BOOM!
Pop Culture Chronicles
Mike Olszewski
What Happened to Summer Jobs?
Years ago when spring rolled around, you started thinking about landing a summer job.
Those also were the days before we paid for TV, radio, tap water in plastic bottles and when I didn’t have to take out a loan to see a first run movie. I joked once that someone is going to figure out a way to pay for air, and then I pulled into a gas station, where you’re paying to fill your tires.
Scarce Work
To be fair, a lot of jobs for young folks no longer exist. Look at theaters. You had a movie house that hired ushers, and the kids’ matinee on Saturdays was a nightmare. Then automation moved in and projectionists were eliminated. We have 10 screens in one location, and the person selling tickets runs to the candy counter to hawk overpriced candy and popcorn out of big clear garbage bags with some kind of oil instead of butter. Don’t think for a minute that most people don’t hit a discount store first for snacks to sneak in. My wife and I went to a movie a while back, and a guy was eating a sub sandwich as long as his arm.
Before gas stations became supermarkets and beer gardens, you could find work pumping gas, cleaning windshields, and checking water and oil. Pay at the pump meant you handed the cash through the window and maybe tip the attendant. Now I do all the work, and I feel like I should tip myself.
Newspapers and Fast Food
If you were ambitious you might get a paper route. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland Press, Akron Beacon Journal and all newspapers had carriers who would put your paper inside your door so it didn’t get wet. Again, do a good job and you get a tip. Now you’ve got fewer papers and a motor route carrier delivers two different newspapers in a 10-mile radius. If they feel like delivering that day. Wanna tip? Those thin plastic bags don’t keep papers dry, and when you throw the papers in my driveway they act like a sponge.
Fast food gigs? Maybe, but you don’t have Beef Corral, Burger Chef, Red Barn, Royal Castle, Robee’s, York Steak House or any number of places that used to be easy gets for folks who wanted a gig. Plus, you see a lot of retirees doing those jobs now.
Here’s something that might surprise you. There’s one last York Steak House in operation, and it’s in Columbus. It draws folks from all over the Midwest, and it’s not uncommon to see people taking photos in front of the big menu.
Cutting grass? Hey, those jobs are there, but you’re standing on a motorized scooter doing 10 or 15 yards a day. Those baskets on push mowers that caught the grass are now in antique stores. So are the mowers. Plus, for what I pay the guy who does my lawn, it would be cheaper to give room and board to a goat, though the winters would be kind of rough.
BOOM TRIVIA
Last issue I asked about a very successful and highly controversial artist who once worked for American Greetings and made a huge impact with the counterculture. His name? Robert Crumb — or, as he’s also known, R. Crumb. He’s an amazingly complicated and talented individual who did the iconic cover for Big Brother & the Holding Company’s “Cheap Thrills” LP. Crumb also illustrated a number of Harvey Pekar’s stories for “American Splendor.”
June 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Look closely at the cover to find a reference to a Cleveland radio station. What are the station’s call letters?
Mike Olszewski ([email protected]) is a veteran award-winning radio, TV and print journalist and college instructor. He’s president of the Siegel & Shuster Society, the nonprofit group promoting Cleveland as the hometown of Superman’s creators.
