- Jun 12, 2014
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I wish
Various Jobs We Have Had
- Thread starter LagoonGator68
- Start date
I wish
- Jun 12, 2014
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I think cooter is a '51 model.
- Jul 23, 2014
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I had a couple of jobs in Tallahassee before departing to the promised land.
When I was 14 I worked for a pool company and during the winter the owner would buy a semi truck load full of Michigan Christmas trees.
So I would unload them (first time I saw snow was on the those trees... pretty lame).
Then I would unbind them, and set them up according to height all around the tree lot and then prune them and load them for customers.
Not too long after that the owner was imprisoned on insurance fraud and arson.
Then I worked for Burger King across from the clown college on Tennessee street. Ron Simmons came by the Drive Thru in a brand new Firebird.
Now how could he afford that?
Side benefit was... the co-eds also came by to brighten up the place.
Probably the best job (fun wise) I had was working in radio... Rock 104 and GC101 Country - both in Gainesville.
If you listened to the Gators between '84 and '86 you heard me doing the commercials and some of the in-between stuff during the games and during the weekday shifts.
Otis Boggs was my buddy on the AM side. Larry Vettel was a dooshnozzle.
The main benefit to the radio gig was meeting Dwight Yoakam, Randy Travis, Conway and Loretta, etc. after their shows.
Main disadvantage? Radio DJs typically don't make squat unless you end up in a major market.
Crappiest job had to be with Colorado Prime. A food service company ... and it was selling high end, home based meal plans.
Straight commission job - in home sales across Pinellas, Hillsborough and Polk Counties.
This was '89 and it was the darkness before the dawn (just like Gator football) because in January of 1990 I got into the IT business - same year Spurrier came to G'ville.
Good times since then...some ups and downs but ... sh*t happens and you keep pressing on.
When I was 14 I worked for a pool company and during the winter the owner would buy a semi truck load full of Michigan Christmas trees.
So I would unload them (first time I saw snow was on the those trees... pretty lame).
Then I would unbind them, and set them up according to height all around the tree lot and then prune them and load them for customers.
Not too long after that the owner was imprisoned on insurance fraud and arson.
Then I worked for Burger King across from the clown college on Tennessee street. Ron Simmons came by the Drive Thru in a brand new Firebird.
Now how could he afford that?
Side benefit was... the co-eds also came by to brighten up the place.
Probably the best job (fun wise) I had was working in radio... Rock 104 and GC101 Country - both in Gainesville.
If you listened to the Gators between '84 and '86 you heard me doing the commercials and some of the in-between stuff during the games and during the weekday shifts.
Otis Boggs was my buddy on the AM side. Larry Vettel was a dooshnozzle.
The main benefit to the radio gig was meeting Dwight Yoakam, Randy Travis, Conway and Loretta, etc. after their shows.
Main disadvantage? Radio DJs typically don't make squat unless you end up in a major market.
Crappiest job had to be with Colorado Prime. A food service company ... and it was selling high end, home based meal plans.
Straight commission job - in home sales across Pinellas, Hillsborough and Polk Counties.
This was '89 and it was the darkness before the dawn (just like Gator football) because in January of 1990 I got into the IT business - same year Spurrier came to G'ville.
Good times since then...some ups and downs but ... sh*t happens and you keep pressing on.
- Jun 19, 2014
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Answered phones at Home Shopping Network for two years back in my junior college days at then SPJC. Highlight of the two years.....getting a big embrace (since I couldn't get an autograph) from a then in her mid 40's Suzanne Somers....wearing a low cut one piece sweater dress, and it didn't come to her knee either, not even close. Can't remember what she was there to sell, didn't really care. Wood.
Only other 'celebrity' I really got to encounter there was Sherman Hemsley. Sitting in the break lobby one night with some co-workers and he strolls in and grabs a cup of coffee and just sits down with us. Had to go back to work 30 minutes later nearly in tears and with my ribs hurting from laughing so hard. He was hilarious.
Only other 'celebrity' I really got to encounter there was Sherman Hemsley. Sitting in the break lobby one night with some co-workers and he strolls in and grabs a cup of coffee and just sits down with us. Had to go back to work 30 minutes later nearly in tears and with my ribs hurting from laughing so hard. He was hilarious.
