Some of the stranger ones include: wading into wetlands for the EPA to determine their water quality by collecting the insects there, counting toothpick-sized transistors by the thousands while attached at the wrist to the metal shelving they were stored on lest they be destroyed by a static electric shock, and one four-hour shift at Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant where I wore an outfit that looked quite a bit like this:
except for the headpiece and the tambourine, and substitute a solid, but just as vibrant, color for the stripes. I kid you not.
What's the strangest job you've ever had?
The number of jobs I've had makes for good work experience, but is not necessarily a good thing. I'm the kind of person who works at a job for a few months, starts getting frustrated by the monotony of it all, stays for a year - because, who quits a job after only a few months? -and then jumps ship. Until I started teaching, that is. Teaching was my niche. I never dreaded going to work, I felt totally fulfilled, and I loved that I got to meet a new group of students every year. This kept things interesting. It was never the same day twice.
With all this work experience, though, you'd think I'd be able to do something as simple as managing my own household, but I'm surprised to find that I'm having such a hard time doing it. I mean, I just made a list of things that need to be done each week and filled them in on a chart with blocks for each day. What is this, kindergarten? Why do I need to do that to get everything done? Laundry, groceries, bathrooms, vacuuming...I'm assigning these tasks to various days in hopes that I might find the time to get them done while the boys are napping or after they've gone to bed, because how can you clean out the fridge with a 19-month-old boy around? It's like my own little chore chart, but I don't get any stickers.
Maybe I should get stickers. Or jewelry. That might be the incentive needed to actually do the things I need to do.
Do you have a system to get things done around the house? Is Monday vacuum day? Does that question make you gasp because you can't believe I only assigned one day per week for vacuuming (and PS, that's because I really don't even do it that often and I need to start because I've seen some ants around and it's probably from all the crumbs)?
I'm looking forward to making a chore chart for Jack and PJ some day and being the giver, instead of the receiver, of the stickers.
2 comments:
I can totally relate! I've had my number off odd jobs,too, but none of them top your Chi Chi's costume. I also ended up as a teacher and loved it! As far as cleaning schedules, once the dog/cat hairballs start to look like mini-tumbleweeds I get the vacuum out. My lists and schedules just get lost in the mix of things, and I only have one child! Go ahead and give yourself a few stickers! You deserve them!
I have a system of housework. It's called, "Wait Until Things Get So Bad I Have to Drop Everything and Finally Clean the Bathroom". Seriously, though, I don't have specific days when I do things, I just do them when they need to be done. Sometimes the house needs vacuumed twice a week, other times once a week. I do the laundry when the hamper is full or when my husband complains all his good t-shirts are dirty. I wash the kitchen floor when it gets unbearably dirty (about once/week). That's what works for me anyway. I hope you can figure out a system that works for you!
And as for odd jobs, I haven't had any! All my jobs have been boringly normal administrative stuff. I worked as a clerk in a city family court (very depressing job), a secretary at a Catholic elementary school, and an intern at a state senate building. Booo-ring. Definitely not as cool as wearing that Chi-Chi's get-up. :)
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