Please consider crafting a list of all the jobs you’ve had in your lifetime, every last one, even if you were hired and fired in a single hour. Post in the comments section of this page. I will collect them and set up a page for all of your “REAL” resumes, ultimately making available a few podcasts of interviews with other serial workers.
The Serial Worker 
My List:
KENSINGTON, CT
1. Paperboy
ALBUQERQUE, NM
2. Newsboy
CEDAR FALLS, IA
3. Mug Washer
4. Corn Detasseler
5. Short Order Cook #1
6. Short Order Cook #2
7. Christmas Tree Salesman
MASON CITY, IA
8. Department Store Stock Clerk
CEDAR FALLS, IA
9. Farm Hand
10. Pizza Delivery Man #1
11. Construction Worker #1
12. Heat and Ventilation Register Factory Worker
WATERLOO, IA
13. Concrete Pipe Factory Worker
CEDAR FALLS, IA
14. Custodian
15. Gift Store Sales Clerk
WATERLOO, IA
16. Poverty Program Outreach Worker
17. Construction Worker #2
18. Garage Door Factory Worker
SAINT ALBANS, VT
19. Apple Picker
PORTLAND, ME
20. University Cafeteria Dishwasher #1
21. Bar Singer/Entertainer #1
IOWA CITY, IA
22. Assistant Greenskeeper
23. University Cafeteria Dishwasher #2
24. Library Acquisitions Clerk
25. Bar Singer/Entertainer #2
PITTSBURGH, PA
26. Folk Trio Musician
27. Pizza Delivery Man #2
28. Casual Worker
SEATTLE, WA
29. Library for the Blind Clerk
30. Developmentally Disabled Helper/Counselor
31. Office Manager
32. Inventory Clerk
33. Recording Artist
34. Touring Singer/Songwriter
35. Homeless Shelter Worker
36. Songwriting Teacher
37. Musicians Union Representative
38. Water Dept. Clerk
39. Flower Delivery Man
GREENFIELD, MA
40. Mentally Ill Helper/Counselor
41. Non-Profit Executive Director
42. Contractor Painter
BRATTLEBORO, VT
43. Tenants Rights Organization Organizer/Director
NEW YORK, NY
44. Musicians Union Jazz Representative/Organizer
45. Nurses Union Organizer
46. Poet
Hi Sandy,
Great site! I can’t wait to see your memoir.
My jobs (to the best of my ability to remember):
Babysitter in various locations
Palo Alto, CA
Counter person, Chinese restaurant
Santa Cruz, CA
Counter person, Sam’s Roast Beef
Eugene, Oregon
Bean picker
San Francisco, CA
Restaurant cashier
Macy’s salesperson
Macy’s manager
Cost Plus salesperson
Bank Teller
Runway model (yes, really)
Film extra
Dance teacher
New York, New York
Receptionist, headhunter’s
Receptionist, health club
Bank Teller
Los Angeles, CA
Film extra
Stuntperson
Receptionist
Dancer on film
Actress on film
Modeling teacher (yes, really)
Cataloger of a wealthy person’s art collection
Script Analyzer for two production companies
Secretary, temp in too many places to remember, including hotels, production studios, private homes, corporate environments, etc. etc.
University education department lackey
Tutor
Editor
High School teacher
English teacher in 8 colleges and universities
Writer
I’m pretty sure I never worked with you, amazingly enough!
Hello Sister Serial Worker!
Let’s see if I can remember them all, going back to my first job-with-a-real-paycheck at age 16:
1. Pan-Fry Cook at a Seafood Restaurant (And I always reeked of fish grease no matter how vigorously I showered after work!)
2. Short-order cook in the diner down the street from the seafood place
3. Plastic (melamine plates) factory (Where I lasted only one night)
4. Cleaning the homes of wealthy people in the suburbs.
5. Factory job #2
6. Factory job #3
7. Office temp worker
8. County jail cook/matron (That was the actual job title! The place was straight outta Mayberry, where the cooks (women) had to do double-duty as jailers, as this good ol’ boy operation had yet to hire women deputies as of 1984!
9.Factory job #4 (assembling cedar shoe trees. I ended each shift smelling like a big pencil!)
10. Office temp work
11. Jail kitchen (Pt. 2)
12. Jail office worker (I was promoted from the kitchen after the sheriff’s dept. moved to new quarters on the other side of town and after they had finally hired a woman deputy)
13. Front desk clerk/laundress at dumpy motel run by a charming Indian family
14. Front desk clerk/laundry worker/housekeeper at hotel
15. Office work at factory making huge copies of blueprints for machines
16. Private detective (one week and I realized I was in over my head, despite having acquired my official PI license)
17. Dog kennel cleaner
18. Janitor
19. Receptionist at a “senior living” facility for elderly Jews.
I’m sure there were more, but I suspect some were so brief as to have been erased from memory. Thanks for the opportunity to reflect upon my pathetic job history!
