Sitting in his small room in Nosey Mole’s tunnel system, it is uneventful, quiet. Still, he hears devastating rumblings from the outside world; gets word now and then about atrocious money-fed arguments about government intentions. For years he has spoken out against the collapsing U.S. constitution being replaced with autocracy, autocratic values instead of human well being values. He watches industrial technology/electronics steal human life each day. He sees a planet long stolen of necessary resources for every living creature on the planet. Like most caring citizens, he has campaigned against violence, greed and abuse of the biosphere. But he is old. He wants to keep writing for his own mental facilities. What shall he write about?
Mariner has had about 45 jobs in his life. He gets a different count every time he tries to remember. Perhaps this can be a pastime, remembering his odd career.
His very first job was as a paperboy. He was 14. He delivered daily newspapers over 10 blocks for $4.00/week. Google says classic paperboys today make $1.00 per paper, an average of $41.12 for mariner’s route. If the labor market had stayed with inflation, today’s paperboy would be making $48.46.
The side benefits were that mariner was out on his own and his two favorite female friends from the church youth group lived on his route. His second job, when he was 15, his boss promoted mariner to a job riding in his truck and folding papers and tossing them out to customers. A job with your boss sitting next to didn’t have the atmosphere of the walking job so mariner resigned a year later.
But know, readers, that you have lived and had jobs and experienced daily life. So he will help you remember. How old were you when you took your first Job? Can you remember what your US President and his wife looked like? What were their names? If you’re as old as mariner, what was your favorite radio show when you took your first job – otherwise, what was your favorite TV show? Your favorite movie or song?
Ancient Mariner
First job 1962 Donnellson Library at .25 an hour. It was also the site of my last job in 2025 at .25 an hour….
Favorite song Where Have All the Flowers Gone? They’ve gone to graveyards, every one.
Favorite tv show The Twilight Zone. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.
In 1962 President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were in the White House with Caroline and John John. Before the world turned.
What a long life–what a trip it has been. Thank you, Mariner, for reminding us.
My first job was as a camp counselor at Camp Happy Hollow up north of Baltimore. I can’t remember how much I made but I think it was about $200. That was in 1957. Movies I liked , oh my, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Not of this Earth, Paths of Glory, Something of Value, the Deadly Mantis. Harry Belafonte singing almost anything, TV shows Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick. It was the age of TV Westerns.
First job was working as a teacher’s assistant at Logan Elementary School during summer school. My junior high guidance counselor got me the job. His name was Jackson. It was 1970 and my favorite show was Star Trek. Music? It was a year after Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Ten Years After were the order of the day. My second job was my first full time job working in a paint factory at age 18.
One of the most vivid memories I have is from 2nd grade. Miss Alice Brown my teacher, an old maid, came into the class crying. She announced that the President had been shot and killed. We were told to put our heads down on our desks and remain quiet as she sobbed at her desk. We were off school the next few days. The TV was nonstop news. I was watching the live broadcast when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald. I couldn’t understand how all those police couldn’t prevent the shooting.
I can’t remember what I did last week but I can remember those events clearly.