Mark’s Been Around the Block (The Employment Block)

I was talking to my daughter about her upcoming employment, and she asked about the various jobs I have worked in my life.

Let's start at the beginning. Busboy. And possibly the best busboy you ever had clear your dishes and load them in his cart in a quiet fashion. I'm sure if the 4B's restaurant was still in the Holiday Village Mall in Great Falls, they would still talk about me.

It only paid $2.18 an hour but I also got to eat as much chicken as I wanted. And free Coke.

But you had to work every Saturday because malls are busy on Saturdays.

When you're job hunting these days, it's different than it was back in the 1970s. Back then the newspaper had a "Help Wanted" section. You had to circle the jobs that you were interested in with a pen or pencil. Then you had to physically go to that place of business, fill out an application, and get interviewed. (You can probably hear my daughter saying "SERIOUSLY?!)

None of this "text to apply" nonsense.

I mowed neighbors' lawns and shoveled driveways for cash.

I was a laborer for a salvage company for 4 days.

I also had stints in pizza making, school bus driving, solar panel sales, and was even a vacuum cleaner salesman for about half a day until I finally found out what their scam was all about. I told them I'd be back after lunch.

That was in 1982. I hope they're not still waiting for me.

But I was fortunate to follow my dad into broadcasting and am in my 40th year of not really working for a living.

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So, I don't know what she's going to be when she grows up, but I strongly suspect it won't be doing any job that involves cleaning bedrooms or cooking. Just a hunch.