Your most fun job

[PaunchyPirate]

To counter the Hardest Earned Dollar thread describing various hard jobs in life, how about a thread to share your most fun job. Let’s rule out your primary career jobs — we will assume everyone loved those.

Mine was probably my summer job for 3 seasons working in the various stands at Conneaut Lake Park, which was an old fashioned amusement park in NW Pennsylvania. I started out working games like the ring toss and balloon darts. Then the next year I moved to the higher-paying food service. I think that paid $2.35 or $2.65 per hour. I made ice cream cones, sub sandwiches, lemonade most of that summer. I also worked most of the third summer in the warehouse and driving a little cart around delivering food to the venues. Most employees in the food and game stands were teens like myself from the various high schools in the rural county. We often knew each other from school and sports. It was a lot of fun with some time to goof off as teens do.

In the evenings, there was often a disco dance (it was the 70s, after all) in the old Grand Ballroom and if we weren’t working, we would hang out around that with all our friends.

Good summer fun.

 

[Car-Guy]

The one I have now... 12 years of full retirement, so far!

 

[sengsational]

My most fun was also the hardest earned dollars, by far.

Your hardest earned dollars?

I was thinking back to my hardeast earmed dollars and was wondering if anyone else ever thought about this? I would guess people might respond of the times they earned the least amount of dollars... but I was curious...what was the hardest thing you've had to do for pay? I know, I...

www.early-retirement.org

 

[aja8888]

The one I have now... 12 years of full retirement, so far!

Ditto!

(all the other jobs were like work)

 

[ElizabethT]

Working at Baskin Robbins when I was 16. I learned to scoop out perfect round scoops, a skill I still deploy today. (It's all in the water- keep a cup of it nearby, and dip your scooper frequently.)

But the absolutely best part is that at the end of every shift, we were allowed to take home three scoops of ice cream. You can probably imagine how large we made each one of those scoops.

 

[skyking1]

Easily the banner towing gig.
I was working full time as an operator, and worked weekends and some summer evenings doing the modern equivalent to barnstorming around the PNW.
Flying on the edge of the envelope all the time, tossing the hook out the window and swooping over for the grab and go, it was all an adrenaline rush. Coming in steep and slow for the drop, pull the lever and bank right bank left touch down, stop in 400' and taxi back to fold up for the day.
We never used the ends of the 5300' runway at KRNT. That was for regular pilots and Boeing 737 test pilots. We operated in the middle 2000' or so. Why taxi when you can just fly somewhere

 

[latexman]

Working in an ice cream plant. All the ice cream I could eat!

 

[Stormy Kromer]

For me my most fun job was serving on the local fire department.

The hardest earned dollar job I had was... serving on the local fire department.

 

[38Chevy454]

In college my first year, I got a job vacuuming in the co-ed dorms. The janitorial staff did the main cleaning, and my job was just vacuuming the hallways and stairwells. Had 2 hours each day M-F, flexible schedule around classes, and I could easily get it done in 1 hour. Spent the other hour during the work talking and flirting with the girls in the dorm. Not a bad job, paid only min wage. Only did it half the year. After that got a job working in an auto parts store approx 25 hours/week during school. That was more interesting to me, but less time for goofing off and certainly a lot less girls around.

 

[pacergal]

First paid job (aside from babysitting) was working for a telephone answering service. ( think Lili
Tomlins Ernestine "one ringydingy" schetch on Laugh In-lol)
It was busy but fun.

 

[braumeister]

Two years as ROTC instructor on the UCLA campus. The lowest stress job I've ever had, and really great fun. And much to my amazement, some of my students from back then still keep in touch.

 

[disneysteve]

My favorite job was all the years I worked at a summer camp. I started as a camper for 5 years and then was on staff for 12 years. The only reason I stopped working there was because after my 2nd year of medical school I no longer had my summers off. Most camp counselors are teachers since they are off in the summer so I was kind of the odd one out but I LOVED my time there. Some of my closest friends to this day are people I met in camp.

I liked it so much that I even did some work for them in the off season. The place was used as a day care during the school year so my best friend and I were part of the team that broke down and set up before and after the camp season. That was mostly manual labor, not all of the sun and fun of camp, but I liked that too.

My favorite professional job was the roughly 3 years I worked at one particular urgent care location, about 2018 to early 2021. Despite that encompassing COVID which was NOT fun, we just had an amazing team. We all got along well and truly enjoyed working together. And it was a fun bunch. We frequently socialized outside of work doing escape rooms, axe throwing, and other stuff together. Sadly, they closed that site in 2021 because the medical industry suffered such huge losses due to the pandemic and we all scattered to new jobs so my last 3 years weren't nearly as much fun. Still, I remain very close with several of those people and still see them somewhat regularly.

 

[Ronstar]

Mowing lawns in the 1960's.

 

[Pointby2]

Becoming a Wendy's manager. It's a long story. Came from a small town in the Midwest to Reno, NV on a lark, a whim. Expecting to spend a half year "making money for college".

