November 3, 2023 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, on the morning of September 11, 2001, Peter Braxton was the first military pilot in the air over the burning Twin Towers. It was his first day on the job. Here’s Peter sharing some stories from a few of his first jobs including his first job after serving in the Air Force.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the All American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. On the morning of September eleventh, two thousand
and one, Peter Braxton was the first military pilot in
(00:32):
the air over the burning Twin Towers in New York City.
It was his first day on the job. Here's Peter
sharing some stories from a few of his first jobs,
including those before and after serving in the Air Force.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There's a.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Like a pitch and put golf little thing with a
little ice cream and miniature golf and driving range, and
I don't know, I think like high school whatever, girlfriend
or something like that got me the job, and we're
both working there, and I mean this is before I
don't know, they had tractors picking up golf ball. So
I used to go out there and scoop them up
with a little scooper and the drawing range and then
(01:11):
run over to the ice cream shop and you know,
try to make a twirly ice cream cone or you know,
and I'd eat the mistakes.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I was a kid.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I was fourteen or something like that. So I lasted
a little while there. But that's a seasonal job, right,
so you can't do that in the winter. So then
I worked at I applied for I got the job
at Burger King, and I lasted three weeks at Burger King.
And the reason I lasted three weeks is I was
like bored. I was my brain was atrophying. I was
making these burgers in the back and fries and they
(01:41):
were like, oh, you almost promote you to the window,
you know, the drive through. I was like, no, no,
I don't do that. Like now, I thought the cut
cash here. Do you want to be a manager? I
was sixteen years old. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's hard work.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Actually, I mean, I don't know if people understand this.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
This is labor. I mean you're I mean lunchtime.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I mean, these things are flying off the you know,
the buns are going everywhere, the burgers are flaring up,
and and you know you're running out of cheese, and
obviously it's fast food, so you gotta think, ornice, you
gotta drop the fries. And then the alarm goes off
and it's I was like, I don't know if this
is right, Like, I don't know if.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
This is where I was built to be.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I didn't last three weeks at that place. It was
that's the issue that was it. It was grueling work.
You had to be perfect. People get upset they're spending
three dollars or ninety nine cents. They want every penny
of value out of that stuff. That's hard, hard work.
You gotta be there on time. It gets pace hectic people.
(02:48):
You know, expectations unmet, expectations communicated or not. It is
the root of all conflict. If the burger doesn't show
up with out the pickles or whatever, this conflict an
expectation isn't met. I think it was a good lesson
and I learned about people, you know people. So I
got a job at a grocery store as a bagger.
(03:10):
And this is back in the day where they like
tip you a buck or something like that, nineteen ninety one,
I don't know, nineteen ninety and I remember this woman
came in furious because I put the bananas on the
bottom of the bag, and you know she had brought
them home and you know, these dollars ninety eight bananas
(03:31):
were smashed. They were they weren't, they were deformed, and
I mean got in my face and it was like,
I'll buy you a banana tree, like I'm sorry, Like
I didn't I apologize. I was, you're right, You're right,
I'm sorry. And I remember they like put me on
(03:52):
like punishment. So my punishment was to return all of
the things that people don't buy and go find where
they're supposed to go back on the shelf.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And I did that for a while.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And you know in Roam, New York, it snows a lot,
and you know, one night, we have this snowstorm and
nobody was coming.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean, it was just like why is the store open?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
And so they you know, Pete, you're gonna go out
and shovel, you know, the sidewalks.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And clean them off.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And I was like, well, why isn't Bethanie doing that?
Like you know, no, Pete, you're gonna go shovel the
shovel the sidewalk. So I go out and I shovel
the sidewalk at the grocery store and I'm like, where
am I going to put all the snow? And I
covered Bethany's might this might classmate from high school? Her
car up in snow, and I thought it was the
funniest That was like King of the Hill, right, Like
(04:38):
I was the funniest thing.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I just buried her car in snow and.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
We were I mean, if she here, he hears the
Shultz remember this, And she started laughing.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah she was.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
She was like complaining and laughing, crying all at once.
And Bettina as she's her out, she was like the manager.
