Aside from babysitting neighbor kids in our tiny rural Wisconsin community,
my first paying job was at the nearby canning factory.
I was a Visual Inspector.
Sounds fancy, doesn’t it?
From 6pm – 2am,
I stood alongside a moving conveyor belt
that was covered with peas.
Wielding a long suction hose to remove undesirables:
pebbles,
clumps of weeds,
little green pea-sized berries that were "poisonous."
that was covered with peas.
Wielding a long suction hose to remove undesirables:
pebbles,
clumps of weeds,
little green pea-sized berries that were "poisonous."
Sometimes I sucked up bits of frog.
I also worked the corn pack which was slightly less monotonous
because I was the break person who relieved other workers.
Sometimes I worked at the roller belts carrying the ears of corn
where I grabbed the ones with rotted ends and inserted them into a grinder
before throwing the newly spruced-up ear back onto the belt.
And sometimes I used a big paddle to shove ears of corn onto the
sorting belts.
Before you get all envious, please know that corn splatter isn’t great for the complexion.
I just got home from dropping Wildebeest off at his new job.
His very first job.
His very first job.
He’s an actor at Casa Bonita.
Saturday was his first day of training
in which he learned to fire the guns
and sword fight.
He has lines to memorize.
He gets to chase a gorilla with a big net.
Someday he might be a cliff diver.
The kid’s happy.
And his skin looks great.
Tracy Abell 
You have to use the phrase “corn splatter” in a book. Please.
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I totally agree.
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Two votes for “corn splatter.” Hmm, it’ll take some doing to work that into the WIP…
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I think you can make it happen. Maybe you can have the characters see someone experience it. Of course, I have no idea what your WIP is about..but I believe in you. 😉
I think Wildebeast has a great first job. Getting to act…sword fights….cannons. Cool!
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You’re right. There’s always a way to work corn splatter into a story.
*putting on my thinking cap*
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Ah, first jobs. I used to babysit. I even took the Red Cross Babysitting course. I was serious. But my first REAL job was at a movie theater. I loved that job.
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I took the Red Cross Babysitting course, too! All great Tracys think alike!
Wildebeest would’ve loved the movie theater job, too. But he said NO ONE got movie theater jobs around here unless you knew somewhere there. So, Tracy Dickens Scores!
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An acting job sounds fun! I think he’s going to enjoy it!
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The acting job does sound like great fun, doesn’t it? He did his first part last night and it went very well (according to the supervisors watching). Today he does another couple parts.
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Yay, Wildebeest! That sounds like an AWESOME first job. I just hope it doesn’t ruin his expectations for all jobs.
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Wait. You mean not all jobs involve monkey suits and gun play?!
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Very cool! My brother worked at Casa Bonita (he was a waiter, though) — still, he enjoyed it 😉
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Wildebeest wants to wait tables, too. He believes (rightly so) that everyone should have that experience.
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Wow! Congrats wildebeest, sounds like a heckuva job!
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