OT: Jobs worked while in college
Anybody have any good stories about jobs you may have worked while you were in college? Hopefully Ann Arbor stories, but any location will do.
Mine: I worked at Flipper McGee's and the Cross Eyed Moose (pinball arcades) my junior and senior years at Michigan ('82-'83).
Flipper McGee's (later called Pinball Pete's after a change of ownership years after I left) was on South U and was very mellow. Folks came in, bought tokens and played the machines.
The Cross Eyed Moose (on East Liberty) was rough. Folks would come in, camp in the back near a machine and sell dope. I had to keep running them out of the building. One Saturday it was business as usual and I had to kick one of the drug dealers out. About an hour later two Ann Arbor police came in and asked me if I had seen so and so and I responded that I had kicked him out an hour before. I asked why, they responded that he was a suspect in a home burglary in which a hand gun was stolen. That wasn't good news, but I luckily never saw the perp again.
Yep, mine is not that great of a story, but hopefully others out there have some good ones.
Post script...
Before this ages off into oblivion, I'd like to thank you all for responding. We have turd farmers, drug dealers, construction workers, pizza delivery folks, refs, coaches, waiters, bus boys, programmers, light bulb engineers (changers), and others.
I'm surprised nobody owned up to being a rent boy.
February 28th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^
My worst game was with a low league grad stundent game. There were a lot of racial slurs thrown around for a bunch of white kids. Quite an extraordinary amount of hate for the Irish and Jewish Communities in that game.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 3:10 PM ^
Perhaps you were my supervisor?
February 28th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
Like the week after, worked for the parks and rec in my city. Trash and toilet paper, those were my jobs. Saw some things that aren't meant for human eyes.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:32 AM ^
I think being a patient tranporter in a hospital is like the best job a college student can have (outside of something in their field of study). Decent pay. Good work experience with actual responsibilities. Learn things that could help you save lives. Good benefits for cheap (medical, dental, vision, etc). Downtime to do homework.
I really lucked out knowing someone in the hospital. I remember at one point we were interviewing for 2 open positions and had over 600 applicants. Note: this was when the workforce was really struggling.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
Told this story before in a thread about Dan Dierdorf, but here goes (most of this copy and pasted from a previous post) :
Also pretty sure it was this same dinner, but someone was serving a big tray of salads and they tripped and spilled a bunch of salad and ranch on Lloyd Carr.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
/ s
February 28th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
fun.
painting, too. one year i worked at a local stock brokerage and that was a good education.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 28th, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^
kick you out of the Cross Eyed Moose?
February 28th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^
Don't think so, I was pretty stealthy.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
I would "bake" rather than get baked.......make brownies and sell them around campus.
You know....a caregiver!
February 28th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
My first week on the job I witnessed an iron worker fall about 30 ft. Two pieces of rebar were lodged in his back when he landed. To give a gory decription, it was like a hot dog on two sticks. Torches had to cut the rebar so the paramedics could move him. He miraculously survived. Witnessing it all was good motivation to finish school.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:39 AM ^
...I drove a laundry truck. We would pick up laundry from medical facilities, count out the items, and replace them. If you've ever wondered whether you want anything to do with used laundry from a drug & alcohol rehab facility or a surgery center, the answer is that you do not. But it was a good job in a way. I worked with great people.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:39 AM ^
I did flat cement and masonry work for several years. Loved it, and I made a ton of money for being in my late teens early twenties, but it definitely made me realize that manual labor is tough on the body.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
I don't miss large concrete pours. That shit is brutal.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:52 AM ^
No shit. Pouring basements through a single window and raking that shit all around - whew. I slept really well those summers, and had essentially zero social life.
I was always amazed at the guys who could go out and get hammered (almost every single night), and still make it back the next morning.
February 28th, 2017 at 2:59 PM ^
Ya I pulled wet cement around in ground pools tough work...tougher when we went to the bar afterwards and had a raging hangover the next day. The guys in their 30s who were able to do this daily were amazimg
February 28th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
Jimmy Johns in AA - so many drunken customers. Sadly as an employee I was also one of those customers.
UM Housing Office - all summers spent fielding complaints about dorm assignments from angry parents. Mostly complaining about being on north campus, and all of a sudden their son/daughter had developed either...
-an injury that prevented them from walking/riding a bus
-a severe aversion to cold weather, which somehow meant they can't take a bus
-a religious awakening requiring close proximity to temple/church/whatever
I think I even had someone threaten to sue me personally, but obviously didn't give them my name as a student. A disproportionate amount of the complaint calls came from our out of state friends to the northeast (not that they were the only ones).
February 28th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
I didn't work there, but best sandwiches......PERIOD!
