16. Advanced dress-up
and bringing amusement to work
Hello friends,
Joining the workforce is a rite of passage that teaches inevitable facts of life. We come to love the things we can do with our own money, but come to dread some of the things we have to do to get it. When it goes well, work teaches us great lessons, introduces us to lifelong friends, and hopefully provides some laughter. My first job did just that.
16. Clark’s Trading Post
Clark’s Trading Post — and Kilburn’s Photo Parlor — still exist. The family-run amusement park sits on a narrow stretch of land between the Pemigewasset River and Route 3 in Lincoln, New Hampshire, home of Loon Mountain Resort, and nearby natural attractions like the Flume Gorge and Echo Lake in Franconia Notch.
For over 80 years, the Clark family has entertained tourists and locals and employed local teens in the summer. It’s 16 miles from my family home in Benton.
The Clarks recruited me at a high school summer job fair. The Trading Post ran a minibus from Woodsville High School, dropping us off at the park by 9 a.m. to sweep and set up for the daily onslaught of “flatlandas” — tourists from Massachusetts and beyond.
I earned $3.35 an hour, which was minimum wage in 1987. Part of my job was to dress people who signed up for photos. They would pick a template from scenes on the wall, and we would choose from a rack of specially made costumes that were open in the back so that customers just put their arms through the sleeves. We had a dressing room so women could take off their tops and put on stockings for the short, sleeveless dresses. I learned to size people up and immediately know which outfit would fit a given body.
Maureen Clark was the main photographer, and her much younger brother Andrew (who was my age) worked with us. I slowly fell “in like” with Andrew, and he became the first boy to take me on a date alone after Scotty started allowing it when I turned 16 that December. Scotty may have been loose with some things, but he was strict about protecting me from boys.
Andrew and I didn’t last past junior year, and I now wonder if one of the reasons is ancestral. I was surprised to discover from a DNA test a few years ago that the Clark siblings are all distant cousins.
I try to stop at the Post whenever I return to New Hampshire. Last fall, I took the train ride for the first time since high school. My mother and I laughed as Wolfman harassed the train and shot blanks into the air while driving around on a ratty-looking jeep. Here is an actor who is clearly having fun.
What was your first job? Did you make any lasting connections?
Can you bring amusement to work?
The Clarks are inspirational because they’ve built their lives around entertaining people. When working a remote-only corporate job as I do, it’s easy to forget joy without those daily smiles from colleagues and run-ins in the hall. As we’re looking to AI to take over work, it might be useful to ask, “What makes work joyful?”
Members of the band Phish (featured by the New Yorker this month) have also built lives around creating joy for themselves and others. They played two nights in San Francisco this week. The many people who work for them must index high on Key Joy Indicators.
May you find amusement in what you do for money this week.
Love, Lee Ann
