What did you do before SAHD?

leighpierce

Posts: 94
Joined: 2008-08-08
Dad Points: 214

Alright guys, we all know what our job is now. But what did everybody do before becoming a SAHD? I was the standard factotum… never had a job I liked, never kept a job I had. Here’s a VERY condensed list of my past jobs:

Pizza delivery man
Data entry
Machine operator (quit to go to fire school)
Security guard
Lifeguard (and I can’t even swim)
Maintenance
Freelance writer (still do an article once in a while)
UPS
Delivered furniture
Quality control at Trek Bicycle
Managed a Jiffy Lube for 4 years
Fast Food
3rd shift store clerk
Stock boy
Telemarketer
Made metal pic. frames at a gallery
Volunteer Firefighter (gave it up when my youngest was born)

…and that’s not even half of the list!!!

Now what about you guys?

Submitted by leighpierce on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 3:56pm.

smacmartin

Posts: 69
Joined: 2008-06-15
Dad Points: 97

i must be boring

since being married, auto parts worker, store manager for napa and advance auto, r.v.p for genuine parts.....no college degree and i used to make more than my sister that has a masters from an exclusive liberal arts college.

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 4:08pm

ticktock

Posts: 789
Joined: 2006-11-06
Dad Points: 1419

Oh boy... :)

Grillman - Wendy's and McDonalds
Server - (various)
Catering Staff - (various)
Toy-Ologist - Imaginarium
Cave Guide - Lost River Cave
Aboriginal Storyteller - Kentucky Down Under
Games Operator - Six Flags: Kentucky
Lipstick and Herbal Pillow Sales - Kiosk at Mall
Distance Learning Engineer - College
PBS Cameraman - College

..........................................
http://www.altparenting.com

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 4:41pm

Gaming with Baby

Posts: 552
Joined: 2007-08-15
Dad Points: 852

In reverse order

Unloaded trucks at Babies-R-Us
Customer Service Rep/Brand Ambassador for Delta Air Lines
General schlub, Gamestop
Dive Tender and Assistant SCUBA Instructor, Underwater Astronaut Trainer, US Space Camp
In-store Marketing Associate, Sears
Aerospace Programs Counselor, Aviation Challenge Mach I-III programs, US Space Camp
Aerospace Programs Counselor, Space Academy/Astrotrek programs, US Space Camp
Simulator Operator, US Space & Rocket Center
Emergency room clerk
Car salesman, Chevy/Cadillac/Olds
Professional killer, US Army (I blowed people up, cleared rooms, did recon, and a lot of other highly useful and marketable skills thanks to your tax dollars.)
Broke college student with various retail and restaurant experience.

-Will
gamingwithbaby.com | all your diapers are belong to us
my flickr
BRING BACK THE IRRELEVANCE!!!!

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 4:51pm

TimB

Posts: 70
Joined: 2008-06-21
Dad Points: 94

In forward or reverse order

Electronics Technician
Software Engineer (masters degree)
Electronics Technician

Made the most money as a technician - go figure.

Tim

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 5:05pm

Mr. Dad

Posts: 206
Joined: 2008-03-07
Dad Points: 295

Starting Post College

Registered Nurse
Medical Sales/Insurance Contracting
Retail Sales Manager
Inside Sales - Software
SAHD

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 7:51pm

CiaAlum92

Posts: 541
Joined: 2007-12-19
Dad Points: 2248

mine was easy ( bottom to top )

Executive chef
chef
Executive sous chef
sous chef
chef d' patrie
banquet sous chef
demi chef
brigade sous chef

Break for School at The Culinary Institute of America

assistant sous chef
saute man
grill man
entramentier ( veg dude )
Army training as a Chef..and a killing machine
commis
dishwasher
tech school for cooking
Chef Kev
WHY? DADDY
JPhillip said it, therefor it is, Chef= C=Caring, H=Helpful, E=Excellent, F=Fubar

