Paycheck to Paycheck
Have you ever tried to use one of those wind up phone chargers? From personal experience, they are like the unscratchable itch, a pursuit that feels foolish and desperate but insatiable. It is true, that little light gives you hope and makes you push past the wrist pain and the shame of needing your iphone that desperately.
I saw my buddy Rich Werner, the guy who designed Plants VS. Zombies, post a list of every job he ever had in order on Facebook. That, and trying to put my head into the characters of WOW Mart’s little world got me thinking about my past jobs. So, here are my jobs in order. I never did make it to college. You should post yours as well in the comments.
- After School Paper Routes
- Trap Boy at Clay Pigeon Shooting Range
- 3am paper routes with my mom
- King’s Table Buffet Dishwasher, line cook, prep cook
- Sign Shop making decals and signs, designing for local business, vehicle lettering
- Young Life Student Staff
- Abby’s Pizza delivery boy and dish washer
- Gym front counter
- Chevron graveyard shift clerk, gas pumper, sometimes car washer
- Graphic Designer for Hardin Optical Telescope company, designing ads and catalogs
- Night vision lens assembly line, cleaning lenses in potent chemicals
- Another Sign Shop
- Self Employed doing odd jobs while trying to make it in a rock band
- Flash animator, animating math problems and doing web design for a friend’s design company
- Short stint at Disney working on children’s book art
- Self employed (Axe Cop happens here after a couple months of being totally unemployed)
- Writer/producer on Axe Cop show
- Writer/Story Editor on VeggieTales in the House.
What’s funny is how much this list leaves out. This is just the stuff I did to make money. I spend a good 85% of my time working on things that make me no money. Still, even post the success of Axe Cop, I live this way. Probably now more than ever actually. It would be fascinating and much more time consuming to write out that list.
I leave you with one more parting gift. This guide to hand to hand combat with bears. Please enjoy, and share if you haven’t done so in a while, it helps more than you know.
-Ethan
I’ve managed to have a pretty short list of jobs over the years, but I suppose most of them lasted at least a couple years.
Library Page
Bag Drop Attendant at a golf course
Writing Tutor at an art school
Note-taker at a community college
Freelance illustrator/graphic designer/storyboard artist
Wow avoided the food industry altogether. Impressive.
I would think you could be told “X number of minutes winding” and so you’d just sit and count..
I’m loving these extra graphics.
In my recollection each wind is like 1 bazillionth of a second of battery life.
Okay, deep breathe….
Lemonade stand
Lawn mower
Construction laborer
Ice cream dipper
Burger King fry slinger
Stereo salesman
Landscaper
Mover
Hot shot crew member
Small engine tech
Astrojump inflater
Finish carpenter
Small engine tech (again)
Astrojump inflater (again)
Campus Life staff
Youth pastor
Firefighter (part-time)
Warehouseman
Truck driver
Chemical salesman
Science teacher
Math teacher
PE teacher
Coffee shop owner, but still a PE teacher
Dang-it, I missed a couple. Marine deputy goes along with firefighter and Data forensics /systems integration among the teaching gigs.
All that and college!
English teacher (public schools)
Embassy intern
Wedding celebrant
Freelance writer
Ebook indie writer
Blogger
English teacher (university)
Totally avoided the food industry!
Dish washer at scout camp (>1.75 and hour)
clerk at ace hardware
photo developer at walgreens
ARMY
Lowes
Translator
Pool builder
pool servicer
Law enforcement
my list is pretty short,
assistant pet groomer
newspaper jogger
various positions at same newspaper/printing co.
digital production manager – current
“Aren’t all the entrances blocked off?” A mole bear literally came through the living room floor. I don’t think they need a sliding glass door.
Good point. I might need to give you an editing credit in the next print edition.
Alright. Neat.
Yeah but you’d think Wowmart would be placed on top of a big concrete slab. Can’t see a mole bear getting through that
My point was that there’s some messed up stuff. If you’ve seen a mole bear and such, I’m sure you’d be worried about other types. Surely something could go through the walls, the roof, etc.
My list is short.
Bruster’s ice cream as a crew leader/ice cream maker
We’re rolling pretzel co. Making pretzels.
Sony. Making TVs.
Pittsburg Pirates PNC park at one of the food stands and a beer stand for the All Star Game.
An assembler for Phillips/Respironics.
Wow from pretzels to TVs just like that?
Child actor in commercials
Paperboy
Lawn mower
Dishwasher
Caterer
Hotel front desk
EB Games
Debt collector (worst job ever)
Video game reviewer
Military auditor
Accountant
Six Sigma consultant
Factory cost modeler
Some interesting jobs on that list. Debt collector sounds miserable.
Ooh, the job post. Let’s see if I can remember everything in order…
Background/extra for a movie (first official paycheck, and I got to meet Robin Williams, which completely blew my little 12 year old mind)
Busses/dishwasher at a pizza place, then kitchen staff at that same place.
Dishwasher at a taqueria.
SEARS, first in hardware (good pay) then electronics (commission only, even when sent to the basement to do inventory for hours in end)
Copy boy for a land title company (during the real estate boom in the early 2000’s)
Assistant manager at a seasonal photo op at the mall (Santa photos, during the copy boy times)
Bagger, then cashier at a grocery store (the union was horrid, but the owner effectively covered all employees union dues via an extra check every 6 months, which was pretty cool)
Security (night patrols)
Security (screening at local courthouse)
And currently: surveillance at a casino (watching all the games/activity on property)
The entirety of this list goes from ’97 to now…19 years of work, with some college sprinkled in there for good measure.
What movie??
Jack (the one where Robin Williams is playing a 10 year old with that crazy advanced aging disorder). It was mostly shot at my middle school (the exterior parts, at least) and they needed more kids for some external shots, so I was in the background of 3 scenes (line of kids walking to school from field, random playing on blacktop/basketball courts, and part of all the kids running onto field from school)
It was the sort of background stuff that’s just there, not credited or anything, but still neat being able to see myself (was especially cool seeing it in theater)
Glad I got your email, I’m caught up again. Dare I guess, Were-bear?
Nice! I’m amazed how many people lost track and had no idea the comic was posting again until that email went out.
Let’s see…
“team member” at K-mart
Crewmember at Burger King
Flooring contractor
NAVY
Freelance illustrator – current since 2008