Your best job

[Swift]

Often the jobs we end up thinking fondly of aren't the ones we made the most money at. So, not in terms of pay or benefits, but in terms of the most fun you had and/or the job you liked doing the best, what have been your favourites?


Most Fun - I worked night shift in Dublin airport for a year. I worked airside screening checked in baggage via X-Ray. You know those orange and green images you see on the computer screens at airports when you put your belongings on the belt at security? I did that, but behind the scenes. Despite being an ostensibly important job, it was very laid back and we were left to our own devices (I only met the manager twice and the supervisor was one of the lads who'd been promoted) It was probably the most interesting cast of characters I've worked with, sometimes unsavoury but lots of laughs. As it was night shift, it wasn't particularly busy so many hours were spent reading books, magazines or listening to music. There were no flights between roughly 1am-5am so our job shut down for a few hours each night (still getting paid) and we'd just sit around playing poker most nights. At other times I'd go for eerie walks alone down completely empty and silent departure gates listening to Sigur Ros in my ears, or down beside the parked planes and hangars. Really neat experience.



Job I enjoyed doing best - I spent about 9 months in a mailroom for one of the big banks (before I was promoted into a position that didn't work out and ended up with me leaving the company) I'd had a bit of a fascination as a kid with working in the postal service so this was right up my street - sorting mail into slots, taking in deliveries from couriers, weighing and mailing out branch bags every day. Bags could weight up to 50kg so it was often physical and fast paced but I loved that at the time. Felt like I'd put in a good shift every day.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I did a community audit for an HOA. It involved me literally counting every house in the community (in person) and cross referencing it to our master list to make sure we had registrations on all the homes.

For the in person counting they bought me a bike and I was tasked with riding around my community for 3 months during the summer counting houses. About 6,000 IIRC.


Not only was it fun, I got to listen to podcasts all day while riding around getting sun, but it paid very well for a summer job. Even better is that it was only about 6 weeks worth of work. Let’s just say I made many frequent pit stops around the parks to chill, smoke weed and read a book or ten.

Bonus that the World Cup was on (South Africa?) so I could stop by my house anytime I wanted to watch games.

I was only required at the office at 9am to grab my bike and 5pm to drop it off. And then a couple weeks at the end to compile the results. I think we found like 3 houses that weren’t in our database. I also got to deliver letters for people who were delinquent on their HOA fees. That was fun.

Far and away my best job ever, not accounting for pay or the fact the HOA was crooked.

[Weitz]

That’s like 75 houses a day... No wonder they were crooked.

[FlamesAddiction]

I was a "dead head" for a couple of summers in highschool for Tilden Car Rentals.

My job was to bus or fly to different towns and cities, pick up rental cars that were dropped off as one-way rentals, and then drive them back. Sometimes the road trips would take a couple of days. Not a great way to make a lot of money, but it was fun.

I had a co-op position in university that turned into a contract job after I graduated. I worked at the Agricultural Research Station in Agassiz, BC. We were doing research on greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer, its effects, and how to reduce it. My job was to set-up and engineer the field experiments and process samples. It wasn't a lot of money, but I loved the job.

[JohnnyB]

My most fun job was working as grounds maintenance at the Tuscany Club when I was a student. We were basically a bunch of young guys hanging out, doing physical work outside in nice park environments and racing around the neighborhood in golf carts. It was social, had lots of physical activity to keep healthy, lots of fresh air, lots of sunshine and listening to music, and a fair bit of harmless mischief, pranking and delinquency. That was a great summer. Definitely not my most meaningful job, but it was perfect for that time of life and I have great memories of it.

[MRCboicgy]

The summer between grade 11 and grade 12 I taught archery to teens (and some adults) with developmental disabilities.


They had a blast and so did I.

[blender]

Picked up a gig in Melbourne once salvaging massive old timbers from demolition sites for a business that built high end furniture from recycled lumber. After 2 days of hauling timbers my friend and I had impressed enough with our work ethic that we were hired on for a month to clean the lumber and process it into usable stock material.