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 8:27pm

Electriclime

Posts: 129
Joined: 2008-06-20
Dad Points: 166

Various assorted flavors

Newspaper boy
Busboy/dishwasher
Furniture salesman/assistant manager Bombay Company
Library desk clerk at college (Oakland U, Rochester MI)
Changed majors in mid-stride and crashed
Finished my BA in History
Library classification tech
Completed MA (MLIS) in Library and Information Science (Wayne State, Detroit)
(Detroit is the last place to try to find a library job)
Home Depot sales - paint department (built muscles)
Helped to set up internet sales at a Chevy dealer in Charleston, SC
Customs classification analyst / international trade analyst (lost muscles)

I still handle international coverage for the customs firm on Saturdays and Sundays from home. I figure I'll keep that up until either I burn out trying to multi-task or the second baby comes. With a 4 month old it has not been too bad since she takes some long afternoon naps, but she's starting to get a bit more active now that she sleeps through the night.

Rich C. : Novice baby wrangler and cat herder.
http://one-sahd-dude.blogspot.com/
http://good-eats-fan.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onesahddude/

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 10:21pm

Santiago

Posts: 23
Joined: 2008-06-01
Dad Points: 27

Same thing I did before kids

That is, pretty much whatever the wife told me to do.

Do I win the thread?

Y'all made some lists, didn't you?
I'll just keep it to 2: the last and favorite.

Last: Videoconference coordinator and tech (actual title was less descriptive, BION)
Fave: Coffee roaster

Fri, 08/22/2008 - 11:10pm

liam915

Posts: 134
Joined: 2006-11-16
Dad Points: 162

Here's my list

Lawn and garden center (2 times 2 different places)
flower delivery
Car parts delivery
car part warehouse manager
appliance parts warehouse
UPS
Lab tech for a nuclear pharmacy (Where I met my wife)
furniture warehouse
hardwood floor installer
and during all these jobs I was a bass player in rock bands.(I actually got paid to do this)

Sat, 08/23/2008 - 7:47am

dbrigham

Posts: 277
Joined: 2007-09-20
Dad Points: 372

a lot of temp jobs

I've had a lot of temp jobs since graduating from college, mainly in the financial sector, and all of them dreadfully boring. Right out of college I worked for my hometown newspaper (R.I.P.) as a reporter, typesetter, photographer, copy editor and gopher.

Over the years I've kept my hand in journalism (I earned a degree in '87) or related fields, from freelance record reviewing to feature writing to copy editing/proofreading. The best job I had was the last one before I became a SAHD in 2002: writer and editor for a now-defunct Internet start-up that covered the music industry as it began adopting new technologies and business strategies so as to not get completely fucked by the Internet. Our company (Webnoize) was ahead of the curve but was run by a couple of dipshits (can you tell I'm still bitter?) who ran it in to the ground.

Dave, full-time child roadie for Owen and Amelia
www.davebrigham.com

Sat, 08/23/2008 - 1:07pm

RenoDad

Posts: 149
Joined: 2007-10-25
Dad Points: 205

Here we go (Newest to Oldest)

College Professor
Director of Software Development
Web Developer
Training Development Specialist
VA Educational Service Coordinator
Research Assistant
Security Guard
Burger Flipper
Deliverer of Death and Mail from Above

Sat, 08/23/2008 - 1:41pm

Creative Dad

Posts: 18
Joined: 2008-07-04
Dad Points: 22

Timeline from ancient history

Cabinetmaker (part-time)
Retail flunky (part-time)
Call center flunky (part-time)
(first child is born)
IT development manager
Programmer (mainframe, early WWW stuff)
Call center flunky
Credit investigator
Retail flunky (record shop, furniture)
Jewelry manufacture (shop assistant)

This covers about 30 years.

