quit, layoffs but never fired 2nd draft

quit, layoffs but never fired

Looking back to 1960 when I began doing things that I got paid for I have had 49 jobs in 58 years.  I quit or walked away from some.  I was laid off only 4 times.  Some simply ended.

I WAS NEVER FIRED in 58 years.

Working was what I knew to expect would be a major part of my life.

When Banjo asked me to draw some cartoons and signs for her dad's diner across from Osborn that was the first time I had been paid for my creativity and not simply sweated doing hours and hours of work around the house for my weekly allowance or at 50 cents an hour to earn extra money doing various odd jobs:

washing windows
washing walls
painting walls
cutting grass
edging the lawn
planting my dad's Victory Garden
getting rid of weeds from the garden
oh his flower garden in front and rear yards
laying floor tile in the basement

Instead I was using my cartooning and self-taught design skills and getting paid for it.

When I started college working towards my BS degree in Architecture I didn't start working until my Sophmore year.  First as a math tutor in the math department part-time every week.  Then as a geometry tutor for a couple high school students privately.  Then surprise, surprise my Physics teacher even set me up as a Physics tutor for engineering students.

I got a B in physics partly because Mr. Zimmerman liked or felt sorry for me during the final exam.  As he patrolled the classroom watching for any cheating he spotted my cheat sheet and shook his disapproval and I put it away.  Later he tapped on my blue book on a part of a question I was floundering with and shook his head and walked away.

I reworked that problem and solved it.

I had a C- going into the exam and thought I had failed it.

I ended up with an A- on the Final exam because he marked on a curve.  Mine was the only A grade on that final exam.

He gave me a "B" for the semester.  That was a DREAM for sure that was not expected to happen.

Still don't believe I actually deserved the grade but who am I to complain with the decision of my Hungarian-American Physics professor.

The idea that I was hired to be a math tutor in the math department was another DREAM that could have been a NIGHTMARE if students actually came in when I was working there during my entires Sophmore year asking for help with calculus.

Algebra? No sweat!

Geometry? No sweat!

Trigometry? No sweat!

Solid Geometry? No sweat!

I ACED those in high school and college.

Calculus?  Some how I got a B in my senior year of high school and eventually in my three quarters in college because the professors marked on curves.

Since 1966 after I graduated from Lawrence Tech I have often used Geometry and Trig in my real life both professionally and personally.  As an architect and a designer I have used both many times.  Even in my freelance cartooning and display work I used them both.  Add to that doing work in my various gardens.

Calculus?  You've got to be kidding.

In 1964 after having had jobs as a busboy, kitchen clean up, and tutoring I went to my Psychology Professor, Mr. Jan for guidance help, who also was the only counselor at the college then.

I had won the Student Council President position and a full scholarship covering registration fees and books for the year, but I needed to earn money to pay for gas and other things while living at home that year.

He told me about a job possibility at WXYZ-TV across the street from our campus.  Only negative was that whoever they hired would have to work M to F beginning at 5:30 am until about 7 am and all day on both Saturday and Sunday.  Seven days a week on top of classes Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5:00 pm

M to F and the weekend assignment were actually two different jobs.

I went for the interview.

I got it.

A DREAM JOB.

I was going to be writing headlines for the news department at an ABC affiliate station for their sign-on show called FUN NEWS, 5 days a week and for their FLASHING HEADLINE machines located in different spots in metro Detroit 6 days a week.  It sounded like a cool job and it paid $7.50 to $15.00 an hour depending upon how long it took me each day.  That was 3 to 6 times what I got paid up to two years later as a beginning architect with a BS degree.

The weekend job was as the DESK EDITOR for 8 hours both days.  Sounds more exciting than it was most of the time over those 2 years.  Mostly my job was to check into and keep up with potential stories or even BREAKTHRU News to share with the 6 pm and 11 pm news announcers.  Throughout the day I reviewed both the API and UP news wires and the early version of a fax machine that shared photos from around the world.

Very few truly exciting things happened in those two years.

It was 1964 to 1966 era of Vietnam and the Goldwater vrs Johnson national campaign.  Yes many horrors of the Vietnam War but somehow except for the occasional student protests I don't remember exciting news items like those that would come later when President Johnson told the American public that he would not seek a second term or when Watergate exploded on the news followed by Nixon resigning or Spiro T. Agnew resigning to avoid going to trial or jail.

That weekend job paid me about $15 per hour.

It took years as a young architect to equal or better what I got paid per week during those 2 years.

There were some NIGHTMARES that happened while I worked for WXYZ-TV.

Between when Banjo paid me to create cartoons and signs for her dad's diner, DUTCH's and my jobs at WXYZ-TV
some of my jobs simply ended, project by project.  I was never laid off or fired from any of them.  I did quit the busboy and kitchen clean up crew jobs at the end of those school quarters when I was hired by WXYZ-TV.  The tutoring jobs simply ended at the respective quarters of semesters of my student clients, whether high school or LIT college students

Now I was then seriously WORKING at two REAL JOBS
for the first time my life at the age of 20.

* * * * * *

to be continued

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