Aside from your career what's the coolest job you've ever had?

[HEyHEY]

I worked as a steward/deckhand on a charter boat. I could walk with a tray of drinks on the ocean without spilling one. As well, I was 18 and got hit on alot by the older ladies on the boat, and when you're 18 that's awesome. I used to call young girls "Mam" and older women "Miss" to get more tips.
I really enjoyed trying to make their parties as enjoyable as possible.

You?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Psychiatric Social Worker.

Incredibly rewarding and just like working for rock stars, except the people you are serving appreciate you a lot more.

[skygazer]

2. I have no career - I have a job

And I've had several cool ones.

I think the coolest one was training racing greyhounds which I started doing when I was 17. Yeah, yeah, I know all the drill about what a terrible exploitative thing it is yada yada but it was marvelous. I love animals and to work with a kennel full of beautiful, loving dogs every day was great.

It was hard - there are no days off in racing and I worked 7 days a week, 365 days a year for 8 years. I worked with pneumonia, I worked with the flu, I worked all day the day I had my oldest daughter (I finished up at 5:30, went to the hospital and had her at 9. I was back in the kennel within three days and would have been back sooner if my boss had let me). My days were at least 12 hours, sometimes longer, I had no real life but I loved it. It was completely different from anything most people do. I still love the atmosphere of a racetrack.

I also worked as a snowmobile mechanic which was pretty neat, worked on a road crew (concrete and steel, bridge crew, only woman, lots of fun), did some farming, worked in a book bindery... I've had several neat jobs.

Now I run a wine and liquor department which is actually another kind of fun and cool job.

[gizmo1979]

3. Grounds keeper at a cemetary.

I was 16 and the older guys would go the bar after work every friday and take us along to us that was way cool.

[maveric]

4. Room servive waiter for a new hotel in Miami 1977-79.

Omni International Hotel, Biscayne Blvd, Miami. It was brand new when I worked there and celebrities stayed there all the time.
I served:
John Travolta. (right fater Saturday Night Fever, bad tipper)
Howard Cosell (served him bourbon)
Woody Hayes, OSU football coach(Tea-totaler)
Merlin Olsen (Very nice, Tea-totaler)
Frank Gifford(Tea- totaler)
Barry Goldwater (A very nice man that liked his scotch)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (had a suite after a concert I attended, smoked a joint with me after i served them breakfast)
Ann Margaret(She answered the door in a nigh gown,Yeah baby!)
David Steinberg (comedian)
Gerald Ford (was patted down 4 times before I served him a Reuben sandwich and a Heineken)
Walter Mathau (was shitfaced and ordered a lot of liquor)
And a few more I cant recall.

Easiest job I've ever had. People call for food/drinks, the cooks prepare it, I put it on a tray, take the elevator to the room, serve them, they give me money.
At that time my hourly wage was $1.50 hr but was raking in 500-600 per week in tips.

[Rowdyboy]

5. Small town, sign-on DJ who did local news too....

I was in my 20's, my best friend from college was Program Director and my boss. We had SOOOO much fun, both on and off the air.

[puerco-bellies]

6. Night porter at the Yavapi Lodge, South Rim of the Grand Canyon

I had just turned 18 and spent my first summer as an "adult" there.

[biscodawg]

7. this may sound stupid

but I loved being a sandwich artist at subway. Really is an art getting a properly made sandwich. Eat fresh (TM) :)

[liberalitch]

8. working concession at the Naro theater in high school....

followed by customizing, rebuilding and restoring window blinds.... A skill i still use today.

[nytemare]

9. Women's Professional Football Player!

That was my "part time" gig. Good thing I kept the full time deal, because the financing fell through, and we ended up not getting paid.
I didn't think we would, anyway!

[SarahB]

10. Post partum doula.

I worked with moms assisting them with their newborn babies. I know a ton about breastfeeding (I've spent about 7 years out of my life breastfeeding) and it's something I strongly believe in health-wise and more ( for further info: http://www.promom.org/101/ ). It was just so rewarding to help these women (often in tears because they were so sore and frustrated) overcome their problems and be able to nurse their little ones. Anyway, it's what lead me to decide to go to nursing school and ultimately, I'd like to work more with this, but generally to become a professional lactation consultant (IBCLC certified if that means anything to anyone), one needs to become an RN first. Anyway, someone's going to crack a boob joke and that's fine (I'm quite comfortable with my femaleness and the human body), but regardless, it's something that means a lot to me, to the women I've worked with, and will likely to the women I work with in the future. :)

[Redneck Socialist]

11. Tour Guide in a glacially formed ravine with...

an extensive network of boulder formed caves. Far and away the coolest job I ever held. Ahhh to be in college again...

