What's the BEST job you ever had?

[Robb]

...And you can't use the one you have now, because you have no perspective. :)

Hands down, the winter I spent at a ski area as a lift operator "lead" guy. My day was spent in a little shack at the top of a little-used chair lift, at around 10K feet. Mornings I'd ride up, spend a few minutes shovelling snow off my ramp, and wait for the sun to rise. Watch a few people go by, saying things like "Man, you have a nice view from here", beam a grin back at them -- then ski down the whole mountain in the late afternoon.

What's your "best job"?

[scarlet_owl]

1. Antique toy describer

I worked for this company that listed antique and vintage toys on eBay. I would type the descriptions of the toys and put them up for auction. I learned so much about vintage toys and I had a lot of fun. I was laid off because the company changed the way it did business. The owners got really greedy, and instead of paying us, they gave the work to independent contractors who would work on commission. I hated the policies of the place, but I loved the work.

[Padraig18]

2. Oddly enough...

... it was working in a funeral home. My boss was an extremely nice, warm, caring and outgoing individual with a wicked sense of humor. The pay was excellent, I genuinely enjoyed meeting the people and even the 'technical' aspects of the business was interesting, once I overcame my intial revulsion.

[kcwayne]

3. Blow job :}

[rucky]

4. Tabloid Tipster

[piece sine]

6. nude model for art classes in colege

...money was good, I just stood or sat around after my gym workout and I got a lot of dates!

[Padraig18]

13. No shit?

I would've have said the same, except we can't list our current job, and that's what I'm doing this semester! :D

[trof]

15. did "semi-nude" modeling

just from the waist up.
I was still embarrased.
<blush>

[bif]

5. Lawn cutting at a cemetary

Great summer job. We were union and got paid pretty well. By the middle of the summer all the grass would go dormant so we would go out to a distant section and read books. Excellent job for a college kid.

[SantosL.Halper]

7. best job

Between my junior and senior years in HS I worked for the Youth Conservation Corps (discontinued later on by Bush41 I think). I spent the summer making $2.35 an hour going to various places in NE Iowa and building park shelters, rebuilding trails, learning first aid, going on field trips, etc. My class was made up of 2-3 students from each of the 10 or so high schools in my conference. So I was able to meet people from outside my school, I worked outside in nice parks, loved the hard work and being in Nature, etc. I was even voted Outstanding Male YCC'er. Pretty much been a slacker ever since, but what a great great summer. I got a final check for like $200 and change, and my Mom was so proud she let me buy an electric guitar with it. -Santos

PS, if/when I retire, I would love to do the very same work, and would still do it for $2.35/hour! Which is pretty likely as I plan to retire sometime during Jeb Bush's first presidential term in 2010...

[trof]

14. Welcome to DU, Santos.

Wow, your very first post.
:hi:

[SantosL.Halper]

16. best job

thanks, been a long time lurker! -SLH

[newyawker99]

19. Hi SantosL.Halper!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Susang]

8. Make-up/Costume tech for a regional theatre

Most fun I've ever had at a job. It was a blast and creatively fulfilling as well.

[Another Bill C.]

9. Supercomputer tech support

I was a last-resort tech support guy for some supercomputer equipment in the 70s (well, they were supercomputers then). Walking onto a foreign site in my double-knit flares and western boots with a whole flock of local support guys waiting for me was one helluva boost to the ego. Then I would start tweaking things until I accidently solved the problem.

On the other hand, it's a lousy deal that I have to go back 25 years to reach the best ones.

[trof]

10. Flying cargo

after 20 years of flying passengers.
Just 3 guys and an airplane.
Go fly.
No passengers, no cabin attendants, nobody breathing down your neck about blocking out on time so the company could beat United or American or whoever that month in "on-time" departures.
The pallets and the crates don't give a ratz patootie if you're 20 minutes late or 20 minutes EARLY!

At 20,000' on climbout for an 8 hour flight, one at a time, you walk back to the empty upper deck (B-747), hang up your shirt and uniform, and put on a pair of nylon jogging pants and a T shirt. Pull on a thick pair of wooly sox. Ahhh, comfort.

Plenty of pretty good food in the galley. You can supplement that with delicacies you picked up in Milan or Tokyo or Amsterdam, or wherever you just spent the night. Fresh pot of coffee. Step back and have a SMOKE when you want. Your own little home-away-from-home.

10 years of low stress (mostly) flying. If it hadn't been for the 8 hour commute on &@%^*%*+xxx PASSENGER cattle cars I'd still be doing it. Did I mention that they paid me a LOT of money to do this and were very very nice to me to boot?
:-)

[Butterflies]

11. Babysitting as a teenager

I had fun with the kids, and since I lived with my parents I didn't need the money. Working would be more fun now if only I didn't desperately need the money!

