Stuff Not on My Resume in the ‘60s
Marlene DeVere
Construction Company
Secretary’s Assistant
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In my high school senior year, I worked at a small construction company. The owner was
a bit crotchety but the secretary was a sweet woman. I remember she dressed rather dowdily and her husband, who would pick her up from work, really took the prize dressing like an undertaker. They were newly married and I wondered what they saw in one another, other than their similar wardrobes. I knew then that I had made the right decision when I put a teal pencil skirt with matching cardigan sweater on layaway.
My responsibilities consisted of filing, answering the telephone and a little typing.
Everything was hunky dory until I mistakenly printed out a $200 check to an employee as
$2,000. The worker and his wife came in to get a corrected check and laughed and laughed at my mistake. My boss was less forgiving and yelled and yelled at me for my mistake and threatened to fire me. Whoops, there goes my layaway! The next day he apologized to me for his anger and I continued to apologize for my mistake for nearly a year until I was able to quit.
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Movie Theater
Candy and Popcorn Girl
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My weekend job was where I was paid in candy, popcorn, free movies and $1 an hour.
Additionally, whatever adult films were available at the more exclusive shows were eventually
shown here. If I knew my future jobs would never have such great benefits, I’d still be working
there today.
​
Insurance Company
Typist
The skills for this job required the ability to swivel on a stool between three typewriters
and type the same line on each insurance policy placed on the roller. Once I completed typing the one line, I’d replace the policies with new ones, where the swiveling again began. I did this for four hours before my lunch break and three and a half hours after lunch, which was usually eaten in the bathroom because I was too shy to socialize with anyone in the cafeteria.
There was a young man I’d see on a daily basis in the hallway on my way to the
bathroom for lunch and I always smiled at him, hoping he’d ask me out and perhaps marry me
and insist I quit that boring job, even though I was so qualified for it. But he never smiled back
and frankly, now that I reflect on it, he seemed confused as to why I was smiling at him in the
first place.
​
Community College
Registrar Office Worker
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I was often tasked with filing index cards of current students, along with former students.
My most exciting discovery was when I found the index card of actress Kim Novak, who
famously starred in several films, including Bell, Book and Candle, Vertigo and Picnic. I saw
that we were both C students prompting me to briefly consider becoming a famous movie star as a career.
​
Major Airline
Airline Reservationist
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I made airline reservations for customers on the telephone finding the best travel routes
using a rudimentary computer with floppy discs for Eastern’s flights and gas station maps when
another airline was also used.
​
Occasionally, but usually around a major holiday, I had to telephone confirmed
passengers to tell them their flight was canceled and there was no protection offered on another
airline. I’d have knots in my stomach having to reveal this devastating news before thanking
them for choosing this Major Airline and hanging up as per protocol.
​
However, the most heinous offense I could commit was to go to work with a dress that
was only in the middle of my knees and therefore deemed too short. My penalty was to leave
work without pay. There were no raised fists or threats of protests in my support as my
coworkers were too busy trying to refold their gas station maps.
​
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Originally from Chicago, Marlene DeVere has traveled and lived in various parts of the country and in the Middle East but says it has been the inner journey—explored through writing—that has been the most rewarding. She has been published in several magazines including Oddball Magazine, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Lowestoft Chronicle, and The Bad Day Book.