Every Day is a Winding Road...

I have been working since I was 13, and I’ve had a lot of different jobs. I guess they all add up to who and what I am today, but as I look over the list I fail to see any discernable pattern other than consistent inconsistency:

• Mother’s helper (for two summers)


• Sunday manager at the local bowling alley (my Mother was the manager)


• Fruit & vegetable hawker at a weekend farmer’s market ("Hey lady, don’t pinch the tomatoes!")


• Checkout girl at the grocery store (the fastest!)


• Bartender at the local bowling alley (my Mother was still the manager)


• Bartender at a small airport restaurant (my friend’s sister was the owner)


• Cutco Cutlery Salesperson (selling knives door-to-door)


• Salesperson at a Honda motorcycle dealership (I got hired because I was the only woman to apply)


• Piano player at a tiny Christian church (they couldn’t save me, so they fired me)


• Bartender at a mostly migrant worker bar (grande cerveza!)


• Suicide hotline counselor (midnight shift...what a freakin' drag!)


• Waitress in a Greek diner (where I once threw an entire tray of food at the cook’s head and STILL didn't get fired!)


• Librarian’s assistant on the S.S. Universe (Semester at Sea work-study program -- sailed around the world)


• Public relations graduate assistant (college music department)


• Typesetter for a bar/bat mitzvah invitation company (the worst job ever for a non-typist -- too many hard-to spell words)


• Typesetter for a small newspaper (the typesetting machine had no memory…type a line, it went to print -- again, not a good job for a non-typist)


• Typesetter at a printing company (using old Compugraphic equipment)


• Bartender at a local bowling alley (not the one my Mother managed)


• Typesetter manager at a graphic arts company (where I finally got introduced to Mac's)


• Paper Bag Ad Salesperson (selling ads to be displayed on paper sacks used in a grocery store)


• Graphic arts trainer (teaching U-Haul’s graphic arts department how to use Mac's)


• Computer Trainer (most disgusting boss ever -- I should have sued for sexual harrassment as he could not remove his eyes from my breasts)

And then, because of that scoundrel of a boss, in 1989 I started decided to work for myself and started ComputerEase, where I can do a little bit of everything…writing, training, desktop publishing, coaching, and plenty of learning.

What I mostly am learning is that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up…or if I am going to grow up at all. Ever.

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