What were some of your first jobs?
 

What was your first job? or first few jobs? Liked it? Hated it? Quit without a notice? How old were you when you got your first job?

I got my first job when I was 16. I worked at Auntie Anne's soft pretzels. I only worked there for one day though. I already had applied to the zoo, and a few museums. The museums never called me back, but the zoo did after I started working at Auntie Anne's. The zoo asked me when could I start. I told them right away. I never came back to Auntie Anne's. As I can remember I think I was supposed to open the place with the manager the next morning too.:o

I worked for the zoo all through highschool at the information desk, and I loved it. The one and only day I worked for Auntie Anne's, I learned how to make a pretzel.:rolleyes: lol It was fun though!:p

Since babysitting and unpaid internships wouldn't count
GEN Alum(11): 2 Paper Routes (morning and afternoon for 2 different papers)
Me (14): Junior Counselor at a day camp
Daughter (16): Congressional Page on the Hill
Son (12): Soccer Referee

Delivering perscriptions on bycycle. .25 per hr.
Then as a soda clerk at the same place. ,50 per hr.
Senior year, at a gas station where we put in the gas, checked all the fluids, washed the windows and greased and changed the oil.

Frosh in college. Washed and waxed in one of the dorms
Built combines in a factory. Good pay, hard work.

Worked a loading dock.

Worked in a chemical plant summers till graduation. Good pay, but changed shifts weekly (3).:eek:

My first job was working at the stable where I took lessons. I received not a dime for mucking stalls, feeding, grooming and tacking horses, but I did get $1 an hour if I took trailriders out on the mountain! (This was in the 70s, but still . . . the pay was awful)

cashier at a small town four aisle grocery store. Loved it, but didn't like that I pretty much always had to work on the weekends. Since it was such a small store, there was one full time cashier who worked 8-4, then there were 2 of us who alternated working until closing in the afternoons and Sundays. Saturday was a given for both of us.

No scanning - everything had to be entered on the cash register by hand, and when I wasn't busy being the cashier, I was pricing food, wrapping lettuce and other produce, and straightening the store.

ETA: Got paid Minimum wage, which was $3.35/hour.

MACY*S (18) - Full-time sales clerk for a whopping $6 an hour which was above the minimum wage at the time.
Robinsons-May (19) - Part-time sales clerk for a glorious $6.50 an hour which was still above the minimum wage.
SEARS (19) - Worked there for the Christmas season for 2 weeks for a glorious $6.75 an hour. Still above minimum wage at the time.

Teachers Aide (19-25) - Made $13.50 which was HUGE in my mind b/c I was twice the minimum wage.

Teacher (26+) - Make lots more than I did before ;) complete with great benefits, retirement, etc but work long and hard for my 40 kinder kids.

Life Guarding - 12 and 13 ($1.75 per hour)
Teaching Swimming Lessons - 14 and 15 ($3.00 per hour)
Waitressing - 16 - 18 ($2.25 per hour plus tips)
Receptionist - 17 (can't remember the wage)
Swim Team Coach and Life Guard - 19 and 20 ($90 per week)
Hotel Desk Clerk - 21 and 22 (started at $3.65/hour, which was minimum wage and moved up to $4.50 per hour)


Those were fun jobs. After that, it really gets depressing.

its funny how our "first jobs" are socially considered sucky yet we all enjoyed them to an extent.

my first job was working in my grandfather's hardware store. a whopping $100/week. hot stuff, when youre 14.

aside from that one summer, i didnt work through HS, but i worked as a tutor through college which was awesome. and i was a camp counselor one summer, which sucked at the time, but in retrospect was a blast.

Benzgirl, we followed somewhat the same path!

Teaching swimming lessons (13-16): $3/hour
Lifeguard (15-18): $5/hour
Waitress (15-20): varying from $1-3/hour + tips
Tour Guide (16-22, with a break): $8/hour

Then came the quote Big Bucks/Better Job unquote!

We must have been separated at birth? What kind of tours did you guide?

Through The Nationality Classrooms at Pitt. During the school year, you could volunteer, but if you passed the test with a 95% or higher and were considered a skilled guide (adept with visitors and/or able to speak a second language), you could get paid on weekends, holidays, and during the summer. They're amazing!

My first job was Chick-Fil-A. I started there in October of 2000. I was 18. I worked there off and on for about 2 years.

My first job was for a professional photographer. I think I was 16, maybe 17. I cleaned and organized the studio and helped set up equipment, change and label film, arrange people and props and take money/orders if it was for a group. I also helped process b/w film and picked up color orders at the processors. He did a lot of weddings, so I would also organize the proof albums and fill out their orders. It was a lot of fun!

