We all we got. We all we need.

--Stephon Diggs, New England Patriots

Many people start working in a part time capacity when they are young. Some start working after-school jobs in high school, some work their way through college, and others simply work their way from part time to full time in an occupation.

In my case, ten years of age was when I started working part time, the first of fourteen jobs I had where my part time status resulted in full time learning. Many times, we don't know what we are learning as we are learning it, and sometimes the benefits of that knowledge don't come to us until years later.

Our careers can be shaped by the lessons we learn when we are just starting out. Mine was.

1- Paperboy: I am not sure why I wanted to be a paperboy. Could it have been the money? Five bucks a week at that age was a lot. In any case, at ten years old, I applied for a paper route that was fairly close to my house. I had to bike about a mile and ahalf to pick up the papers, then fold them, then deliver them to the right homes. Since there were five or six different papers and 15 or 20 streets, it wasn't as easy as you might think.

I realized immediately that I had to be organized, I had to be on time or early, and that I had to deliver, just like the mailman in all kinds of weather.

I also learned about accountability when my dad had me provide my name, address and phone number to each of my customers along with the message that I promised to deliver the papers dry and on time. That lesson stayed with me for a lifetime. 

At the time, there was an ad on TV that emphasized everyone would do a better job if they 'signed their work.' I think I have always kept that in mind.

2-Store Clerk: The neighborhood variety store was called Edward’s Variety and only one kid from the neighborhood was selected to be a part time clerk and cover the time that family members didn’t work in the store. I was that kid. I didn’t apply, the owners approached my mom about me. I could walk to work. I did the job for a couple of years when I was in sixth and seventh grade.

The owners would leave me alone in the store from 5 PM to 9 PM. Whenever the till got to $100, I would knock on the door connecting their house, open it slightly, and place the money on a table. I was allowed one soft drink and one snack each shift. I think I learned how difficult owning a business can be during the experience.

I learned to handle money, make change, sell cigarettes to kids in the neighborhood (they were four packs for a dollar at the time), and sell personal items to teenage girls. It was where I learned to handle embarrassment and keep a straight face.

3- Fabric Store Stockboy: I was lured away from the lucrative store clerk role at a mom and pop store to a chain fabric store.

A friend’s mom managed the store at South Shore Plaza in Braintree, and I had the opportunity to be a clerk. That meant going down to the basement to get fabric rolls and bring them up. I occasionally had the chance to cut fabric. I have to admit I never saw a man come into the store to buy fabric. I guess it was where I learned to be the only boy around. Since I didn’t drive, I hitchhiked to and from work. I'm sure that the experience taught me that being in the public eye was not an easy way to make a living.

4-Car Counter: At the same shopping plaza, one summer I had the chance to be a car counter, an occupation replaced by AI, or rather replaced by digital advancement in the 1960's.

In the days before computers and other electronic devices, the South Shore Plaza had five road entrances, and the management company placed one car counter at each entrance with a clipboard and a form. As a car came in, we made a hashmark and entered the number of people in the vehicle. So, I sat in a lawn chair for six hours, or twelve if it was a double shift, and watched cars come and go. My tan that year was off the charts. I think I indirectly learned how important data can be to decisionmakers.

5-Traffic Director: At the same plaza, where the mom of a friend worked in the office, one Christmas break I had the chance at 18 years old, to direct automobile traffic outside of the Jordan Marsh department store during the holiday rush. Talk about power!

Wearing a yellow slicker, I learned how powerful authority was as I made cars stop and start at my will. It was actually more fun in the rain and snow than when it was sunny out. It felt like I was in the center of the action. I learned that power can be fun, but needs to be used carefully.

6-Playground Instructor: One summer I was the playground instructor at Davis Park in Braintree. Since I was a soccer player, I had the kids play that sport on a regular basis.

Since the Director of the summer program was the high school varsity baseball coach, I got in trouble when he showed up and we weren't playing baseball. I learned how those at the top directly and indirectly influence the organization.

