It was like drowning in a pool of mom jeans, flavored lube, Aqua Net, and Bartles & Jaymes.
That's awesome. I don't think you can describe the 80s any better than that. 10/10.
You ever get any of Rick's leftovers?
It was like drowning in a pool of mom jeans, flavored lube, Aqua Net, and Bartles & Jaymes.
Oh yeah!... you got paid more-n-me.... $1.25/hr. But I got a bologna-cheese sammy and a Pepsi at lunch... For the father-in-lawputting up hay for 3.50 an hour in the middle of summer.
Bag boy at Kroger, which basically meant you were the lowest totem pole bitches at the store.
- Bagging groceries, which would be a big enough of a pain in the *** if not even including everything else below
- Corralling shopping carts all over the parking lot because got forbid the customers move a few feet to put the cart away
- Doing all of the janitors' work because apparently they aren't allowed to do anything except sit on their *** all day long - cleaning up trash, bathrooms, and spills along with vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting.
- Being consistently yelled at for not being able to take over at cashier when needed because no one ever bothered to train you, as if it was my fault others weren't doing their jobs (see point 3).
- Being questioned by national investigators over a massive coupon fraud case even though I never dealt with coupons because you know see point 4.
And this was actually worse than the several summers I worked on a grounds maintenance crew at a college, which meant we were the lowest totem pole bitches for the entire campus. Working on Kroger actually made me appreciate the days when I got to work outside in 90+ degree heat installing a new irrigation system on the athletic practice fields by hand. Or perhaps the most mind numbing task on the face of the planet in weeding 8 hours a day for weeks on end because no one in a leadership position ever thought to get some people a commercial spraying license. And I would still rather do that than be a bag boy at Kroger. At one point I was attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets and had to mis a couple days of work due to doctor's order, and I would still rather do that work than be a bag boy at Kroger.
I had the bagger job when I was 17. I loved it. Not because of the job itself though.
I used to find great ways to "disappear" for anywhere from five to 30 minutes at a time. I got high in my car on my breaks and when I had "lot duty," and almost everyone knew but nobody cared. I even managed to bang a 35 year-old cashier who was pretty hot in a trailer ***** kind of way. She was nothing to brag about, but it was a helluva 17 year-old conquest. Lol.
Customer service for Charter Communications. Basically the equivalent of getting bitched out for things totally out of your control for 8 hours a day. It was during the first summer after I graduated with a useless degree. Totally miserable, and I've done several of the other jobs listed in this thread and would gladly do them again over that. A week before the fall semester would start back, I was sitting at a pool drinking by myself and I decided I would get my act together to get a useful degree. Went straight to the registrar the next morning, re-enrolled, took out some debt, and knocked out what I should have done in the first place over a year of overloaded course loads (fall, spring & summer terms). Never went back to the Charter office. I have been pretty successful since then, so I guess Charter at least scared me straight.
My "scared straight" job was in the pre-mechanized coal mines back in 1961. Pick and shovel. 4 ft coal seam (no standing up). A mule hauled the coal cars in and out. A long manual auger was used to drill the holes to set the dynamite which you lit and it exploded on your way out at the end of the day. Probably did not even make minimum wage. Hard, extremely dangerous and paid hardly anything. The sad part was that you were lucky if you could even get that kind of job.
My "scared straight" job was in the pre-mechanized coal mines back in 1961. Pick and shovel. 4 ft coal seam (no standing up). A mule hauled the coal cars in and out. A long manual auger was used to drill the holes to set the dynamite which you lit and it exploded on your way out at the end of the day. Probably did not even make minimum wage. Hard, extremely dangerous and paid hardly anything. The sad part was that you were lucky if you could even get that kind of job.
My "scared straight" job was in the pre-mechanized coal mines back in 1961. Pick and shovel. 4 ft coal seam (no standing up). A mule hauled the coal cars in and out. A long manual auger was used to drill the holes to set the dynamite which you lit and it exploded on your way out at the end of the day. Probably did not even make minimum wage. Hard, extremely dangerous and paid hardly anything. The sad part was that you were lucky if you could even get that kind of job.