- Jun 11, 2014
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Pre-HS & HS (Illinois) 77-82
Detassled corn (2nd worse job ever)
Washed dishes at a country club (free night swimming
and golf)
College (Illinois) 82-87
Sandwich shop (great food, hard work)
Pizza maker and flyer (great job - great pizza)
Geology Field Camp TA (easiest job ever)
Edit: Almost forgot my summer jobs:
Ice Cream Man in KC (worst.job.ever)
Taco Bell in KC (I chose to work at TB over being and ice cream man again)
Mover's helper in KC (great job - my driver liked to
all day long)
Grad School (Florida) 87-90
Geologist logging the drilling of ~2500' foot deep injection wells in Melbourne and Titusville, FL (summers and weekends)
Various Geo-Tech jobs for a local G'ville firm in and around Alachua County
Post Grad (Florida 90-97, Texas 97-99, Washington 99-Present)
Geologist/Consultant, specifically environmental cleaup work
Detassled corn (2nd worse job ever)
Washed dishes at a country club (free night swimming
and golf)College (Illinois) 82-87
Sandwich shop (great food, hard work)
Pizza maker and flyer (great job - great pizza)
Geology Field Camp TA (easiest job ever)
Edit: Almost forgot my summer jobs:
Ice Cream Man in KC (worst.job.ever)
Taco Bell in KC (I chose to work at TB over being and ice cream man again)
Mover's helper in KC (great job - my driver liked to
all day long)Grad School (Florida) 87-90
Geologist logging the drilling of ~2500' foot deep injection wells in Melbourne and Titusville, FL (summers and weekends)
Various Geo-Tech jobs for a local G'ville firm in and around Alachua County
Post Grad (Florida 90-97, Texas 97-99, Washington 99-Present)
Geologist/Consultant, specifically environmental cleaup work
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- Jun 11, 2014
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I was a cook at various restaurants. I could tell you some horror stories.
- Jun 12, 2014
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Pre-HS & HS (Illinois) 77-82
Detassled corn (2nd worse job ever)
Washed dishes at a country club (free night swimming
College (Illinois) 82-87
Sandwich shop (great food, hard work)
Pizza maker and flyer (great job - great pizza)
Geology Field Camp TA (easiest job ever)
Edit: Almost forgot my summer jobs:
Ice Cream Man in KC (worst.job.ever)
Taco Bell in KC (I chose to work at TB over being and ice cream man again)
Mover's helper in KC (great job - my driver liked to
Grad School (Florida) 87-90
Geologist logging the drilling of ~2500' foot deep injection wells in Melbourne and Titusville, FL (summers and weekends)
Various Geo-Tech jobs for a local G'ville firm in and around Alachua County
Post Grad (Florida 90-97, Texas 97-99, Washington 99-Present)
Geologist/Consultant, specifically environmental cleaup work
IYO, how does fracking affect the aquifer and earthquakes? No b.s. Please.
- Jun 12, 2014
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I'm afraid to ask. How about just some hints?
- Jun 11, 2014
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- Jun 12, 2014
- 7,126
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Founding Member
- Jun 11, 2014
- 22,331
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Founding Member
Pre-HS & HS (Illinois) 77-82
Detassled corn (2nd worse job ever)
Washed dishes at a country club (free night swimming
College (Illinois) 82-87
Sandwich shop (great food, hard work)
Pizza maker and flyer (great job - great pizza)
Geology Field Camp TA (easiest job ever)
Edit: Almost forgot my summer jobs:
Ice Cream Man in KC (worst.job.ever)
Taco Bell in KC (I chose to work at TB over being and ice cream man again)
Mover's helper in KC (great job - my driver liked to
Grad School (Florida) 87-90
Geologist logging the drilling of ~2500' foot deep injection wells in Melbourne and Titusville, FL (summers and weekends)
Various Geo-Tech jobs for a local G'ville firm in and around Alachua County
Post Grad (Florida 90-97, Texas 97-99, Washington 99-Present)
Geologist/Consultant, specifically environmental cleaup work
U of I huh? Care to share any "Hash Wednesday" stories from the Quad?
- Jun 11, 2014
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I'm not an expert on the subject, but it's pretty obvious fracking is bad for the environment and job security for people like me.
Fracking in the subsurface near a potable aquifer, whether it be below/above or adjacent to a drinking water source, can cause water quality issues.
The fracking process requires chemicals, holding ponds, etc. that can impact the surface environment (plants, animals, invertebrates, surface water, aquatic plants and critters, etc.) when those chemicals are misused, the holding ponds leak or breach, or they get a blowback at the well, spewing the stuff all over.
Fracking also creates air emission issues (methane mainly), but I'm a soil and water guy, so I can't really speak to the air side.
Some geologist's believe fracking does have an influence on earthquakes (small scale tremors that can only be measured by instrumentation) - I kind of scoff at the idea that fracking could create a large enough earthquake to even be felt by humans.
- Jun 11, 2014
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It wasn't really that big of a deal to us and they never really messed with anybody until after I left for Florida. They apparently arrested a few people the year after I headed south.U of I huh? Care to share any "Hash Wednesday" stories from the Quad?
- Jun 11, 2014
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I was invited up by a friend who was going there back in '79. It was cold but entertaining! Hit the White Horse bar & a place called T-birds (if I recall correctly). One side of the street was a different drinking age than the other or something like that.
- Jan 6, 2015
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'86 first job was as a bagger at Albertson's on 13th. Too young and stupid to understand the hazards of cleaning out the women's restrooms and those 'recepticles'. Also too dumb to realize when I volunteered to help a friend clean out the dumpster out back that he was getting punishment. And too dumb to realize that as I stopped on my way to clock out and inspected some weird packaged goods back in storage (never figured out what it was) there was a manager behind me who wanted to write me up for attempted theft but I didn't give him the grounds for it - he was a total dck, and my direct supervisor buckled to him rather than stand up for me, and I was probably the best (dumbest) employee they had. I quit shortly after that - I may do dumb things, but I'm a good guy and if that is how they handle good people, f them.
