Sometimes even the odd moments at work can teach you something useful.
Common sense isn’t so common
One of the first jobs I ever had was in a fast-food pizza restaurant in Montreal. The youngest by far on a shift of 3, I started as pizza maker and then graduated to cashier. Why was a 16-year old dealing with customers after only a few days on the job?
Like most other pizzerias we also sold ice cream, which used to arrive in large vats.
During those first days, one of my colleagues put away a vat of vanilla beside the cleaning supplies in the *storage room*.
Avoid making assumptions
Working at Amazon.com HQ in Seattle on the 3rd floor, I often took the stairs to get some exercise. The stairwell usually empty, I would run up and down as fast as I could.
One day I was bombing down the steps, swinging myself around on the metal banister when I almost collided full-bore into legendary CEO Jeff Bezos on his way up. Luckily, I was able to yell “Jeff!” and throw myself against the wall in time.
He was nice about it and with the reinforced concrete cushioning my body, I decided to walk from then on.
Do you have any funny work stories with a message?
This article is part of the What I Learned From Odd Jobs group writing project (started by HighCallingBlogs) that I heard about on Group Writing Projects.
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--Jacob Share
11 great comments. Join in! Tags: lessons, lessons from odd jobs, story 
Filed under: Laugh Out Loud Funny 
Jacob Share is the founder and SVP of 
Looks like you also was a Xerox machine tester too!
I can identify with the stairs thing, though. Back when I used to do it, I nearly put myself through a wall when I missed the handrail on the turn! Ouch!
Comment by Robert Hruzek
— April 14, 2008 #
Common sense isn’t so common?
Amen, my friend. Less than half the population have it. (including me at times!)
Comment by Pete Aldin
— April 14, 2008 #
Robert- I knew someone would think that was me in the copier, but no. That’s a Flickr dude :)
Pete- ‘Common sense’ may be the biggest misnomer ever
Comment by Jacob Share
— April 14, 2008 #
Ah! Well, OK then! Come to think of it… doesn’t he sorta look a little like a Vulcan?
Comment by Robert Hruzek
— April 14, 2008 #
[...] Lessons Learned From Odd Moments on the Job, by Jacob Share at JobMob [...]
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— April 14, 2008 #
It’s interesting that both you and the CEO were taking the stairs when most people took the elevator. I’m thinking there’s a lesson in that too.
Comment by Mark Goodyear
— April 14, 2008 #
Robert- you put your finger right on it. I noticed that myself but then forgot about it. Funny
Mark- you’re absolutely right although the emotion was so strong in the memory that I never thought to look at it any other way. But it’s true. I did meet Jeff on a few other occasions but the stairway non-collision never came up :)
Comment by Jacob Share
— April 14, 2008 #
[...] Lessons Learned from Odd Moments on the Job by Jacob Share at JobMob who nearly knocked Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos down the stairs while trying to get some extra calisthenics into his day. [...]
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— April 16, 2008 #
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— April 22, 2008 #
When i was an intern at an advertising agency, i went to get some coffee for a couple of clients. Now this was a very modern looking office, with large glass doors with tiny handles. When i tried to walk back into the room again, i bumped straight into the shiny glass door wich was all see through because it had been cleaned. It looked as if it were open. Fortunately, i wasn’t in much pain but i was quite embarassed ofcourse :)
Comment by Linda
— June 16, 2008 #
Pretty funny, Linda. That happens to everyone at some point but you definitely picked a good place for it. What happened to the coffee? :)
Comment by Jacob Share
Twitter: @jacobshare — June 16, 2008 #