What were your weirdest jobs ever?

[IronEagle]

I was a paperboy from age 12 to 18. Collecting was a pain in the ass. I couldn't believe how many people would be dicks about handing over $1.10 a week for seven days of delivery in all kinds of weather. This in a residential neighborhood where 90% of the dads were IBM engineers. What a strange breed of man they were.

I'm not sure how it worked with you but for me it was a strict you had to pay for the papers you got system.

Every bundle had the number of papers on the top of it.

If for some reason you had more papers than you could deliver... tough luck, you paid for them. You could "cut" subscribers from your bundle but the newspaper discouraged it... they wanted the paperboy to accept the loss.

I made money with the route but I got tired of collecting from the deadbeats. I never expected tips and looking back on things they were few and far between.

[IronEagle]

First job I had also ... did it for two years from when I was 12.

Collecting was no problem for me ... I even got pretty good holiday tips.

My problem was this one dog ... still remember that mean fuck's name: Pepper.

You must have been delivering in a pretty good area.

[Drama Queen]

haha

Saw the thread count and knew it was to late to throw the first punch!

[Overbrook]

Wasn't it really 3?

Butt Boy?

[Overbrook]

I went that "route" myself (ha ha)

So many stories from that job, most from collecting.

Surely not now, but a true rite of passage in the past.

[Drama Queen]

A temp cleaning job at the Getty oil refinery in Delaware City.

A fuel called "coke" was used to run the plant. It was a fine, charcoal soot powder that would infiltrate all the equipment in the power plant. I had to mop and clean that stuff up in the control rooms for 4 hours, and then kill time in the high towering scaffolds for 4 hours.

What inspired me to go back to college? Sitting in something like a dark mine shaft covered in black soot, smoking a joint with 3 older dudes with kids and responsibilities. That- and the thought of having to repel into large vats wearing a hazmat suit. That particular job was way too dangerous and the only reason they wanted us... the summer clean out.

I did the pizza box folding and the paper routes too.

[IronEagle]

A temp cleaning job at the Getty oil refinery in Delaware City.

A fuel called "coke" was used to run the plant. It was a fine, charcoal soot powder that would infiltrate all the equipment in the power plant. I had to mop and clean that stuff up in the control rooms for 4 hours, and then kill time in the high towering scaffolds for 4 hours.

What inspired me to go back to college? Sitting in something like a dark mine shaft covered in black soot, smoking a joint with 3 older dudes with kids and responsibilities. That- and the thought of having to repel into large vats wearing a hazmat suit. That particular job was way too dangerous and the only reason they wanted us... the summer clean out.

I did the pizza box folding and the paper routes too.

Thats pretty bad.

I worked for a summer at the GM plant in Newport doing grunt work. Thing is I got paid Union wages for that. I had to pay UAW dues, etc. That was f*cking good money. It was hard work but I was rich compared to all of my friends at the time.

[Drama Queen]

Guys were making union money and hiring out temps to do dangerous stuff. We figured it out pretty quick. The other guys talked about leaving too.

Let me tell you, everyone was exposed to that "coke" stuff too. Bad stuff.

[IronEagle]

Guys were making union money and hiring out temps to do dangerous stuff. We figured it out pretty quick. The other guys talked about leaving too.

Let me tell you, everyone was exposed to that "coke" stuff too. Bad stuff.

Did you get hired at a union wage? At the GM plant in Newport I did.

Say what you will but I got paid the same wage per hour for doing the same job they did.

It was a good deal at the time.

[Drama Queen]

No.

It was 1983. It was something like $8.00 or $9.00 an hour.

I also had a cool summer job in college... but that should be another thread.

[IronEagle]

No.

It was 1983. It was something like $8.00 or $9.00 an hour.

I also had a cool summer job in college... but that should be another thread.

My job at the GM plant was in 1982. Says something for the value of unions, IMO.

I did the same job, took the same risks, and pretty much got paid the same as my co workers at the time.

[Drama Queen]

You're right.

They hired us 4 months in advanced of the hazmat job. I imagine it was a hard job to sell on short notice. As far as working around the "coke" fuel, I'm sure many works had respiratory and other health issues. Two bulldozers moving "mountains' of that stuff all of the time.

...Pretty cool view high above the refinery.

[nor'easter]

some bad stuff at that refinery

at some point in the early 90s when I was working for WDEL they had some sort of mishap. As I was driving there the body count just kept going up and up and they were calling in ambulances, medics, choppers. Four guys coded but were all brought back. I think more than a dozen were injured in the end trying to get the first guys out. Scary stuff down there.

[Mt Iggle]

Working the midnight to 8 shift, the summer of '71, at the Tom's River, NJ, Pilot sewage Plant, and taking samples thru the nite, commuting from Ocean City (St. James Place).

[The Duck]

I worked at Esalen

On 9/11/2001, no less. I lasted three days. Acid trip weird. And I didn't know half the history of the place.