What was the best job you've ever had?

[terrya]

Just curious.

[IndianaJones]

1. Officers Club, Ft Devens MA. nt.

[hobbit709]

2. Security/Maintenance at Armadillo World Headquarters

[MorningGlow]

3. Theater intern, summer stock

Could that be considered a job, since I didn't get paid? :shrug:

Best paying job was camp counselor (o the fun to be had with the other counselors after hours, especially with a boss who was 22 and supplied the booze, procured concert tickets, and was an all-around fun-loving guy!)

Best "grown up" paying job was managing a local news Web site--during the 2000 election theft, Sept. 11, etc. There were many miserable days, but that job had a PURPOSE and the viewers were very appreciative of the job we did (even if our corporate overlords took every opportunity to phk us up).

[Heidi]

4. My first newspaper internship.

I was so young that I hadn't yet realized I was being exploited.

[Sheets of Easter]

5. The one I have right now.

Good pay, decent benefits, moderate work pace, I get along well with everyone, and my commute is less than five miles from home. After several years of bad temp jobs, low pay, unemployment spells, and finding my niche, I feel fortunate. :)

[Midlodemocrat]

6. Toss up. I loved teaching high school, but didn't like

worrying about paying the bills.

The one I have right now pays well, but it gets boring at times.

[Lorien]

7. Animator at Disney-until the management changed

then it became an awful job.

I also loved teaching at a local college, but I couldn't survive on the salary. :-(

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. Landscaping

loved it.

[Crazy Dave]

11. Me too

In my younger days I did landscape construction, recently I've done landscape designs, now I do nothing

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. you are not working?

you do nothing?

[Crazy Dave]

21. Except when looking for work

Not only am I going out of business, so are my clients.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

26. yeesh...sorry to see it.

times are bad.

[Crazy Dave]

28. On the plus side

I've been paying my own un-employment insurance for four years, money I thought I'd never see again. Now I get to collect on that and will have the time to go back to school if things don't pick up by the middle of next month :)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

30. good to hear --

cloud meet silver lining :toast:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. Me too.

Spent 14 years at the same company (in Nashville). By the time I left I'd done every possible landscaping job there is. Started out as a grass cutter and ended up as head of the irrigation dept.

I miss it- I haven't done a lick of physical work in the ten years since I left it, and my body is starting to remind me of it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. I love all aspects of it. I love to cut grass.

:D :thumbsup:

[BarenakedLady]

9. Pet sitter.

I love the critters.

[Inchworm]

22. Hi you!

How's tricks?

:hug:

[BarenakedLady]

24. Trixy

How are you doin' Mountainman?

How is your grandson doing?

:hi:

[Inchworm]

25. Enjoying the sunshine

From my desk. I'm taking a day off from outside. :P

The bebbe is doing super as is his mommy.

Glad to see you around. I've been slacking on posting much. I still read though :)

:hi:

[LaurenG]

10. Stay at home mom

the pay sucked and the hours were long and tedious but I loved those years. Summers were so much fun.

Other than that, I worked for an interior designer and though the pay was terrible I learned so much that it was a good job in hindsight.

[applegrove]

13. Tea House on top of a mountain. I showered in a waterfall and served

lovely customers who felt they were in heaven. They were.

[Midlodemocrat]

14. Wow. Where was this?

[applegrove]

42. Lake Louise Alberta. In the Rockies on that beautiful blue colored lake.

Was lovely.

[Blue-Jay]

16. Assistant Crack Whore.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. Data researcher for a couple of docs . I read records, applied the data

and put it in the computer. They were working on an AI project for lab use. It was fun they were great to work for. Pay was not much and no benefits but the most pleasant job I ever ever had

[Kali]

39. being in Ag, and seeing it in conjunction with the word "doctor"

I did not read "AI" as artificial intelligence. :rofl:

:hide:

[yellowdogintexas]

43. duh, I ought to get that too, I grew up on a farm but for the life of me I don't

so please explain, as I could use a good laugh about now.

[Kali]

44. Artificial Insemination

IBTL?

[yellowdogintexas]

62. SNORT!!!!11

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

too funmy. I was trying to recall the brand name of some seed or fertilizer or equipment boy did I miss THAT boat.

