Kyle Hepp

October 9, 2007

Today, for some reason, I got started thinking about careers and jobs and all that jazz. I am currently a celebrity blog editor/ghost writer and an operations manager for my dad’s mystery shopping company. Looking back, I’ve had so many fun jobs. I’m pretty lucky when I think about it!

Papergirl: Somewhere around the age of 12 or 13 years old, I got the coveted position of papergirl. My brother and I shared a route. Unfortunately this wasn’t one of those lucrative stories you here of kids saving up to buy their first car with money they saved tossing the daily…oh no, better yet. This was a free paper, and the money we received was only from voluntary contributions. We had to go around once a month knocking on the door asking for donations. Everybody said no. My brother and I were so unmotivated that my mom ended up taking the route over for us.
Babysitter: I think I started babysitting at 13 or 14. With my favorite kids I played house and school and even watched Spice Girl’s video tapes. I would cook them spaghetti and garlic toast for dinner. With my least favorites, I slept and told them to microwave their own damn hotdogs. Just kidding, I would never swear at a child. But, seriously, if you’re a parent, don’t raise your kids to be brats, because a babysitter’s love is not unconditional. I simply let the naughty ones run wild because there was no use in trying to get them under control. If the mom and dad couldn’t do it, how could I be expected to?
Menard’s Cashier: The legal age for working in Michigan is 16. My stepdad let me buy his Jeep Wrangler from him on the condition that I made the rest of the monthly payments. Therefore, I interviewed for the position and had the job waiting for me, literally the day I turned 16. This was one of my favorite jobs EVER. I worked as a cashier at a hardware store (Menard’s is the Home Depot of the Midwest). I saw more buttcracks and men missing fingers than I care to remember. But, just by looking at a sheet of plywood I could tell it’s thickness and type. And ask me about saws, seriously, ask me anything. I eventually moved up to head cashier and even moonlighted in other departments. I also got to operate heavy machinery (illegaly) more than once. FUN
Hostess: I hostessed at an extremely upscale restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids the summer before I left for college. The place used to be an old mansion so each room was a different dining area. Food was served on three different floors, and each one had a different stairway or elevator. The place was like a maze! Then in the downstairs area there was the formal dining room in what used to be a living room with a two totally awesome fireplaces. And there was the “casual” dining room that used to be a lounge in the mansion and had a really cool antique piano. Aside from those two, plus the other floors food was served on, there was also a deck/outdoor area, and a wine cellar where special events were hosted. As a hostess you had to be on your toes trying to figure who to seat in what wing of the house! This was another job I enjoyed, mostly because the waiters each made like $300 a night (they were lifers in the industry) and tipped me generously if I kept their tables full. Highlights of the job include a guest giving me a $50 dollar tip just because I moved his table to the shade in the outdoor patio and because he said I was “a really bright girl with a good future ahead of her.” That’s how I’ll be when I’m rich. And lowlights include a snobby woman telling me to crawl under the table to fix the wobble and demanding that I do it NOW because she could not wait 30 seconds for me to find a bus boy to do it. I should add that I was required to wear formal dresses and high heels to this job. Getting down on all fours on the dining room floor in dress was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do. That’s how I won’t be when I’m rich.
Waitress: Who hasn’t been a waitress at some point in their life? I paid my dues to the restaurant industry for about 4 years total. I hostessed at the above restaurant, and served at two others. Like everybody, I have my happy stories and my horror stories. I won’t get into those, you’ve heard them all before.

To be continued…many more fun jobs coming up tomorrow