My first job, other than caddying, was here dishwashing at the old Edna's Restaurant. She was on the job at midnight to start cooking her famous muffins. The doors opened at 2 AM and it was pretty much packed til 9. Truckers on the way up Rt 302, bar patrons looking for breakfast after a long night and guys like Dad on his way to work, they all knew the way to Edna's. Breakfast was the main draw. It was known around the city. When I walked in at 6 AM, I was always faced with a mountainous display of egg-caked dishes. It usually took me til 8 to catch up. Load after load, I washed by hand. It was just two crazy waitresses, Edna and me, along for the ride. The kitchen usually was filled with either hysterical laughter or very disturbed screaming! I saw the boss show great love towards her grown son, on his way back from Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and disdain for waitresses she fired mid-order for screwing up! It was a volatile kitchen at times. I loved it! She must have liked me though, because I got a set of keys and was allowed to lock up after I washed the floors and all was quiet. And, oh ya, it was just a one minute walk from home. That was a fun-filled summer for a sixteen year old. Remember your first job? Fun or a disaster?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Blue Diner
My first job, other than caddying, was here dishwashing at the old Edna's Restaurant. She was on the job at midnight to start cooking her famous muffins. The doors opened at 2 AM and it was pretty much packed til 9. Truckers on the way up Rt 302, bar patrons looking for breakfast after a long night and guys like Dad on his way to work, they all knew the way to Edna's. Breakfast was the main draw. It was known around the city. When I walked in at 6 AM, I was always faced with a mountainous display of egg-caked dishes. It usually took me til 8 to catch up. Load after load, I washed by hand. It was just two crazy waitresses, Edna and me, along for the ride. The kitchen usually was filled with either hysterical laughter or very disturbed screaming! I saw the boss show great love towards her grown son, on his way back from Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and disdain for waitresses she fired mid-order for screwing up! It was a volatile kitchen at times. I loved it! She must have liked me though, because I got a set of keys and was allowed to lock up after I washed the floors and all was quiet. And, oh ya, it was just a one minute walk from home. That was a fun-filled summer for a sixteen year old. Remember your first job? Fun or a disaster?
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My first thought went straight to Greece ..... So where is the beach?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, looks nice and the right temperature for a great day!
Nice to read your story. I can imagen you working there.
My first (summer) job I think, was in a greenhouse, can´t figure out the right words in English, what we did with all the plants, but it was very very hot inside, and I did start at 7 o`clock in the morning....
Gunn / Stavanger / Norway
I love your stories!
ReplyDeleteIn my first job I used to teach music for kids.Oh gosh...many time ago, but I still love teaching kids.I wish I could!
Léia
What a great memory. My first job was a paperboy, always being chased by the neighborhood dogs.
ReplyDeleteI too was a paper girl for my job. My sisters helped (some), but for the most part, it was me and my trusty Schwinn. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat photo today. I love old diners.
That is very hard work for a sixteen year old! I'm impressed. I do remember my first job. It was at a bank and the jobs I did don't even exist any longer.
ReplyDeleteI was a stockboy in a pet store at the mall. One of my principal duties was scooping "mistakes" out of the display window where the puppies were frolicking. Some would say that was good training for future career fixing other people's mistakes.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun first job. Mine was pretty tame, I was a salesgirl in a trendy men's clothing shop at the mall. We did have fun though. And I always loved vacuuming with the smiley-face vac.
ReplyDeleteNo, I can't remember my first job. Good grief, man, that was in the 19th century!
ReplyDeleteActually, I can. It was delivering papers. The Beverly Hills something or other. In the late 40s.
I've washed dishes, too. in a very similar environment - volatile, that is. What a job. I did not like it. But, being in grad school, I didn't have a lot of options. And it paid the bills, sort of.
Nice memories! My job was a cashier in a grocery store when you had to know all the prices and pack everything into paper bags. And we used to cash everyone's paychecks on Thursdays. No debit cards then!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was for a veterinarian when I was 11. I cleaned out the cages and hosed out the back room where they were located. You might say it was a sh*tty job.
ReplyDeleteAfter that I was a carhop at back door of a beer and burger place called the Pink Elephant. This was in a small town during the early 1950's. Child labor laws were pretty flexible back then.
Later I had a morning paper route and carried rocks in the bag to negotiate with the big dogs. Those were the days. The concept of an allowance was unknown to me. If you wanted money you hustled up a job.
My first job was at a dry cleaners. I was quite nervous on my first day and couldn't locate a customer's suit, he decided he would climb over the counter and look for it himself and scared the living daylights out of me!
ReplyDeleteThat was almost half a century ago and I remember it vividly! Haha!
☼ Sunny
Oh, I remember my first job. Delivering advertisement flyers/pamphlets to each house in the neighborhood ... those are really hot summers when I was 12 or 13.
ReplyDeleteMy first real job was working in a fabulous bakery. I grew up fast on that job. I was only 14 -- I was respected only through giving the company lots of sweat. I ate bake goods on my break until I could no longer stand to put another piece in my mouth. I never gained any weight which was a miracle. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteI worked at a Wendy's....it was a job. Not nearly as entertaining as yours!
ReplyDeleteDisaster, but I'll skip the details about the Pepsi Cola bottling plant in Teterboro, New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a gifted story teller. One day you should start work on your autobiography.
I enjoy your stories with your photos too. My first job (beyond picking berries and babysitting) was in a deli when I was 15. I was a dishwasher in my teens too, at a truck stop restaurant. Then I moved on to cashier and waitress. Wish I still got those tips!
ReplyDeleteHow blue!
ReplyDeletegreat story! :) dishwashing by hand?! hope you were wearing gloves?
ReplyDeletemy first job was a disaster... but my current job tops it all. but lets not elaborate about that....