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Let's go back in time...1973

Bella posted today about her first job, which was in the fast food industry. This has inspired me to post about mine.

I was 17 years old and a junior in high school. I was somewhat active in school activities and had just played the lead role in our junior class play, "Life With Father." But I was tired of not having money and decided to look for a job.

Unlike Bella, my mother didn't coerce me into getting one. In fact she discouraged it.

After looking for quite some time, I finally landed a job. I was going to be the lot boy at the 42 Drive In, located in Brunswick, Ohio. My job was to try to catch people trying to sneak into the theatre and to help clean the lot two days a week.

The pay was a whopping $1.25 an hour. But then again, I got to see some good movies. I also got to see some action going on in the cars-if you know what I mean. Problem was on cold nights, turn signals would be turned on by mistake. You knew what was happening if the windows were fogged up. I could go on but I am still trying to maintain a family friendly blog.

There were some lulls in the action so I would sit in my car and watch the movie. A couple of times I fell asleep.

Cleaning the lot the next day was some disgusting work. Reread two paragraphs above to get some of the gist of one of the items that needed to be removed. Other items were food wrappers, pop cans, beer bottles, half eaten food, and other pieces of refuse. Sometimes we found money there.

The manager of the place was a real piece of work. I was convinced he was someone's funny uncle. He always brought his poodle to work. His poodle's name was "Mouse." He also had a very animated voice. But the thing that endeared me to him the least was his liberal use of the F verb. I almost quit after my first week, but he talked me out of it, telling me that I would hear worse words than the F verb. 35 years later, I still haven't heard one worse.

Anyway, I lasted there for about three months before I decided that enough was enough. I told the boss off, he paid me in full and I went home. My mom told me that I could not use the money I put in savings and I had to find another job.

Side note:I will try to find the yearbook from my junior year and scan the picture from the class play.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great story! Takes me back when I worked at Marc's. The stories Icould tell.
Stylin said…
This is really neat!I loved reading this post
Bella said…
Good job Cliff! I enjoyed reading this...haha.

At least you got to see some free movies. :)

We have a new drive in here. It was built about 2 years ago and is AWESOME. The kids love it.

I only get to go with the kids though.

:(
Cliff said…
Bella: New drive in, huh? Most of the drive in theatres up here have been closed to make way for other development, such as retail establishments. The 42 Drive in was, the las time I checked an 84 Lumber store.

Well at least the number doubled...
Anonymous said…
WIXY...I had my first job at Wendy's in Massillon. $3.35 an hour! Wooo-hooo! But the take home food that I cooked up was good!

Regarding drive-ins, the one near me on Memphis Avenue closed a year ago. My wife and I loved it. On Saturday and Sunday morning, they had flea markets. Great memories. It's too bad kids today don't experience this kind of Americana.
Pat Jenkins said…
boy i didn't think they had even invented electricity when you were 17... huh...i kid.... my first job involved cleaning trash as well. but in my case that seems to be all i am good at. got to do what you got to do....

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