In high school I worked evenings and weekends at a local drugstore, and it was a busy spot with 3 cash registers at the front and two in the dispensary. If the count didn’t match at the end of the night we all had to wait around until they had it figured out. That’s where my math skills came in handy as well as being fast on the calculator.
In California I assembled lamps and sold them at swap meets (flea markets, only with new goods) Assembling the lamps taught me that when you plug them in to test them, it’s probably not a good idea to be holding two bare wires in your hand, just in case you plug in the wrong cord. I guess you could say I learned a healthy respect for the power of house current.
At the swap meets I learned to connect with potential customers and how to tell the difference between someone just killing time and someone who wanted to buy. On really busy days that knowledge would come in very handy.
When I came home from California I worked at a book store while waiting to get into radio school. A completely different set of skills were needed – less selling and more knowing your inventory and how to classify books into the different sections.
Once I was in radio, some of the same skills from the book store came into play, because in addition to being on air I was also in charge of the music library, and again, I had to know where everything was when a request came in.
But perhaps the biggest skill I learned in those first years working evenings and late nights on the radio station was from answering the phone and realizing that people were lonely and just looking to talk to a friendly voice.
It’s a life skill that I have used every day during the last 40 years.