I mean I was sixteen, Betina couldn't have been twenty two,
but I thought she was like forty eight, right, like
she was in charge. She's like, you're gonna go clean
off her car and you're gonna clean it all. I
was like, all right, So I went back out in
(05:09):
the snowstore and cleaned off bath of these car. I
cleaned off Betina's car, I cleaned off my car. I
mean nobody was coming into the store. You know, you
have two hemispheres of your brain for a reason, and
one is more logic and math.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
The other's art and creative thinking.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And you know, for me, I kind of felt like
my I don't know if it was left brain and
right brain, but the creative thinking side was kind of
atrophying a little bit, and so I remember walking out.
I was at Credit Sweee and I walked out. It
was a suit tie, you know, the whole Swiss banker look,
and I was. I walked by this art store and
(05:52):
I looked in it. It was like a movie.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I stopped.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I looked in the art store and I went in.
I bought these big canvases, huge, like I don't know
if they're four by sixes or something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And I never.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Painted anything, but I hung the canvas is up, and
so I remember, you know, I guess the party trick
with you know, maybe if I brought a date home
to cook her dinner or something like that, you know
they'd seen the canvas. You know, some would say something.
Some would say I'm like, oh, you don't see it.
You know, you don't see the art.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
There's nothing odd. I mean, there's nothing odd this thing.
I just never got.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Around to do it. But what I did do to
kind of fulfill that was to cook. So I like
to create things. And here's the good nay is you
get to eat it.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And a terrific job on the editing production in Storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Peter Braxton been talking about his first jobs, including those
before and after serving in the Air Force, and the
one before. It just made me laugh because my first
job was at Roy Rogers and I lasted a very
short time because it is brutal work. It's like an
(07:00):
assembly line and it's one hundred and ten degrees and
people are screaming at you all the time. The story
of first jobs in the end, that's what this really was,
and work in general, and what we learned from it
and some of the things we don't learn, and especially
what we really learn what God's made us to do.
Peter Braxton's story of his work before and after his
(07:22):
service in the Air Force. Here on our American Stories.
Here are our American Stories. We bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories from a
great and beautiful country that need to be told. But
we can't do it without you. Our stories are free
(07:43):
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love our stories in America like we do, please
go to our American Stories dot com and click the
donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help us
keep the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories
dot Com.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the All American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. On the morning of September eleventh, two thousand
and one, Peter Braxton was the first military pilot in
(00:32):
the air over the burning Twin Towers in New York City.
It was his first day on the job. Here's Peter
sharing some stories from a few of his first jobs,
including those before and after serving in the Air Force.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There's a.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Like a pitch and put golf little thing with a
little ice cream and miniature golf and driving range, and
I don't know, I think like high school whatever, girlfriend
or something like that got me the job, and we're
both working there, and I mean this is before I
don't know, they had tractors picking up golf ball. So
I used to go out there and scoop them up
with a little scooper and the drawing range and then
(01:11):
run over to the ice cream shop and you know,
try to make a twirly ice cream cone or you know,
and I'd eat the mistakes.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I was a kid.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I was fourteen or something like that. So I lasted
a little while there. But that's a seasonal job, right,
so you can't do that in the winter. So then
I worked at I applied for I got the job
at Burger King, and I lasted three weeks at Burger King.
And the reason I lasted three weeks is I was
like bored. I was my brain was atrophying. I was
making these burgers in the back and fries and they
(01:41):
were like, oh, you almost promote you to the window,
you know, the drive through. I was like, no, no,
I don't do that. Like now, I thought the cut
cash here. Do you want to be a manager? I
was sixteen years old. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's hard work.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Actually, I mean, I don't know if people understand this.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
This is labor. I mean you're I mean lunchtime.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I mean, these things are flying off the you know,
the buns are going everywhere, the burgers are flaring up,
and and you know you're running out of cheese, and
obviously it's fast food, so you gotta think, ornice, you
gotta drop the fries. And then the alarm goes off
and it's I was like, I don't know if this
is right, Like, I don't know if.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
This is where I was built to be.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I didn't last three weeks at that place. It was
that's the issue that was it. It was grueling work.
You had to be perfect. People get upset they're spending
three dollars or ninety nine cents. They want every penny
of value out of that stuff. That's hard, hard work.
