Teen Work Force

Last night, my friend Jayne and I were in Dairy Queen, eating dessert. There was a kid there who was interviewing for a job. Which made me think about my first jobs.

I never worked in a Dairy Queen or McDonald's or any fast food restaurant. I never worked in a restaurant, period. I would be a terrible waitress, I have no doubts. You would order something, and I know I would make a face, like, "seriously? you're going to eat THAT?"

I also never worked at the Gap or Old Navy or any retail establishment. My cash register experience is limited to working the box office at Laurie Auditorium in college. That was my work study job and I actually loved it. My friend Angela, who was a year ahead of me in school, got me in there. It was an easy job - you answered the phone if it rang, talked to the secretary, and sold tickets if anyone came to the window. Otherwise, you did your homework or messed around on the computer. You could pick up extra hours by ushering at lectures and shows.

My first job was baby sitter. I started baby sitting around age 12. Now that I think about it, I am amazed parents left their children in my care at such a young age, but my mom was always home when I was baby sitting. Though I don't remember calling her much. I think I made the whopping salary of about $2 an hour to start.

My first real job was camp counselor. I worked at Barrie Day Camp for 5 summers, starting when I was 18 and had just graduated high school. Barrie is a Montessori school during the school year and they try to make it sort of a Montessori camp, too. We weren't supposed to use negatives with the kids. So, if a kid picked up a rock, instead of saying, "No rocks!" you were supposed to say "Put the rock down!" Or, for example, when my camper Sharon decided to walk through the creek instead of crossing the bridge like I told her to, instead of saying, "Sharon, don't walk through the creek" I said, "Sharon, get out of the creek." I don't know if it is more effective or not but I still talk to children that way, so I guess at least *I* was successfully conditioned by it.

Most summers, I was the counselor for a group of first grade girls. There were boys at the camp too but the groups were divided by gender, which I liked. One summer I was the assistant ceramics teacher. That was fun too.

What was your first job?

The Continents

How many continents do you think there are? I was listening to a song from The Drowsy Chaperone, and she says something like "6 excruciating continents, Antartica, please." Meaning there are 7 except she isn't counting Antartica for these purposes.

I always learned there are 7 continents. Africa, Antartica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. I think that's the way most Americans learn it, if I'm not mistaken.

I was in Barcelona once, and I actually got into a fight with some Spaniards over this! We were at a concert where they were doing a fireworks show in tribute to "The 5 Continents." I stood there watching, when suddenly, I realized there are 7 continents! No matter what, the Spanish stood by the 5. They told me the continents are Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Apparently, North and South America are all one big continent, and Antartica doesn't count.

Sure enough, when they got to the America portion of the concert, it was North and South American music all mixed together.

I still stand by my 7 continents. What did everyone else learn? And do you learn the name of the continent as Australia or Oceania?