Pre-Career Employment

Throughout my life, I have had interesting jobs that all taught me skills and lessons that benefitted me later in life. For each one, I tried to recall something important I learned from that particular experience:

• Gymnastics Instructor - While in college, I taught gymnastics for a company that served younger children. I learned how to use my gift of coordination to inspire kids to want to learn. It was rewarding watching them learn to do something they didn't think they could accomplish.
• Security Guard - I studied and received a registered Guard Card for the state of California and used it during my summers to work at a very large  10-day camp meeting event in Soquel, CA where 10,000 people would attend. I also earned a side-handle baton certificate and tear gas certificate (before pepper spray was a thing). When I was younger, I think I secretly liked having "authority" and I loved the adrenaline rush during emergencies. As I got older, I grew to enjoy the responsibility of ensuring the attendees were safe and the strategy for dealing with people who caused problems.
• Firefighter - We were called "firemen" back then. I was a volunteer firefighter at the Deer Park Fire Station and I carried this monster pager with me while in college. I had an EMT certification and good training for grassfires, auto accidents, and search and rescue in large buildings. I worked a few gruesome accidents, put out a few grassfires, and did a lot of cleanup work after accidents.
• College Dorm Resident Assistant - The Dean saw something in me that I didn't see in myself when he hired me to be an RA in the dorm as a Junior at PUC. It was a lot of responsibility but I learned to be a friend to the younger students who were homesick and I had to deal with the ethics of following the rules I was expected to enforce...which was challenging at times because we had a blast in the college dorm. This truly helped me gain confidence that I could be a leader because people could see through my lack of confidence otherwise.
• Computer Lab Instructor - This honed my skills at making sure I knew what I was talking about! These labs were very technical and I had to be on top of my game when students asked all kinds of crazy questions. I also had to be skilled at helping them learn instead of doing the work for them, which could have been easier at times.
• Painter - I painted a dozen houses (exterior) during the summertime while at college. These houses were owned by a hospital and I worked for the maintenance department of that hospital. I learned the skills but also learned how to work hard and with other people who were more skilled and less skilled than me. It was good exercise too. Because of it, I hate painting walls now and would much rather hire someone to do it than do it myself!
• Alarm System Installer and Electrician Tech Assistant - I worked for a large alarm system company in Napa, CA that did electrical wiring as well as alarm system installs. I worked in numerous mansions throughout the area and it was hard work and sometimes a little scary (e.g., I was in a tight crawl space under a house when an earthquake struck the valley and I thought the house was going to fall off its foundation and kill me). I learned construction skills, wiring techniques, and because I tested the alarm systems (tried to break through them), I figured out how they worked. I did waste a lot of time when I was stuck in the warehouse because after I got it organized, there wasn't much to do other than create innovative mouse traps. I learned that I didn't want to do manual labor for a career because the people I worked with hated their jobs.
• Grocery Store Stocker - I worked as a stocker at the Angwin, CA store. I was able to pretend to have OCD as I turned stocking into a game as I made sure my assigned isle was perfect as far as lining up all the products on the shelves and keeping the stock room well organized. Learning to gamify tasks that were otherwise boring was a helpful skill. I was very poor during college so I absolutely LOVED that the store would sell me cans of food at a big discount when they were missing labels or had dents. I was good at figuring out what was inside the cans without labels so my purchases were targeted.
• Hotel Houseman - I worked nights so my tasks included taking people's luggage to their room, quickly "turning" (cleaning) a room that was needed outside of regular housekeeping hours, and helping with laundry (washing, drying, folding). Honestly, the thing I learned the most at this job was that movie stars, businessmen, and others did some pretty horrible things when they were away from home. I, unfortunately, saw a LOT of pornographic magazines that were left behind, which was challenging to later have to overcome a warped view because of those sources. I was treated so horribly by a few movie stars that I was shocked at how entitled they felt they were. I think that really stuck with me because I never wanted to be like that.
• Fast Food Worker - Burger King in Aurora, CO was my first W2 job and Wendys in Napa, CA was my second and last fast food job. I was a good worker at both jobs. I needed the money. I tell this story elsewhere in this website, but I got the job at Burger King because I passed the test the manager placed on me. He asked me to sweep the entire parking lot using a regular broom and dustpan and without a uniform, just my street clothes. It was a HUGE undertaking and took me several hours and it was embarrassing as classmates walked in or came through the drive-thru. But I was told that several quit before me and since I completed the test, I was hired. It was a fun job and I was very responsible and did my work, unlike many coworkers who sluffed off. It gave me money so I could save and buy things I wanted that wouldn't come otherwise.
• Service Station Gas & Tire Attendant - My father was a mechanic at this gas station and I often worked there pumping gas and changing tires. I have no idea how in the world they allowed me to work there as a 17-year-old but I did and I'm surprised I still have all my fingers after working that tire machine that would remove rims from tires and do spin balancing, etc. I learned how to be polite to customers who wanted their gas filled or oil topped off. After getting screamed at by a man who had his sportscar get gasoline dripped on by me, I learned to be super careful with other people's toys. I also learned auto mechanic skills to maintain my own cars later in life.
• Youth Summer Camp Counselor - I don't recall how I got this job but as a high schooler, I worked with adults in Aurora, CO at a summer camp through the parks and recreation department. After work, when they drove us from the camps back to the rec center, I'd often hang out at the rec center and play pool with various people. I used to be really good at it with a natural ability to make some skilled shots. I wish I could play like that now, but I can't.
• Philatelic Collection Breakdown Specialist - My first job outside of mowing lawns was working for a stamp auction house. I got the job because my teacher at school recommended me to the owner. I know how to grade postage stamps and would help break down collections and classify each stamp for the auctions they'd hold. Instead of paying me money, they'd let me choose a few stamps to take home. I thought this was strange since I knew their value and often chose the most expensive ones. As a youngster, this was kinda cool.
• Lawn Mowing - Because my father was often "on tour" in the military, I had to learn how to be the man at home and mow the lawn, fix my siblings bicycles, etc. When I was very young, I started mowing our lawn and somehow started selling my service to neighbors who would pay $2 to get their lawn mowed. Mom would take me to the gas station where I could fill a gallon gas can to take with me for my lawn mowing business. When I wanted to buy something, I learned to work for it. I learned to trade my work for pay and the more I wanted to buy something, the harder I'd work for it.