My Fun Job List
(and now with my schools , too) James Hayes-Bohanan, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Geography |
|
The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real. (Marge Piercy, To be of use) |
Some of these lasted only a couple of days (such as my house-painting gig) or a couple of hours (such as selling USA Today - I was shocked that people were actually buying it). Until the very end of the list, every job was held either concurrently with school or during a brief hiaitus. I did all of the jobs in Maryland while I was an undergraduate and all of the jobs in Texas and Arizona while I was working on my doctorate.
The main reason I have prepared this list is so that my students who have jobs will believe me when I say I understand what a challenge it is to work and go to school. I really do understand, and I still say: SCHOOL COMES FIRST ! The other reason for the list is to help me remember all of my jobs. From time to time in recent years I would be reminded of a job that I had given no thought for years.
I made no attempt at chronological order, though my current (and, I
hope, my last!) job is near the end of the list, followed by some
consulting work I have done concurrently.
Employer | Job | Location |
Small-time real estate investor | Painting houses bought at government auction - the only job from which I was ever fired | South Baltimore, MD |
Medical research company |
Pin cushion -- testing the safety and
reliability of a sinus medication -- one day in a hospital
waiting room for $25 |
Baltimore, MD |
George Washington University |
Research subject --
participating in a study of couples in relationships -- a few
interviews with my sweetheart
for $30 (shared) |
Washington, DC |
University of Maryland Baltimore County | Admissions Office student worker | Catonsville, MD |
University of Maryland Baltimore County | Bookstore Clerk | Catonsville, MD |
Unitarian Universalist Church | Director of Religious Education | Silver Spring, MD |
Apartment-management company | Secret shopper | Tucson, AZ |
Stock broker | Word processing - for about two hours! | Tucson, AZ |
Law Office | Putting Bates number labels on court documents - BORING! | Tucson, AZ |
Right Away Foods / Wornick Company | Data entry | McAllen, TX |
Right Away Foods / Wornick Company | Software trainer/guru | McAllen, TX |
Right Away Foods / Wornick Company | National and international marketing | McAllen, TX |
Right Away Foods / Wornick Company | President's assistant - various projects | McAllen, TX |
Miami University - Hamilton | Instructor, Physical geography | Hamilton, OH |
University of Texas at Brownsville in Partnership with Texas Southmost College (That is the real name of the school!) | Instructor, Environmental geography | Brownsville, TX |
Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University - Kingsville | Instructor, World regional geography | Alice, TX (extension program of TAMU-K) |
University of Arizona | Instructor, Computer cartography | Tucson, AZ |
University of Arizona | Teaching assistant | Tucson, AZ |
University of Arizona | Research assistant | Tucson, AZ |
Miami University | Teaching assistant | Oxford, OH |
Miami University | Research assistant | Oxford, OH |
Miami University | Editorial assistant | Oxford, OH |
Miami University | Computer lab assistant | Oxford, OH |
Miami University | Visiting professor | Hamilton ! , OH |
University of Maryland Dining Services | Pizza baker (nasty, nasty job!) | College Park, MD |
Wendy's | Burgers, fries, and Frosty's | Annapolis, MD |
Burger King | Just burgers | Annapolis, MD (across the street from Wendy's) |
Stan Stearns | Assistant to famous photographer | Annapolis, MD |
Fraternal Order of Police | Telephone Fundraiser | Annapolis, MD |
University of Maryland | By day: Find lost alumni who had never donated to the
University By night: Ask them for money, even if they had graduated 70 years before without ever giving I actually was quite successful for a couple of months This job is where I learned to drink coffee! |
College Park, MD |
USA Today | Telemarketer | Baltimore, MD |
Credit card protection company | Telemarketer | Washington, DC |
Kansas City Star | Newspaper delivery | Kansas City, MO |
Baltimore Sun | Newspaper delivery | Baltimore, MD |
D.N. Landscaping | Lawn and landscape planting and maintenance | Baltimore, MD and surrounding towns |
Wealthy gypsy family |
Hanging outdoor Christmas lights |
Baltimore, MD |
Dames & Moore | Geographer and Assistant Regulatory Analyst | Cincinnati, OH - but working on projects throughout Ohio and
in
IN, KY, MO, TN, SC, TX, NY, NJ, PA, and PR This job really helped with my County Map! |
Lucas Brothers Office Supply Store (the oldest in U.S.) | Retail clerk | Annapolis, MD |
UMBC
Student Government Assocation |
Usher, Rocky Horror Picture Show |
Catonsville, MD |
Polk city directory publishers | Door-to-door surveys for criss-cross directory | Annapolis, MD |
Clean Water Action Project | Door-to-door fundraising | Baltimore, MD and surrounding towns |
Petroleum Solutions Environmental | Environmental site assessments | McAllen, TX |
Drug store chain | Data entry for a class-action lawsuit | Pharr, TX |
Amphitheater School District | Substitute teacher, K-12: art, math, science, gym, English, Spanish, history - everything but geography | Tucson, AZ |
McAllen school district | Substitute teacher, 8th grade football only | McAllen, TX |
Baptist Book Store | Shipping clerk | Lutherville, MD |
Bay Savers program | Team leader for youth conservation workers | Annapolis, MD and surrounding coastal areas |
Bridgewater State College | Geography professor (which itself entails a lot of jobs) | Bridgewater, MA |
Signature Graphics and Signs | Web site developer | Quincy, MA |
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (textbook publisher) | Web site developer | New York, NY |
Thinkronize | Search engine developer | Cincinnati, OH |
Prentice Hall | Book reviewer | Upper Saddle River, NJ |
I've almost always enjoyed school, and I have attended quite a few:
For Credit
Sully
Elementary, Sterling, VA
Nokesville
Elementary, Nokesville, VA (I recently learned that this school had
been racially integrated only a year or two before I started attending!)
Brentsville
District Middle/Senior High School, Nokesville, VA
Northgate Middle School,
Kansas City, MO
North Kansas City High School,
North Kansas City, MO
Annapolis High School,
Annapolis, MD
University of Maryland, College Park,
MD
University of Maryland Baltimore County,
Catonsville, MD
Miami University, Oxford, OH
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Non-Credit
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Kansas City, MO
Universidad de las Américas,
Puebla, PUE, Mexico
South Texas Community College,
McAllen, TX
ESRI Virtual Campus, Redlands, CA