Former Careers in Western Canada

Alberta, British Columbia and NWT

A personal view by Gregory Melle
 
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I had several careers before my software consultant.

I did a lot of hotel work. That started in Montreal where I worked as front desk night auditor, busboy and bartender at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
In Vancouver my longest hotel jobs were at the Bayshore Inn.
Another early jobs was repairing NCR cash registers; if they hadn't lied to me back then perhaps I might still be doing this one!

Bayshore Inn in Vancouver Greg at Bayshore Inn Working on NCR cash registers

Some early traumatic work experiences prompted me to get my Industrial First Aid ticket. That led to a variety of industrial jobs. Around 1982, I tried to get steady floorhand work on oil field drilling and servicing rigs based in Edmonton, Alberta. I never managed to get on steady.
Perhaps I have the wrong personality to put up with the BS or perhaps I am just accident prone.
On one of my oilfield jobs I went to a hillside outside Fort Liard in the North West Territories. In another position, I did two mid-winter tours to Norman Wells on the frozen banks of the Mackenzie River.

Gregory at Fort Liard Service Rig Fort Liard NWT Service Rig Fort Liard Service Rig near Fort Liard NWT Oil Rig doghouse working near Fort Liard NWT
downtown Norman Wells near noon outside Norman Wells

I was also influenced by a desire for a good union wage. I ended doing union construction labourer and first aid work for more than five years around Vancouver.
I poured a lot of concrete and did lots of clean-up. On one job, I worked on an Intrawest apartment in Coquitlam from pouring basement concrete until the outsied was complete a year later.
One of my last construction jobs was as a helper on the injected stone pilings for the new third runway.

Crab Park entrance construction construction worker rebar tying construction in Coquitlam Intrawest construction in Coquitlam Flying forms in Coquitlam Intrawest shell completion Coquitlam
Gravel pilings at YVR third runway Gravel pilings at YVR third runway Gravel pilings at YVR third runway

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The programming, written content and photos for this site were created by Gregory Melle.
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The content of this web site -- including this page, all images and photos -- is Copyright © between 1996 and 2008 by Gregory Melle.
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