Jobs--Odd and Otherwise
Almost all of my jobs have involved writing. On my 14th birthday, I started my first job, working 18 hours a week as a switchboard operator at the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Part of that job was answering questions from callers, such as "How long is the Queen Mary?" and "Who won the World Series in 1935?" And Saturday afternoons, when I was all alone in the building, could become interesting.
During the summer months, I moved from the switchboard to the city room to spend 44 hours a week filling in for reporters when they were on vacation. In my very first stint, I spent two weeks as the fire reporter and was rewarded with a fire that lasted the entire two weeks.