[achtung_circus]

12. For 5 years (1980-1985)

I got to be a cowboy. Long hours, hard work, hot, cold aches, pains, etc. etc.

But there were moments that will live in my mind forever. Sunrises, sunsets, dust storms, hail storms, clouds of grasshoppers, thunderstorms, sitting on a horse and not being able to see a single thing that would tell me whether I was in the 20th century or the 18th century.

Oh, and cows, I love cows.

[JVS]

13. I anticipate that the coolest job I'll ever have is being a fellowship...

student this fall. How can you beat getting paid not to teach while the other poor bastards get less and have to teach? A true sweet deal! I just finished my 2 days of training for a much less fun job.

[HEyHEY]

14. Taco Bell?

[JVS]

15. I'm about to start a thread

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Managed softball leagues.

Very stressful, but right up my alley, perfect for me. My work day ran from 2:00-3:00 PM to midnight Monday - Friday and 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM Sunday. I could also pick up extra cash by running Saturday tournaments.

I hauled 6-8 portable scorekeeping sets -- laptop, small dot matrix printer, NCR paper, a loudspeaker the size of a 6-volt camping lantern, and league stats/standings, along with game balls and a slow-pitch plate extension -- to my fields every afternoon, locking them in sheds for the scorekeepers to use.

I made the rounds about half an hour before game time to be sure everyone was in place, then kept making the rounds all night to keep up w/ my managers & umpires. I had to be a certified umpire, too, in case someone didn't show up. Also had to fill in for a no-show scorekeeper. Either of these problems, as you can imagine, REALLY screwed up the night.

I earned $4 per game. Doesn't sound like much, but with six to eight fields to cover, three games on each field every night . . . . I did this for eight years, and I loved most of it. I hated arguing with managers about stats (players were not allowed to call the league director -- they did, but were told "have your manager call me." You'd be amazed at the number of slow-pitch pitchers who complained about high ERAs :eyes:). I was scared when I had to fire someone, or throw an unruly player out of a game -- one such player smashed the back window of my car w/ a bat. And the men constantly questioned my authority and my knowledge of softball and league rules. But things balanced out. If I could do it again, I would.

My favorite funny moment (not funny at the time) was on a rainy day. An umpire waited way, way too long to call a game. It was raining too hard and the field was too wet to play. But it was the scorekeeper... oh, my god. He sat out in the rain the whole time -- and kept score with his computer and printer! rather than shutting down, putting them away, and scoring on paper. When I opened his laptop that night, a sheet of water ran down the screen. I found the floppy disk -- which the SKs were told NEVER, on pain of death, to remove -- in a pocket in the bag. When I called the SK to ask -- among other things -- why he'd removed the disk, he said "to save the game for you." It didn't work that way . . . :eyes:

I loved that job. At times I hated it, but it all evened out. I really, really miss it. Sigh.

[NV Whino]

17. Assistant animator

I worked for a company that handled overflow from Hanna Barbera. There was the animator and two assistants. We, the assistants, were simply required to turn out 100 feet of film per person every week. We were paid by the foot. We got so good and so fast we were working only four days a week and turning out 150' each. The animator couldn't keep up with us. We took two hour lunch breaks and played pool on the boss's pool table. We came in at 10:00 AM and missed traffic, worked to 7:00 PM and missed traffic--a big deal in LA. A nice relaxed atmosphere and good money for the time.

[saltpoint]

18. I got to drive composer Ned Rorem to the airport once.

He is kind and smart and alert to every detail. Love the guy.

[bertha katzenengel]

19. HEyHEY, this is a great thread.

Thanks!

And thanks for letting me know that if I ever go out on a chartered boat, I am supposed to tip . . . :hi:

[forgethell]

20. I worked as

a delivery boy for Western Union in high school. I delivered a telegram to the Joe Namath from the New York Jets. I delivered a number of telegrams to various civil rights leaders when they came through town. Hell, I even delivered telegrams to Robert Shelton, the Grand Dragon of the local KKK branch, several times. I met a large number of very important and extremely interesting people during those years.

The pay was shit, but when I graduated and quit the job for a sumer of fun before college, I gained 30 pounds in three months. Bicycling 3 hours a day, 8 on Saturday will keep it off.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. Tour guide at a Cavern

It was not only interesting but I was in excellent shape from walking the 4.5 miles a day. :)

[Scout1071]

22. Concert management

Not a bad gig at all.

[katinmn]

23. oral historian for a history research center

Ran around two counties with a tape recorder interviewing older men (in their late seventies and early 80s) who had been in the Civilian Conservation Corps in NE Minnesota when they were between 18 and 22. They surveyed the forests, built bridges, planted trees and put in roads.

I love talking with old guys.