'87-'89 worked for a fuel oil company in Gainesville. This was my first real job, doing deliveries of diesel to construction sites and home heating oils. Additionally, we ran a warehouse in the back with all kinds of lubricants, and I learned how to tear down and rebuild pumps. Learned to weld, learned to change out a transmission, learned a lot of things. Spent a few weeks one summer painting the giant above ground fuelt tanks. Took a picture of my tan line at the end of it, like that girl on the sun tan bottles where I pulled my waist band down a bit in the back. Best tan I ever had, even I didn't know I was white until I checked the clothed areas. The owner was a good guy, taught me a lot - I owe him in a lot of ways.
'91-'93 had a few jobs at UF related to Mechanical Engineering. First was helping grad students run test studies on high speed air nozzles. I did polishing and helping set up the test runs. Managed to spill about a pint of mercury all over the place at one point. Later held a job as teaching assistant for the CAD lab running the netowrk of Unix stations, creating and delivering coursework, breaking it to a few slower kids they should find another major, etc.
'93 Short run of teaching MS Windows to employees at Shands hospital. Summer course, lots of playing solitaire, wasn't asked back.
After that, I graduated and had more 'real world' jobs, but I'll get to those later.
'87-'89 worked for a fuel oil company in Gainesville. This was my first real job, doing deliveries of diesel to construction sites and home heating oils. Additionally, we ran a warehouse in the back with all kinds of lubricants, and I learned how to tear down and rebuild pumps. Learned to weld, learned to change out a transmission, learned a lot of things. Spent a few weeks one summer painting the giant above ground fuelt tanks. Took a picture of my tan line at the end of it, like that girl on the sun tan bottles where I pulled my waist band down a bit in the back. Best tan I ever had, even I didn't know I was white until I checked the clothed areas. The owner was a good guy, taught me a lot - I owe him in a lot of ways.
'91-'93 had a few jobs at UF related to Mechanical Engineering. First was helping grad students run test studies on high speed air nozzles. I did polishing and helping set up the test runs. Managed to spill about a pint of mercury all over the place at one point. Later held a job as teaching assistant for the CAD lab running the netowrk of Unix stations, creating and delivering coursework, breaking it to a few slower kids they should find another major, etc.
'93 Short run of teaching MS Windows to employees at Shands hospital. Summer course, lots of playing solitaire, wasn't asked back.
After that, I graduated and had more 'real world' jobs, but I'll get to those later.
- Jun 17, 2014
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Yard boy at a boat marina in Melbourne in 1980-82. Scraped barnacles off/washed/polished/retrieved/test drove/water skied behind/and completed minor repairs to small boats (12 to 30 footers). Installed trailer hitches, cut the grass, and built a wall made of concrete-filled sandbags, which is still there. Helped the canvas guy complete repairs, including driving him around, cause he was talented but a complete drunk.
Was on board when one of our mechanics accidentally set a customers's boat on fire. Swam to shore to ran back to the shop to let everyone know. The boss told me drive back and tell him he was fired.
Was on board when one of our mechanics accidentally set a customers's boat on fire. Swam to shore to ran back to the shop to let everyone know. The boss told me drive back and tell him he was fired.
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- Jun 11, 2014
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- Aug 4, 2014
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85-87 work at mcdonalds and drove school buses
88-part of 89 plumber apprentice 2nd day on the job under a crawl space repairing a water line came face to face with the biggest black snake I ever seen got 7stitches in my head trying to get out from under the house. later in 89 join the military, better to get my @ss shot off than deal with snakes in a crawl space. 1994 to present working in a maximum security prison
88-part of 89 plumber apprentice 2nd day on the job under a crawl space repairing a water line came face to face with the biggest black snake I ever seen got 7stitches in my head trying to get out from under the house. later in 89 join the military, better to get my @ss shot off than deal with snakes in a crawl space. 1994 to present working in a maximum security prison
- Aug 28, 2014
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That story gave me wood.Answered phones at Home Shopping Network for two years back in my junior college days at then SPJC. Highlight of the two years.....getting a big embrace (since I couldn't get an autograph) from a then in her mid 40's Suzanne Somers....wearing a low cut one piece sweater dress, and it didn't come to her knee either, not even close. Can't remember what she was there to sell, didn't really care. Wood.
....
- Jun 11, 2014
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That was before my time, but I remember the White Horse. The crackdown on the drinking age thing was just in it's infancy when I started in 82. Law was 18 to get into the bars, 21 to drink. Then they made it 19 to get into the bars, which screwed me sometimes for about a year. I was lucky enough to have an older sibling who could talk me past a couple of bouncer's that he knew at his favorite spots.
