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Just curious about the brother and sister heads on the board? Did you ever wash dishes for a dollar an hour?
CrazyJack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Horses and real estate. I was also getting into some day trading just before I bought my shop.
I forgot that I started building computer boards for Jabil Circuit around 1965. I was friends with the founders daughter and we would go in after school and get paid under the table as we weren't 16 yet.
[ January 30, 2006, 04:25 PM: Message edited by: Laura Butler ]
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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Hell yeah. Started working full time weekends and after school at the age of twelve washing dishes in a restaurant for $1.25 an hour under the table because I didnt have working papers. I had to stand on a milk box to reach inside the sink. It was one of those commercial stainless steel sinks that stood pretty tall.
I worked my way through the entire gamut of restaurant jobs from cooking to waiting tables, tending bar, ships store and bell hopping. Also did a ton of work in the construction industry building from the ground up. Masonry, framing, painting, finish trim work, just about everything.
All that menial hard work and labor made it quite easy to appreciate the easy work of sign painting. No regrets though, it taught me to use my brain instead of my back to earn a buck. And I'm still learning to this day how to work smarter and not harder.
-------------------- Bob Stephens Skywatch Signs Zephyrhills, FL
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Used to work at my cousin's body shop while at school. Went to the Army. Got back, worked Food & Beverage at a fancy shmancy Italian restaurant.
-------------------- Felix Marcano PuertoRicoSigns.Com Luquillo, PR
Work hard, party like a tourist! Posts: 2275 | From: Luquillo, Puerto Rico, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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First paying job (other than babysitting or doing construction with my dad) was working an ice cream store. $2.23 an hour.
Worked way too many years for way too little money doing technical illustrations for an industrial training company.
Been through a bunch of office jobs.... secretary, bookkeeper, accountant, office manager. Favorite part of all of those was when I'd hit the courthouses & do title searches. What I learned doing that stuff has helped a lot in my ancestry obsession.
Worked retail at Christmas once. I think that is 1 of those things everyone should experience just once, like root canals. About as pleasant too.
Worked several power plant outages. Tons of hours, saweet money, no sleep. It was nice being able to show up in a hat & sunglasses. Course, the boss couldn't say a word....he was hurting too & he was the one buying the rounds the night before.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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My very first hourly job was pumping gas... for ONE whole dollar an hour and GLAD for it too! That was in 1968.
Later jobs as an employee were in a wide variety of businesses including selling tropical fish, cooking chicken, selling shoes, serving ice cream, and laboring as a grocery stock boy.
Looking back, I enjoyed them all, but I much prefer what I do now!
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8739 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Car wash, bakery clean-up, gas station, specialty advertising/screenprinting, auto body repair, prototype shop, furniture design, University Art and Design Department.
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I have done a few things but the one that stands out is when I worked for my Dad in his Excavating business. I did everything from running excavators, backhoes, bulldozers to shoveling around pipes in the trenches to welding ripped buckets on excavators. That was the most valuable job to me (well besides working in my grandfathers sign shop) cause we did so many different things.
-------------------- Jake Lyman Lyman Signs 45 State Road Phillipston, MA 01331 Posts: 635 | From: Phillipston, MA | Registered: Sep 2002
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Air Force 1955-1959 started at about 59.00 a month and probably had more fun money in my pocket than I do now! Then 22 years at NCR as a field engineer( AKA mechanic ) pretty good job with vacation and great benefits, but I got bored and started my sign shop with no experience or knowledge in 1982. Still wondering when I'll gain the knowledge part!
-------------------- Tom Rose 1938 Model Sign Dude T.Rose Signs Whitehall,PA Posts: 327 | From: Whitehall,PA,USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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How 'bout government PR flak? Yes, John the Baptist in a goat-pelt, wandering around the palace.
Funniest event was the last one. In 6 months the manadory auto emissions-inspection law would take effect. States had to do this to get federal highway aid, under the Clean Air Act. Somebody needed to let the taxpayers know this was coming. It couldn't be stopped, and maybe it's a good thing, but people need lead time to think about maintaining their cars (for a change). My agency was in charge of the state program, but they didn't want to do it. They knew the popular reaction would be hostile.
