Christian Long‘s summer vacation is off to a bang with the development of the first meme of the season, in which he asks:
What was the “worst job” you ever had that ironically helped prepare you to one day become an educator?
I’ve been extremely fortunate in that I’ve never had any terrible jobs, but for the sake of the meme, I’ll say dorm security at The College of New Jersey during my undergrad years:
- Shifts lasting til 2am enabled me to work long into the night, like I had to during my first few years of teaching
- It was my first taste of working as an authority figure (to use the term loosely), which helped when I was 23 and faced with a class of 18-year-olds
- Conflict resolution (and avoidance!) skills came into play, especially when dealing with drunk freshmen. Similar scenarios have played out in my presence at school (presumably, minus the alcohol), and I learned to always keep the coolest head of the group.
Thanks for tagging me, Christian. I hereby tag some folks whose blogs I most sincerely wish I had more time on which to comment:
A moment of serendipity I suppose:
I too worked campus security at Syracuse U, working till 7am most Thursday nights (or is that morning?) Worst job I could have taken.
I was tagged by Diane Cordell and had a great time answering the question!
Managed the Student Union Building at the University of Hartford. Good times, indeed! Oh..wait…bad times. Irrational fear of heights + required banner hanging from ceiling of commons rooms. At night. No one in the building. Frail 5’8″ frame teetering atop a 20′ ladder.
A true downgrade from Sports Information Assistant the year before.
Damn that inconsistent work study gig!