Day 19

Worst job I ever had

I feel disloyal even writing this, but I have to say that my worst job was at my uncle's peach shed. No, I didn't have to pick peaches, thank goodness, but I was only one step above that.

I worked there in the summers from the time I was thirteen through my freshman year of college, except for one rogue year. I think I worked at a dry cleaner's that year.

Basically, we sold peaches, which sounds like a piece of cake. But it was an open-air building, and it was so incredibly hot. Summers here can be torturous, and we had to work out in it, no fans, nothing like that.

The place was unbelievably busy; it's practically legendary around here. It's been open since my uncle's dad started it, and my uncle's now in his late 60s, so you get the idea.

We had to haul around heavy baskets of peaches, and when the customers bought some, we had to transfer them to paper bags (unless they wanted to buy the baskets, too). The peach fuzz would get on my arms and legs and it would itch like the devil.

It wasn't totally awful, though. When my uncle wasn't around and we were bored, we'd throw peaches in the road and watch cars run over them. And we had all the peaches we could eat! Plus, I worked with most of my friends, so they were partners in my misery.

I felt an obligation to work there because it was family, and even though I had part-time jobs during the year from the time I could drive, I always came back to the peach shed in the summers. That job was the most physically taxing one I ever had.

Do I eat peaches now? I really don't, but it's not because I'm on strike. I always loved them just the way they came, fuzz and all. That's how my uncle taught me. When I see them in the grocery store, I think, I can't buy these. It's not loyal. Even though my uncle's sold his peach fields, I still think that. Plus, no one's peaches were better than his. I'd be perfectly happy to eat them in a dish, like peach cobbler, for example. Hmmmm. I wish I hadn't starting writing about this, since the motivation for my detox diet has been running low today.

I guess I'll go eat some cherries:(