Sandy,
I think the worst experience on job I loved was when I worked at a swanky hotel and was asked to bring coffee up to Danny Thomas, the guy with the honker of a nose. He actually had the nerve to not only comment on the cold coffee, my own nose! Then he pressed two dollars into my palm (even then it was squat, really) and said not to spend it all in one place. What a guy!…
Great site! You make me feel not so alone in my serial working-ness, and I appreciate that.
My job history over the past almost 12 years:
1. long john silver’s (my first day the toilet overflowed as i arrived; i was immediately handed a mop. now, the smell of fried fish brings back bad memories.)
2. loan clerk (mindnumbingly dull; i made $4.15 an hour.)
3. temp agency (i quit when they wanted me to wear a tight, tight hot pink shirt and do a promo for dog food at my local mall. for a 17 year old in a small town, this was not okay.)
4. proofreader (i was ecstatic to be paid $7.00 an hour)
5. information soliciter (i made cold calls to new jersey. i cried. i eventually just quit going to work.)
6. kitchen manager for a student co-operative house
7. film reviewer
8. paper pusher/admin person (longest job yet; two years four months)
9. job wherein i was supposed to be editing a magazine for a non-profit but instead ended up washing dishes and chasing chickens when they escaped from their coop. i lasted a week.
10. admin person for a sexist, jerky psychiatrist (felt bad for his clients; left after 3 months)
11. barista for a coffee shop chain (customers made this job miserable)
12. self-employed editor (most enjoyable job yet)
13. admin person, again (could have been a good job had my supervisor not been crazy and mean)(could write volumes on this)
14. case worker for prisoners
15. barista #2 (managers made this job miserable)
16. barista #3 (only lasted one shift. had to wear a uniform. wasn’t allowed to lean on counters…or lean, period. had to stand up straight, smile at all times, and keep hands clasped behind back.)
17. barista #4 (absolutely delightful compared to barista jobs 1-3, but somewhat dreadful by normal person standards)
18. animal shelter worker (contender for worst job ever)
19. temp office admin
20. temp library assistant
1. Summer Camp Cook (Same recipes as school lunch, now I know what lunch ladies do in the off-season)
2. Pizza Place (Did everything, cook, clean, counter, delivery, management…seven years worth! Thank you for the beer money in college, and high school too, tee-hee)
3. Customer Service Rep (Phone Company. One more class for B.A!)
4. Customer Service Rep (College sports eligibility hotline. Thank god I got that Philosophy degree!!!)
5. College Sports Eligibility Certifier (POWER!!! Whahahahaha!)
6. Night Shift Supervisor (For college sports eligibility certifiers. Temp wrangler!)
7. Customer Service Rep (Web site, part-time, at same time as #6)
8. Customer Service Rep (Software)
9. Author of Answers for Question Database Used by Customer Service Reps
10. Logistics Coordinator for Airport Security Personnel Remote Hiring Sites (Traveled to three of the four corners, Alaska, Maine, Florida….but, sadly, not Hawaii)
11. Unemployed! (Just a few weeks, not even long enough to grow a decent beard)
12. Instructional Designer of Customer Service Rep Training (Those who cannot do, teach)
13. Database Report Specialist (You guessed it, for Customer Service Rep Call Data)
14. Unemployed!!! (This one stuck for a while…enlightenment not achieved)
15. Oracle Database Data Fixer/Checker (And they make me wear nice pants for this?!?!)
So, here are the commands for my jobs as they are shouted at me in my nightmares…
COOK!…Cook, Drive, Then manage people who are cooking and driving!…Talk and get yelled at!…Again!…Match numbers on paper to numbers on computers!…Supervise people who are matching numbers on paper to numbers on computers!…Talk and get yelled at!…Again!…Write about talking to yelling people!…Make sure boxes get to places so that people can hire other people for jobs and get yelled at by people who don’t get their boxes!…REST!…Write about talking to yelling people!…Get numbers from computers that count how many yelling people talkers talked to!…REST, consider the complexities of life and how the virtue of work should be valued in relation to leisure, creativity, and self worth, FAIL!!!…Observe numbers in computers and fix the numbers that are wrong!!!
Your style is really unique in comparison to other people I’ve read stuff from.
Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess
I will just bookmark this page.