A Life of Work: Memorable Jobs I’ve Held

I love thinking back over the jobs I’ve had.

My first job was a church janitor when I was in high school. It was eight hours a week cleaning the floors of the sanctuary and the preschool classrooms. I dusted pews, cleaned bathrooms, mopped floors, and did windows. I also snuck a few snacks from the preschool rooms and kitchen refrigerator. I think I made $2.50 an hour.

Once I was old enough, I worked as a cashier at Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia. Since my uncle owned the concessions, I worked all the Phillies games my summers in-between college semesters. I worked the All-Star game in 1976 and one of the World Series games in 1980. I don’t remember what they paid me, but it was enough to cover my housing for a semester at college.

Speaking of college, I washed dishes every night at my fraternity house in exchange for free meals.

My first job after graduating college was with Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey. I actually worked in an overflow office location in West Long Branch, coding in Fortran on IBM 370 mainframe computers.

I left Bell Labs when friend offered me a coding job in Austin, TX. There I did a little bit of assembly language programing until the startup company went belly up.

I went back to school in 1982, attending Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. To pay for my tuition, housing, and food, I worked campus security overnight. I also worked for a market research field service company, going door-to-door and making endless phone calls to get opinions about all kinds of products and services. I made a little bit of money making sandwiches and salads at Subway and playing trumpet for church wedding services. I also worked for a small factory that made snack mix for grocery stores.

Once I graduated seminary, I pastored three churches in Connecticut, Iowa, and Florida. That was my vocation for thirty-six years.

After retirement, I’ve worked making cookie cutters, printing on iced cookies, and doing the books for our small custom cookie business.

It’s fun to remember all the jobs and experiences I’ve had over my lifetime.