SheSue Experience

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When my children were very young, I refused to put them in daycare. That meant that my husband and I would have to find work at different times so that one of us could always be at home. My husband took a job working from 6:00am to 2:00pm. I found production jobs working the swing shift from 3-11:30pm.

Production Factory

At first, I signed up with temp agencies, taking any production job that came along. Working the swing shifts, you don’t get clerical jobs. The jobs lasted for just a day, some a few weeks. Some of the jobs I worked were:

1. Jelly factory – The first night I was assigned to clean out giant tanks where the jelly was cooked. The next night I watched the equipment controls to ensure they were all running smoothly and at specific settings.
2. Factory that made cardboard boxes – Sheets of cardboard were cut to size, then put into a machine that made cuts and folds for flaps. My job was to bundle them and clear the machine when it jammed.
3. Factory that made packaging – The night I was there, I ran a machine that made little insets to be filled with fresh fruit for gift boxes.
4. Computer software – I worked on a conveyor belt stuffing a box with a disk and documentation.
5. Printing company – I packed books into boxes, that were then put onto trucks and shipped.

Boxed and Ready to Ship

In between each job, I sat at home waiting for the telephone to ring with another offer. Sometimes I would work a full week, sometimes only a couple of days per week. Since I needed the money, I began to look for a permanent production job. I wound up at Oregon Glass (currently out of business), which cut, tempered, beveled, etched and wrapped pieces of glass. This glass was used for windows, tabletops and car windows.

I worked in the wrapping area where window glass was prepared for shipment. There were several tasks that had to be performed and I did them all at one time or another:

a. Feed glass into a machine that adhered plastic onto the glass as it passed between two rollers.
b. Removed the wrapped glass from the other side of this machine and stacked it.
c. Load pallets with the stacked glass.
d. Wrap the stacked pallet with giant plastic wrap and wheel it to another section of the factory.

My co-workers were a very eclectic bunch, similar to all the production jobs I held. Some were there to work their way through college. Others had no direction in life, had no special skills and just needed work. A few had had medical tragedies and were content hiding in a low profile job. And me, who needed a swing shift job so I could keep my kids out of daycare. When I was first hired, a bet was placed unbeknownst to me, that I wouldn’t last a week. I guess they all through I was too meek to last, but I proved them wrong. I lasted nearly six months.

The turnover of employees was pretty high and I added to that when my husband went back to college while working full time. Once again I became a full time mom. I was glad to have had the opportunity to work in the production field. It was fascinating to learn about all the different industries and what happens before products make it to store shelves.

My first adult job was working in a bank as a teller. I worked in the afternoons after high school and got school credit. I worked for Oregon Bank. It no longer exists, it was bought out during the crazy time in the late 80′s when all the small banks were going under.

A lot of people dream of having a website that actually makes you enough money to live off of. I met one who does, Jeannine Shingler of Freshroots.net. The name Fresh Roots came from a friend who wanted to create a record label. When that idea fizzled, Jeannine still wanted to create a new beginning for herself, thus Fresh Roots. “Fresh Roots is all about beginning anew. Putting down fresh roots of a new tradition; to grow and prosper and sing long into our futures.”

Fresh Roots is about turning your life around so you can have more energy, feel great and enjoy your life. She focuses on three core ideas: cleansing your body of harmful toxins through good nutrition, meditation and exercise. Her website offers a lot of information plus she sells 2 product lines; one for a meditation program and the other a nutrition program.

As a kid, Jeannine wanted to be a doctor, but didn’t want to go through the training, particularly the part of training when learning involved making mistakes. With her new business, she can help people without the risk of harming them.

I have ordered the free meditation CD from her website. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Back when I was homeschooling the kids, one of many part time jobs I had was delivering phone books and flyers to doorknobs. These jobs are paid by the piece and since I am a fitness walker, I made pretty good money.

Delivering phone books was very official. This was for Qwest annual phone books. You are not really interviewed for the job. You meet with someone who explains what you are going to do and if you agree, you’re hired. You are hired as an independent contractor which means you are responsible for your own taxes and you get to work the hours you want and as many or little hours you want. About the only requirements were that you were 18 or older and had a licensed and insured car.

What’s your job?

Meet Kaya Johnson, a captain of the Portland Spirit, a riverboat dining cruise. Kaya grew up on the Great Lakes and has been sailing all his life. He was a rescue scuba diver for a time and spent 10 years in Florida as first mate on tall ships doing educational trips. He has been with the Portland Spirit for about 4 months. He had to go through extensive training and testing to get his license to pilot a boat the size of the Spirit.

It is 8:30am on a beautiful morning when I meet Kaya on the Spirit. We head up to the bridge. Kaya checks with the cruise manager and engineer for any news that he needs to be aware of. He relies on them to keep him informed of anything out of place. The cruise manager may have news about cruise passengers or events taking place on the boat.

Kaya then checks the cruise schedule, current river traffic, level of the river, events in the area, weather and anything that might affect the cruise. Once per week the boat goes through a drill of some sort such as man overboard. All of the crew must react appropriately as if it were a real occurrence.

The cruise manager gives Kaya a ship’s manifest for the cruise. This tells him the number of passengers, if there are large groups or celebrations and the roster of boat personnel. He checks to see who his crew is for the day, who will be handling the boat lines and who his overboard swimmer is. The line handlers are the crew who tie and untie the lines that hold the boat to the dock. The swimmer is the crew member responsible for water rescues if needed.

