Discussions

What was your very first job?

Posted by iriegal • 4/04/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: discussions, first job

I was just sitting here reading some of the discussions and my mind wondered on my first job, where I worked at a record store. I had to smile because spinning those albums and 45's (and an occasional 78) was so much fun.

When you are 16 and get to listen to cool music every day, you can't beat that.

So what was your first job? and do you miss it?

User Comments

4/04/08

MadameX

Always when I have seen this question before I have responded that it was the summer I was 15 or 16, cleaning up old shingles and debris on a construction site. But it just occurred to me when I saw the question arise again that I actually worked in my mom's office scanning insurance documents onto microfiche on Saturdays when I was 13. Her boss paid me out of petty cash.

[reply]
1. 4/04/08
  
  iriegal
  
  You were luck working at 13. I would love to had some little pocket change at 13. Cleaning Shingles? wow, that seems like a hard job.
2. 4/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  Nice! Aside from the money, I see your experience as an early opportunity to see how the world works. I wish more kids could see how their parents work - and not just a 'career day' thing.
4/04/08

ender

my parents were odd - they did not want us having jobs during the school year and were not particularly thrilled with the prospect of driving us to a job during hte summer. (but with no public transportation and nothing within walking distance ...) we settled, finally, on a rather short-lived stint at a movie theatre which had no cash registers and the manager actively encouraged (commanded?) us to overcharge customers to supplement our paychecks (or to buy ourselves snacks).

first job after i moved out of the house was at a locally owned NY-style sub shop run by a guy connected to the mob ....

[reply]
1. 4/04/08
  
  iriegal
  
  connected to the mob? Hey it wasn't in Bay Ridge was it?
2. 4/05/08
  
  ender
  
  lol
  nope, just outside of dallas.
4/04/08

monkeytale

Paperboy... when I was about 10 years old. I worked at a grocery store and a gas station (when self serve was only considered ice cream), when I was in high school.

[reply]
1. 4/04/08
  
  iriegal
  
  Everyone loved the paperboy. We loved the paperboy on our block.
2. 4/04/08
  
  monkeytale
  
  Not everyone loved the paperboy back then. You'd be surprised how many people tried to rip me off due to my age when collecting money from some of the people on my route.
3. 4/05/08
  
  ender
  
  i thought it was a time-honoured tradition to rip off the li'l paperboys on their bikes.
4/04/08

hanxiansheng

After graduating from a university last July, I began to work in a pharmaceutical company, this is my first job, and I believe it will be my last job, because I will quit it this September. Then I will run my own company, it's an awful thing for me to work for others. This is why I am planning to run my own company.

[reply]
1. 4/04/08
  
  iriegal
  
  GOOD LUCK Hanxiansheng! It is indeed rewarding running your own company.
2. 4/04/08
  
  Norski
  
  In my book, running your own company will be quite a 'job' in itself.
  
  I hope you do well in your enterprise.
4/04/08

jackpayne

Raking leaves in a cemetery.

[reply]
1. 4/04/08
  
  iriegal
  
  That is an interesting job. How did you get that one?
4/04/08

eagerblogger

Going door to door to ask people to subscribe.

[reply]
1. 4/04/08
  
  iriegal
  
  That was much safer to do back then, then it is now
4/04/08

gerri50

Selling mobile phones in Zimbabwe when I was 17. My parents would not let me work before then.

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4/04/08

Norski

In my teens, I worked as a library aide. Most of my time was spent shelving books. And, moving books in and out of long-term storage.

As a bibliophile, it was one of my more 'fun' jobs. Especially working down in long-term storage. That brought me up-close-and-personal with books that the general public hadn't seen, and wouldn't see, for years.

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4/04/08

EcoInsomniac

I was a teachers assistant for a class of kids that other teachers couldn't handle. It was a blast.

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4/04/08

aningeniousname

My very first job was cleaning the teats of uppity ewes, it wasn't a good job but I was glad to have it and if it taught me one thing it taught me to respect sheep and all of sheep kind. Kids nowadays don't have that respect.

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4/04/08

niqua416

I was 16, and it was McDonald's. Terrible job. I worked there for two weeks and a coworker called me a brat and I quit. Really showed him. :|

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4/04/08

daniel23

rounding up sheep when i was 13. got 3 quid an hour.

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4/04/08

LGramlich

My "mom" & her mafia gunrunner boyfriend used my brother & I as forced child labor running a handwriting machine (& other scams,) at fairs, malls & flea markets. No, I don't miss it. It was grueling & I earned nothing but the unwanted attention of pedophiles & the loss of any "free" time I had. "Best years" my @$$. I wish I had a childhood, instead.

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4/04/08

glgoodlife

My first job was at grocerey company called No frills..I was 16 and I worked very hard for the first 3 months..and because they didnt want to hire me permanently they fired me...bastards..but ah well

the owner was arrested a year later for frauding the company..Karma is a bitch hehe..

[reply]
4/05/08

GuyInterrupted

Working part-time in an accounting firm. Talk about dull. Good memories of whacking elastic bands at the computer monitor for three months.

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4/05/08

maneja81

I started at 20 and I used to teach computers at home.

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4/05/08

markstoneman

I think it might have been digging up worms and selling them to tourists. I remember selling soda at a local square dance too. But the more regular stuff was buying and selling antiques via my father's shop. As a teenager my first regular minimum wage job was washing dishes.

[reply]
1. 4/06/08
  
  legbamel
  
  [Wonders if she dare admit that she read that as, "selling baking soda at a local square dance..."]
4/05/08

Donlewis

I'm still thinking about getting a job.

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4/05/08

sellytapgirl

Assisstant teaching 3 and 4 year olds ballet and tap at age 11. I got one class discounted.

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4/05/08

robertstevenson

I worked at Sonny's Car Wash when I was 15 placing foot mats in a cleaning maching and scrubbing tires. This job taught me the value of education.

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4/06/08

legbamel

I babysat for years, but my first non-cash, taxes-withheld job was decorating (and personalizing) large cookies at the Nut Tree. I was the Leonardo of frosting, I was.

That was the year the first Batman movie came out, and I saw Michael Keaton wandering around the shop before dinner. He didn't buy a cookie, and it was too civilized around there for a mob scene. Governor Deukmejian stopped to chat, once, though. He's really short. Then again, so is Michael Keaton. LOL

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4/06/08

MarkPogue

Mowing lawns at 12, for $4.
I always loved manual labor and still do.

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4/06/08

globalgirl

11-14 years old I babysat.

@ 15 years old I was a "girl friday" at a law firm: copying, filing, & other administrative projects.

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