The calling jobs are the worst. The very worst. I'd rather clean toilets (and have happily done so).

During my four hour career selling AAA auto policies, I sold one, only because I diverged from the horrible script they were using. The job was mindnumbingly boring, but like many other jobs, if I had to do it for a living I could.

What ran me off from the job was the moron sharing my cubicle with me. He was a twenty-something GED hippy who was nice enough but drove me crazy talking about his recent trip with his girlfriend and her parents to "Lake San Rayborn".

Although I was in high school, I knew who Sam Rayburn was and that the famous Texas Congressman had a lake named after him. I asked my cube neighbor at one point if he didn't remember learning in school about Sam Rayburn, and he muttered something about that question not being on the GED exam he took.

I spent a large part of the down time of my four hour shift telling my cubicle neighbor that the name of the lake was SAM and not San. I don't think he believed me, as my final memory of that job is seeing my neighbor drawing a picture of a lake camping scene with the name "San Rayborn" underneath, as he recited the sales script to his callers.

Ooh, I almost forgot. In my first year of law school I wanted some extra money so I delievered phone books for about 3 days! The worst part was loading up my jeep by myself with about 2500 pounds of phone books and delivering them on doorsteps for about $80 in the end.

Apparently, the real way to do this is to actually have a truck, then get 4 teenagers from your family to run, jump, and deliver the phone books while you sit in the truck just driving. Doing it all by myself was a HUGE mistake! Never again. Oh, and all of it done in the humid Houston heat.

Farm Hand
Cow Hand
Feedlot Cowboy
Hog Slaughterhouse
TV News Director/Producer
Country Club Lifeguard - Three summers in a row -I held on to that job like grim death.

Electrician's helper for 10 summers beginning at age 15. I learned that crawling through attics with blown-in insulation was no fun, that 288 volts can and will knock you off a ladder, and that George Jones was a god to most construction types back then. I wouldn't trade my experiences for any amount of book learning since it taught me to appreciate real people and hard work.

England:
dairy herdsman/farm laborer/tractor operator
hairdresser's assistant (what was I thinking?)
waiter/cook/hotel management trainee

Australia:
jackeroo/stationhand/tractor operator (snakes, kangaroos, rabbits, flies, and mega-hundreds of sheep and cattle)
toilet cleaner/floor scrubber (better than some other higher grade positions worked!--Maybe janitors are on to something)
dishwasher/cook/waiter/host/bistro server
Sydney Hilton houseman (union on strike 50% of time)
encyclopedia sales(1 day--sold one set and that was too many!)
movie operator in ski resort and on cross-continent bus (oh, the control!)
new brick pallet stacker (mind-numbing)

U.S.
Exterior house painter (hot and dazzling)
Cook/waiter/host
Temp work for Mayflower movers, ManPower and other services in peanut factory, mall construction (torture, all)
university groundsman/university dorm painter (plain tedius)

You have got to appreciate how hard some people work in uninspiring/unrewarding positions--all of their lives!

Law was, eventually, a no-brainer!

JAS

OK, you win -- one act play, in 3 parts - one for each country, at the annual. JBs South Pacific musical will have to wait until next time.