Happy Tuesday! It’s time for another Show-and-Tell with Andrea. Today we’re all sharing our first jobs. I have to be honest. I’ve had a VARIETY of random occupations in my life. Not even kidding. I’m highlighting some of my favorites, which might also happen to be the most random. ha!
#1 Otter’s Slough
Does anyone recognize this place? #didntthinkso 🙂
This is Otter’s Slough, which is a Missouri Department of Conservation area that was located about thirty-five miles away from where I grew up.
This is my friend, Carlye. WAY back in the day, Carlye and her older sister cleaned the offices at Otter Slough. (Their family had a connection.) When her sister graduated and was off to college, I stepped in as Carlye’s cleaning partner. Every other Sunday afternoon, we drove over to the Conservation Area and cleaned the offices, mopped the floors, disinfected the bathrooms, and even cleaned the outdoor restrooms. UGH!!
It definitely wasn’t my favorite job (Hello? Did you see where I said we had to clean the OUTDOOR restrooms?), but Carlye and I always had the best time singing way too loud all the way there. Sweet memories with that girl!
#2 Fisherman’s Net
What about this place?? Has anyone seen this place?
The summer I turned sixteen one of my best friends starting working at this restaurant, Fisherman’s Net, in Lake Wappapello. It was about a thirty-five minute drive also from my house, but we carpooled which helped to pass the time. I started working here as a hostess and then moved up to being a waitress. This place holds so many special memories in my heart. The restaurant was open from March to October only on the weekends (when the lake was busy). It was the PERFECT job for a high schooler. I worked every Friday and Saturday night and Sundays for the lunch crowd. They were so good about letting us off work for any school activity.
This was the inside. Who wants to drive to Missouri for some fried catfish and hush puppies with me?
Oh my goodness!! My seventeen-year-old self hard at work. I worked there all through high school and even went back on busy weekends to help them out while I was in college. I’m telling you they were like a second family I was there so much, but I truly loved it! And…the bonus is it was great money for a high school girl!
#3 Hampton Inn
Do you remember the movie, Maid in Manhattan?
What about Blue Crush?
In both movies, these super cute girls are hotel maids. They meet Prince Charmings while they’re working in these hotels and blah blah blah…they live happily ever after.
The summer after my sophomore year of college. One of my girlfriends and I decided we wanted to be housekeepers at a hotel. #iwishiwaskidding #onthelookoutforprincecharming
We were envisioning wearing a cute little housekeeper outfit just like J. Lo or maybe even a pencil skirt like one of these above, but we got something completely different. Insert wide-eyed emoji!!!
First of all…the town where we worked as housekeepers didn’t have five star hotels. That should have been our first clue that our uniform wasn’t going to be cute. hahaha!!
This was my actual place of business…Hampton Inn, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
I took one picture “on the job” and I’m pretty sure I begged my mom to burn it. So there’s no proof of how awful our daily outfits were but imagine this….hunter green, maroon, navy, and off-white vertical striped rough (not the smooth type of material) polo type shirt with pleated (yes, I said pleated) navy cotton pants, and tennis shoes. It took me one day to realize this job didn’t require make-up or fixed hair, so I never wore make-up and my hair was always in a ponytail. Which all added to how gorgeous I looked at work. #imtotallybeingsarcastic
I googled “ugly striped polo shirt” and this appeared. I could teach Google a thing or two about an ugly striped shirt, that’s for sure!
My friend and I worked one summer as housekeepers and I learned one thing….housekeepers work WAY harder than they ever get paid for!! It was a tough job cleaning rooms ALL DAY LONG. We brought more laughter to that housekeeper work room than you can imagine though. I’ll always remember my days at Hampton Inn. 🙂
#4 Third Grade Teacher
I also worked throughout college at a daycare. I worked Monday-Friday afternoons from 2-6 and absolutely loved those children. I couldn’t find any pictures of me….just the kids so I skipped out on posting that one.
After Tab and I got married and I graduated from college, I got my “big girl” job! I was a third grade teacher in Allen, Texas. Oh my goodness!! That first year was a mixture of emotions!! I loved those kids so much…like if I saw one of them today I’d probably start sobbing! haha! Thanks to FB, I’m keeping up with them though. 🙂 We all learned a ton that year…hopefully they learned all about multiplication, reading comprehension, AND that a new first year teacher might have some kinks to work out but she can love you big in the midst of it all! Our principal always said, “First you have to get into the hearts of kids before you can get into their minds”. And I tried my best to do just that. Lord knows…they all made their way into my heart!
Hope you enjoyed today’s episode of “Erika’s Random Jobs”…hahaha!! What about you guys?? What’s the most random job you’ve ever had? I’d love to hear about them!
Have a great day! XOXO