That's OK. I leaked the story. The top brass hit the roof. Actually tried to chew me out! I chewed back. And then quit. To 2-weeks notice. Headed for Appalachia and became a hillbilly.
Years later, I visited that state agency and asked what happened: Vehicle owners received a letter one day that said essentially 'Tomorrow you must drop everything, take off work, drive to Lord knows where, get in line, pay money and have your car inspected.' As predicted, The Public didn't like this one small bit. "It was absolute disaster here," my former boss said. "We all earned a PhD in Public Relations."
-------------------- Bruce Williams Lexington KY Posts: 945 | From: Lexington, KY, USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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How 'bout government PR flak? Yes, John the Baptist in a goat-pelt, wandering around the palace.
Funniest event was the last one. In 6 months the manadory auto emissions-inspection law would take effect. States had to do this to get federal highway aid, under the Clean Air Act. Somebody needed to let the taxpayers know this was coming. It couldn't be stopped, and maybe it's a good thing, but people need lead time to think about maintaining their cars (for a change). My agency was in charge of the state program, but they didn't want to do it. They knew the popular reaction would be hostile.
That's OK. I leaked the story. The top brass hit the roof. Actually tried to chew me out! I chewed back. And then quit. To 2-weeks notice. Headed for Appalachia and became a hillbilly.
Years later, I visited that state agency and asked what happened: Vehicle owners received a letter one day that said essentially 'Tomorrow you must drop everything, take off work, drive to Lord knows where, get in line, pay money and have your car inspected.' As predicted, The Public didn't like this one small bit. "It was absolute disaster here," my former boss said. "We all earned a PhD in Public Relations."
"Sounds like yall flunked,"I said.
-------------------- Bruce Williams Lexington KY Posts: 945 | From: Lexington, KY, USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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From age 11 to 16- worked in a bookstore . . .(aside from home chores)
Left home when I was 16 and then, (this was BC
During 2 crazy years:
~Waitress ~Truck stop dish washer/bus/waitress ~Cook ~Mall janitor ~Plastic factory production/minor machine repair ~Greenhouse (worked into sectional manager) ~Waitress ~Hotel maid ~In between all these jobs always did construction (hanging siding, dead-wood & sheetrock) and . . . ~Drug dealin' plus shootin' pool- I actually managed to save $800 once . . . this was a big deal to a dumb kid in '79-80. LOLOL)
AC/1982 thru 1988:
~Bookstore ~~Leaf rakin'/house maid ~Started tryin' to paint signs a little as side income- got 'discovered and hired at: ~Sign fabricators
~Went self-employeed into signs AND worked side jobs: ~~Leaf rakin'/house maid ~Sears-Ladies Dept. ~USA TODAY route
Then finally, been self-employeed and have'nt had to do side work in about 11 years...
Gee . . . it really did'nt take all that long to be self-employeed!
Thanx for the trip down memory lane. I have a LOT to be thankful for.
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Most of my non sign/striping days were spent in the auto industry. I did two years on a GM assembly line in the mid sixties. The plant I worked in made Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles. I was the tire man. I had to set five tires on the wheels ( machines mounted and inlated them ) We pumped out 62 cars an hour, that's 310 tires an hour and around 3,000 a night. Please, don't anybody try to tell me UAW workers are overpaid!!!
I worked as a parts man at a Chevrolet dealership for a few years til they learned I could do body work. I did that for a few more years and switched over to a Ford dealer where I was the parts manager/body shop manager for a few years til they made me service manager. This only lasted a few weeks as I couldn't take the B.S. disgruntled car owners were handing me. I had been painting signs in my spare time for about six years and one night I got a call from a sign shop in Memphis wanting me to come to work for them. It didn't take long to make the decision to leave.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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Operating farm machinery for a watertmelon farm. Dishwasher then buffet cook for a restaurant. Worked from stock boy/bagger to cashier, to meat cutter, produce clerk, to assistant manager in a supermarket. Pine tree planter (the worst job I ever had) Construction including roofing, framing, drywall, electricians helper. Painter Finish carpenter Woodworker in a church furniture shop. Shipper, to receiving clerk, to forklift operator in a factory.(second thought....I liked pine tree planting in the freezing cold better)
Signmaker...best job I ever had
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Started off as a kid mowing lawns all up and down my street, made some good bank. Neighbors would pay me to cut their grass because their own kids were too lazy to do it.
