Skills that have been Long Dormant

My first job was at a local movie theater, whoring out overpriced popcorn to movie goers. while it wasn't a bad job for a 16-17 year old it really had no transferable job skills at all.

Ten years later, I move out west. My local boozery has bought a popcorn popper, offering free popcorn to it's patrons. The idea is Free Popcorn -> Eating Popcorn -> Saltiness -> people wanting to buy more drinks. Same principle as peanuts, only cheaper.

Today after an exciting afternoon of laundry, I stop by to have a drink with friends, and a little later, the new bartender explains that there's no more popcorn because she doesn't know how to operate the popper.

My head turns in interest. "Let me try it." Five minutes later the kettle is bursting forth with popcorn and I get kudos from the bartender, as well as a free drink.

And so, the lesson is, no matter how mundane, specialized, or poorly demanded your job skills are, someday, under the right circumstances, you juuuust might have a use for what you learned when you were a stupid teenager. So far, it got me a free Jack n' Coke. Who knows what the future may hold?