sit around waiting to help other students with their essays. Sometimes, we'd get paid for three hours of doing homework / chatting with the other Writing Assistant / messing around on the computer. Plus it looked good on the resume.

4. Working at Summer School. After my junior and senior years of college, I was fortunate enough to have a summer job in Connecticut as a teaching assistant. Basically, I had to live in the dorm with high school kids and keep track of them while assisting in the classroom, learning a bit about teaching and occasionally jumping in. We teaching assistants were also in charge of the afternoon sports and activities and chaperoned weekend trips. Good times and good work experience to be a teacher later.

5. Choral Conducting Graduate Assistant. Oddly enough, I secured this job before I actually was admitted to the graduate program. I ended up taking this largely because I had no idea what to do after graduating from college, but it was a great experience: my graduate schooling was paid in full and I picked up something like $6300 per year. I also got the chance to conduct college choirs: one on my own with occasional work with others. I did a lot of singing and got to keep learning. It was probably the most over-worked graduate assistantship in the music department, but I learned a lot about the running of a music program that would later help me as a teacher.

6. Border's. During the summers of graduate school, I picked my summer jobs based on where I wanted a discount. What a great job. I got a 33% discount on everything and we were also allowed to borrow books. That's right, we could just sign them out, take them home, and read them. I was also efficient enough in my work that I could get my work done quickly and (shhh! don't tell anyone!) hunker down with a book even while the clock was running. I swear, even doing this, I was commended on how much I got done, so I don't know what my co-workers must have been doing. Speaking of my co-workers, they tended to be interesting, articulate people who were enjoyable to work with.

7. Best Buy. This was my job for my second summer of graduate school. The discount varied, as it was 5% above "cost," so it all depending on the markup. All in all, I didn't like this job as much as my work at Border's, but I worked with some fun people and I found it interesting to get an inside view of another retail store, to see the different ways things were done in different places.

8. Teaching music and English in a boarding school for boys. This was my first really professional job. I taught two sections of introductory music, directed two choirs, and taught either one or two English classes. I also coached tennis for five years, soccer for four, and basketball for one. I also lived in a dorm with students. It was a busy life, and my plate was always full, but on the whole I liked the environment. 

9. Teaching English in a co-ed day school. This is where I am now. It's been good to focus on one thing. It's been good to live in Providence. I've learned a lot from my students and my colleagues and have enjoyed getting to know the people of this school community. It's been a very rewarding experience to see a very different school culture and, as mentioned earlier, I've been particularly interested in the consensus-based approach.

10. Teaching English and music in a boarding school for boys. As I've previously announced, I am heading back to my old school next year. Things will be a bit different, and not just because I'll be with a wife and dog. Whereas before I was primarily teaching music (as the only music teacher), now I will primarily be teaching English while sharing music responsibilities with another teacher. I'll also only be coaching one season, which will offer a less hectic life (I should hope).

12. Composing. I dream of being able to make a living through writing music, though it seems unlikely. The way to make this work would probably be to go back to school for my PhD in composition/music theory, teach at the college level, and compose. Or...

13. Farming. Not farming thousands of acres, but something small, "cottage farming." Farming in such a way as to be self-sufficient or close to it. I could see the winter months, in particular, as being conducive to writing and/or composing, but the evidence of folks like the Scott and Helen Nearing, Eric Brende, and Gene Logsdon (whose The Contrary Farmer I've just started reading) seem to suggest that it's possible to live a self-sufficient farm life without that life being one of unending, back-breaking labor. That's not to say it's an easy life--short of being independently wealthy, what is?--but it seems like a rewarding life in its own right that could also allow time for other pursuits.

So what jobs have you had? What ways of making a living have you dreamed of? 

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit