As a child, I don’t think I ever received an allowance unless you count the five cents I got from my Father, the tooth fairy. Being a 5-year-old entrepreneur, I recognized an opportunity since I had several loose teeth. My business partner, Teddy who was 8-years-old, offered to pull my remaining loose teeth, so we’d have enough money for ice cream. When I presented my second tooth to my Father, he gave us 10-cents if we promised to end our business venture.
As time went on, any money I received I’d have to earn. When I was 10-years-old, I was hired by my parents for my first baby-sitting job. I’d watch my one-year-old brother who was asleep in his crib, while they went next door to visit our neighbors. Unfortunately, the sleeping baby woke up crying as soon as they left. I figured that he’d stop crying if I picked him up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach him since I was short. The side of his crib gate was up, and I didn’t know how to lower it. So, I climbed up and stood on the lower rung of the crib gate, and leaned over to pick him up. Whoops! my knee got stuck in-between the slats. I couldn’t step up or back down. Now, both of us were crying! Finally, I un-wedged my knee, stepped down and called my folks. That was the most painful 10-cents I ever earned.
Other than baby sitting gigs for 15-year-old kids jobs were hard to find, but I finally found work in a store that sold baby clothes. My job was to stock shelves and fold clothes, but never to wait on anyone unless the other clerk was busy. However, I was forbidden to ring up a sale.That was left to the owner of the store. She had a suck-on-a-lemon face with a disposition to match. I earned 75-cents an hour—better than the 35-cents an hour I could earn baby sitting, and surely better than pulling out my teeth. I put up with a lot from the sour owner of the store, but when she handed me a toilet plunger and told me to take care of the over-flowing toilet, I said, “No, Thank You!” and left.
Life got serious when I had to find a good part-time job to help pay for my college tuition—not an easy task living in a small town. However, I was able to line up a 4-year summer stint in men’s pants. Hang On! It wasn’t that exciting. I got an office job at a men’s trouser factory, and earned $3.00 an hour. After the 3rd year, my salary was raised to $3.50. My job was to take the place of office workers when they went on vacation. I discovered that typing on a manual typewriter for 8 hours a day was cruel but not unusual punishment. Every morning I punched in on a clock and my favorite part of the day was punching out.
When the order person went on vacation, I was assigned to stand (not sit) for 8 hours in the cavernous, spooky warehouse and put orders in the right slots—IN or OUT. The orders would then magically be shot up somewhere into outer space. I only worked that job for one day, because somehow some of the IN were shot into OUT. It was dark in that warehouse.
One day, I arrived at work and there was a big picket line in front of the factory. The angry workers were shouting and waving what looked like scissors and stuff. I was afraid to walk through the picket line, but my tuition was due and I needed that paycheck. Meekly, I asked one of the workers, “Is it okay if I go into the office?” She looked at me and said, “Go ahead, Honey! No one wants your job!“ Hell! I didn’t want my job.
In today’s newspaper “Part Time Jobs for College Students” was listed. Here is my take on them. TUTOR: “Help students improve their understanding of class material”— (and if they just don’t get it, do their homework for them if you want your)—” $14 to $21 per hour.”
NANNY: “Assist parents with day to day raising of their children,”—-( and don’t get your knee stuck in a crib slat.)— “$11 to $17 per hour.”
DRIVER: “Responsible for getting people (or stuff) from one place to another.”—-(without getting lost)—“$9 to $15 per hour.”
FOOD SERVER: “Work in eateries. Part of the income is based on tips.”—-(So, pretend to be a nice person.)—-“$9 to $13 per hour.”
No matter what job you have—NO JOB IS PERFECT! But, I can promise you, that if you have never experienced the bumpy road to success you have either inherited the business, or you never sold your teeth.
Esther Blumenfeld