First job: Washed dishes for 12 hours a day when I started at Pizza Hut. A never-ending pile of dishes with a Six Flags theme park just down the road. That job lasted a whole 3 weeks.
Got a job at McD's just a couple blocks up the road. Same insanely hectic environment but I stayed there for a while - they kept throwing more and more money at me and it wasn't long before I was a manager.
I worked early morning shifts at McD's so then I also worked at a VCR repair shop in the afternoons. I used to drive around to video rental places to pick up VCRs their customers brought in for repair, bring em back to the shop and also deliver fixed units back to the stores.
Went into engineering school, dropped the VCR gig but kept the McD's job and also part-timed at an engineering firm. I picked up a few odd jobs along the way doing AutoCAD work and also teaching AutoCAD to others. Ultimately I went full time at the engineering gig for a few years before moving to AZ and starting off on my own.
**Edit**
Forgot after moving to AZ, during the first few months I took contract work from the engineering firm and also worked at a shop making carbon fiber parts for various forms of racing, until I got the business situated and income flowing.
[ January 30, 2006, 06:37 PM: Message edited by: Mike Pipes ]
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Only one job apart from the sign/screen printing industry. Once after moving, the only job I could find right away was in the warehouse of a grocery store chain. I was filling orders for the different stores for minimum wages. Hated every minute of it (especially everything that had to do with the cooler) but eventually I worked my way up to sit in an office. I think I lasted for a year or so.
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Carpentry work with father during school and Mc'ds while playing sports fer extra cash then Joined Air Force NAPA Auto Parts fer 2 years then went back to carpentry ever since..
Jason D
-------------------- Jason Davie 193 Front Street Deposit, NY 13754 Posts: 976 | From: USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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I grew up helping my father with sign work here and there.
But, my first real job was working for a carpet cleaning company.
After graduating from high school, I worked two years at an auto parts store. My '69 Mustang fastback was thankful.
During college I worked in a publishing company's distribution center and as a waiter at Pizza Inn.
After college, I worked as a shoe salesman at Kinneys. That was at about the time with "Married with Children" was popular. I was a bit selfconscious about the job at the time because of it. The regional manager fired me when I refused to where Kinney brand dress shoes at work. I had an 11-A foot and all they had were "D" sizes. I had to buy Florshiem (spl?) because they were the only ones to have what fit.
While looking for a new job, my dad asked me to help him with a project. It was only suppose to be for a couple weeks to help him finish up on a project. Its been a looooong couple of weeks.
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Well, le's see--lotta ancient history to recall.
Graduated high school in '54, went into USAF that Fall when I turned 18. Stationed at Sampson AFB, then Cheyenne, from there to a semi-remote transmitter site outside Goose Bay, Labrador. Worked in the power plant there. Transferred to Barksdale AFB, La.--flight line auxiliary power units for when the aircraft were on the ground and needed external power. From there to Westover AFB, Mass. same job. Exited AF in '58, inactive reserve 'til '62.
A little bit of college in '59, Case Institute in Cleveland. Hit physics and chemistry--much like a brick wall. Left there and went to Cooper School of Art downtown Cleveland until Father's illness back home made it necessary to leave Cleveland.
Hospital work from late '58, with assorted interruptions, all the way from orderly, maintenance, ambulance driver, LPN, and finally RN, mostly ER nights. Some time in the ICU.
Started doing signs part-time in '62, quit the hospital in '84, and full time signwork after that. Slowing down, now. Just trying to do only trucks and boats.
Married twice, divorced once in there somewhere, 3 boys, 2 of whom are still living, 3 grandkids.
Been a pretty good run, all in all.
bill preston
-------------------- Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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After doing the grocery bagging and gas pumping, I went right into textile screen printing for 8 years plus. Since then...