7-Window Person: By the time I was sixteen, a new fast-food restaurant, Carroll’s Hamburgers, opened up down the street and my mom suggested that I could probably eat free french fries if I worked there. I applied and I did. Each day on my break, I’d take a tray, load it with fries and eat non-stop on my 15-minute break sitting on a milk crate outside the back door. (There was no dining room).

Window People literally opened a window to take an order, shut it while gathering the food, and opened it when it was ready. I would calculate the cost of the items, plus the tax, as I was picking up the burgers and fries, and would announce the total upon my arrival back at the window. My first day on the job, I pumped some strawberry syrup and missed the cup but hit my clean white apron right in the middle of my chest.

On this job I learned that I had some leadership skills, since after I had some experience, (I worked there on and off for about three years) from time to time they left me in charge of a night shift. I could walk to work.

8-Pipefitter-Third Class/Unskilled: I consider this a part time role since it was during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at UMass, even though I usually 'worked' about 50 hours a week. The 'worked' is in quotes because I learned how NOT to work and to stretch the workweek from some lazy role models.

The lesson I learned working at the Quincy Shipyard was that what you do when no one is watching is even more important than when someone is watching. That shipyard closed because the workers abused the system in a thousand ways.

9-Fast Food Grill Man-Drummer Boy-A fast food restaurant based in Kansas opened up in Amherst while I was in college, and I told the opening team that we put ketchup on burgers, not mustard like their operating system dictated. A few dozen complaints later, they changed to ketchup. 

The Manager there was a serial harasser, if you know what I mean, and I blew the whistle on him, long and hard until he was replaced. I learned many things from that job, including the fact that adults can’t all be trusted, and corporations can be clueless when it comes to putting condiments on burgers.

10-English Department Librarian: As part of a scholarship one year, I was a librarian in the English Department library working for a woman who used a wheelchair. 

I didn’t spend any time with books, because she had me inspect every door on campus for accessibility (this was pre-ADA). I learned how far the campus had to go to become accessible. I think I learned to have a different perspective on things and to be more empathetic to other's individual needs.

11-Leaf Raker: There was an old man who raked the lawns of the Amherst College professors every fall, but he was getting up in age and had, in his own words, 'Arthur-Itis.'

So, he hired a college kid to rake the leaves while he watched. He might have been making $2 an hour and paying me $1 and hour. I'd do it three of four days after classes, and he'd bark at me to speed it up or move the pile here or there.

Boy, do your hands and arms ache when you rake for hours at a time. I think I admired his resourcefulness and his ability to hold onto a role he had for years, even if hiring me meant he got less money.

12- Sorority Houseboy: In a class all by itself as a part time job. I spent several semesters as a Houseboy in Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. I’d come in about 90 minutes before dinner, help the cook set the tables for about 70 girls, and then serve the food in a white coat. 

I think I learned some lessons on platonic relationships, but I’m not completely sure. I also learned to play ping pong (that might have surprised you). Overall, it was a great experience and I learned alot about women. Not sure how much I used, but I learned alot.

13-Retail Logoed Clothing Salesperson: My last part time job was as a logoed clothing salesperson at the University Store before logoed clothing was ubiquitous. It may seem hard to believe now but logoed clothing was not everywhere like it is today. In fact, it wasn't very common.

I operated a heat press machine that applied logos, school and fraternity, to shirts. It was where a met my wife, so it was a great experience, and learning wasn't my priority.

14-Grillman: While relocating to Central Mass after graduation, I left my job as an insurance agent and was looking for something to do. One day, I grabbed some fries at a local McDonald's, completed an application, and started a part time job in the kitchen.

I was there when McDonald's introduced breakfast, a real shock to the system, but one that apparently worked well. It eventually turned into a full time Management Trainee role, and the rest is history.

Now you know the rest of the story.