Part Time Jobs

‘Part-time experiences helped make me the person that I am. They provided memories, skills and perspectives on life that I could never get from formal academic pursuits. My advice to everyone is, No matter what you do, get a part-time job also.’

By Marvin Druger  |  mdruger@syr.edu

 

We learn from everything that we do and everything that we do becomes part of who we are. Much of what we learn does not come from schooling. Our learnings about life mostly comes from part-time jobs we have had beyond formal schooling. Our lives are shaped by these experiences.

One of my sons, Robert Druger, owner of Druger Eye Care in Camillus, earned numerous undergraduate degrees, including a degree in biology, in psychology and in chemical engineering. He then earned an MD/Ph.D. degree from Stony Brook University and went on to do a medical internship in ophthalmology at Washington University in St. Louis. He started a practice in ophthalmology at the former Top of the Hill Restaurant in Camillus and he has been a successful ophthalmologist for many years, specializing in cataract surgery.

One day, I complimented him on his academic achievements. I said, “All those degrees and education must have had a great effect on your life.”

“No,’” he replied. “All I really had to do was to learn how to do cataract surgery.”

Indeed, we learn life skills from non-standard experiences that go beyond formal schooling.

In my teaching career, I taught biology and science to more than 50,000 students. I was salutatorian at Pershing Junior High School and valedictorian at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn. I graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College where I majored in biology and minored in science education. I earned my master’s and Ph.D. degrees under the mentorship of Theodosius Dobzhansky, a famous geneticist at Columbia University. Then, I spent a year doing postdoctoral research in genetics at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization at the University of Sydney, Australia, before accepting a position as an assistant professor at Syracuse University. I spent the rest of my career at Syracuse University except for one year as a program officer at the National Science Foundation.

In addition to my academic pursuits, I always had a part-time job. My family was very poor and there was no other way to survive. These part-time jobs provided experiences that had a huge impact on my life.

What were some memorable moments from these part time jobs?

I worked as an usher at the Roxy Theater in NYC. I was paid 50 cents an hour. I had to dress in a Philip Morris cigarette outfit. The manager liked my voice and he stationed me in the lobby of the theater to greet patrons. One day, he told me to direct people to the balcony for seating. I repeatedly yelled, “For the best remaining seats, use the stairway to your left. Use the stairway to your left for the best remaining seats.”

After about an hour, the manager marched angrily into the lobby. “Druger, what the hell are you doing? You sent everyone to the balcony. The movie ended a half-hour ago. Everyone is in the balcony. There’s nobody in the orchestra.” He never told me to stop sending people to the balcony.

As an usher, I encountered many famous people and was able to walk up front and get close to them. One day, Ronald Reagan walked past me. I was surprised that he wore glasses.

Another time, I was holding a rope to block an aisle. The famous comedian, Morey Amsterdam, walked by and asked, “Does that aisle have a disease?”

Another time, I was able to get close to the famous Josephine Baker.

I once had a part-time job as a Western Union messenger. At unknown peril to my life, I delivered telegrams on a bicycle in NYC.

I once had a part-time job stamping out numerals from leather for golf club bags. An older worker was fearful that I was training to replace him at this task. No way.

I worked as a part-time salesman at a clothing store. Several of my close childhood friends also worked in this store. One of my friends would hide in a dressing room and spend his time reading books.

The store was owned by a father and two sons, Abe and Walter. Abe would bring prostitutes to the store after work for sexual encounters. Walter told Abe’s wife about it. An argument ensued. I heard Abe say to Walter, “What are you trying to do? Do you want to wreck a perfectly happy marriage?”

The store owners scammed the customers. A customer would complain, “The sleeves on this jacket are too long.” The tailor would put chalk marks on the sleeves and ask the customer to wait for alterations. The tailor would then erase the chalk marks and bring the unaltered jacket back to the customer who would try on the jacket again and comment, “Good. That fits much better.”

As a part-time job. I helped develop a program of scientific activities for junior high school students. I spent several weeks during the summer working on this project at a junior high school in Boulder, Colorado. I developed at least two activities that proved to be very popular. One activity was to analyze different shoes for different sports and evaluate the pros and cons.

An even more popular activity was making dental impressions. I gave students two powders, one to make an impression of their own teeth and the other to harden the product. Then someone said to me. “And make sure they don’t mix up the powders.” I had the vision of students gluing their teeth together. So, I obtained rubber molds of human teeth from a dental supply company and had the students make teeth by putting in the appropriate hardening powder.

I worked as a camp counselor for several summers. Although I did not have appropriate credentials, I was appointed riflery instructor. Campers would lie down and use a 22-caliber rifle to shoot at paper targets. My command was, “Ready, aim, fire when ready.” Campers would shoot at the targets and then I said” OK, get your targets.” Campers leaped to their feet and ran to their targets to see how accurate they were. One time, I yelled, “OK. Get your targets.” Everyone jumped to their feet and ran toward the targets. Suddenly I heard a shot. “Bang!” One camper shot late. Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Another time, I arrived at the shooting range and the campers were standing under a tree, shooting at a racoon.

I became the overnight counselor and took campers on overnight hikes. I developed a strong dislike for outdoor sleeping.

While I was doing genetics research at Columbia University, I did part-time substitute teaching at local high schools.

One school was Westinghouse Vocational High School. The students were poor and tough. Once a student was lying with his head on the desk. I approached him and said “What’s the matter. Are you tired?” He didn’t move a muscle, but the student sitting next to him said in a menacing tone, “Leave him alone. He’s tired.” I walked away. The next week, I had the “tired” student stand in front of the class and ring a bell on command. Whenever the class became noisy, he barked, “Shut up!” and the class became silent.

Teachers at this school would ask students to write short essays. I witnessed the teachers throwing the essays into the garbage without reading them. One teacher had a revolver on his desk and students feared and respected him.

There was an academic rehabilitation program at Auburn Correctional Facility, a prison in Auburn. I taught a biology course to the prisoners. I wanted the students to do a pig dissection. I asked the warden if I could bring scalpels and scissors for this activity. I promised that “I’ll get all these instruments back.”  His reply was,” Yes. You will get them all in your back.” We didn’t do the pig dissection.

I became friendly with some of the prisoners. It was not appropriate to talk about the crimes that were committed. Everyone claimed innocence. Nobody ever accepted guilt.

One day, I was standing in the hallway when the bell rang for students to change to other classrooms. I stood fearfully in the hallway, thinking that a prisoner passing by could easily stick a knife in my back. But the prisoners seemed to like me. When classes were finished for the year, I said, “I’ll see you guys next year.” One prisoner responded, “Yes. We’re not going anywhere.”

All of these part-time experiences helped make me the person that I am. They provided memories, skills and perspectives on life that I could never get from formal academic pursuits. My advice to everyone is, “No matter what you do, get a part-time job also.”