Gettin' creative at CreativeDad.net

Sat, 08/23/2008 - 6:18pm

Poomaster

Posts: 9
Joined: 2008-08-19
Dad Points: 13

Newest to oldest

Sold Pot (during most of my jobs until the end quit for the wife and kids)
Construction
Insides sales
Painter
Car sales twice
Microfilmer
McDonalds
Duchess
Burger King

There are several more that I can not think of or that lasted a day or two sometimes a week.

PooMaster
http://www.pooplatter.com

Sat, 08/23/2008 - 11:18pm

B-Dub

Posts: 9
Joined: 2008-06-16
Dad Points: 13

From College 'till now.......

Quiznos
US Forest Service - trail crew, firefighter
Year long trip around the world
Retail sales at t-Shirt shop (ski bum in Crested Butte)
Waiter
Law School student
Attorney
SAHD (6 years)

Sat, 08/23/2008 - 11:34pm

Jimmy Petersen

Posts: 7
Joined: 2006-11-16
Dad Points: 7

What I did with my free time

From high school, no college, to now I have;
Burned Garbage-and other combustables
Hauled wet rugs out of basements
installed & cleaned carpet
Delivered tile, plus marble and granite countertops
Managed guys who delivered and installed carpet
Potty trained daughter
Taught several hundred kids how to skate and play hockey
Potty trained Son
Drive Zamboni at rink I currently work at
I'm looking forward to bring your daddy to school day.

Mon, 08/25/2008 - 1:18pm

smacmartin

Posts: 69
Joined: 2008-06-15
Dad Points: 97

ooooooooh

i always wanted to drive a zamboni........but i wanted to do it down I-94 in Michigan in the dead of winter and then stand on an overpass and watch the mayhem...

Mon, 08/25/2008 - 3:38pm

mikeSAHD

Posts: 57
Joined: 2008-05-20
Dad Points: 65

My resume

Hotel front desk
Started undergraduate degree, but still worked full-time
Cardiac/labor and delivery/ICU clerk
Waiter...I mean server
Finished undergrad
Medical office treadmill and EKG tech
Clinical research associate
Started a very long graduate program, but still worked full time
Senior clinical research associate
Clinical research and operations manager (many years)
Marketing product manager
Finished long graduate program
Marketing product manager (continued)
SAHD

Wed, 08/27/2008 - 9:22pm

AtHomeDaddy

Posts: 55
Joined: 2006-11-06
Dad Points: 71

Working backwards, I have

Working backwards,

I have been a PT pre-school teacher for the last year (Got bit once last fall!)

SAHD for 6 years (All the usual battle scars...)

Worked as a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist for 10 years. (Got beat up by a 7 year old there!)

Worked at Summer Camps for kids with physical and developmental disabilities for 5 years. (Almost amputated my thumb there!)

Plus a few extra college and high school jobs that usually ended with me hurting myself. Like the time I ran over my own foot with a forklift.

How long until I can retire?

Wed, 08/27/2008 - 9:56pm

Uke_Skywalker

Posts: 247
Joined: 2006-11-12
Dad Points: 611

a career of pretend jobs (except for the SAHD gig of course)

Magician @ Chuck E Cheese's (got bit there once as well)
Usher @ AMC movie theater (saw every movie that came out for 3 years)
Magician and Drunk at Renaissance Festival (2 seasons of drinking more than I made)
Magician at Casa Bonita (yep the place from the South Park Episode http://allabout-sp.net/?p=season7/711 )
Pizza Guy
Lighting guy for Concerts and Corporate events (this is what I have my degree in)
SAHD (and part-part-part time Valentine's/Mother's Day flower delivery guy, and sound guy for Funerals and Weddings)

dB
Father of three,
Mac (6), Tavie(5), and Buddy(4)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Denver_Dad/
a Career of not real Jobs

Thu, 08/28/2008 - 9:14am

paddyrat

Posts: 205
Joined: 2007-08-13
Dad Points: 265

I think I've hit my peak...

