#176: Developing a Work Ethic

Most of us have had a number of jobs in our lives.

One friend was a "honey dipper" or septic tank cleaner. Art Carney in the Honeymooners TV show worked in the New York City sewers as a "subterranean engineer." Many housewives are "domestic engineers."

I thought of several of the job tasks I've undertaken over the years. One, baling hay during summer off of school developed a lot of muscles but boy, when that loose hay went down my sweat-soaked shirt, did it ever itch.

Another job was in a bowling center where I cleaned the legs and underneath of pool tables, cleaned sticky bars and scrubbed out large rubber trash cans.

One job at a fast-food restaurant lasted three years of high school where we cleaned out the grease pit and crawled under the grill and counters to hand scrub the floors. Sweeping the parking lot, moving inventory out of the cooler to clean that floor and mopping the dining room were part of our everyday duties.

Probably the worse summer job was working at a Navy galley when pork chops were served. The cooks, in a hurry to crank out enough chops to feed 3,000 sailors, would toss flour on the floor to cover the grease so they wouldn't slip. They'd throw the used cooking pans on the floor as they grabbed another pan of pork chops. Finally, after the meal was over, we had the assignment of cleaning those crusty pans and mopping up that grease and flour combination that was by then a couple of hours old.

All of this built character and showed me the value of work and got me wondering what odd jobs others have had.

What are some of your "fond" memories of past jobs?