Saturday 9

 A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) John Lennon sings that he's been working like a dog. What's the hardest job you've ever had? What made it so difficult? Being a secretary (in those days, we were still called "secretaries") at the corporate offices for what was then the world's largest retailer. I hated it. My bosses were all condescending jerks. The women I worked with could be very petty. I realize now -- hindsight is 20/20 -- that when you're treated badly, you respond badly, but I wasn't that smart or sensitive back then. I was just unhappy. It was my first full-time job and I stuck it out four years. I got a couple of promotions and raises, and thought that being unhappy was just the working girl's lot in life. I'm so very grateful I became a writer! Now, even though I have tough days, I really enjoy what I do.

2) Despite the hard work, he likes his life and asks, "So why on earth should I moan?" What's the last thing you complained about? Who were you talking to? I complained about being caught in some interdepartmental cross fire. Person A expressly told me to do something. Person B specifically told me not to. I was whining to a coworker.

3) John was raised by his Aunt Mimi. She meant well when she told the teen-aged John, "The guitar's all right, but you'll never make a living out of it." What's the worst advice you've ever received? I had just emerged from a very bad relationship with a very bad man. I was confiding this to a new friend, trying to explain why I didn't share her enthusiasm for fix-ups and husband hunting. I was healing. She advised me to return to my abusive lover: If someone had that big an impact on your life, maybe he's supposed to be in your life. That attitude helped explain all the drama that was always in her life. We weren't friends for long.

4) This week's song was cowritten and also sung with Paul McCartney. Paul's father was more supportive of the lads' show business aspirations than Aunt Mimi was, but he still worried that his son wouldn't be able fully support himself as a musician. To please his dad, 17-year-old Paul worked over the Christmas holiday season as the "second man" on a delivery truck. Paul would be the one to hop off the truck and drop off the packages while the driver could keep the motor running and the heat on. Where was the last package you received from? (Extra points if you share what was in it.) Clinique cream from Kohl's. I earned $5 in Kohl's Cash.

 

5) After Christmas was over, Dad insisted Paul get a full-time, year-around job. He ended up at a factory, winding heavy coils to be used in electric motors. He hated the work but enjoyed the lunch hours, eating jam sandwiches and, weather permitting, kicking a soccer ball around the yard with his coworkers. What's for lunch at your house today? I'm doing this Friday night, so I'll tell you what I had for Friday lunch. I took myself to my favorite neighborhood bar to enjoy a Moscow Mule and a BIG bowl of their signature clam chowder as I read People magazine and watched the end of the Cub game. (My first Cub game since management's inexcusable July 29-30 bloodbath trades.) I was celebrating Labor Day. After all, I've been a tax-paying laborer since I was 17. (See Question #1.)

6) In early March 1961, the Beatles accepted a booking to play lunch hour gigs at Liverpool's Cavern Club, and so February 28, after less than two full months, Paul said goodbye to factory work. What's the shortest you ever stayed at a job? I worked in corporate communications for 90 days. Normally I believe in committing to a job for at least a year, but I left this position as soon as I could. It was ill-defined and they didn't know what to do with me. They were shocked because they were a software development company and thought they were cutting edge and hot shit. Maybe they were effective developers but they were awful communicators. I couldn't see staying there when I could tell it wasn't going to get better. I just ripped the Bandaid off and moved on.

7) Enough about these Brits! Labor Day was introduced to celebrate the achievements of the American worker. How many different employers have you had? I am currently working with my 9th (and likely last) employer. (Not counting high school jobs.)

8) This weekend may offer a golden opportunity for napping and sleeping in. Do you snore? Yes. Or to paraphrase John to Ringo in A Hard Day's Night, "I'm a window rattler."

9) Labor Day traditionally marks the beginning of the new school year. When she was a kid, Samantha was crazy for her brand new box of 96 Crayola Crayons. It even had a sharpener in the back! What do you remember about preparing to go back to school? If you're an educator, let us know how you get the classroom ready for the kids. I remember going to the la-de-dah, fancy mall with my mom and sister to pick out back-to-school clothes from Marshall Field's. I found the shopping itself boring, but I loved the mall with its fountains.

 

The fancy mall, circa 1966