7 Weird Jobs I Have Had

Bethany over at Bitter Betty Blog offered up Seven Weird Jobs she has had. So I got to wondering if I had any jobs that qualified as weird? You be the judge. I will reach back and think...

1.) I started babysitting when I was 12 and had a good word-of-mouth reputation. One of the families I sat for (on Huckleberry Island in Brookdale!) were song writers. They had one child who went to bed early, and they had HBO which was pretty exciting. Friends of theirs would often stop by (picture California+Hippy+1978ish setting) and one time it was a guy named Neil and he hung out and watched TV with me. He was disheveled and hairy looking and laughed a lot at the show we were watching while strumming on a guitar. He told me he was in a band. Later when the dad drove me home he told me it was Neil Young and I knew who that was because my folks used to listen to him.

2.) A short-lived restaurant in Boulder Creek California called the Boulder House hired me as a salad/desert girl when I was 15 years old. I probably looked 13. Most of the staff was snorting cocaine and sleeping with each other. I felt like I was watching a racy movie the whole time I worked there. The chef that trained me was really good though, and to this day, I can still make a great salad and pour a perfect crepe.

3.) In 1980 I sold bloodworms, night crawlers and junkfood from Andy's on the Wharf in Santa Cruz. It was just a Sunday job. My highschool girlfriend Theresa's family owned the place and they had a church commitment that day.

4.) At 16, and a spiky-haired punk rocker girl, I worked selling tee-shirts, sex toys and operated a Ticketron outlet in the early days of Camouflage upstairs in the Cooperhouse in Santa Cruz. Before the earthquake took it down.

5.) Right after college when I was doing freelance design, I used to supplement my income by "teaching" art classes at the Bel Air Bay Club. Less like teaching, more like being an art waitress. It was hell! These kids were so demanding! I felt for them though. Their folks used to stay too late and the kids would get cranky and want to go home! I use to charge $50 an hour so I did it for a few years a few weekend nights a month.

6.) After almost ten years of working in the Advertising/Design field as an designer then art director, I got laid off. I took a temporary job with some private investment traders or "flippers" and I worked from 5:45 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m. and I loved it. I made almost as much as I had been making in design, plus they let me bring my dog to work. I stayed for about a year and a half then decided to leave L.A.

7.) I've done occasional design work for my brother who is a general contractor, sketching out design directions for clients of his. One especially eccentric (and wealthy client. Think private jets...) was having some decks built, house painted and bathroom remodeled, so I went by to snap pictures for my color sketches and I saw how filthy he lived. So I produced a brochure with different services. Expert housekeeping, to personal shopping, fresh flower and baking services to pet care. Well, he bought every service I offered upon seeing the brochure. I hired a small staff, and three days a week we were up there baking goodies, cleaning, choosing linens and managing services like car detailing to appliance repair. I won't tell you what I charged!! It was outrageous and it lasted for almost two years.

Have you had Seven Weird Jobs? Consider yourself tagged and remember to let me know so I can read them.