I answered the phone at a rock and roll radio station in the evenings when I was in high school.

Boring, but it bought gas for the car and beer for the fake ID.

My first job was working at a recreation center teaching dance to little kids. I worked there for 2 months before I was given an ultimatum--bring in 12+ more students or leave. I don't know 12 kids under the age of 10, so I left. The ended up giving the job to an enemy of mine...but she got paid $6 an hour while I got $15 an hour!!! ahahahahaha.

My next job was at Coldstone, in 2006. Aside from the douchebag owner, I had a blast! I loved it there. At the time, I got paid minimum wage which was $5.15/hr. boo to that.

Then I worked at Aeropostale. Again, loooooved the job, until they decided they rather give me more "on call" shifts than working shifts. I literally got a few $20 paychecks---it wasn't even enough to fill up my tank with gas to get to work!

My first job that required paperwork was working at a summer camp, which was from 14-18. When my father took the golden parachute from his job and opened a small business for fun I helped him a lot.

My only other job as a teen was working at Honeybaked Ham one Thanksgiving through Christmas season since my friends were working there and I made a deal with my parents that I'd buy my snowboard if they paid for the trip. In the end they paid for all of it and I used the money to visit my college boyfriend at college under the guise of "touring colleges." They wished they hadn't encouraged me to get that job and buy the snowboarding gear on my own because they couldn't prevent me from using my own money to go to Colorado. I also would have never met said boyfriend if I didn't work at the summer camp. We broke up because of that trip :rolleyes: and I think my parents were finally able to exhale.

I was a waitress at the "nicer" restaurant in my small hometown all through high school (age 14-18).

My first job was working as a Model(Sales Associate for Hollister) i can still remember the tagline "our lowrise jeans make everything look better check them out"... can you imagine how akward it was to say that to 50 somethings who came in to do shopping for their granddaughters?? def akward!!!

Then i worked at Abercrombie the manager was a douchebag so i quit after 4 hours..something tells me that retail jobs aren't my calling

I worked at Jack in the Box, and quit after they not only worked me until 11PM and made me get there at 6am the next day (I lived 30 minutes away, and was 16..) and stressed me out to the point that I was permanently shaking.
Then I worked for a phone survey company. Good pay but BORING.
Then I worked for Dollar General for minimum wage and I loved it!
Then Imo's Pizza
Now I'm a library worker for my college. I sit in media collections and do whatever.
...I listed a lot because I still don't have a "real" job. :)

I babysat when I was in middle school, and I worked with my dad (who does construction) at the beginning of high school.

I also started freelancing for the local newspaper when I was 15, covering local sports and board of education issues. I had my first confidential source at 15, which I think is kind of funny.

My first real job was at Barnes and Noble. It was great, but I don't think I appreciated it at the time.
I've also worked at 3 different camps. Yes, I'm that kind of person. :p
The crappiest job I've had is house cleaning. The lady was into all of this organic hippy crap that didn't work. I was like srsly, gimme some Comet and 409!!! I worked there for a few months, I think.

lol this post made me laugh SO hard.:p

I don't even remember what my pay rate was at the pretzel place. I'm sure it sucked though. I made really good money at the zoo. At least for age 16. I made 9.50/hr. During the summer I worked full time, but while I was in school my parents only allowed me to work on the weekends.

ETA: At the time, while I was there, I wanted SO bad to be able to train the dolphins with the dolphin trainers.

My first "job" was babysitting for the principal of the local high school when I was 13 years old. I was paid $20 per kid, per evening. I made upwards of $60 bucks a night. It was nice.

I then moved on to Sonic Drive-In when I was 16. I made $6.50 an hour plus tips. I actually made great money there.

Now, I work for a professional baseball team, working upwards of 80 hours a week and make only $500 a month... Oh joy.

(18) My first job was spraying Ralph Lauren perfume on women in a department store. Mind-numbingly boring.

(18) Waitressing at a Pizza Hut. I didn't mind serving but I hated cleaning the restaurant after closing.

(19) Retail at The Nature Company at Union Station, D.C. I loved working the register when it was super busy.

(19) Made sandwiches at a little bakery near campus. Gave away far too many free subs to the Delta Tau Deltas that came in. ;)

(20) Worked in a huge warehouse filling drugstore orders for make-up, nail polish and pantyhose. It was strangely surreal and became the setting for the first short story I wrote.

(21) Worked at an art gallery in D.C. and eventually became the assistant manager. I started there because I love art but ended up thinking it was just glorified retail.

I wasn't thrilled with any of these jobs but I was in college at the time so I didn't really care that much.