You gotta be there on time. It gets pace hectic people.
(02:48):
You know, expectations unmet, expectations communicated or not. It is
the root of all conflict. If the burger doesn't show
up with out the pickles or whatever, this conflict an
expectation isn't met. I think it was a good lesson
and I learned about people, you know people. So I
got a job at a grocery store as a bagger.
(03:10):
And this is back in the day where they like
tip you a buck or something like that, nineteen ninety one,
I don't know, nineteen ninety and I remember this woman
came in furious because I put the bananas on the
bottom of the bag, and you know she had brought
them home and you know, these dollars ninety eight bananas
(03:31):
were smashed. They were they weren't, they were deformed, and
I mean got in my face and it was like,
I'll buy you a banana tree, like I'm sorry, Like
I didn't I apologize. I was, you're right, You're right,
I'm sorry. And I remember they like put me on
(03:52):
like punishment. So my punishment was to return all of
the things that people don't buy and go find where
they're supposed to go back on the shelf.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And I did that for a while.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And you know in Roam, New York, it snows a lot,
and you know, one night, we have this snowstorm and
nobody was coming.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean, it was just like why is the store open?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
And so they you know, Pete, you're gonna go out
and shovel, you know, the sidewalks.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And clean them off.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And I was like, well, why isn't Bethanie doing that?
Like you know, no, Pete, you're gonna go shovel the
shovel the sidewalk. So I go out and I shovel
the sidewalk at the grocery store and I'm like, where
am I going to put all the snow? And I
covered Bethany's might this might classmate from high school? Her
car up in snow, and I thought it was the
funniest That was like King of the Hill, right, Like
(04:38):
I was the funniest thing.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I just buried her car in snow and.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
We were I mean, if she here, he hears the
Shultz remember this, And she started laughing.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah she was.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
She was like complaining and laughing, crying all at once.
And Bettina as she's her out, she was like the manager.
I mean I was sixteen, Betina couldn't have been twenty two,
but I thought she was like forty eight, right, like
she was in charge. She's like, you're gonna go clean
off her car and you're gonna clean it all. I
was like, all right, So I went back out in
(05:09):
the snowstore and cleaned off bath of these car. I
cleaned off Betina's car, I cleaned off my car. I
mean nobody was coming into the store. You know, you
have two hemispheres of your brain for a reason, and
one is more logic and math.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
The other's art and creative thinking.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And you know, for me, I kind of felt like
my I don't know if it was left brain and
right brain, but the creative thinking side was kind of
atrophying a little bit, and so I remember walking out.
I was at Credit Sweee and I walked out. It
was a suit tie, you know, the whole Swiss banker look,
and I was. I walked by this art store and
(05:52):
I looked in it. It was like a movie.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I stopped.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I looked in the art store and I went in.
I bought these big canvases, huge, like I don't know
if they're four by sixes or something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And I never.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Painted anything, but I hung the canvas is up, and
so I remember, you know, I guess the party trick
with you know, maybe if I brought a date home
to cook her dinner or something like that, you know
they'd seen the canvas. You know, some would say something.
Some would say I'm like, oh, you don't see it.
You know, you don't see the art.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
There's nothing odd. I mean, there's nothing odd this thing.
I just never got.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Around to do it. But what I did do to
kind of fulfill that was to cook. So I like
to create things. And here's the good nay is you
get to eat it.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And a terrific job on the editing production in Storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Peter Braxton been talking about his first jobs, including those
before and after serving in the Air Force, and the
one before. It just made me laugh because my first
job was at Roy Rogers and I lasted a very
short time because it is brutal work. It's like an
(07:00):
assembly line and it's one hundred and ten degrees and
people are screaming at you all the time. The story
of first jobs in the end, that's what this really was,
and work in general, and what we learned from it
and some of the things we don't learn, and especially
what we really learn what God's made us to do.
Peter Braxton's story of his work before and after his
(07:22):
service in the Air Force. Here on our American Stories.
Here are our American Stories. We bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories from a
great and beautiful country that need to be told. But
we can't do it without you. Our stories are free
(07:43):
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love our stories in America like we do, please
go to our American Stories dot com and click the
donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help us
keep the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories
dot Com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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