February 28th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
Janitor at UM in their work study program & fast food cook...no good stories unfortunately
February 28th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
Here's mine (the ones I can remember, at least):
My first job at UM was as a cashier at Michigan Book & Supply for like $4.25 an hour. I was horrible at it. We had to take turns sitting in the chair by the door and making sure students put their backpacks into the cubby holes--and inevitably when my turn came, I would fall asleep in the chair.
Then I got a job working for Cliff Keen Athletic, in their warehouse off Packard. That was alright, nothing really memorable there.
Then one day I saw a sign up that the Intramural Sports department needed officials. I had played a lot of IM sports, so I called Rob Rademacher and asked if I could help out. Next thing I knew, I had a whistle and a t-shirt and was scheduled to work a flag football game. He let me skip the training course because I had played several seasons of flag--but that turned out not to necessarily be the best idea. On my first play from scrimmage, the offense threw a bomb. The receiver made a leaping, twisting reception and landed on his face. I threw my arms in the air to signal touchdown! Problem was, the guy had landed at the 5-yard-line. Ugh.
Another game, I was officiating sorority league. Most of the teams didn't have a girl who could throw an actual pass, so to move the ball they designed these elaborately-choreographed running plays with multiple fakes and reverses. Mad Magicians shit, but like squared. Usually none of it worked and the whole game would be played within about ten yards of wherever the kickoff landed. Well, this one play, the quarterback takes the snap and fakes it to like four girls running different ways and everybody follows the ballcarrier to the right side of the field, and her flag is pulled. I blow the whistle--only to then see that the ACTUAL ballcarrier is streaking down the left sideline with no defenders in sight. Oops. The coach of that team was former Michigan DE Matt Dyson, and he pretty much let me have it the rest of the game. So, yeah, good day.
My last year in college I worked as a walk-in writing tutor for the English Composition Board, over by the Angell Hall computing lab (now I think it's called something like the Sweetland Center). I loved that job, but it was only like 8 hours a week. The paychecks were like $40, so I didn't even bother cashing most of them until the end of the semester. By then, some had expired, so I had to go to the Wolverine Tower (or whatever it's called, some ominous looking death star of a building out on Eisenhower Parkway by the mall) and get them reissued. Thought for sure I was going to be tortured and killed, but it all worked out.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^
Deliver pizza or valet park cars during the school year. Valeting at a nice hotel was cool. Drove alot of very nice cars that I could not afford at that time.
Work for a tree service during the summer.
Worked with friends at both the tree service and the pizzeria.
Good times and good pay!!!
February 28th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
Time of my life
February 28th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
Dish dog at the U Club. Is the U Club still around? Reggae Night with Red Stripe was fun.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
at many places. I did not have much time, and serving is the only side job during undergrad years where it was possible to make really quick, good money. $200 for 4-5 hours of work, three of four times per week. That was good money at the time.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
I worked as a painter the summer before my senior year in GR. We painted outside and had to scrap every house and every house had lead paint so we had to deal with a bunch of safety standards. It's miserable, horrible work for too little pay. I hated every minute of it. But, I did get some stories out of it.
The first house I worked on (first week as well) was occupied by four nurses, all of whom were pretty cute, but that's irrelevant to the story. Anyway, I tried to adjust this huge ladder at the base, a 40-footer I believe, by myself. That's a huge no-no. Before I know it, the whole damn thing is falling over...right onto one of the nurses new Jetta's. I use all my force to stop it (the position of the ladder is like this: the ladder is a see-saw, my shoulder is the pivot), but then it starts coming down again, ear-marked for the hood of the Jetta. But right before it hits my boss comes in and grabs the falling end. Saves my ass and then yells at me, "What are you doing?!" From that point on the cars were parked in the street while we worked.
February 28th, 2017 at 11:52 AM ^
Grad school: business editor of a literary magazine, housesitter, kitchen staff at a wine bar, transcriptionist, graduate assistant grading exams,
I know I am forgetting some. The cashier at a drive in was the worst paid ($1.10 an hour) with the worst hours (7 nights a week), and the worst job conditions (in a swamp with no A/C).
February 28th, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 11:55 AM ^
I actually did a bit of everything from working landscaping jobs for a company that did a lot of work in Barton Hills, of all places, to building student databases for schools (my mother was the one that helped me get that particular gig via Wayne County RESA). The latter was nice because I was paid decently and I could do it from my room when I was not in class as well as throughout the summer - telecommuting before it was a thing on the scale it is now (mid-90s).
I also worked a bit as a delivery driver for a florist. Trying to keep flowers looking fresh and undamaged on a run from Ann Arbor to Sterling Heights was an....interesting experience, especially in 696 traffic.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
First job I had on campus in AA was, as many others have said, refereeing IM sports. I mainly officiated Men's A Soccer, which was awful. Just a bunch of guys bigger and stronger than me trying to tell me how to do my job. The less competitive and coed leagues were fun, decent pay for decently easy work.
