I didn’t follow a traditional career path. My dad worked at The Marion Star—the local newspaper—for 28 years before becoming a real estate agent then broker. My brother, Floyd, right out of college, made his career in the Army as an officer and Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Dwayne was an educator for many years before becoming a home inspector after retirement. I, on the other hand, have led a…varied work life.
Other than working on the farms, the first paying job I recall was working for friend-of-the-family, Dale Willis. Dale owned this huge old apartment building across the street from the library, on Main Street. He hired me to sweep and clean the hallways and common areas of the building. He paid me .80 an hour. I think I also worked in his paint store that was in the same building…for the same .80 an hour.
In high school I got a job at National Shirt Shops in Southland Mall. Southland wasn’t enclosed then, just covered but open walkways around the interior courtyard. The mall was anchored on the south end by J.C. Penny and Sears on the north end. I picked up an interest in fashion working at the Shirt Shops. With my discount, I was able to indulge myself in all the latest leisure suits and print, knit shirts. David marvels at my ability to fold shirts, a skill I developed at National Shirt Shops.
With that experience under my belt, in college I was hired by a local fine clothing men’s shop in Mount Vernon. Even with the employee discount, I couldn’t afford the clothes there. Well, maybe the socks.
After moving to California, my first job was as a security guard at the Merv Griffin studios in Hollywood. I left that interesting workplace when the company I worked for was going to require us to train and carry a gun. I’d grown up shooting rifles on the farm, so it wasn’t that I was opposed to guns, it was more that I didn’t consider that something I wanted to do for whatever minimum wage they were paying me. I then looked for something a little less exciting. I got a job at the counter of a little sandwich shop. It wasn’t much, but it started me on a years-long path into the foodservice/hospitality industry.
From there I got my first job in a real restaurant, The Old Spaghetti Factory in Hollywood. That was a really fun job. Very hectic and fast paced, but I worked with some really fun people. The money was pretty good, too. At least that I knew at that point. I worked dinners there and started working lunches at an upscale restaurant in the Melrose district, The Carriage Trade. Lunches were mostly nearby businesspeople. Dinners were nearly exclusively a gay crowd. Even at lunch, working fewer hours, I made tons more money than I did at the Factory. I made a spectacular exit from the Spaghetti Factory and parlayed that into dinner shifts at the Trade.
While I was at the Factory, I began helping with the youth group at the First Church of the Nazarene in LA. When the youth pastor, Randy, left, I was asked to take over. Working with the youth group also involved working as a counselor at summer camps. Working summer camps lead to me also becoming the youth director at a small Nazarene church in Eagle Rock, CA.
When Jon Ross and I moved to Mission Viejo, I started work at Tony’s Sea Landing in Tustin. Another fun job with fun people to work with. When we broke up and I moved to Laguna Beach, I got a job at an upscale seafood restaurant, Las Brisas. During that time, I also got a job at another upscale seafood place, The Crowne House, in Dana Point. Las Brisas fired my ass…for no good reason. Actually, I don’t even remember the reason. This led to my first foray into the hotel business. Sorta.
My next job was at the Meridien Hotel in Irvine, CA. Working at the Meridien and the connections I made there led me to many new adventures abroad and eventually to fulfill a dream I’d had for a very long time. While working there, I also began singing in a couple of the piano bars in Laguna, thanks to friends who were actually the piano bar singers. And, thanks to my friend Saif, I became a Dickens Caroler at Disneyland in Anaheim. And then law school.
Unless one is really, really smart one does not work during law school.
After finishing law school, I packed up and headed to the Pacific Northwest, Seattle to be exact. While settling in and preparing for my first attempt at the bar exam, I found a job as a server, naturally. First, at a quaint little café on 15th Ave, Ken’s. It was a nice little neighborhood kind of place. Not great but decent money. Then somehow, I became a bartender at the Hotel Sorrento. The Sorrento was/is an upscale boutique hotel on Madison and Terry. I was a work in progress as a bartender, but a quick study. I’d heard being a bartender was like being a hairdresser, people tell you everything. The Sorrento is located across the street from the Virginia Mason Medical Center and they’re housing for families of patients with cancer. I chatted with and listened to many people who just needed a drink, some respite, and an ear.
