My First Job Narrative

Stumbling from my comfortable bed, I seized my dainty, lavender alarm clock in a groggy, yet hasty attempt to silence the dreadful clanging it was emitting. In the sudden, blessed silence; now completely awake, butterflies began stir in my stomach and my pulse quickened, my heart in my throat.
This was the morning I was to begin my first job. My heart and mind were crowded with feelings of excitement and dread. It was July 15, 1972, two weeks prior to my fourteenth birthday. Dressed in my buttery yellow night gown, I brushed and plaited my long, strawberry blond hair into two thick braids and tied a red and white bandana over my hair. Next, I quickly wiggled into my oldest, most faded blue jeans and buttoned myself into a white …show more content…
We dripped, our cotton shirts clinging to our sweating backs. As each tassel came loose, clouds of pollen were released into the air and stuck to our sweaty, sunburned faces, arms and hands. Pollen clung in thick lines in every crevasse, on our faces, in our ears, between our fingers and in the hollows of our throats. Still we continued to grab-pull, grab-pull until finally, we were able to rest under the trees; a whole hour to eat our lunches, re-hydrate, cool off and talk. We were young, strong and resilient; laughing and singing as we mounted our platforms, ready to pit our strength against the waiting corn once again. De-tasseling season, lasted about three and half weeks in the month of July. We worked 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., every day of the season. We were paid, one dollar and thirty cents per hour and we could earn an extra ten cents per hour if we did not miss a day. We were paid at the end of the season and I earned less than five-hundred dollars. The work was hard, hot and long, it was also great fun. I can still see the sunburned faces of my crew and hear our voices raised in song, “You Don’t Own Me,” “Old Man River,” or “Leader of the