Summer Job

For teenagers in the 60's it was hard to find part time or summer jobs.  There was no fast food restaurants or shopping malls that employed students in mass. When you could find a job to make a little spending money, it was usually for a short duration. 

I was always looking for some work.  The first I remember was cleaning up the little league field after the games when I was 13.  My job was to pick up the trash and put it in the garbage.  I think I made $5 each game.  Unfortunately, I had not developed a very good work ethic at that time and my Mother did most of the work.  I didn't last very long on that job.

I excelled on the next job.  It started in my 8th grade year at MacArthur Jr. High.  Each morning before classes I had to go to the cafeteria before school started and take all of the folding chairs off the tables and set them up for lunch.  After the last lunch period I would go stack them on the tables so the floors could be cleaned and mopped.  I remember working with Bill Coward.  We got the routine down and could get it done in a hurry.  Compensation for this was a free lunch in the cafeteria and either two cartons of milk or two desserts.  I opted for the two milks, except on Friday when it was cherry cobbler day and I got two desserts and bought the second milk.  I think lunch was about thirty cents at that time.  Held that job for two years.

Summer jobs were hard to find as a young teenager.  A couple of summers I got to work for the school district delivering the new text books to the schools.  It was fun and never seemed to be "work". I don't recall the pay, but the total was something short of $100.

It was the summer job I got after my senior year in high school that has the date August 10, 1962 etched in my mind.  I was looking for work when I heard of a construction company that needed a laborer/dump truck driver.  I was told to report for work the following Monday.  I never told them I had never driven a dump truck before nor did I have a commercial license.  I studied the book and passed the test the next day.   The company was building filling stations in the area.  I was to drive the truck when needed and work with the labor crew the rest of the time.  The very first morning I was told to help load debris in the truck and then take it to the dump.  Driving the truck was no problem.  I had been in a dump truck before but only as a passenger.  When I got to the dump, I had no idea how to operate the lift.  I knew it had something to do with the two levers protruding through the floor board.  I begin to try various combinations to get the lift to work.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to unload the junk by hand when I finally figured out how the bed lifted.   When I got back to the job site, the boss wanted to know why it took so long.  

I would go to the sand pit, haul building materials and numerous trips to the dump.  Even had to go to a railroad siding one day with several crew members to transfer asphalt from a rail car to the dump truck.  Southeast Texas summer heat caused the asphalt to stick to the bottom of my tennis shoes, making my feet really hot.  Not easy work for $1.25/hr. 

Once I mastered the dump truck, I looked forward to driving.  The ground work was tough.  Most of my duties centered around preparing foundations for pouring the slab.  One of the crew members was and old man that always grabbed the hand tamp to pack the fill sand.  I noticed he always worked at a very slow rate.  Had to be easy. One day I grabbed the tamp before he did.
Turned out the thing was a lot heavier than I realized.  After about ten minutes I gave it back to the old guy.  It was then I realized his forearms were about twice the size of mine.

Back to August 10th.  We were sent to a previously built station on the Corner of College and Lindbergh to make some repairs.  During that period of time oyster shells were used as road base.  The oysters were put down wet and then rolled to pack them.  When dry, it set up as a solid base and asphalt was used to top it off, making a nice road, drive, etc.  This particular station had an apron constructed in this manner.  Due to the unstable SE Texas gumbo soil and a plethora of 18 wheelers parking on this spot, the approach kept failing.  The construction manager decided that it must all be dug up and replaced with concrete.   Since hauling off the spoils required the dump truck, I was sent with the crew.  The job was fairly simple.  Dig it up and load the truck.

It required the use of a grub hoe, a shovel and lots and lots of muscle.

You simply just busted up the asphalt and oyster shell and shoveled it.  Simply enough you might think.  And, why was August 10th significant?  Well that date is the second highest temperature recorded in Beaumont, 107 degrees.  It was brutal.  I would hammer for awhile, then go to the water cooler.  Bust some more oyster shell and go to the bathroom.  It was during one of those water breaks that I knew I wanted to go to college.

I gained a lot of respect for those guys that were doing it for a living, especially Scatter, the old man on the tamper.

Coming next: Working as a counselor at a summer camp.