Tuesday, August 7, 2007

She Works Hard For the Money

I think we all agree that teaching would have to be one of the hardest jobs ever. It takes a very special person to do that every day. Yes, teachers may get a nice break in the summer (though not always), but they so deserve whatever they get. I feel so lucky that my kids have always had really good teachers.

I love my little job over at the school, (when I don't have to sub in 5th grade!) but I'm still eyeballing some of the other jobs, thinking that I would really enjoy those as well. The first one is the school librarian. We have two ladies that jobshare at our school, so that's always appealing. And they get to spend the day with books, wonderful books, sharing them with the kids, reading out loud, teaching the kids to respect the books, etc. I love quality picture books and could spend lots of time browsing through the displays. One day I was doing just that, and I mentioned to one of our librarians how I envied her job, spending the day reading and sharing books. She nodded, but added that they do a whole lot more than that. I'm sure that's true, but I will keep on fantasizing about what a rich and and endlessly satisfying job it must be.

The other job that I covet is the workroom aide. The copiers, hole punchers, pencil sharpeners, staplers, laminators, etc., all the office equipment that makes things neat and orderly. I would love the whole process of completing the teacher's order, nice, neat, copied, stapled, stacked up and put back in their box. That job, however, would have the capacity to inflame my OCD tendencies, as in ,
"Sorry your worksheets aren't ready, the text on the original was crooked, so I'm trying to lay it down so it will be straight on the copies. Come back next week".

I've never been in a job that I've hated. There might have been a task or two that wasn't my favorite, but overall, I feel pretty lucky. My Mom started me out doing volunteer work - I'm sure it was to curtail my television watching and snacking. I spent some time as a candy striper, delivering flowers and walking visitors to patient rooms (did adults really need a 14 year old to show them how to find a room on the third floor, or did the nurses get tired of finding things for me to do?), and also at a library, doing a lot of the things that the workroom aides do.

At 16, I worked in a video store, back when most people needed to rent the VCR along with the movies. Owning movies was almost unheard of. I worked in two video stores, eating the candy that we sold and watching a whole lot of movies. Now that job had some perks!

Next came the sign shop years, where I got to line up the text on signs, making sure that the margins were even, the lines were straight, and that the signs were aesthetically pleasing. Can you guess if I enjoyed that job? I get a little flushed just thinking about it.

Then I did in-home daycare for five years. I talk about how hard that was, but if I run across the pictures of all the kids that I watched, I remember how much fun we had. My own kids were young and I was really into crafts and cooking fun meals and organizing activities. It was a necessary and good job to have at the time.

Finally, I'm in my fourth year of working at the school. There you go, my entire employment history. Videos, signs, children and more children.

Where do you work? What other jobs have you had? Gimme the best and the worst. Is there anything you'd like to do?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh wendy, you did such a great job at everything how I envy you. And as for enjoying every job you are a Saint. I always new that. I hated my last job. I worked at the Jr. high that shall remain unnamed. And the women there were ruthless. I don't enjoy having a woman for a boss. She was a stinker. Nothing I did was right and she would call all the time to make sure I had done everything she told me to. Go figure. I did gain an appreciation for my male boss' I have had in the past. I had respect for them and they for me. Thank Goodness the Jr. high job no "longer had funding." If you know what I mean.

ash said...

I've liked all of my jobs, too. Some better than others I guess. I have crazy dreams about what I want to do when I grow up. Maybe that's why I haven't finished school, too many options.

Suz Q Free Tibet said...

I would have loved to have been your friend in high school. I would come visit you at the video store and we could watch videos all day long....I would have brought the popcorn!

dishes and laundry said...

Oh, the video store where I worked had a real popcorn machine with the packet of buttery oil to cook it in. Yummy!
And I'm with you, Ash, I don't know what I want to do for a "career".

Lexus Lady...are you Angi?

FutureRN said...

I liked most of my jobs--I started as a piano teacher which still has a special place in my heart and I would love to return to it someday--lack of health benefits deters me.

Food service was okay and I especially enjoy being a waitress but there came a point when I said--this is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Then I learned secretarial skills and worked some temp jobs and a couple of regular jobs and found that while I enjoyed the actual work I did not like working for stinky bosses who looked down their noses at the "hired help"
I did day care for a number of years and thoroughly enjoyed the time though I completely agree with you that it was hard at times and exhausting. It became difficult when my children got in school to divide my afterschool time between daycare and homework
Finally I now work as a CNA on the Mother/Baby Care Unit at a local hospital which I absolutely love and has good benefits!

Queen of Hearts said...

Wendy, you would rock as a copy aid. You are exactly what I need. Someone to obsess as much as I do. It's hard to find good help when you are so picky picky, like me.

As much as I love my job and know deep down nothing else would satisfy me, I always am dreaming of getting new ones. I've only worked mornings in an elementary school for three years now(which is the most perfect job), this allows me to watch lots of infomercials or commercials during the lunch hour on how... I'm stuck in a dead end job and too busy to get a degree so I should go to this or that 9 - 18 month college and make something of myself. I always take it kinda' personal. So then I want to be a dental assistant, medical transcript or, massage therapist, whatever. The jobs always interest me and the commercials make me want to "do something with my life". As if I'm not. Stupid commercials.
One of my favorite "transition" jobs, as I call them, was while in college I worked outbound telamarketing for three years. I was perfect. Crazy, huh! Anyhow, the company I worked for selling, coaching others to sell and listening in on calls as quality control, later got shut down for fraud. Fancy that. We (every employee) felt like scum when we found out.