Mowing the lawn around home
I’m going to list all of the jobs I’ve had over my lifetime and mention the key takeaways from each job, good and bad.
My first job was mowing the lawn around our house. Since the house was located on a 1/2 acre of ground, there was a lot of lawn to mow. Here is a photo of the north side of the house:
When I first started mowing the lawn we had a reel lawn mower. It was powered but it still took quite a bit to mow this lawn. And, we always picked up the grass.
Then my dad bought a rotary lawn mower. This was not self-propelled. I had to push it around the lawn with a bag on the side.
My allowance was based on my mowing the lawn. I think I took over the lawn mowing responsibility when Ron and Ken were on their missions.
Selling Horse Chestnuts
My failed job was selling horse chestnuts. I got in a lot of trouble for this one. They looked so pretty and we had neighbors that didn’t know what they were, my friend Chris Watts and I sold a bunch of them. Here’s a picture of a horse chestnut seed.
When the neighbors started calling my mom to ask her how to cook them, I had to take all the money back and apologize.
Yard work for the Stevensons
My next job, was working at the Stevenson’s on Walker Lane. My job was to mow their lawn and to weed their flower gardens. One cool thing about mowing their lawn is that Boyd Martin was in the lawnmower business, so they had a big mower. As I recall, it was a riding mower.
Selling Sweet Corn
My next job was selling sweet corn. We had a acre of ground on the south side of the house in which we grew sweet corn. I got to sell the corn. Dad had a cousin, Doug Cutler who grew and sold sweet corn on the corner of 3900 South and 900 East. Where the St. Marks Hospital is now. As I recall we sold the corn for $.35 a dozen. This was a good money maker for me, since dad let me keep the money for myself. But it was a lot of work planting, hoeing and watering the corn. Then came the picking. We would get up early in the morning to pick it and have it ready to sell for the day.
Lot Boy
The next job that I can remember is my first “official” job as a paid employee. My daughter recall me talking about this. I told this story in my Storyworth book. It was as a used car “lot boy.” My job was to clean up the newly acquired cars and to wash the other cars and keep them ready to sell. My boss was a real jerk! Even his kids, would would come to the lot every now and then, couldn’t figure out how I could work for him. He insisted that I stay busy all of the time. If he left the car lot, I was not to discuss the cars or what he was asking for them. So, I turned a lot of people away.
As I recall, he never sold a single car all summer. I don’t recall that he bought any new cars either, so that made my job very difficult.
When I had to quit to go on a vacation with my mom and dad, I gave my two weeks notice. A couple days later, I was laid off. My dad was furious at the owner. He really laid into him telling him that he was trying to teach his son good business skills by giving notice. I was so glad when that job was over. I was about 15 years old, because I didn’t have a driver’s license yet.
More Lawn Mowing
While in High School, I would mow lawns for the neighbors on Parkview Drive.
Kennecott Research Center
When I graduated from High School after my Freshman Year at the U of U, I went to work for the Kennecott Research Center at the University of Utah. I was the rock crusher. I got to drive the front-end loaded and the rock crusher machinery. They had a floatation test facility. I also got to clean out the drum mill. This required climbing into the device and to scrub it out. That was very hot messy work.
I had to work shift work at this job. Every week I would switch to another shift. One week I was on days (7-3), the next week I was on swing (3-11) and the third week I was on graveyard (11-7). My sleep schedule was really messed up by the end of the summer. After this job I left on my mission
The Paris Company –
After my mission, I went to work for The Paris Company as a shoe salesman in the Cottonwood Mall.
Fuller Brush Salesman
Then I got recruited by Bob Sporleder to deliver Fuller Brush products. After a short stint delivering, I was changed to a salesman. Bob gave me one of his areas and I did really well selling Fuller Brush. I averaged $15 – $20 an hour doing this. In 1972-1974, this was really good money. Even not, making $20 an hour part-time is a good wage. This put me through College.