Next it’s time to do a walk through of the boat. He is checking for boat functions. He is looking for strange noises, smells, smoke, etc.; levels of potable water (drinking water) and working phones. I asked him who get the boat started. It is the job of the engineer to get the boat up and running and makes sure it is running smoothly.

It is finally time to let passengers on board. Captain Kaya heads to the top of the boarding ramp to greet each passenger and welcome them aboard. He makes small talk, answers questions, helps get groups ready for boarding photos and welcomes everyone on board. Kaya believes that being customer oriented is an important trait for a large boat captain.

Once everyone is on board, Kaya gives a speech about safety, where the rest rooms (head) are, where the life jackets are and how to put one on. Finally it is time to leave the dock. He heads out to the ‘wing station’. This is a small box outside of the bridge with a wheel, throttles for 2 engines and rudder control. He relies on his line handlers to untie the boat and get the loading ramp away from the boat. Once this is done, he calls out “All aboard”, blasts the horn, and then begins to move away from the dock. He keeps watch on the dock before heading out to the middle of the river.

At this point, he moves back onto the bridge where he takes up his place at the big wheel. There are two radios on the bridge; the coast guard and the bridge tenders. They remain on during the entire cruise, announcing any emergencies. The river current can affect steering dramatically, especially during the winter. Kaya also has studied and has to keep current on river charts to know where the channels are. According to Kaya, timing the cruise is one of the most difficult jobs. He sometimes has to just coast the boat to make the cruise last the right amount of time.

During the cruise, Kaya has a log book that needs to be completed. In it he records the cruise number, when he left port, when he turns the boat around, etc. During the latter half of the cruise, passengers can come up and visit him. He chats with them and answers their questions. Sometimes he will let them pilot the boat. Of course, I got a turn.

Finally it is time to return to dock. Boats don’t have brakes on them. You don’t just slide into the dock and stop. He moves the boat slowly towards the dock, then ‘walks’ the boat, which means the boat moves sideways towards the dock. He does this by pushing one engine forward and 1 engine backwards. The engines are cut and the lines are tied. Another successful cruise.

Kaya heads down to bid all the passengers a thank you and come again. After completing his log book, his job is done. Kaya enjoys checking with all the crew before heading back to the office.

I had to ask him if doing this ever gets boring. I mean he goes the same route all the time. But he says the water changes, different water traffic, events downtown and the variety of passengers all make each cruise different. He takes his job seriously, but he enjoys what he’s doing.

What’s your job?

If you think librarian’s just check out a few books then read all day, think again. A librarian does check out books, they also check them back in, clean the books, mend the books and shelve the books. Some books get bagged and sent to other branches of the library. Somebody also has to decide which books, CD’s, Dvd’s etc to buy and purchase them. All these new items have to entered into the computer database, covered and shelved. There are special programs presented at the library that have to be coordinated. And of course, a librarian is there to assist the customer is finding just the right book.

A librarian does not sit at the customer service desk all day. Since there a variety of jobs to fill, each librarian does 5 or 6 shifts at different tasks during an 8-hour day. Take a look at an average day:

The first librarians into the building must open the library. This means turning on all the lights and computers. Next all the books that were put in the book drop overnight must be checked in by computer. As you are checking in books, the books need to be separated by the branch to which they belong. There are a bunch of large bags for all the other branches. The checked in books are either placed in one of these bags, or put on a cart for your library. Sometimes a book is on hold for somebody. These books are also either placed in a bag for another branch or put on a separate cart for your library.

Next you have a list of books from your library that people from other branches have put on hold. You have to go all around the library and find all these books. They get put in the bags of the branch where they are to be sent. Finally it is time to open the doors of the library and the day begins. Usually a bunch of people are waiting to get in. They will probably have more books to check in. Most of the time they will head out to look for books (or movies, CD’s, magazines, etc.).

You usually do an 1 to  1 ½ hours on the customer service desk. Then it is time to move onto another task. For example you might be on book check/ shelve duty. You will have a cart of books that have just been checked in. You have to check over each books to see if they need to be mended. If so, they are put on another cart. If the books is dirty, you have to clean the book. The cleaned, checked books are put on carts in library order. You will have fiction books that need to be alphabetized and sorted by genre; non-fiction books that are put in order numerically; movies put in order by genre and alphabetical; magazines, by issue date and alphabetical, CD’s by genre and alphabetical, biographies, books on tape. Then you start all over with the children’s books. As you fill a cart, you wheel the cart out to the shelves and put the books in the proper order. You will do this for 1 – 1 ½ hours.

Other shifts might include working in the children’s library where you clean, mend and shelve the children’s books. You might be on the mending desk where you tape, glue and clean damaged books. You might be covering new books. You might be entering new books information into a computer database. Remember those books you put in bags to be sent other branches, well each day you will get 10-20 bags for your branch.   Your shift might be checking in all these books. Or you might be working on a special program such as children’s craft times. A typical day will include 3 shifts in the morning, lunch then 3 shifts in the afternoon.

I worked at a library for 8 years on and off. I volunteered while my kids were still in public school at the school library. That’s how I got my job at a county library branch. If I had wanted to move up to management, I would have had to gone to college for many years. Most librarians work 20-30 hours per week. Only management works 40 hour weeks. Jobs in libraries are pretty scarce because most employees do not leave. The work is pleasant and the pay and benefits are good. My favorite part? When you check in books, you get first pick. If you see something you like, you can set it aside and check it out before it even makes it to the shelf.

What’s your job?