* Wrote personalized sweepstakes copy for a mail-order catalog company.
I
worked for Fingerhut first as a temp, hauling the boards around, then as a copy
clerk, then wrote for their sweepstakes department. “Congratulations, Title
Lastname! You may have already won $100,000 (if we draw your winning number blah blah blah blah blah.)”
* Cocktail waitress in a college bar.
Weekend
drink specials were 3-for-1 and cost $1.90. Sometimes I’d get tipped the 10
cents. On a good night, I’d make $2. Popcorn and soda were free for the
employees, but the hotdogs were still 50 cents.
* Mapped and transcribed county cemeteries.
Paid
summer internship which utilized my double major of Geography and Historic
Preservation.
* Sold hats out of trunks at home parties.
Got
laid off, and had to make money somehow. Oddly enough, I was their best
salesman. Go figure.
* Costumed walking tour guide in a capital city.
When
asked when the 2:00 tour started, I replied “In the afternoon.”
* Cartographer: made analog maps for cruise missiles.
First
job out of college. Back in the dark ages before AutoCAD. We took the brown
(land) and blue (water) plates from the topo sheet and shot a new image. By
hand, we scribed what the missile needed to “see”, shot a new positive,
digitized it (with a VAX!), and then assigned numbers to the elevation lines
with a touch pen on a monochrome computer screen.
* Worked retail in a well-known fabric store.
Nope.
This is the one I’ve never done.
* Nightclub disc jockey in the days of vinyl.
This
was where I waitressed. The hours were shorter, but the aggravation was less.
And I had a horrible case of mic fright.
* Provided admin support for an industry association which developed a set of
audio algorithms.
Here.
* Managed a handful of historic properties.
These
belonged to a family partnership that was rather laid back. I learned all sorts
of interesting things here … like patching roofs, and everything I ever wanted
to know about toilets.