Electrical parts assembly Copper wire drawing 2 more stints in screen printing Videographer Security guard/maintenence at a ski lodge Slinging burgers at McD's Dish washer Line cook Race track announcer Bouncer
It's never been dull... Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Been down the old fashioned service station route. Been a traffic manager for a manufaturing company. Then worked in my degreed field as a design draftsman and then onto being a drafting department supervisor then manager. Layoff came around, interviews were few and far between, time to go full time with the sign shop. Was doing signs and lettering on the side the entire through all of those.
And through all of that, I was working in the auto racing field, and still am to this day. Heading to Florida next week to announce some of the races.
[ January 30, 2006, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: Dana Blair ]
-------------------- Dana Blair Blair Signs Wooster, OH www.blairsigns.com
If sign makers go on strike, is there anything written on their picket signs? Posts: 835 | From: Wooster, OH, USA | Registered: Jul 1999
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Truck Stop Waitress! 11 years. I quess that's why I love working on them big rigs. Sometimes, I would love an opportunity to waitress again, but just for about 2 weeks.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3829 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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There's very little I didn't do. Started sweeping out the laundermat at 13 for $10 a day. Mowed lawns, and worked in a grocery store through high school. When I graduated school, I moved to Florida to work in the hotel business. After 5 years of that crap in FL and NJ, my roomates dad offered me a job in printing. It didn't work out with him, but I stayed in the business for five years. Then I got me replaced by a computer. Since then, I've found sign making and I haven't looked back. I figure that I've got at least another 20 good years in me before I start to slow down.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3489 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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Paper route age 10 - 13 Grocery store age 15 (work permit) - 18 Wendy's Restaurant (college job) 2 years Musician (keyboards) age 17 - til I die! Retail: Famous Barr clothing store during college and played in bands at night! (didn't sleep in my 20's) Graphic artist Sign Supply Company computer/software salesman Sign Shop owner (since 1995) Father of 3 (Best job I ever had!)
Sign-cerely, Steve
-------------------- Steve Luck Sign Magic Inc. 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 (618)466-9120 signmagic@sbcglobal.net Posts: 870 | From: 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 | Registered: Dec 2004
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WOW, what a bunch of great reply's. A little trip down memory lane.
My first employ was helping a cemetary lawn care person in a little farmtown in Illinois, cutting grass for $2.00. Helped set up a Carnival once,sold newspapers on the street, set pins at a bowling alley, picked apricots-prunes-cherries and did some disking from a small cat tractor. Went in the Air Force, learned aircraft jet mechanics got out went to work on the experimental flightline at Boeing Airplane co. Made furniture, built displays for awhile then went back east. Went to work at Caterpillar, learned machining, went to Indianapolis, worked for RCA Home Instruments as a tool maker in research then to the design model shop. Then worked part time as a helper at a screen print shop and got hooked. Back to west coast did apprenticeship there and back to Illinois to finish it up and taught classes at Illinois central college for awhile. Moved back again to west coast via Texas for a short stop (Made really good money there) Been doin' signs since off and on and always pin striped cars since 1956.
The very best job was at the model shop in Indy. Done a few patents that never went anywhere and been working on new ideas like forever it seems. I guess I'll die trying. I consider myself a professional human being and still learning more about that.
CrazyJack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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As kid, worked families ranch, newspaper business, dad's professional boat racing: which taught me to rope, cut, brand, hoof, trim, inject,ride, line chores, build fence, grow food, slaughter for meat, collect eggs, boil a chicken, shovel snow, dig a car out of mud, weld aluminum and anything else, tune a motor, build a motor, lap a valve by hand, mill a head and why, hone a cylinder and why, make a propellor from scratch, build a race hull from scratch, paint same, slick bottom and why, build a trailer, drive a raceboat, ski, swim, first-aid, set type, type, make lead ingots, proof, work cold/hot press, fold and distribute newspapers, ride a bike, mechanical drawing, pinstriping, lettering, cartoons; then I went into Navy, came home and worked at: gas station, body shop, skip chaser, bodyguard, pro-fuel funny car driver, 10 days as gas company emergency break fixer, smoke jumper for forest service, green chain in sawmill, and pinstriping, custom paint, lettering, building custom cars which I still do today after what seems like a lifetime...about as long as this list!!!!!!