After passing the bar exam—finally—I took a big career leap…sorta. I got a job on the Victoria Clipper, a passenger ferry between Seattle and Victoria, BC. I became an Ordinary Semen Wiper, an official U.S. Coast Guard classification. Actually, it’s Ordinary Seaman Wiper, but what’s the fun in saying that. While we OSW’s were essentially glorified onboard servers, we also did all the line handling when departing and docking. That was an awesome new adventure for me. I loved it.
I began developing my own law practice while with the Clipper and eventually hung out my own shingle and focused on that. I got into a mentee program and trained/interned in Family Law. That’s what I practiced for my first couple of years as a licensed attorney. It might have only been one year. I hated it. It wasn’t that I hated law, but as a new attorney, the cases that came my way were the bottom of the barrel, worst case scenario sorts. I was way too emotionally based a person to stay objective. By chance, an SMC chorus member alerted me to an opportunity for a contract position at a big local law firm. I applied, interviewed, and was hired for a job that was supposed to go for four-six weeks. As one case rolled into the next, I ended up at Preston, Gates, and Ellis for nearly four years.
I’d been to Paris—yes, the one in France—a few times at this point. I’d been writing a Gay Guide to Paris through a company headed by Adrian Leeds. By sort of a fluke, I ended up moving to Paris to be her assistant, working for International Living. While that job only lasted a little over a year, to live in Paris had been a dream of mine since the first time I’d visited for my 30th birthday. Even after I returned to the States, I continued to work with Adrian, editing and producing her weekly newsletters, managing her website content, and planning her Working & Living in France conferences (WLF)—which later became Living & Investing in France conferences.
When I returned to the States, it was a less than positive job market. I tried going back to Preston, but with no luck. I picked up a few contract jobs here and there, but I was too far removed from practice to find work easily. So I transitioned.
I became an event planner/manager.
Most of my event work was for Adrian. At that time, we were producing four WLF conferences a year, two in Paris and two in the States. In the meantime, I landed a job in the Conference and Event department at the Seattle Sheraton hotel. I was just hitting my stride there and was about to become an Event Concierge on my own when Adrian decided to do a conference in New Orleans. It was planning and executing that conference that led to my infatuation with the city and our eventual move there two years later.
Looking for a way for me to live and work in New Orleans (NOLA) spawned the idea to open a bed and breakfast. David was skeptical, I was determined. I found a nearly perfect property on Craig’s List. I found a job possibility on Craig’s List—I needed an income while getting the b&b off the ground. Once the historical Antoine’s Restaurant offered me their Event Coordinator job, we put an offer on the house. A month later, I was ensconced at 1744 N Rampart St. on yet another grand adventure.
Because of a falling out with management, I left Antoine’s and focused on building our b&b business. Several months later I received a call from Antoine’s. They were planning to open a small café around the corner and wondered if I’d be interested in coming back to open and manage The Annex. I was. And I did. After a year of that, I was let go once again. Not my choice this time.
I naturally fell back on the food service industry for my next job and became a server at the Dickie Brennan owned Bourbon House. Great team to work with. But, as had happened before, after a while I just couldn’t deal with customers anymore. I was on the hunt for my next adventure. And found it.
Our house was just up the street from one of the carriage ride tour companies. It seemed like a good fit. I like animals. I’d be out and about the city—or at least the French Quarter. The hours were somewhat flexible. And it was just down the street. David was with me by then, so I had his help to deal with b&b chores when I had to work. I applied and went through the training and licensing—OMG, what it takes to become a licensed carriage driver/tour guide! That really was a fun and mostly enjoyable job.
2010, the year the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. It changed the city. It changed our lives. Tourism exploded after that. Our b&b business quickly became a full-time job. Sadly, I had to give up my mule, Gus, and carriage driving—I was still doing the work for Adrian Leeds.
We’d been at it for 10 years. David had been working remotely for a Seattle architecture firm for nine of those years. They wanted him back in town to become a principal. I felt we’d accomplished what we’d set out to do when we moved to NOLA and opened our b&b. I was ready to move on. To move back home.
When we first moved back, to Bainbridge Island, I needed a break. I went into semi-retirement—still working with Adrian. I very much enjoyed it for more than a year. Things were changing for David…he was being laid off. Time for Schuyler to step up and contribute to the coffers. I took what I could find, a front desk clerk at a suites hotel just down the street. The owner was a little…eccentric, but the staff was nice, pay was decent, and it was just down the street. I enjoyed it well enough. One day while walking around the neighborhood, I saw a sign that would change our lives once again.
School Bus Drivers Wanted And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last several years.