Jobs

Work, Work, Work…

My first paying job was at the Campbell County YMCA in Fort Thomas. I was a day camp counselor during the summers from 1968 through 1972. Lots of fun. Lots of friends. The last couple of years I took on other tasks at the Y: janitor, arts and crafts teacher, lifeguard. 

Upon graduating from high school I had a job as a janitor at the Kroger Building in Cincinnati (June 1973-May 1974). Our neighbor, Charlie, two doors down was an executive for Philips Supply Co. that had the contract there and secured the job for me. I learned a lot. Especially how to strip and wax floors. Philips also used be to fill in at the Cincinnati Club, YMCA on Central Ave., and Provident Bank.

Then I pissed off my supervisor, Clarence, when I up and quit with no notice. My mom’s company, Heekin Can Co., had a policy of hiring employees kids for summer work. I worked there the summers of 1974/1975. Hard work. Cherry can season was the worse. Three weeks of 12-hour shifts. Check out my story in the Humor pages about how I was baked in an oven.

I was attending NKU during this time. I eventually wound up as a math major and fell in love with computers. Computer geeks always made fun of the business computer people. But, I decided to find out just what the other side of computing was all about and took the Intro to Computers class the business side was offering. The director of the administrative computer department taught the class. One night I stayed after class to talk to him and he offered to give me a tour of the computer center. Sure! He showed me around and we talked and then he said, “Do you want a job?” I didn’t even think about it and said, “Yes.” That’s how I started my short career as a civil servant for the State of Kentucky (1976-1979). I started out as the evening operator for the IBM 370/115 DOS/VSE computer. That lasted six months. Then I was promoted to a computer programmer.

During that time, the University of Louisville purchased a DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.) DECSystem 10. It was to be a shared resource with the other colleges and universities in the state. I volunteered to be the liaison for NKU. The next year NKU purchased a DEC PDP-11/60 running RSTS/E. I volunteered to run that system. In 1979 I interviewed with DEC and they hired me in November of 1979. I worked for Digital until May 2000.

Digital by 2000 was going down the tubes quickly. I jumped ship and became an independent consultant. My primary customer was Relizon (a company Reynolds in Dayton spun off). I then picked up H & R Block in Columbus.

During the summer of 2001, H & R Block offered me a full-time job and I accepted. I managed their Alphaserver VMS systems. These computers supported the field offices, filed the taxes with the IRS and supported the RapidRefund product. HRB decided to enter the subprime lending market and took a huge hit in 2008 with subprime imploded. I was part of the HRB layoffs in February 2008. 

I took a job at the Ohio Relay later that year in Moraine, Ohio.. Ohio Relay provides 711 telephone services for the deaf, hard of hearing and speech impared. Interesting work. 

They let me go in 2010 and I went to work at Applebee’s in Springboro, Ohio as a dishwasher and fry cook.

When Ellen’s mom contracted cancer, we moved back to Fort Thomas to take care of her. Ellen took over as manager for the Newport Hancock Fabrics store to be closer to Fort Thomas. I took care of her mom until she died in August 2011. At that point I took care of her dad until he died in January 2014.

By this time, I started dialysis at home. Pretty much precluded me working. So I took care of my grandson Alistair while Christina re-entered the workforce. Then I received a kidney transplant on October 19, 2015! By February I felt well enough to start working again. I became a cashier at the South Side Deli Mart in Fort Thomas, and soon become Saturday opening manager.

Spring of 2018, a line cook position opened up at our fave restaurant, Belly and Soul at the Spare-Time Grill in Alexandria, Kentucky. I took it and had one of the best times of my life for six months. Then they closed. Then another family member purchased it and re-opened as Ingram’s Spare-Time Grill. Then I quit because the grease from the fryers and the flattop was killing my lungs.

Ellen and I were shopping at South Side one day in January 2019 and we ran into John, the owner. Started talking and I asked about the Help Wanted signs on the doors. He had lost two people and was in desperate need of cashiers. I mentioned that it so happened I was unemployed and he rehired me on the spot. I am still there now (September 2019).