My First Job Would Be Illegal Today And Was Foolish Then
Posted: Sunday, November 20, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
I inherited a job plowing a mule by the time I was 7 or 8 years old, but I’m presuming the choice of “First Job” meant the first position with a cash income. I was able to get my first paying job due to a series of unlikely events. We lived in Cherokee County Alabama, about as far from the county seat as one could be and still be in the county. Approximately 16 miles from Centre, Alabama, the county seat.
I had been driving for a year or so on those country roads before the lowering of the age licenses. O.K. We lived as far away from the Cherokee County High School as the road would take you so there was a need for a bus driver at the end of the county. My Dad applied for the job and got it, but he soon discovered that he was not cut out to listen to the yelling of the kids and driving an unfamiliar truck vehicle on the slippery roads. So I begged for the job and Dad consulted the Superintendent of Education for the county and he consented. Wowie!
Driving a truck in those days was not as it is today. There were only those with a clutch and a gearshift lever, in the floor, no automatic transmissions, not even any with synchronized gears which a baby could change without a rough growl. So they gave me the old 1939 International Harvester school bus…painted orange. I believe those were the last ones colored orange.
And I mastered the rasping growl experienced by many when changing gears and gained the trust and confidence of all the riders and even their parents. My main problem was there were two extremely beautiful girls on my bus that I could not keep my mind…nor my eyes off of. The old International had a compartment between me and the left wall in which tools were kept, and it had a padded lid so it could be used as an additional seat, should the bus be full. But I talked the really pretty girl into sitting there and watching the children as they went around the front of the bus when I let them off. Man!
That first year went well, but the next year, they gave me a newer bus, though not nearly brand new. There was no auxiliary seat on it and I could see no one except in the rear view mirror.
Prices and salaries were much lower than now and I only made $60.00 per month for driving the old bus, and I gave Dad half of that because he furnished me room and board. But, for a 15 year old at that time $30.00 was big time. As I recall, it did increase some $5.00 or maybe $10.00 during my 4 years at the wheel. What a great time I had. I was much the same as I am now, always trying to make a funny out of everything I saw or heard, and my gang loved me. I never had an accident, but as I look back upon it, I can’t imagine why. I drove too fast for the road conditions and especially with a busload of kids. There were some hills which were very steep. One place on my route, there was a series of small but steep hills. The first one was large and steep, so I always took a speedy run to get to the top of the thing without having to go into a lower gear, then the very steep downside abruptly swung back up and over a small hump and then down again. The kids always urged me to speed down the big hill and over the small one which gave you a gasp as those you get on a roller-coaster. I didn’t always oblige them, but I often did.
The upside of the first big hill also had about a twenty degree right turn about half way up, which was not difficult to navigate at the extra speed I usually had for the sake of the hill, but one day the pretty little blonde was on the auxiliary seat and my timing was a little off I guess, so I swerved off the outside left of the road. Fortunately, the off road slanting embankment was solid and not wet, so I swerved back to the right and threw the old International into second gear, and we climbed safely back onto the road. It didn’t frighten any of the kids. But I realized what might have been if the embankment had been steeper and/or wet and slippery.
Sometimes, I imagine my guardian angel breathed a sigh of relief when they drafted me into the army. But he remained by my side even then.
P.S. The State raised the age back to 16 after a year of increased accidents.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Interesting first job.Thank you Hifzur, for reading and commenting on my article.
I am a devoted rider on your writing bus and enjoy the narrow escapes you have had with the slippery, steep and dangerous route of Conservative Republican reasoning.
Thank you, Joel, for another most pleasant ride!
Your fan,
PaulThank you Paul, it is good to hear from you again my friend. I am beginning to fear that my writing days are about over. I have a HUGE problem of keeping my thoughts concentrated on the subject at hand. And this time, it isn't the cute little blonde who is diverting my attention.
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