Your Plitt Parade

(To my long-time friends and readers: you might have seen this one before… it’s from one of the most substantial experiences of my life and I hope you don’t mind if I share it again this year. Thank you. To my new friends: please enjoy reading about my first ever job: usher at a long-gone movie theater.)

This week I’ve been sharing memories of my first job, as an usher and concessionaire at Plitt’s Woodfield Theaters III & IV.

Don’t look for the place.

It was ahead of the curve by about 30 years, disappearing decades before the impending demise of the cinema industry.

How about you? Do you have memories of your first job, any worth sharing?

How about lessons learned?

For all the complaining I’ve done this week, especially about Kevin, that dashing ne’er-do-well who almost got me beat up because he and I looked just enough alike in a dark crowded theater lobby for a drunken Neanderthal to accuse me of flirting with his girlfriend, there really were a lot of good memories.

I got to work closely with my dear high school friends Eric, Diane, Hyun, Lance, and Vicky.

I built new friendships and got to see my best friend fall in love.

I developed this unnatural affection for movies released in 1981. Not just Eye of the Needle. How about Stripes, Nine to Five, Raiders of the Lost Ark, An American Werewolf in London, For Your Eyes Only, Sharky’s Machine, Body Heat….

(I just turned 17 shortly after I started there, after all)

I even learned a bit about leadership.

So far, so good.

There was a lot of teamwork in this job. And customer service. And dispute resolution.

Because that caveman never did stab my face.

I wonder if he ever found Kevin.

How about you? Do you have any wisdom to share from your earliest jobs?

See you tomorrow!