[TZ]

18. Best job became worst job oddly

Working under an internationally known vaccine researcher at NIH, whose passion for the work was quite infectious..He mentored me and I learned ALOT.
Of course when ugly govt politics forced him out..it became the worst job ever...:(

[Inchworm]

20. Plane Captain for a squadron on an aircraft carrier

Good times.

:hi:

[Zuiderelle]

23. Being an astronaut.

That was a kick. :patriot:

[Inchworm]

70. Did you see me wave?

:hug:

[kat_kringle]

27. staff lead at a movie theatre while i was in high school!

ok, it really should be 'theater' but i like le autre spelling better!!

how are you? i don't think i've had the pleasure!

-kk

[SteppingRazor]

29. Space pirate. n/t

[Tikki]

31. A very interesting job...

I worked for 5 weeks or so as a security guard at the 1994 Los Angeles Olympics at the UCLA venue.
Eight Gate Seven: BRAVO

Tikki

[RadiationTherapy]

32. You mean hand or blow? nt

[Angel]

33. Best one I have ever had...being a

stay at home mommy. That job taught me more about the important things in life that any top rank school or job ever could.

I received a paycheck of sloppy kisses and warm little hugs. After a few years with that career my pay turned into a few "I hate You's" , several "you are the coolest mom", rib breaking hugs and still the sloppy kisses. With every day with that job always ending with I love you Mom.

Sure beats the heck out of any job I have had since then.

[Fox Mulder]

34. Librarian.

I loved that job. I had it for two years while I was in college.

[stuntcat]

35. at Christmas In April USA

It's a non-profit that helps homeowners who can't afford to or aren't able to maintain their houses. It changed it's name to Rebuilding Together.
http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/

[DarkTirade]

36. ... there is so much temptation to get this thread locked right now.

[Chovexani]

53. I would love to hear about your pole dancing days

:evilgrin: :yoiks:

[DarkTirade]

57. Not quite the kind of job I was referring to.

... but that was fun too. :P

[Magrittes Pipe]

37. Drug mule.

The condom broke, and I had the time of my life!

[Burma Jones]

38. A Gig I had with IBM designing an early instance of a Web Services Architecture

The work was interesting and new.

[cloudbase]

40. Merchant seaman.

Back in the days when ships actually spent time in port. Best job in the world.

[Blue-Jay]

46. Stop laughing!

[MissMillie]

41. probably this one

I've had terrible trouble in the last month or so, but beyond that, I've really liked being here. And there was enough security here to earn enough to house/feed/clothe myself and my son.

[Rabrrrrrr]

45. Intestine-based harbor mine sweeper

I loved that job. Painful, but I loved it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. Guinea pig at the Dow Chemical Asbestos, PCB, and DDT Test Labs

[Rabrrrrrr]

48. 50th Percential Ass Model at a porta-potty design lab

[Rabrrrrrr]

49. Enraged Orangutan de-feceser.

[Rabrrrrrr]

50. Orville Redenbacher's Night Light Holder

[Rabrrrrrr]

51. District Wide Paisley Pattern for the Gifted and Talented Program in Lincoln, Nebraska

[Chovexani]

52. Working at an occult bookstore.

Barely made minimum wage and it was all under the table and it was the BEST JOB EVER. Mostly I made oils and incenses, and carved custom candles for people. It was messy and fun and my co-workers were amazingly cool. It's the only job I've ever had where I never had "work" clothes...I dressed the way I actually dress, my hair was dyed bright blue, and I got nothing but compliments for it.

The only thing that sucked was I worked there right when Charmed first came on TV so we had an endless parade of teen witch wannabes who would come to the shop, being stupid. Fucking with them was always the highlight of my day. I had one teenage self-professed "apprentice warlock" convinced that Tang was a potent magic elixir that would grant him unlimited power. :evilgrin:

I openly describe my experiences at that store as Clerks, only if it was with Pagans. Down to having lightsaber fights in the street in front of the store. I was Randal, needless to say. :P

[DarkTirade]

58. ... that sounds like a helluva lot of fun.

