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.