High School
- Dishwasher
- Short order cook
- Prep cook
- Telephone marketer (hardened my resolve when dealing w/ public)

College
-Overnight Supervisor/Stock Clerk for Children's Palace Toy Store
-Golf Course Maintenance Crew

Post College
-Golf Shop Lackey
-Assistant Golf Professional (2 Clubs)
-Head Golf Professional (in KC)
-Touring Golf Professional (2 years)
-Assistant Manager for Blockbuster (here in Atlanta)
-Glorified Handyman (General Contractor)
-SAHD

Future Endeavors
-City Councilman
-Gigilo
-Possible appearance on America's Most Wanted

Aye, there's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased scotsman...

Thu, 08/28/2008 - 9:27am

JonMcP

Posts: 349
Joined: 2007-01-03
Dad Points: 508

ATMs

I was the cash and deposit manager for the ATM network of a major financial institution.

Thu, 08/28/2008 - 8:06pm

New No.2

Posts: 650
Joined: 2007-11-12
Dad Points: 910

Let's see...

Drank more
Slept late
Rode my bike about 1oo miles a month
smoked uh? not tobacco and watched The Prisoner
went to movies
drove cross country twice
heard the chimes at midnight

Aaaand
sales rep at EMS
Film post production (Casino, Lone Star, Kundun, Fargo)
projectionist
grave digger (not a joke)
town of West Hartford Dep of Transpot worker
bookstore
babysat.

Be Seeing You.

Thu, 08/28/2008 - 11:02pm

dkremers_1965

Posts: 316
Joined: 2007-09-28
Dad Points: 533

My Jobs

From the beginning to now:

Furniture upholstery stripping

busboy

waiter

receptionist at college dorm

camp councilor

church organist

day care teacher for preschoolers

substitute teacher for grades pre-K through 8th

5th grade teacher

Assistant to the Arts and Outreach director at church

Check out my ramblings on life at http://www.sahdguy.blogspot.com/

Fri, 08/29/2008 - 9:16am

alan68

Posts: 39
Joined: 2008-07-17
Dad Points: 39

Going back to 1984...

1984 - cleaned up after pre-school kids at a privately owned day care
1987 - shoveled popcorn and got yelled at by rude customers at a UA movie house (which is now a church)
1991 - got kicked around by customers AND management and abused in every way but sexually at Wal-Mart (which moved across town and expanded into a supercenter - the original building is still vacant)
1994 - fared only slightly better at Venture (which is now out of business nationwide)
1995 - took plenty of verbal abuse from credit card customers over the phone at The Associates (which is now in a much nicer facility)
1996 - worked hard changing price tags and got some steady chicken feed at 3 different OfficeMax stores (one of which is now closed)
1997 - endured more telephone abuse at AT&T (which got bought out by SBC which then stole its name)
1999 - did temp work and got lied to a lot by Olsten Staffing (which got acquired by Adecco)
2000 - packed and shipped boxes and got treated a lot better than I got paid at Blumberg (which has just closed the office where I worked)
2003 - tried the SAHD thing with my first baby - didn't manage our money right and had to go back to Blumberg and pay the local baby jail to raise my son
2008 - welcomed baby jacqueline into the world and decided to bail Jordan out of baby jail and give SAHDing another try. So far so good...though Christmas will be a lot easier if I had a weekend job...but that's another story.

So why don't they call it mooching when the wife stays home?

