What is the best low income job you ever had?

Cook at a breakfast restaurant. No doubleshifts. The owner was really nice and would bus dishes when we were super busy. Most of the cooks and some servers were friends so we regularly hung out. To top it off we had windows/a lot of natural light.

The atmosphere really made all the difference.

Then the owner sold the place and the new owner was fully incompetent and we all left.

Selling comfort shoes. Nothing like seeing a customer walk in practically in tears because their feet hurt so much and leave with a huge smile on their face because their feet have stopped hurting.

Shift Manager at Hollywood video, making $7.25/hr. For some reason, we were the only story in the area where corporate allowed us to order whatever movies we wanted for the store. A lot of the employees were film students at the local university so we ordered a lot of crazy shit. We had a great indie, foreign, anime collection. We had the entire Twin Peaks series on VHS. Because Hollywood Video didn’t make you pay your late fees to rent new movies, our clientele were mostly customers who couldn’t rent from blockbuster b/c of high late fees. We hated the Blockbuster people and would crank call them all the time. We’d dial them up and ask shit like, “Do you have Private Parts…? Can I touch them?” or “Do you have Lorenzo’s Oil?… Can I rub it all over my body?” Our store manager was the coolest guy who would let us play whatever movies we wanted (as long as they weren’t rated R) in the store. We were such a motley-crew, it felt like working at Empire Records. I miss that job and those people so much.

Worked for a firework stand one summer. Pretty much explains itself. Oh and at the beginning of the season they had an orientation, which was just them naming and showing each firework and then lighting it off.

Up until the pandemic, I had been working as a cameraman. Loved it despite the pay. I was onstage with great bands, behind the net in the AHL, in the pits at Motocross, and so much more.

I’ve used this time to earn IT certs but I may try and keep my side gig if I land a “real” job.