..I resume my resumé..

The Jobs I’ve Had

AUGUST 23, 2007 (Thursday) – Today I resume my resumé. Talking about the jobs I’ve had through the years.
Other than my first job at eleven years of age, which lasted only a few days (see previous blog), I started working for pay when I was thirteen years old, mainly in grocery stores, except for the job of cleaning the neighborhood theatre near our house. What a job that was, sweeping up the trash from the previous evening’s audience — ooey gooey! (a good thing: there was nearly always some change on the floor). The next job came when I was fourteen and became an usher at the palatial Majestic Theatre at Rusk and Travis, in downtown Houston. There was a crew of about 18 ushers, organized sort of military style. There was a comparable group of usherettes, girls with similar jobs. We all wore uniforms. Each day after school, I rode the bus to work and was on the job from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., after which I rode the bus home. We were busy, and could not take time to watch movies, but we learned to recognize the sounds from the screen, especially if the feature was held over, sometimes for weeks. My favorite movie was “Night and Day,” a musical, and favorite short feature was, “Tales from Uncle Remus,” which would be politically incorrect today. The “Gumby” cartoons were fascinating. One of the most popular movies shown while I was working there was, “Anna and the King of Siam,” which later became a Broadway musical, “The King and I.” I wrote in a previous blog about the day the firebug started a fire behind the screen. I was paid 35 cents per hour on that job. Since we worked about 35 hours per week, I made about ten dollars a week, after taxes. Not bad for a fourteen-year old in 1945. Oh, and I made all “A’s” at school that year.
That report card is still among my mementos, because it’s the only straight-A card I ever brought home. One may ask why it came during a year when almost every moment of my time outside of school was spent working; even inside the school I worked in the Assistant Principal’s office. I really don’t know why I did so well that year, unless it was because my parents had both remarried and settled down, and we three kids finally knew who was who and what was what as far as our home was concerned. At last we could have a sense of belonging somewhere. Maybe there’s nothing to that theory. Anyway, I was always busy, and staying out of trouble. In many ways, in my personal life, it was a good year, and my grades reflected that.
I was to have other jobs in the days ahead. More about them tomorrow.
Writing these blogs has caused me to relive parts of my life. This one has awakened feelings I had when I was fourteen. I remembered, at least for a little while, what it was like to be a teenager. I think it would be a good idea for parents to think about their own teenage years, especially how they felt about things, as they struggle with how to deal with their own teenagers. Probably what the kids want more than anything else, is to feel that their parents understand what they are trying to say. Parents can understand if they will honestly remember how they themselves felt at that age.