[Rabrrrrrr]

54. Cartesian Plane substitute at CalTech in the 1970s.

[Rabrrrrrr]

55. Adirondack Chair mimicker for the Greater Malden Toastmasters, Malden, England, summer of 1909

[Brigid]

56. Working at 1-800-MEDICARE.

I worked for a company that had a contract to operate the 1-800-MEDICARE line. Unlike most customer service jobs, we could actually do things to help people. Too bad we lost that contract.

[WinkyDink]

59. None. I hate work.

[flvegan]

60. Billionaire playboy.

Good times.

[kentauros]

61. The one I'm working right now

:)

They like me, my quality of work, attention to detail, willingness to learn and help others, and they pay very well! :D

I hope to work for them for years to come :)

[Robeson]

63. Sperm Bank donator...

...that job was a blast.

[triguy46]

64. Any time I can stay home and work on the farm...

I love the physical nature of it, and the tangible results. Today we worked in our garden, put in 20' of French Drain. Yesterday I spread 14 tons of gravel down the drive. Talked to a neighbor about baling our 2 large pastures. I just don't have the nerve to walk away from the security of a paycheck and health insurance.

[datasuspect]

65. i haul ass

and get paid

[harmonicon]

66. this one

It's technically not a job, but I do get paid a stipend for cost of living. I'm doing post graduate "research" at a university. I get paid to do whatever the hell I want. I have a certain number of hours that I'm doing work every week, but there isn't any way to check, and I don't keep track of it. I go to the office whenever I want (if it's open - I'd go more if it were open later), and just have meetings every few weeks. Ahhh.... I should really enjoy it more, because I'm sure that life will never be any better than this, and it will all be over in two years.

As for actual "jobs", I worked part time at a record store for awhile 5 years ago or so. By way of a back-story too long to recount here, the store owner came into possession of boxes of records to sell - hundreds of boxes, and probably tens of thousands of records. It was my job to go through them and choose what was literally trash, what went in the dollar bin, and what was the good stuff; what genre to put it in, what price category, etc. That was a good job. We got to drink and smoke on the job too, which was a plus.

[Runcible Spoon]

67. legal: sellig chocolate and making truffles and fudge. Illegal: selling pot

did both when I lived in Boulder, CO. The chocolate shop was wonderful because everyone was always in a good mood, except the hellish weeks before winter holidays. The store always smelled good, we played our own music, and we could do lots of creative, delicious things.

Selling pot was also really good to me, except for having people thinking they could show up any any hour for their weed.

[Pale Blue Dot]

68. My current job

I'm a middle school English teacher.

[UndertheOcean]

69. Specify ==> hand or head ?

[madrchsod]

71. 24inch mill shipping at northwestern steel and wire

no supervisors on second and third shift so we could do just about anything we wanted to do. as soon as our jobs were finished we`d sleep on third shift or play cards. second shift was "cook outs" every other week,cards,or just plain fucking off....what a great job

[Rhythm]

72. Interior painting - commercial and residential

I had a ball turning wrecked old places into something gorgeous. It's the only 'art' that i possess.

Best project was an old Victorian in one of the 'historic' sections of Charlotte Nc. Neighbors saw our work at the open house, and it generated a half-dozen new jobs.

Worst was in Seneca SC, remodeling the old Quincy's steakhouse, which had been bought out by Carrow's, and was being gutted and redone completely. We did the interior and exterior. We managed to get into the project just a few days after the start of demolition, and it still took our crew 2 months of 18 hr days to complete. The place was gorgeous when we finished the last of the punchlist.

Alas, the new restaurant didn't stay in business long. Wonder what's there now?
Hope the new owners enjoy all the elbow grease that we put into finishing all of that oak woodwork.

[OnionPatch]

73. I helped make some vegetation maps for the Park Service.

I got to do "field trips" to a national park and study the plants. It was very cool. Well, actually it was very hot since it was in the desert.

[Awsi Dooger]

74. Part of a sports betting team in Las Vegas

Mid to late '90s. Two friends of mine made a ton of money the previous 4-5 years working for a guy who was benefiting from intentionally rigged odds. Too much to detail. Let's just say a major sportsbook manager who is very well known was a world class thief, putting up knowingly bad lines so a handful of selected guys could wager into them and win huge. Naturally they funneled a major chunk to the manager. It should have been all over 60 Minutes, and it's still whispered on the Las Vegas sports betting websites to this day, but somehow it never exploded.