I also worked at Palio for a summer, bartending on the rooftop. It was a great job with great people for pretty good money. A lot of wealthy people would go there and give pretty good tips, especially when you give them rounds of shots of Bacardi when straight liquor wasn't sold up there. Jimmy Fallon showed up once while shooting a movie which was pretty neat. The asst. manager was the main guy up there, and in order to impress the girls that worked there (mostly hostesses), he'd let them drink on the job - which meant me pouring them alcohol into styrofoam cups and also meant me being able to drink to keep me quiet. Pretty good gig until I didn't show up because I pre-gamed too hard for a Notre Dame game and didn't show up.
Another great way to make money or to get free food was to do all of the psych studies that were posted in East Hall and other places.
Last job I had was working at the Hatcher Grad Library. You would make almost $10 an hour and work 4 to 8 hour shifts. Extremely flexible. You'd sign up for a floor, take a cart of books, shelf them, and then go back down to sign up for another floor. They expected one an hour and if you weren't an idiot, you could get 2 done easily in an hour. I would take my time, take naps, do homework for a half hour, and then put books back for the other half hour. A trick was to sign up for a floor right before lunch, take your cart up to that floor, leave for lunch, and as long as you were back in an hour and a half, you looked like you were doing your job. So, I'd take long lunches and occasionally partake in recreational activities before going back (not condoning it, I was a stupid, irresponsible student).
February 28th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:02 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:02 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:03 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
and it was awesome. My usual post was sitting in a car and driving around once an hour for 2 minutes. Also worked a a couple liquor stores . . . got free beer from the owners even though we weren't supposed to accept "tips" so that was a bonus.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:03 PM ^
When I was in school preparing for the ministry I was supporting a growing family at the same time, so my initial pizza delivery and bike shop jobs didn't cut it. I worked for three years at a hospital in Greater Los Angeles, which meant 130 miles of commuting every day lightened by great weather and the occasional celebrity sighting.
I worked admitting for labor and delivery. The management was terrible and the hospital was nothing special, but L&D was an awesome place to work. We had our second child at that hospital.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:04 PM ^
at a cemetery in south Florida during the summers. People used to leave some really strange things at graves.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
Ross Academic Center - I worked at the front desk for a fews years and was a student-athlete tutor.
Class Checker - Another great gig with the AD
Speedway - I worked the graveyard shift for about 8 months before I realized that was crazy.
ISR - I worked for a former Econ professor of mine doing research on retirement plans.
GSI for ACC 271
February 28th, 2017 at 12:10 PM ^
a gigolo.
#Allegedly
February 28th, 2017 at 12:13 PM ^
One summer, I interned at SI and made over $350 a week (this was 25 years ago) -- work week was Thursday, Friday, Sunday (until midnight) and Monday. That same summer I worked nights for a feature service that sold stories to the Newark Star-Ledger -- made $70 a night and $70 a story (and I wrote 4 stories that were published). Worked a lot, but that was a ton of money for a college kid back then. Fun summer.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^
1. Sold jeans at the Bivouac for Ed Davidson. Fun job - always tried to get the hot girls to try on jeans about three sizes too small. And Ed was a great guy to work for.
2. Worked as a bouncer at the long gone Village Bell on University. Fantastic job (only got in one fight) as I did very well with girls the nights I was working that otherwise wouldnt speak to me if I was there just drinking. Got free beer & cocktails from the bartenders and we had a party just about every night after closing with one stipulation - you couldnt take a bottle out of the place. Other than that you could drink as much as you wanted.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^
at a club or popular bar is an underrated job in my opinion - as long as you know what you're doing and can stay safe.
Girls were all over us wanting preferential treatment and would often do outrageous things to get that treatment.
One bouncer I couldn't stand though (Doug) who would let in underage girls - like 16-17.
When asked why he let them in, he'd always reply: "They'll all be 18 some day man...some day."
To his 'credit' (I guess?) he was always 'rewarded later' for his approach.
February 28th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
When I worked the door the drinking age was 18 so you can imagine how young some of the girls were who tried to get in with fakes. Our rule of thumb on women was the following:
1. If they looked and dressed like they were 16 they were probably 30 or older
2. If they looked and dressed like they were over 30 you better check that ID at least twice cause she's probably still in high school.
And I never got the attraction to bouncers but man it's real. Girls who wouldnt give me a second look much less anything else would be buying me drinks and asking what time I got off work when I was on the door.
February 28th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
February 28th, 2017 at 12:16 PM ^