As a child and young teen I was always finding ways to earn money. In the summers I cut grass, in the fall I raked leaves and in the winter I shoveled snow from morning to night. Grass, leaves and snow equated to money to me. I had tried a newspaper route for a year but found it way too much trouble. I always had my own money to buy my own clothing, bicycles and guitars. Another job I had was collecting newspapers from people’s trash and selling them to a recycler. “Trash picking” provided other benefits too.
At fourteen years old I started my food service career as a “dishwasher” and “pot washer” at Kennett Country Club. This would be my first of many food service positions. food service career…
Other early “experiences”
After high school I still did kitchen work but it didn’t pay much so I tried other jobs especially in the first two years out of high school. In all cases I gladly went back to food service which seemed accommodating to me whether it was cleaning or cooking or making pizzas.
- Kaufman’s Furniture In 1975 after graduating high school with three years of accounting courses, I applied at Kaufman’s Furniture for a book keeping position. They thought it humorous but offered me a job in the warehouse. I spent the winter freezing in an unheated warehouse and a summer sweating while carrying refrigerators and sofa beds. Sometimes I went along with the furniture deliverers but trying to get a king size waterbed or refrigerator up three flights of stairs was enough for me to realize that wasn’t for me. (maybe a year)
- ARTEC sheet metal work watching guys chop their fingers on punch presses and sheet metal cutters and one woman losing her toes from a broken lift dropping a ton of metal on her foot was all I could take. (maybe a year)
- Lasko Metal Products three months on an assembly line loading trucks and packing fans showed me all I wanted to know about factory life. It was not for me. (maybe a year)
- Far Out Cactus getting stung by cactus needles all over my arms was just not worth it. (1 day)
- Fred Taylor’s Service Station. Washing windows, checking oil and pumping gas in the freezing winter and having to beg to get paid was pure torture. (6 weeks max)
- Caddy at Kennett Country Club As kitchen help at Kennett Country Club through high school, I thought maybe the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and tried “caddying”. I learned very quickly that caddying is indeed a science that takes a strong man who can predict the golfer’s mind before he did and had to basically be a pro golfer who never had the means to actually golf. (1 or 2 weekends and a cranky client sent me back to the kitchen)