Doesn't sound glamorous and the pay was minimum wage, but every day after work the shop turned into a big hang out scene with all the joiners. Music, hackey sack, beers, dope. We spent all our evenings hanging with cool Aussies learning about building furniture and life in Australia. It was one of those slice of life times that are greater than the sum of the parts. Just an amazing vibe and great experience all around.

Tree planting was pretty good too. 3 months a summer of bush life with no rules and awesome camaraderie.

[CliffFletcher]

For a couple weeks on a backpacking trip, I was a tout for a youth hostel in Salzburg. I would hang out at the train station for four hours a day, and when I saw backpackers get off on the platform I'd hand them flyers. I didn't have to walk the train or do a sell job - just hand out flyers and then direct them to the hostel.

For payment I got my bed paid for every night, ghoulash and a beer for lunch, and a schnitzel dinner. It was a party hostel, so I spent enough on beer every night that I still bled money. But it was a fun interlude.

[WhiteTiger]

I spent a summer riding around one of those Dicki Dee ice cream refrigeration tricycles. Could go where ever I wanted, and spend as long as I wanted there. Hit the beach a lot, saw a lot of sports, got a bunch of exercise and was paid decently.

[8 Ball]

Cool thread. When I was sixteen, my summer job was helping my brother-in-law at the time make Sears out of town deliveries. We would load up the truck at their warehouse, then hit the road. We would chat and listen to tunes for 12 hours a day. He also had this huge chunk of hash we would take the occasional pipe hit from which made it funner.

[boogerz]

First summer of university I was a filing clerk at a mortgage company that operated across Canada. The job was mostly filing new mortgages. It was really boring, but the pay was pretty good. I'd basically just listen to music while filing, go on breaks for coffee/office shenanigans, explore downtown at lunch, etc. My cubicle mate was one of my best friends, which made it even better.

It was also fascinating to see how the process works. At the time, all you needed to get a mortgage in any city in Canada was a literally just a pulse. Also, most files I processed had terrible credit.

[Johnny199r]

In university I had a summer job working for a company that set up commercial tents for events (weddings etc)

All day in the sun, getting a good workout, shooting the #### with a bunch of guys, traveling around. It was the only really good summer job I ever had.

[Bindair Dundat]

Sunshine Village; Spring of 1985. Hired as a houseman and my shift was 15:00-23:00. It was perfect. First tracks every morning and get off the hill just when it was getting packed with "gorbies". Go to work all day and cut out just when all of those hot tourists were well lubricated and wanting a little exposure to the "life" we had as residents...It can't get any better.
I can't even begin to describe how decadent this period of my life was.
You were almost like a "rock star", just by being a fixture within the Scurfield's world at the time.
I ate that up for all it was worth.
And it was epic...Chutes in TeePee town every morning with 6" of fresh.


It doesn't get any better...

[Poster]

Before Covid, the biggest part of my job was attending industry events around the Globe and drinking with our Global Clients & new prospects.

So yes I got paid to have drinks paid for me. Cool job and I have met so many amazing people from just about every country on the planet.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Poster

Before Covid, the biggest part of my job was attending industry events around the Globe and drinking with our Global Clients & new prospects.

So yes I got paid to have drinks paid for me. Cool job and I have met so many amazing people from just about every country on the planet.

Alright, you win.

What industry are you in? Unless that information is too personal to post.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Working at a video store. Awesome job.

[troutman]

Monaco Gigilo

[White Out 403]

I used to work overnight Security at Canada Olympic Park. I used to fall asleep watching TV.

[Dion]

I had a summer job back in 1980 working for West End Honda in Edmonton. Prepping new cars for customers and shuffling cars to and from the stereo shop.

Highlight of that summer was blowing an engine in a Trans Am on Whitemud freeway while I was driving it to an auction

[Poster]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Alright, you win.

What industry are you in? Unless that information is too personal to post.

Global Logistics / Supply Chain