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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I would't call them indutries but here are a couple of my outings.
I have been in the sign biz since I was 16. Also the summer when I was 16, I lied about my age and got on a survey crew. We ran survey loops on the Trans Alaska Pipeline (in Attigan Pass on the upper edge of the Brooks Range -- great experence!). I made 25 grand in 8 weeks (lots of double overtime)!! I was able to by some land (since sold) and was able to take a trip to Paris France (great place if you're a rich old lady) & Egypt (awesome) with some of my egyptology classmates (another great experience!).
When I was 24 and in between jobs I worked at Pizza Hut in Tempe Arizona for 5 months. I was the fastest pizza maker in the area. Got to make pizzas for Stevie Nicks. During a Tyson fight we made 350 pizzas in a two hour period! BTW do not, I repeat do not order deep dish pan fried pizza from them -- trust me!
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Yeah, did some snow shoveling, stocking shelves for the neighboring market, brushed pool tables/polished them balls/vac etc. for trade(pool playing time). I wasn't old enough to play there, so that's how I got to play. I cooked them little square burgers at White Castle,was a "Frie=Man" at McDonalds when they used real potatoes peeled and sliced every morning. A Bus Boy in a large Chinese Restaurant. I also sold Flowers on the street, walking between cars droning out "fresh-cuts fresh-cuts". When the light turned green I would about face and head back to the crosswalk. As I arrived the light turned red and it started all over again. It paid cash, was really good on the Holidays, but mostly kept me in cigarettes and whatever. Worked in a Box company that gave me what looked like a zillion paper-cuts. I had paper-cuts in my paper-cuts. After awhile your hands toughen up and you hardly get any. Warehoused at a Graphite Co. where all that graphite would sink into everything. It would go through your clothes, in your ears, up you nose. You would "spit it", sneeze it, you always looked like you were wearing mascara as the skin around your eyes was too soft to scrub it out. Oh yeah, you got paid an $1.00 a day to take a shower there. The Commercial Printing Ink was pretty messy as well,....high all day. Wrigley Gum made you feel sticky in the summer while I was a "packer" on the vending gum line. Did some Chauffering for a Hotel on the graveyard shift mostly picking up Truck Drivers from their Terminal as well as making a few airport runs. Various assembly line work drilling tiny screws, twisting wires etc. at Whirlpool Corp. Also spent some duty as a Janitor. From cleaning toilets to Carpets. A stint "pulling packages at UPS. Shipping docks at Union Carbide for 4yrs. Grocery puller(loading pallets by hand) for a Wholesale Grocery Co for 3 yrs. I lived and worked in 3 states before working for a Sign Shop at the age of 33.
My current active volunteer gigs are:
Calling and working BINGO
Consumer Action Group Leader for giving Diabetic Presentations
Golf Tournament Chairman for last couple of years for Men's Club at Church
No,.. I never was employed as a Dishwasher, ..and maybe because growing up that was "my household chore",....I have always felt washing dishes was good for the soul....
