My wife continues to ask me questions for StoryWorth. This is my response to her question.
My first paid job was actually as an operator at a traveling carnival. My friends and I had attended the West-Fest in West Valley City, Utah when we were 15, a big weekend carnival at the recreation park. The company that operated it had a bunch of workers at the end of the night cleaning up. They offered us some cash to help pick up trash and we agreed. Afterwards, they offered Robert and I a job to work at their next carnival in Riverton Utah for a week during the summer.
So Robert and I talked ot our parents and figured out a way to get to and from the job site. We couldn’t drive, so had to rely on our parents to make the 30 minute driver to and from our house. The hours were long, we started work around 7 am and stayed for 12 hours. Being 15, there were limited things we could do, but we ended up helping out with setting up and tearing down the equipment, operating some of the chair swings, and picking up refuse.
The folks who worked at the carnival were interesting characters. I remember the main guy as a big guy, who had a reputation as a person who had many love interests. A few of the carnys took us under their wing and joked and teased us. I think I had a crush on one of the older teenage girls that worked there, but nothing ever came of it.
At the time, we didn’t think much of it, but looking back; the labor was strenuous and seasonal. I enjoyed the experience, and we finished the week with $275.00 in cash; a lot of money for us back then. It gave us a sense of what money could do and we spent that summer buying junkfood from our fleeting labor. We found better employment the following year and never went back to being a carny.
HTTPS://WWW.WVC-UT.GOV/1067/WESTFEST