Life for thousands of east Ky people in that time. That's why so many moved to other states back then. It was a hard way to earn a living.My "scared straight" job was in the pre-mechanized coal mines back in 1961. Pick and shovel. 4 ft coal seam (no standing up). A mule hauled the coal cars in and out. A long manual auger was used to drill the holes to set the dynamite which you lit and it exploded on your way out at the end of the day. Probably did not even make minimum wage. Hard, extremely dangerous and paid hardly anything. The sad part was that you were lucky if you could even get that kind of job.
I've worked in the polymers industry for 30+ years. Everything from resin compounding & pelletizing to sheet and film extrusion. Hot, humid, and you can always tell people who work in the plastics industry by the burn scars on their forearms and maybe a missing or deformed finger or two.
Sounds like you needed a shop vac, just insert the hose and suck that crap right out of there.I think I got you all beat. While in college I worked as a certified nursing assistant. I worked home health care. I had a paraplegic patient that due to his injury could not take a duce naturally. I had to manually clean this dude our everyday. that was bad enough but dude was lonely and would talk to me about all sorts of **** while I had my finger up dudes arse. Needless to say I quit this job after two days.
...Eastman Chemical Co.?
Life for thousands of east Ky people in that time. That's why so many moved to other states back then. It was a hard way to earn a living.
Hauling hay - I have walked in the field loading the trailer and I have been on the trailer stacking the bales. I have worked for he 2nd largest alf alpha producer in the state of Kentucky. He used to have semis come from all over the South. We would load the flat beds with bales. One time we packed a 53 foot covered trailer. Uh, that sucked. First started when I was 16.
Tobacco is hard work also. I have planted it, sprayed it, suckered it, cut and spiked it , loaded the sticks on the wagon and hung it in the barn. I actually would like to have a acre or so one day. I have heard of folks getting tobacco poisoning. I never did but I guess I could see how it could happen. I have worked with Mexicans doing this and they are fast. They will def lap you in the rows cutting the stalks.
Those two were hard physical work. But it is work I enjoy doing.
The worst though is when I worked at Goodyear loading tires.
I loaded tires by hand into semi trailers. Tires were stacked on wooden pallets and you jack the pallet up with a pilot jack and pushed it up the ramp into the trailer. You then walked around to the front of the pallet and bent down and picked up each tire by hand and stacked it in the trailer. You stack the tires by criss crossing them 4 or 5 across depending on the size of each tire. Each stack was called a rick. If it was a mixed load with big and little tires you just filled up the trailer. If it was a set load then you had to have a certain amount of tires on each rick to ensure all the tires would fit. We had set loads of 700 ( Wranglar AT-S and MTR ) Once had a 1844 load which was all little doughnut like tires. The heaviest ones were a set load of 574. They were humvee tires for the war in IRAQ. They weighed around 50lbs each. In the summer it would be 95-100 degrees with 95% humidity. But inside the trailers there is no air moving at all. I have seen it as hot as 130 F inside. In the winter it would not be much better. You would be sweating but you could see your breath inside the trailer. Snow/rain would fall on you if the trailer did not back up right. It would make the ramp very slippery. I used to take 3-4 t shirts to change into everyday. I have seen guys throw up many times. Guys would walk out every week. 98% of the workers were ex convicts and that was the only job they could find that would hire them. ( I was one of the 2% ). But just bout every one of them was good guys. I worked both 8 and 12 hour shifts doing this crap, for 3 years before I joined the army.
Chief, were you working in Bell County or out in Harlan back in those days? I heard stories from the old-timers and also know that the coal industry automated much more during the late 70s and late 80s during my very brief stints. Hated the roof bolting stuff. You probably also know about feeding rats out of your lunch pale while working the seams.My "scared straight" job was in the pre-mechanized coal mines back in 1961. Pick and shovel. 4 ft coal seam (no standing up). A mule hauled the coal cars in and out. A long manual auger was used to drill the holes to set the dynamite which you lit and it exploded on your way out at the end of the day. Probably did not even make minimum wage. Hard, extremely dangerous and paid hardly anything. The sad part was that you were lucky if you could even get that kind of job.
Chief, were you working in Bell County or out in Harlan back in those days? I heard stories from the old-timers and also know that the coal industry automated much more during the late 70s and late 80s during my very brief stints. Hated the roof bolting stuff. You probably also know about feeding rats out of your lunch pale while working the seams.