[Melsky]

12. Manager of a weird art store that was only open on Saturday

it was in San Francisco, owned by a guy who had a huge art store in the 70s. He had tons of merchandise from that, plus he would buy out odd lots of art supplies and stuff from old warehouses. He owned an wholesale art/craft supply business, so we had new stuff too.

I got to spend a lot of time unpacking old boxes of cool stuff, and I got the first pick!

I also worked in a record store one night a week. The only other person that worked there at that time was my boyfriend. Our friends would come by. It was like being paid to be at a party every Saturday night.

[VOX]

17. Assembling baby strollers for well-to-do "near-moms" at an upscale store..

That job was cake! I was only 18 -- everyone was happy, pleasant, good things were on the way -- and I got terrific tips when I hauled the goods out to the shopper's cars. I *owned* the stockroom, it was my turf, and I had that space looking tall!

Easy, easy times.

[GregW]

18. Director of IT for a dotcom

Started pre-IPO, went public, grew to 5500 employees, and worked on some of the Internet's most exciting projects. My Intranet team won the CIO Magazine award for designing one of the world's top 50 corporate Intranets two years running (99/00) - I have the award plaques in my office now.

Eventually we were acquired ... the combined company swelled to 11000 staff, and nine months later was gone ... <<POOF!>> Chapter 7.

[Interrobang]

20. International Education Consultant or Technical Writer...

I can't decide. I had a 6 month contract gig with a really small company in Toronto. I got to do research on education in (mostly) South Asia and other subjects all day, plus got to meet a lot of interesting people who were coming to be students at our client universities. One guy was from Bangladesh, and he had had a job programming computers in Japan. He'd learned English *after* Japanese, and he spoke it like a Japanese-speaker, only with a slight Bangladeshi accent. Coool!

I also really liked my part-time gig re-writing and re-designing the manual for a friend's software. It was a lot of fun, and I got to go hang out with them a few nights a week, type stuff, and I usually had a cat sitting on my lap while I was working. Can't beat that with a stick for atmosphere! :) (I'm a cat person, and they love me!)

[TEXASYANKEE]

21. I can't use my current one?

Well, okay then. I scorekept softball for several years to make additional income. Making $7-9 a game to watch softball was a dream job (except when it was cold or raining).

[BrotherBuzz]

22. Pearl Diver (dishwasher)

During my college years I had a job working in a county hospital kitchen that turned out to be my home away from home. It was a job from heaven; Union wages (I was a teamster!), choose my hours, full 100% health (well, 90% dental), vacation, holiday pay, the works! Plus I managed to eat three or four free meals a shift, a definite perk for a young male college student with a hollow leg.

It was a no hassle job, and if the work got done...well take a break and do some reading out on the loading dock. I learned the fine art of pearl diving (pots and pans) from a retired military guy who worked in the kitchen as a hobby (well, actually he had three hobbies, Women, women, and women, and spent most of his shift shmoozing with the nurses). He was a court reporter during the week and was the only dishwasher I knew who arrived at work wearing a business suit. Unique dude. He taught me to let the water do the work, how to read the menu to anticipate what pots and pans the cooks needed, and when. I soon noticed that I only worked three hours a shift, the rest of the time being my own. Gravy Train! Sadly, most of the employees hated that position and struggled with it. I loved it, the cooks liked me and the job I did, and they took care of me. Mmm, lambchops again! Oh, but they're not on the menu...Oh, OK. Shhh. I had it pretty good while I was there.

[Wickerman]

23. Scrapyard laborer in the summer

Got a great tan, got in great shape, worked like a dog, got to learn how a lot of stuff worked by tearing it apart.

Stuff would come in and we had to get it down to size so that we could then sort it into types of metal. Semi-precious stuff was sent to Bob, an old guy who never talked, he just stripped the complicated stuff away in his shop area.

This massive man named Silo ran the yard, teaching all us college hacks how to use the cutting torches and giant metal shears that could much easier cut through your arm than through metal. I learned how to swear really well by working with Silo.

There was something very satisfying about spending 9 hours a day destroying things. I loved running a cutting torch, even if it was 100 degrees out and the torch added another 15 degrees to the balzing hot black asphalt we were working on.

By the end of summer I was ready to go back to college.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. This is going to sound funny...

but I worked for 4 months as a hostess for TGI FRIDAYS in Oklahoma City. That was the most fun I ever had working. I was the only lunch hostess, and I basically ran things at the door. The waiters were great. Some wanted to be full all the time...some wanted to be able to breathe, so they'd slip me money and I'd fill their sections accordingly. The managers were great, and the only downside was the visits from the dickhead district manager. Those were days I'd say I couldn't work because the guy was a complete ass. Anyway...that was a great time. That was from Dec. 99-Mar 2000.
Duckie

[Hubert Flottz]

25. KJ

Doing Karaoke shows in clubs! It's like running the Gong show! Free Absolut too!