Jobs I've had. Part 1

So my first job was working as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken. This was when they were proud to have "fried" in their name. Long before the change to KFC. Well I did have one job for a week before this job but that is a completely different story. So officially this is about my second job.
I was 16 when I started working there. We had to wear jeans, a white button up shirt, an apron and a wonderful brown paper hat. At least I was hidden away from public view. I was thinking about a going to chef school after high school so I was actually looking forward to working in a restaurant kitchen.

One may not think there is much "cooking" going on in a Kentucky Friend Chicken, but you would be wrong. Not to sound like a commercial on the great things about the place but, all of the breading for the chicken is mixed there, and the chicken is breaded by hand and then fried or put in the pressure cooker. The coleslaw is shredded fresh. The biscuits are mixed and baked fresh, and the Gravy is made truly from scratch. The mashed potatoes were instant though. I don't know if things are still done this way, but it was how it was done in 1984.

Sure the job was hot, dirty and greasy, but I somehow convinced several of my friends to also get jobs there. So hanging out in a kitchen listening to music with your friends was an ok way to earn a few bucks at the time.

And when we would be stuck working on a Friday or Saturday night the back parking lot became a meeting hang out for all of our other friends. It was quite a fun time. Normally it was to plan where we were going to go, but many times it was where we ended up staying.

We also had a few cute girls working there. Well as cute as they could look in a dark brown polyester uniform.

Many a practical joke were played on those girls. My personal favorite was this: We were in doing our end of night clean-up. The place was already closed and all the customers were gone. Earlier that evening the manager, my friend Jim and I had moved our cars out of site from the restaurant. We then sent Tina downstairs to get some supplies. Then the three of us turned out all the lights and hid in the bathroom, so it would appear we had all left and had forgotten about Tina. She came upstairs calling out for us, looked around, then looked out at the back parking lot, where she saw no cars but her own. She was truly convinced she was locked in the place by herself all night. Our laughing eventually gave us away.

There were countless nights there that were fun and crazy. I am sure there were better easy, less dirty jobs out there, but as a first job, it was ok by me.