My first job was at 18. I was the security dispatcher for a theme park. It was pretty awesome, but the commute was at least a half hour without traffic--not really worth the $8/hr. It taught me a lot about multi-tasking, using a "professional phone voice," and I met a lot of great people. However, I was going through so much personally that I couldn't really appreciate it fully.

After that, I worked a multitude of jobs including a Barnes and Noble employee (3.5 years, 3 locations), a summer camp counselor, a restaurant hostess, a youth ministry intern at church, an assistant dog groomer, and a "professional" babysitter (complete with website and steady clients). Mind you, I always had 2-4 jobs at a time so I can't even begin to sort them out for you. When I wasn't working (haha, whenever that was), I also volunteered as an Assistant Pet Therapist and a photographer for the humane society.

I'm such an overachiever. :cool:

By the time I turned 18 I had already had 9 jobs... I was only let go by one and that was my first job

I worked in a law office as a 'Legal Investigator' when I was 14.
adhd freshman + sitting at a computer for hours after school = not going to happen
I was let go for falling asleep at the computer.

Back in 1969 Mom made me take typing and shorthand my 9th gr. year ("in case you don't finish college you can be a secretary"). Back in those days, pre-computers, most people didn't type. That allowed me to be a 4-8pm secretary at a local nursing home all through high school which was much nicer than my friends who had to roller skate out to cars with food & Root Beer at the drive ins. Min wage was $1.30 per hour.

My first job was at The Fudgery at the Inner Harbor in 1985....long before there was ever such a thing as Dru Hill we were already doing the singing while making chocolate thing...great way to meet girls!!!


My first 'real' job I got after I graduated from high school was as a respiratory technician. Which was the smae job I interned while I was in school. I actually got a chance to meet Dr. Benjamin Carson and also the Binder twins that he became famous for separating.

The job I hated the most in my early years, was at an office building downtown as a file clerk.

Gift wrap during Christmas for a local department store. I was 16 or 17.

I later phrased it on my first resume..."tending to seasonal concerns."

Omigosh, I LOVED the Fudgery!!! I used to hang around for "the show" when I could. Good times!

I worked all the way through HS and college at RadioShack. I did a brief 1 year stint at The Sharper Image (while still remaining with RadioShack). I also worked as an anchor/reporter at the University's news station and worked for about a year as a substitute teacher.

First job - junior in HS-leaving for college - shampoo girl at one of the nicer/pretty expensive salons in my area. Loved all the other shampoo girls, made $5.15/hr +tips (usually worked out to be $9-10/hr).

Second job - summer after freshman year - beer girl at a golf course. Best summer job ever for a girl. I made $370 in 4 hours on my first day. I basically drove around, flirted with golfers, served drinks, and got great tips.

Third job - summer after sophomore year - film librarian for a radiology company my aunt worked for. Hated the environment, work was so slow and they never had a lot for me to do. $7.15/hr and I only stuck it out so I didn't make my aunt look bad.

Fourth job - summer after junior year, summer after graduating - working in HR for a national upscale men's clothing company. I loved everyone I worked with and the days flew by. My first summer I made $10/hr so I was thrilled, then I got bumped up to $13/hr the following summer.

Fifth job - first "real life" job while living on my own - recruiter for a staffing company - fun environment with a lot of young people 1, 2, 3 years out of college. Ultimately not the best place for me but a good learning experience. 35K annually.

My first job was SOOOO long ago!! I worked for a national chain junior girls' clothing store where I made a whopping 2.50 an hour! BUT, I got a 15% discount. Woohoo!!

I ended up spending way more than I made and my mother suggested I quit. I had so much on "layaway" when I left that my poor mom had to bail me out!!!

I have to add though that the added bonus was I met my first "big time" boyfriend who worked at the Florsheim shoe store across the mall;) He ended up being a jerk in the way that 16 year old romantic interests can end up. haha!

My first job was working at the local public library -- one of five high schoolers (all friends of mine) shelving books, assisting patrons, helping with story times for kids, helping maintain the card catalog (yeah, only us old folks know what that was), and whatever else needed doing. I started the summer after sophomore year in high school and worked there until I went to college. I came back to work over Christmas and the summer after freshman year.

Great job!

Foxmore?

My first job involved selling newspaper subscriptions door to door. I was 17 and just out of high school.

Next few jobs were pretty tame- working as a cashier and floor associate and retail stores.

First jobs related directly to my chosen undergraduate major and first masters were not good experiences thanks to bosses from hades.

In the middle of those two I worked for the Census and liked it a lot.

I substitute taught just before and during library school- and would not trade the experience I gained for anything in the whole wide universe.

I am still in the same company where I got my first librarian job- only now I am full time. I have been working with them for over 4 years now :)