Anyway, my two friends eventually broke away and formed their own group, which consisted of themselves and me, plus one guy they imported from Buffalo. I was paid $1000 cash per week to run around town and bet huge with their cash. They knew I was sharp with numbers so I more or less had free reign. I'd wing around town in my little car and call them when I spotted something. Only in mid to late afternoon and on weekends did I have a specific assignment, showing up at a major sportsbook -- usually MGM or Caesar's Palace -- while we prioritized the numbers for that day, primarily football or basketball. We got beepers at first, then cell phones and walkie talkies which we concealed in our clothing with the mike running inside the shirt to near our neck so we could communicate in the sportsbooks, a small ear piece in one ear.

I had 2 days off so it was $200 per day for 5 days, pure cash, frequent bonuses, and also I got access to the best numbers in town. Many games I'd have $800 on one side at -6.5 and $500 on the other side at +9, stuff like that. Pure advantage. Also the sportsbooks were throwing comps at us so we ate anywhere we wanted.

I was red hot on my wagers and I remember I was up $53,000 net in the first 5 months. I literally didn't know what to do with that much money. I was opening golf catalogs and spending $300 per club for 5 or 6 clubs, rationalizing I'd win that much tomorrow, and even if I didn't it was basically one week's salary. We called it quits each year after NCAA basketball, with part time in NBA playoffs. After that we were zonked. I'd travel extensively -- Alaska, Canada, wherever -- and play golf for 3 months, then be re-energized for football season.

We were sharper than the other groups, more focused with only a handful of guys while the other groups had dozens of pure runners whose only involvement was robotically calling in the numbers and doing what they were told. They would freeze when something went up on the board. I had leeway to pounce. That was the bottom line. It was massive advantage. I'd be leaning against the sportsbook counter chatting with the supervisor while the other groups would run around the corner, trying to bet something that we'd already eliminated, the value gone. The two guys I worked for had great specialized knowledge in some areas and I filled in other areas. We were wining on stuff like golf and tennis while the other groups were clueless, not even paying attention. I remember hammering Martina Hingis at 25/1 to win the Australian Open. A few days later the other groups were told to take 10/1 or even 8/1.

That went on for several years. The other groups slowly caught up and prioritized the offbeat sports. It was the heyday of sportsbooks with aggressive oldtime gamblers running the joints but it ended abruptly. The sportsbook take declined by a full percent, which is massive, and the gaming commission cracked down on so-called messenger betting. They told sportsbook operators to watch for obvious runners. I got away with it because I was known as a bettor long before the groups came into prominence, but the atmosphere changed for the worse, very awkward. Then they put the $10,000 rule into place, meaning you couldn't go beyond that figure without showing ID and declaring the transactions. That all but ended the heyday of the betting groups. Groups folded when they couldn't get down the necessary amount. You have to wager big to enable the small theoretical advantage to mean something.

Previously you could wager and collect any amount in chips or from winning tickets, the only regulation was not more than $10,000 cash per day without showing ID. So everyone until that point would stop at $10,000 cash, if they used cash at all, then use nothing but chips and tickets the rest of the day. I would have a rubber band in my jacket with dozens of chips, most $5000. Once in the MGM bathroom I took the stack of chips out of my pocket and the rubber band broke while I was sitting on the john. Chips were tumbling everywhere, on the floor to both sides. I scrambled to scoop them my way. Luckily both guys on either side froze and didn't make a move for the riches near their feet. I would have been hopeless to confront them and rescue anything. I was sitting there with my pants down at my ankles. :rofl:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

75. Park Technician at Hippie Hollow - Austin, TX........

and not just for the naked people either.

[Flaxbee]

76. manager of an art gallery in downtown La Jolla, California -

the work was nice and relatively low-stress and the view was incredible.

Pay wasn't great, though. But I was in college, and it wasn't that crucial.

[Help_I_Live_In_Idaho]

77. Driving a water truck

Fill up - blast people working on the side of the road with water - laugh as they scurry over the edge of the road. Spray for the graders. Drive another hour to the tank. Fill up - 20 minutes drive back and repeat.

[Blue_Tires]

78. writing for the Providence Journal