-------------------- Rich Stebbing RichSigns Rohnert Park CA 707-795-5588 Posts: 755 | From: Rohnert Park, CA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Was a docent at a museum from the ages of 15-19. Paid $20 a month (Sundays only) I cleaned motel rooms for a month at the age of 16 (till I discovered a used condom...ewww) Waitressed/short order cooked (yes I can flip eggs in a sauté pan) and was a dishboy from 17-19 in a real stainless steel 1950s diner. Was a maid at a senior citizens high rise at 20. Started painting signs shortly after I started having babies at 21. Now I'm head cashier at a hardware store! Woo Hoo! Even got offered a "bigger job" there the other day but I will soon take a leave till September because I have SIGNS! Love.....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Glad to read thaere are others who go at life as a buffet! my list includes over 60 jobs at one time or another, but I started clerking in a boat yard (Plumouth), French, Shriner & Urner Shoe Co. (Boston), Abercrombie & Fitch (Chicago)(when it was a real store!), book printer, book bindery, telephone operator, restoring antique cars (Crawford Auto Museum in Cleveland), Carpenters' Union apprenticeship & Journeyman carpenter, college facility maintenance, cabinetmaker, welder (not briefly enough!), wooden boat builder, photographer and finally Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA. But best of all, having found painting and sign work 3 years ago! Cat
-------------------- Catharine C. Kennedy CCK Graphics 1511 Route 28 Chatham Center, NY 12184 cck1620@taconic.net "Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now! I't's fun to have fun, But you have to know how!" Posts: 2173 | From: downtown Chatham Center, NY | Registered: Feb 2004
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I would often hold a couple jobs at once, so some of the jobs listed overlapped.
Babysitter.
Restaurant Industry: Busgirl, for starters, then Hostess and Waitress.
Exercise Instructor at a Health Spa.
Student Intern at Robinson's Dept. Store. I was studying Retail and Fashion so I did varied jobs in all depts. including behind the scenes stuff like Display, Fashion Merchandising and Administrative office stuff.
Bindery Factory doing coalating, packaging and binding. (yawn)
Print shop Layout and Paste up Artist.
Stat Camera Operator for Bell Telephone Yellow Pages. (Started with the company as a type speccer and proofer ... back when ads were pasted up)
Paste up artist for a Newspaper. (before computer pagenation when pages were pasted up).
Cocktail Waitress at a Comedy Club. (we had to come up with costumes, ... was pretty fun getting ready for work.
Sign Shop doing varied jobs.
Self-Employment since 1990.
-------------------- "When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
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When I was little, I lived on a farm so I took care of the chickens, detassled corn and walked beans (pulling weeds)...talk about an incentive to get a better job! I waited tables all through high school and college. I was a "call girl" (took telephone orders) at Domino's Pizza and manager at the African-American Union (then we called it the black union) at Illinois State University. THAT was an experience for a farm girl! The first dorm I lived in had more people than my home town! When I graduated from college, I taught school, K-12 art for 13 years. I was the story hour lady at the library when my boys were little. Been here at Diaz Sign Art full-time for about 15 years. Bill has run his own business here for 27+. And NOW, the two youngest boys are in the sign industry.
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Started as a pin striper at 17 in Detroit, Moved to Florida and apprenticed in two shops where I learned lettering, gold leaf, and silk screen processing. I learned four fonts, Block, Roman, Script and Brush, could then go anywhere and get a job as a journeyman. Walk in, show the four fonts, and you got the job. Bought a suit, went to work leasing land for billboards. Put up 400 billboards for Schenley whiskey. Remind me to tell you the story about Walt Disney. Bought a sign shop, progressed through three factories, 2500, 5000, 10,000 square ft each. Bought ten acres for the last factory. Lost all in a brilliant financial decision. Started over. Went to toastmasters, learned how to public speak, went around the country doing seminars and luring retirees to Florida. Fly them form the frozen north into the sunshine and sell them a MANUFACTURED Home. Went into motivational seminars and traveled till I got sick of it. Retired to Georgia Mountains. Always have retained my love of lettering, while hating the sign business. Can still twirl a quill, pull a line, and that is why I hang out here, to irritate and sometimes enlighten. I must go rest now.
-------------------- Bob Nugent Hotrodsonline.com Gainesville, GA 30506 hotrod@hotrodsonline.com Posts: 46 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Mar 2003
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Boy oh boy... where to start... At 16 was an instructor in an arts and crafts studio at the military base here, Jack in the Box, Mcdonalds shift mgr, Auto machanic/state inspector, back to college, Theatre set builder at dinner theatre, regional LORT theatre stage hand, Kings Dominion/Concert mgr, assist Technical superviser, Movie union stage hand/set builder/finish carpenter (many movies), Cruise ship theatre intaller for paramount pictures, France many times for new ships, carrabean many times, Rental shop manager, Bought sign shop. Sign shop 3 yrs now, with Budget truck rental, carports and T-shirt shop, Busy!
