The Time of My Life

I started my working career while still in high school at the Fulton Theater in Pittsburgh.  I had a ton of skills as my Dad insured that I always was involved in anything that he did around the house.  We worked on cars, tuning them up, changing brakes, replacing hoses and more.  We added a room to the house including doing the electrical and roof.  Even when I was much younger my Dad added a bathroom in the basement.  I was too young to do much to help but it's one of my early memories of being involved.  Even with that knowledge and those skills I started in a minimum wage job as an usher.  In the 70s an usher was everything from a customer service rep to janitor.  We cleaned windows, bathrooms, vacuumed and more in addition to assisting customers to their seats.  The plus side was we worked in a beautiful facility, got to meet a ton of people and made friendships that have lasted a lifetime.  

I was always anxious to make more money, asking for additional hours.  My boss found tasks for me.  I painted his office.  Our company owned 5 theaters within walking distance, all grand places.  He got me extra shifts there.  The company went on a remodeling spree and my handy skills got me hours on those crews, mostly unskilled work as there were union workers but nobody was able to carry more heavy, steel framed seats up and down steps than me.  I was always a favorite of the crews,

Once I graduated high school I wanted to do more.  I was attending college, paying my own way and wanted to earn more money.  I was promoted to assistant manager.  Not a great gig but I learned a lot.  I describe it as not great due to the hours while I was going to school   I started most days at noon and worked until the last show ended, usually near midnight and my first classes were at 7 AM so I could be done to go to work.  I worked that schedule 5 days weekly plus a 6 -12 shift one day each week.  That was in addition to school and homework.  After a short period I was promoted to manager with no break in hours.  Between these positions I learned cash handling, staff management, inventory control, vendor management, customer relations and more.  I made more than minimum wage but not much.  It was a salaried position and I made about $3 per hour considering the time worked when minimum wage was $1.75 but the skills set me up for my next job in the consumer finance business.  I still had a ton to learn but the money was better than the movie theaters, not great but tons of room for promotions which I had the blessing of capitalizing on for the rest of my life.   

So that's my story as a young kid that dropped out of college after 2 years to work and wasn't making a living wage.  You see, a living wage is what you make it to be.  Early I figured out how to budget but knew that the job in the theater would never pay me enough to live the life that I dreamed of so I fought to learn every skill possible and applied that informal education. In the meantime I worked in nice facilities with great people that became amazing friends.  I've lived a life that I never would have imagined.  

Are you struggling to live your dreams?  Is it tough to make ends meet?  Work more hours, learn more skills, volunteer to do extra.   If your employer doesn't recognize your contributions or their cost structure prevents them for paying for the talent you've developed another employer (maybe in a different line of work) will.  

"All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work." —Calvin Coolidge