The Thursday Three

In my ongoing quest to shake things up, I thought this could be interesting. It would be very cool to read what other people have to say, too. Hint, hint.

Three Jobs I Have Had In The Past.

Note that I say past, so you won't see nursing on here. Also, even though I fully believe it's a real job, I'm not putting on stay-at-home mom, either. These are jobs from my more distant, murky past. And not even all of them. Ready?

#1. Cocktail Waitress. At both a Mexican restaurant and a dinner house.This was during my college years. (The first time around, when I was young, stupid and relatively cute). I was possibly the worst employee to ever put on a frilly aproned uniform. I wasn't just bad, I was supremely bad. It didn't help that I worked nights and hung out with a crowd that spent the days laying on the beach partying. We would stumble in for our night shifts sunburned and with not a care in the world. The bartender, who thought he was a lot cuter than he really was, kept trying to get on the good side of all the single girls by keeping a coffee cup filled with Kamikazes the whole shift. The entire staff was a soap opera, and I'm sorry to admit that I played my part in the drama. Much of that time was a blur, but I remember enough to make me never want to do it again. I'm sure any of my customers would be happy to second that. Let's examine my flaws, shall we? Well, I hate being told what to do for starters. I really dislike rude people, to name one more. And how about this - I hate sucking up to people for money, even if it is in my job description. Now add in the fact that I can be just a touch mouthy and the customers could be a touch feely and it was a nightmare. For everyone involved. Enough said.

#2. Artist's Model. I worked as a figure model off and on from the time I was eighteen until I was pregnant with Sasquatch, mostly at Art Center College of Design. I got the job to start with because we have a very dear family friend who booked the models and she thought it would be a good opportunity for me. I, of course, was very interested until that whole business about taking your clothes off came up, and then I took some persuading. What ultimately won me over was the money, which was terrific, especially for a teenager who still lived at home. Still, I will never forget the first time I got up on a well lit stand in front of about twenty students and stripped down to nada. I was petrified, until I noticed that they couldn't give a rat's behind, and from then on it was like a dream job. We would hold our poses for twenty five minutes and break for five. If it was a painting class you'd usually keep the same pose all day, but if it was a drawing class you'd change poses every time you took a break. What I loved was that when you were holding the pose your mind could just be a million miles away, since no one expected you to do anything else. I was a journalism major, and I would write entire articles in my head while I posed, and then jump up and write them down as quickly as I could on my breaks.

#3. Movie Studio Page. For Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. This was my first job after I graduated from college, and boy, was it an eye opener. As a page we gave private studio tours
and worked the television shows that taped with a live audience. We also got hired out to the various production companies and worked a lot of award shows and private parties. The pay was horrendous and the uniforms nasty, but the lot was crawling with celebrities and we got to be part of the action. We got invited to everything.

The lure was that the job was just a stepping stone to better things, and the line we heard all the time was "Do you know how many people would kill to have your job?" A lot of people said to hell with it and went on to do something lucrative (and respectable) like banking, but a lot of us stuck it out to see what would happen.

Sure enough, it was a stepping stone to better things, and I stayed at Paramount until right before Sasquatch was born. It's an era of my life I'll never forget and I came out of that place with enough good stories to last me a lifetime. I don't tell them often though, because for some reason I feel self conscious about it. In California there's a million of me. In the Midwest...not so much.