I went into the Carson City employment office and worked with the employment counselor. It was so shocking at the time that they actually had jobs to offer. In my home town jobs were scarce. A job as a manager at the local McDonald's would have been an impossible dream. But here, Wendy's had just started to franchise stores and the local franchisee had four stores, three in Reno and one in Carson City and was looking to open more. They were hungry for young, aggressive manager types that would work hard and for cheap. I was their kind of guy, young, cheap and not afraid of hard work. I met with their recruiter and he picked me up and drove me around the city with the grand tour. I'd never felt so important. At the end of the day he offered me a job as a "manager trainee". I didn't hesitate and took the job, what did I have to lose? I assumed I'd make some money and be back home by the end of the summer. I started at $790 a month with the potential to make $15-18K a year. (1978)

Choosing Wendy's was a great choice. The work was long and hard, with 50 hour weeks common, but it was so fast paced that the time flew by. Also, the managers and crew were all supportive and great people. Lots of cute girls to flirt with too. Exciting times since Wendy's was the big new thing and all the stores were super busy, shiny and new.

I was rapidly promoted, and in a month was co-manager at the Reno store. The crew and manager there were hard working great people, and I met my future wife there as she was the crew chief. Shortly after I became a full fledged store manage in Carson City. A month or two later I got the Manager spot at their busiest store in Reno on Virginia street. I bought my first new car, a Datsun pickup.

Eventually they almost offered me a regional manager spot, but I went back and finished college as a consolation prize.

 

[sdtech]

Sea Lion Trainer as a teenager for a tourism spot in the Black Hills. …pretty far from a normal sea lion habitat!

 

[EastWest Gal]

My first job was a Christmas time retail job at a Hickory Farms store in a mall. We were encouraged to taste the cheeses so we could describe them to customers. We also hand rolled the cheese balls in the back of the store. It was busy, but it was delicious!

The most fun work I have ever had was playing in pit orchestras for local musical theater. I have done that five times. Twice, my husband was the pit director. It was contract work for us, not really a "job". I haven't done this for a couple of years.

 

[f35phixer]

45 years of naval aviation flight test as an electronic tech. Interacting with pilots / engineers about what we need to test today…. Always some new issue we’d have to muddle thru…… and I got 10 hours in hornet so we’d understand the test card we’d give pilot flowed etc for best test point flow. First flight had to take wire cause we blew main mount on landing

 

[ransil]

Had 2 one just ended.
Maintenance in a solar cell facility was a job after I quit a crappy job and looked for a better job.
Maintenance at a State park in the west for the summer ( work camping is part of my retirement plan) , hangout and fix stuff in the cabins and grounds.

fixing stuff is fun

 

[stepford]

I ran a hang gliding school part time for about 10 years. Though it was a lot of fun at times, the fun:aggravation ratio declined over time and i closed the business around the time i turned 40. Nowadays it's hard to imagine I had the energy to do that alongside a full time 'real' job, but that's what being in your 30s is like.

 

[Scubamax]

During high school and breaks from college I worked in the movie theater in town which was in the new mall and was a 5 screen affair. Started as usher, then projectionist and assistant manager. Had a fun group and owner also had a drive in screen a couple of miles away.

Learned a lot and had some great times and all the popcorn and coke products I wanted while on shift. Also got to see all the latest movies as well!

 

[Fotodog]

For me it was working in Yellowstone Park the year I graduated high school at Mammoth Hot Springs. Kids from all over the country came to work during the summer and were housed in boys and girls dorms. I had zero job skills and started at the bottom of the ladder as pot washer. My brilliance was quickly recognized so I was promoted to dish washer. But the big jump came when I became a waiter. Not only did I make a few dollars in tips, more importantly I got to meet all the cute waitresses.

What made this job so special was all the hiking and trout fishing I did before or after my shift started. In those days you could hitchhike safely and I went all over the park. My most memorable hike was at dawn, where a coyote jumped up ahead of me and stopped at the top of a hill staring at a Pronghorn antelope approaching from the other side, just as the first rays of sunlight broke through. I remember thinking that I wish I could photograph this spectacular moment. My best friend let me borrow his Nikon for many hikes afterwards, my love for photography was born, which led to a wonderful career as a professional photographer.

 

[Midpack]

I was a summer help greenskeeper at Ft Dix Golf Course in NJ over the summer ‘72 before I started college. We temps mostly groomed the rough and traps (the regulars did fairways), but we cut the greens almost every day at the crack of dawn, literally. We were each assigned 4 greens, a different clock pattern for the day, and were standing at our first green waiting for the sun to come up. It was by far the biggest most sophisticated precision reel walk-behind mower I’d ever seen. I probably made $3/hour. I loved it - more than the peak of my career at over 50x pay. I think most greenskeepers mow with riding mowers today.

My other summer jobs were busboy, roofer helper, summer help at SACPS power plants, waiter/pizza maker at Noble Romans and waiter at an upscale restaurant (enormous pay).

 

[Luvdogs]

I had a summer job where I took care of 15 Siberian huskies. Most were show dogs. Part of my job was "socializing puppies"--there was a litter of eight pups and part of my job was playing with them. I got paid for playing with puppies! Yeah a tough job for an 18 year old. I would come into work and they would trill in excitement to see me!

 

[aaronc879]

I have never had a fun job but the closest I have had to fun was driving a sprinter van all over the US doing expedited delivery. I didn't have to touch any freight, just drive from shipper to receiver and enjoy the view along the way. There were more than enough bad drivers to make it not qualify as a fun job but still the closest I will ever get.

 

[Gallaher]

Accepted a job with a biotech startup when I was 47. Launched the first GLP1 on the market. Never worked so hard. Everyone was on board for success. Made excellent money. Company was bought out four years later. We all saw it coming. Made even more on the buy out.