Fri, 08/29/2008 - 10:13pm

CBus_Dave

Posts: 17
Joined: 2008-06-18
Dad Points: 21

Waiter jobs Outside driving

Waiter jobs
Outside driving range lackey
Golf Shop retail lackey
Asst. Retail Manager of Golf Shop
Graduated College
Realtor - office and multiple property manager, some sales
New Condo sales, asst. Superintendent (same company)
*also worked golf shop throughout as 2nd job for 'fun'
Asst. Golf Pro - teaching (great gig, my attempt at making fun job permanent job - loved it, but not exactly family friendly hours)
Residential Realtor (still work this part time)
SAHD (full time)

Sat, 08/30/2008 - 12:01am

bloomer79

Posts: 7
Joined: 2008-12-16
Dad Points: 47

SAHD is the best one

I grew up working on our family's ranch in Montana,
mowed lawns,
learned to do jack-of-all trades stuff
Partsman at John Deere (all 4 years of High School)
Aviation Electronic's Technician (8 1/2years active duty Navy)

then I became of SAHD

Thu, 12/18/2008 - 8:07pm

joeyo4495

Posts: 8
Joined: 2008-05-15
Dad Points: 8

Construction

Was a project engineer for a commercial construction company for five years. Lower level on-site management. When I quit, I told everyone that I'd rather hang out with two babies I like, than 120 babies (construction workers) I don't like.

Thu, 12/18/2008 - 8:37pm

Albyonfloats

Posts: 154
Joined: 2008-07-03
Dad Points: 193

How far back are we going with this?

First ever job paid by someone other than my dad: mowing lawns for people in our church
First damn hard manual labor job paid by my dad: hauling hay from a field into a tin roofed barn in central Texas in the summer. And while the hay was growing back, I cleared brush & then put up barbed wire fences to keep the cows at home. Yee-haw.

"Normal" jobs included:

Janitor at a local dept store
Clerk at Waldenbooks
Sailboat babysitter (had to live aboard a 58' sailboat for a whole summer....I was 22 and no it didn't suck one bit)
Govt official (field work) for one of those three letter agencies that pay lousy but at least the hours are long and the politics are awful
Camera store salesman
Camera store manager (LA & SF)
Wedding photographer (after this job, it's a wonder I ever got married)
Server/Bartender (TX & CO)
Gondola ops (Keystone, CO)
MLM sucker (5 years, 5 states and lots of mistakes before Uncle Sam shut us down for interstate commerce violations--it wasn't me)
Motorcycle salesman (2 places in SoCal)
Used Big Rig Salesman
Internet entrepreneur (read broke guy with a decent idea and no clue how to market it)
Adult furniture designer (in my garage, and no I don't need a cameraman, spritzer, or anyone else to help out the models in our photo shoots)
PT writer of songs, books, magazine articles and other things you've never read

Making it look difficult. Living the dream.

Fri, 12/19/2008 - 2:12am

Nightram

Posts: 7
Joined: 2009-01-05
Dad Points: 19

Didn't get too far out of the gate

Well, I got to use my degree for a short while.
I went to college for a multimedia degree.

During High School and college I worked as a glorified busboy at Country Buffet and made surprising money. I made $121 one Easter! Crazy.
Later in college I switched to a County Club just outside Golden, CO. we called it the KMart of County Clubs. It was a dump, but the view was breathtaking so nobody paid attention.
After that, I was a video game tester. Best job ever, but only because of the people. The job was tough, and very mind-numbing at times.
After that, I finally got to use my degree at a place that needed all manner of work done for their internet business. They sold software extensions, so I imagine they'll be out of business soon. They really didn't know how to run a business that well either. I was answering phones before I even knew what the company really did, and everything they told me to excite me about the job never happened. Still, I built some websites and had a good time. They couldn't afford to pay me and I was six paychecks behind at one point though.

Now, a S@HD, and it's great. I like to say I had more training in my current job than my last one, because I read some of that 'Expecting" book. Heh.

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 10:38pm

BestSellingAuthor

Posts: 9
Joined: 2008-03-04
Dad Points: 13

Beginning with the here and now...

SAHD since April 08
Ebay "expert" for car dealerships (enjoyable)
DHL - delivery ("f" that)
Taxi driver (fun @ times)
Car sales ("f" that)
(Continued to play local/regional til 08)
Got married in 01
Touring musician
BA in psychology in 96

Thu, 01/22/2009 - 2:41pm

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What did you do before SAHD?

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