Did You Consider Any Other Careers? How Did You Choose?

In the beginning, in a city back east, Southport, New York, watching a hobo push his cart past our house, I thought, I could do that. An independent business owner avoiding people. Outstanding job for an introvert. Considering the pros and con aspects decided I would prefer…

… a job as a mattress tester. I possessed the skills required, I can to that. No college or high school degree is required. Paid to sleep, then maybe prepare a review. Meanwhile, avoiding people. Pay and benefits are not important considerations. I stayed with this option until I decided I would prefer…

… becoming an architect. Why? I took a class my senior year at Rincon High School and enjoyed the independence and the drafting aspect. Taking an object and presenting multiple views: the top view, front view, and right-side view. The ingrained math. The hand-eye coordination. Ultimately, accessible skills allow people to produce a quality product for display. For Christmas, Santa gifted me a drawing table, a parallel ruler, and drafting supplies. I could work in my bedroom for hours, drafting and designing uninterrupted. The most unexpected happened. The University of Arizona’s College of Architecture eventually accepted my application. Check out STORYWORTH to see how that died on the vine. Great dream that crashed on rocks decided I would end up…

…homeless. I was confident I could join the ranks of the homeless standing on the corner, cup in hand, collecting nickels and dimes. For a while, I had completed and submitted many applications unsuccessfully. I got a job bagging at the grand opening of a retail store for one day. Two weeks later, my first paycheck. College crashed, no job offers until…

… mom found me a job. A busboy job at Stage Coach West, on Speedway Avenue in Tucson, Arizona, at $0.90 per hour. My mom was getting a perm, chitchatting with another, the “Assistant Manager,” and there you go, found me a job. For one day.

The next night, the dishwasher walked out, and I got my first promotion and raise to $1.00 per hour. Great job. Just wash, stack, and return the dishes to their assigned locations. Better than busing tables because I never had to interact with people. And free food. I had a career. For two weeks.

The “backup” cook walked out, and another promotion and a dime raise. The cook would plate the steak and direct me to place a baked potato or fries on the plate, and take the order to the pickup area and call the customer’s number, “Number 12, your order is ready for pickup.” It was a little more complex, but not much. The cooks taught me what I needed to know: kinds of steak and how to “cook” them. When it was slow and they grabbed a bite, I would step up and cook an order or two. For a couple of months when…

… the cooks walked out. New promotion, cook. And you guessed it: a raise. The job kept growing. Full time. Prep cook in the afternoon. Setting up for dinner. Butcher. I did it all and made a salary, $90.00 per week.

There are other stories to be told, including when they hired some hot chick, Norma. A talkative, flirty high school student.

Moving on, as a wedding gift, Mr. Smith, the owner of Stage Coach West, found me my next job as an Assistant Manager of the Walgreen’s Grill, at 3330 East Speedway, earning $100.00 per week. His advice, “If he asks if you can flip eggs using an egg pan, say yes.” (I lied) The stories become more convoluted, so it’s best I move on. Eventually, fired… (Funny story, I ended up in the unemployment line standing next to the person I had fired the day before.)

… if you really want to know, offer it as a question. Next stop: Kalil Bottling Company. Not going to get rich, but must confess one of my favorite jobs was unloading and loading trucks at the end of the workday. Bottles rule. Mixed cases of returned bottles passed by on a conveyor belt, separated by flavors, filled empty cases, and stacked to be hauled away, washed and reused. I was exceptional. I worked my way to the end of the line where the oddities, the weird, foreign bottles needed to be sorted. Plus collar the bottles missed up the line by newbies. I was happy, my forever job. Until one day…

… a “headhunter” dropped in and asked the floor supervisor if he could give a survey to two of his “better employees.” Permission granted. We talked. He asked, “Do you want to do this forever? I would be glad to help you find a better-paying job, if interested.” Well, I was married and could use more money, so…

… I ended up working as a cook for Hobo Joe’s coffee shop. I walked into the kitchen. The lead cook asked, “Can you flip eggs using an egg pan? Yes?” I did. “You’re hired.” I worked for many a year for Mr. Kirkwood. Cook, night manager, assistant manager, commissary manager, day manager, and general manager. Hobo Joe’s re-branded The Black Watch, Steele’s (out of California, who knew nothing about the restaurant business), and The Black Watch 2.0. So many years. Somewhere in there…

… thanks to my dad, who worked for a contractor, putting in underground phone lines in Phoenix and Tucson until they completed the contracts with no additional work in the future, back to the…

Black Watch… to Barons’s Restaurant… to Black Watch…

… COPD (Community Outreach Program for the Deaf) as an interpreter for the deaf and hearing-impaired. The job still gives me nightmares. When Norma left, I took her jobs as an Administrative Assistant and eventually followed her to…

… the University of Arizona Cancer Center as the Computer Specialist I until laid off when grant money dried up, then…

… Maxwell Middle School. My job, Computer Lab Tech. A room full of Apple IIe’s. The idea of working with, even being around kids an anathema. But…

… survived the first year. Survived the second with the addition of overseeing a second lab filled with Macintosh Pluses. Promoted to Network Lab Tech (in name only). Watched teachers, some great, some terrible, and thought I could do this. Completed my Bachelor of Education degree (with Norma’s support) then Master of Arts in Language, Reading, and Culture, and Doctoral in Educational Leadership (ABD - all but dissertation) with a minor in Law. The rest of my work history was in Education, i.e. classroom teacher, mentor, Curriculum Specialist, K-12 Math Coordinator, back to classroom teacher, and then finally…

… retired…

… if only.

Did I consider any other careers?

School principal, professional card player, lawyer, now writer…