Park Ranger. I did it for two years. I wasn’t looking for a job at the time; I was in a day program just going along minding my own business. I joined the day program after quitting my job at Sears unloading trucks. It was groups and cooking lunch and playing chess and arts and crafts and socializing etc. I had been there a year and one day a woman counselor came up to me with an ad she had clipped out of a free newspaper. The ad said this company was looking to hire someone to be a Park Ranger.
My first reaction was, I have no experience; but the ad said they would train someone. Then I told the counselor the job was too good for me; I couldn’t do it. But she talked me into applying and I got the job. When I got the job I pictured strolling through the forests making sure everything was alright and maybe standing on a wooden platform checking for forest fires and helping wildlife.
Well, the reality was much different. There was a lot of emptying trash cans and cleaning restrooms and just plain sitting around doing nothing. It could get very boring. I mean the uniform was cool and driving the company truck around and patrolling the park was OK. They trained us on how to put out fires. And we got a $1000 Walki-Talki to carry around so we could call the police or the fire department in an emergency.
I had my moments. I saved a dogs life once. I found this ladies keys when she lost them on the lake. But it was a lot of routine and filling out reports. I didn’t even think I could do the job, if it wasn’t for that counselor I would never have applied. It was an interesting experience and I worked with some interesting people.