-------------------- Michael A Latham Tee's Me Shirt & Sign 16462 Jefferson Davis Highway Colonial Heights Va. 804-835-3299 signdogopie@aol.com Posts: 379 | From: Colonial Heights, Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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i was born to a woman who was driven to making money....no joke....mom was a character!! i was born in 45, dad was in service, busted his back(accident in training)when he got out in 46 he went to VA hospital for back sugury(it was in its infancy then)they removed 2 disc and let him lay on a table for almost a year...before he was allowed to walk. this brings me to mom....and money. she ran poker games on weekends, played and took a house cut from every pot...was sellin wiskey and beer without a license and keepin the bills paid. this was called a SPEAK-EASY in those days, throw back to prohibition. but was still ilegal. she would get busted by the cops, no jail time cause she hada kid, go to court and the judge knew her and why she was doin this to make a livin, would fine her $10 and send her home!!!! so this was my 1-6 years....iam learnin... then she buys a grocery store 1950. i get to work there too!! stock shelves, stock cooler, sweep, etc. so i know i dont like this job. 1957 she closes store and buys a bar....new learning about this one...iam bar tending, pickin up empty bottles, sweepin mopin cleanin up after drunks....good thing we had OUTHOUSES!!!! water hose them....let air dry!! but had to put lime down the hole....uck! new i didnt like that job!! hada paper route, sat i worked plantin pine trees .50 an hour. also hung around a horse farm(trotter/pacers)nutty horses. hada friend in school his family owneda dairy farm. started gettin off the school bus and workin/livin there. got milkin, manure shoveling, hay bailin, grain sackin, corn huskin, and plantin, tractor drivin, butcherin cows/pigs/chickens, shootin deer, phesant, rabbits and stray dogs. and learned all about guns....safety, and bein a good shot...learned boxing, and self defense. got me to 18 and i just graduated dad asked what i was gona do..i told him i was gona do nothin for the summer....he said go get some work clothes together and youre goin with me MONDAY MORNING. i started in the construstion work. JACKHAMMER to be exact...8 hours a day...and guess who my boss was?? yep dear old dad. did this for bout a year , got a job in STEEL MILL ahhh iam set for life....19 6 month i got my draft notice...so i didnt want to go to nam and joined the AIR FORCE....smart move....heheheh they asked me what i wanted to do i said PARA MEDIC and i wanted to be stationed at EGLIN AFB(i now live 40 minutes from there)they said ok, told me i was gona be an AIRCRAFT REFUELER...nooo not the guy on the boom, but on the ground drivin TRUCKS!!! oh joy. did this for 4 years. got outa the service came back home to STEEL MILL hated it so bad i was workin 11-7 shiftjust to stay there. after high school i got some schoolin for drafting and the service stopped the getting of a degree, but i knew enough i could get a job doin that. so when the new wife said i had to move back where she was from....i quit the mill got a job asa draftsman for a butler metal building company in caribou maine!!! did that for year and in maine the dont build in the winter(nov-apr)so most are unemployed then. well the guy i worked for bought a NAPA parts store...and i worked there in the winter, did building isn the summer.....till 1973 and got divorced and left maine(cops hot my tail). so i worked at parts till 75 when i wound up in coo-coo nest and then in a rehab center. well time to learn all over ...ive always been artistic, never knew about pottery. got into it good , and went to penn state college as art major and as the assistant to the art prof.(ment i was gettin a paycheck from the school)so i got a little teachin in when he didnt show up for classes. now i was also livin at the rehab center...and workin as staff. mom died and i went back and run the bar for year...not my thing...sold it and moved to fl in 81, did the parts thing till 86, got tired of workin for people dumber then me and went back to doin signs which i was taught by an old "shaky jake" that hung around the bar whei was 12-14 yrs old...he saw i had the ability...that i never could see....till i hit 42...and this is the only job ive had since.... oh i left out the mechanic leanin and had many jobs workin pumpin gas/washin windows/turnin wrenches!!!!
[ February 01, 2006, 04:01 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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