Thursday, April 17, 2008

My New Job

Lawn mowing expert! OK, so maybe not an expert, since I have just mowed grass one time in my whole life and it was yesterday. No, that isn't exactly true. When I was 13 or so my mom tried to teach me how to use the lawn mower. It was not good. I ran over her shoe (yes with her foot in it but I missed the toe) within the first 5 seconds of riding the mower. A few years later I tried again, but I was a horrible driver at the time and did a bad job. Not to mention that it takes a skilled person 1 1/2 hours to mow my parents' yard with a ride on mower, so for me to do it would take a whole day.

So who would hire someone like me with a track record like that? The good old in laws, that's who! I had my darling hubby, who was sick and tired of being at the beck and call of his dad when it came to the grass, give me some lessons, a little Lawn Mowing 101. And I think I did a pretty good job for my first time. I am quite proud. No toes were almost run over and all the observers were able to live and tell about it.

For someone who is sort of wussy, I have had the strangest jobs. I have babysat a lot, which isn't strange, but some of the other jobs I have had are string bean grater, custodial arts specialist, T-shirt folder. There are a few others, but they are generally good ones for a wussy girl like myself.
I bet you are wondering what the heck a string bean grater does. Well, I will tell you. It is the most boring job ever. If you think you have worked a boring job, you haven't, unless you have been a string bean grater too. What you do is you stand along a conveyer belt as string beans come down it and you pick out the bad ones, rocks, stems, hop toads, and sometimes snakes. Once there was a dead muskrat, but I didn't touch it. Sometimes the conveyer belt would go on for over an hour. You can't take a break during this time, you just have to work. And the noise of all the farm equipment is so loud you can't even listen to music. There was no air conditioning in the building which made it so hot, and I was standing the whole time. Ah, the memories!

I think everyone should have to work as some kind of custodian sometime in their lives. It makes you appreciate simple things being clean in a public place. I will NEVER touch the window of a door. I know how much work goes into cleaning the windows and doors. I worked in the dorms at the college I attended, and let me tell you, people are slobs. I will just never understand how gross people were. I have actually had a few other cleaning jobs after my college days, my in laws again being my best customers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

okay, so I'm just going to appreciate public cleanliness without being a custodian, okay? Thanks.
And maybe you need to teach Jared a thing or 2 about driving on his grass!