Summer Job

Having a summer job was not an option for me, it was a necessity as I paid most of the University fees myself. The most unusual job and the one that remains vivid in my mind happened in the summer of 1952, my second year in Pharmacy at the U.of T. Getting a job as an assistant pharmacist in a drug store,when you were entering second year was not a real choice as the pay was next to nothing, commensurate with my real knowledge of the professional activities in the profession. I answered an ad with the Toronto Board of Education, and much to my surprise I got the job. I was to be an assistant furnace sweep at the high schools in Toronto. What a coup! The pay was excellent and I knew jobs with the Toronto Board were highly valued by students There was only a small niggardly problem for me. I was Jewish and rumour had it the Board had few Jewish teachers. This of course eventually changed, but I remained wary. I was supervised by a board employee, who had just returned from 2 months sick leave from the job, and of course I learned much later in the summer that he had developed lung problems. The routine was very simple. Two schools a day, morning and afternoon, I did the work and my supervisor, waited outside the furnace making sure I was not lost in the heating pipes.Oh,did I not mention I worked in the dusty furnaces cleaning them out. The equipment they gave me to keep clean was entirely inadequate. It consisted of a zippered up cloth suit which in no time was filled with dust and a cloth mask which barely allowed me to breath We started at 8A.M. and by 8.35 I was in the caretakers shower doing my best to clean up, and by 11 we were on our way to the afternoon school by bus or street-car. I must be honest, the work was not physically taxing, but I am thankful to this day that I did not get lung cancer, even though I visit a respiralogist on occasion.I had my lunch daily in the caretakers quarters and I was afraid I might hear anti-semitic remarks from the other maintenance staff. Perish the thought! Jews were never mentioned but I received a vivid lesson on the animosity between Catholics and Protestants. The other employees were all Protestants , and I learned later , in the 50`s  both the Catholic board and the Protestant board only hired their own

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