When Johnny posted some old pics with his song he made me remember that the second real job that I ever had was working at the Townhouse Dept Store. I worked in the fabric and sewing notions dept. My dad never let me drive at night until I got that job, then he was forced to let me. I was the only howlie working there at the time.The ladies all felt sorry for me cause I'd bring a boring sandwich to eat and they always had rice, and other good stuff which they often shared.
My first real job was a a camp counselor at the USO Summer Day Camp. I was 15 and the youngest counselor they hired. I had the 6 yr olds. It was a fun job teaching swimming and crafts. I'll always remember this really cute rolly polly Japanese kid I had. I tried all summer to teach him just how to float on his back. His mom would send him so much food in his lunch, he would eat it all, then get sick, every day. Poor little guy.
I also remember one of my most embarrassing moments that summer. I always wore my bikini top under my shirt. Well for some reason one day I didn't and when we went to go for swimming lessons, I pulled off my shirt as usual and all the kids starting screaming...I looked down and was standing in front of them all with just my bra on...lol..hopefully no one was traumatised for life.
Did any one else ever go to that USO summer camp? My parents sent us the first couple of years we lived on Guam, wanted us to learn to swim. They always had the best hamburgers there ( somehow I always seem to remember stuff related to food..hahaha)
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17 comments:
Me and my brothers took swimming lessons at the USO when we were still very young in the mid 60s. Benny was our swimming instructor, and his most famous saying was "paddle paddle kick" "paddle paddle kick". The USO was our favorite place to eat. A cheeseburger for 35 cents, and ice cream bar for a dime, a big plate of fried rice for 50 cents. We would swim all day...out to the rafts, then eat before heading home. Good times for sure.
My first job was at the Hilton making $2.05 an hour as a groundskeeper which was slang for anything that no one else wanted to do. One day the grease trap in the restaraunt got clogged up so they had me go down into the trap with a bucket and haul that crap out of there bucket by bucket load. By the end I was covered in grease and I smelled like something that had crawled out of a septic tank. People were literally avoiding me like I had an arm growing out of my head or something. It was so bad that they had me shower, change into other clothes and still sent me home because that white boy reeked.
As far as swimming my mom signed us up for the manaki swim team and it was like boot camp. We would swim freestyle, backstroke, butterfly all at 50 meters at a time. I remember the Sicklers were on the same swim team. I hated it at the time but I'm pretty sure that being a good swimmer saved my ass more than once on that island.
Ben and I were on the Manakai swim team. He was pretty fast. I ussually came in last and second to the last in freestyle and butterfly. I agree with Doug it made me a good swimmer. I was a lifeguard at USO beach my first year at UOG. First order of the day was to scare the stone fish into the deep water. Last thing I did at the end of the day was get the cook and lower the US flag from the pole and fold it up the correct way. I loved that place swimming between the rafts. One night a group of us snuck in and were swimming near the raft and a bunch of baby octupus suddenly were clinging all over us. Last time I was there in 2000 it had become the SeaMens club/bar. It's days of glory had long gone...
Speaking of working at the Hilton. Chris didn't you work at the Gallion Grill as a cook assistant? I heard some gross stories about the big vats of sauce or am I mistaken?
My first job was a "Bag Boy" at J&G, I also was the token howlie. The worst thing that ever happened to me was, an extremely obese lady sliped and fell (no, she was not hurt). She was so large that she couldn't get back up on her own. We juvinile baggers thought it was the funniest thing we had ever seen. The manager was yelling at us to help her. We did, but it was hard to see with the tears in our eyes. We all received a lecture (yelling!) after that.
I am as uncoordinated as they come. I dance like someone with ceribral palsey on too much caffine. I was asked to be on the bowling team, and was so bad that the other team coached me.
Doug asked how Claudia is doing. She is at the University working in the counseling department. She was working for DOE for many years at BJHS and GCC. She eventually retired from teaching Biology and Chemistry. She still runs the annual science fair which she developed into a large event over the years. She has three kids, two in college and an 8 year old.
Alice do you remember your dad would always load up the car with kids and take us to USO. We used to swing on the coconut frons that grew out over the water near the parking lot. I think the big Iquana went too!
Yes Juliet, I remember Mr. Sparks taking us swimming, sailing, all sorts of places. I think that even after we left the circle, my brothers and I spent more time at the sparks than any other circle house. When they lived on Marine Drive, it was so convinient to go accross the beach. I skined the top of my foot one time on a plexiglass sheet. Sam had to take me home, and my mom was MAD.
Mr. Sparks was a verry important part of all of us from the Circle.
I got my Advanced Lifesaving certificate at the USO sometime back in early 1977. I remember the Snack Bar, eating french fries after a long drive back from surfing Merizo. The USO was always a cool pit stop for some Cokes, a burger ... and some chicks hopefully roving about in bikinis.
Oh, I forgot...my first job was at the Hilton Hotel too, back in 1972, as a bus boy. We had this formal English lady, who taught us how to set a table and all that. Being useless at that, I got sent to the kitchen where I worked as a petite-four chef's assistant and I ended up being the one who made all the croissants and desserts for the restaurant. I think I made $1.85 an hour, which was way cool back then.
I remember another kitchen guy, a local dude, and I, ended up in the freezer with champagne and petite-four desserts...munching away and not feeling the cold as much.
Dang, I even remember the Austrian chef, "OTTO", who continually talked about young chicks. That Austrian dude was out there!
My first legal job; I delivered the pacific daily news. Spent most of the money I collected. Got into big trouble doing that.
Ric, Paper rout was not a real job. I hated it. You, Sean and I had it. I think Desi did too for a while. Sean about got his foot bit off by a dog. We carried dog spray (amonia) after that. When we would spent the nigh at a friends, we would have to leave at 4am. I hated the paper rout.
My first and only job on Guam was as a dishwasher and kitchen helper at Ninas Papagayo mexican restaurant on hospital road. I remember the Bast family coming there to eat on occasion, Ben would always order the filet mignon. The philippino cooks would usually fix me a couple tacos and I would scarf them down like there was no tomorrow. I always seemed to be starving in those days, often due to having a bad case of "the munchies".
I loved those $.35 hamburgers at USO. I was about 6 and it was such a big deal for me to swim from the bouys to the raft. My dad did take that creature to USO. Is that where he ran off?
Hey Alice ,
What was the creature ?
Alice's Dad brought back an Iguana/dragon from his travels. It looked like one of those from Gallapgus Islands. And It had about a four foot tail that it could whip you with. I first found out about it when Mrs. Sparks called me over to baby-sit Dean and Jo. I don't know where Alice and Sam where but I came to baby sit and was sitting in the living room staring at Sam's Green slimy aquarium that had eels in it when I see this creature crawling up the corner of the wall from behind the TV. I Went to the back of the house to find Mrs. Sparks who was putting on her make-up and told her there was a big Iguana in the house and she didn't miss a stroke and just said that's Blair's new pet, but that I should watch out for the tail. Those type of Iguanas walk on the reef and spend time in the water. I remember they used to fill up the bathtub and let it stay in there. Anyway it was a long night. I think Alice and Sam were traveling with their father. The tail really could whip out it was part of their natural defense system. The Iguana eventually fell of the wall that night into the middle of the living room and we had to brave the tail to get past it to the bedrooms.
Mowing lawns was my main source of revenue. Of course, there was pretty stiff competition from the rest of the neighborhood rug rats. I think they finally drove me out of business.
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