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Tammy Allen’s worst job wasn’t even a paying one, but it left an impression.
The vice president of marketing and communications for the accounting firm Allen, Gibbs & Houlik once spent a day roguing milo with her in-laws.
That meant she had to manually cut weeds out of the milo.
Allen was about 20 and was eager to help, in part “because I thought, well, it’ll be good exercise.”
Running several miles would have been easier than roguing, though.
“It was very hot outside,” Allen said. “It was very itchy in the milo. You had to wear long sleeves and long pants because you could get cut by the milo.”
Briefly, she found fulfillment in the work.
“For about two or three minutes, it was very satisfying because you’re cutting down something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Then I realized it was very physically demanding.”
Allen recalls the knife she used as being huge.
“Well, my previous exposure to knives was what you would use at the dinner table.”
She said the experience gave her a lifelong respect for manual laborers and people who work outdoors.
It also helped motivate her to earn three degrees because she realized “that I need to learn to do something that would not then result in me doing manual labor.”
