What was your first job?

[Morrison71]

I was a paperboy when I was 9 and have been working ever since, except a couple year stint while I went back to school.

I was a terrible paperboy. I would never collect money on time and then I would ask for like 3x the payment. Turns out people don't like that.

My first serious job was McDonald's as a cook. I worked as a cook in the food industry for a few years and it was pretty fun. I sometimes wish I would have tried to become a chief.

 

[Deleted member 1086]

Papa Murphy's Pizza. Whoopee

 

[Travo]

I washed cars at a used car lot.

 

[Prophet Five]

Blockbuster CSR

 

[Maolfunction]

worked as a teacher's assistant at a Sylvan learning center when I was 15.

 

[Drain You]

I built trophies.

 

[Indelible]

Tim Horton's, it was such a easy job during high school and I worked with a bunch of my classmates.

 

[SoH]

A contracted telemarketing call center. The script they were using when I started was cold calling people with "Hello, I'm with blah blah. Do you feel you are pro-life, pro-choice, or somewhere in-between?"

No. I am not joking. I lasted 3 days.

 

[Transistor]

I scrubbed used computer monitors with a sponge so they could be fixed and resold.

 

[Mesoian]

Beyond mowing lawns for allowance?

Clerk at Stop and Shop. Worked there just long enough to know that I never wanted to work retail again.

 

[thesoapster]

Landscaping. Day two I got to use a bush pruner (at age 14). Not legal in the slightest.

 

[Alucrid]

delivering newspapers. i got paid but there was also a thing where you went around and asked the houses you delivered to for donations to be entered in a raffle and you would make like...25 cents on the dollar or something. i never wanted to do that though

 

[Pirate Bae]

I worked at Game Stop for an awful boss who would leave me to get perved on by smelly old men while he watched on the monitor in the back for the lols or whatever.

 

[DaciaJC]

Pharmacy technician

 

[LordByron28]

Since I was a little kid, I helped the family business and worked farmers markets. My cousins and I would offload everything setup the booth and stand. I would either work on keeping things stocked and be able to recomend and sell customers different plants, produce and cut flowers based on what growing conditions they had on their property. Or I would be the cashier where there was no calculator or anything to help me with math in addition to bagging their purchases. If I was cashier I just had to quickly add the totals up in my head and then give out the proper change. Come to think of it I have no idea what adults thought about a 7 year old informing them of what plants they thought would grow best in their shady/sunny or wet/dry environment.

My first real job was working at Panera Bread when I was 15. I learned and could do all of the positions there in about 6 months from bus boy, dishwasher, cashier and cook.

 

[Theef]

Freelancer

 

[Slay]

I'll let you know if I ever get one.

 

[DrForester]

I sold propane and propane accessories.

Seriously. My first job was at a rental story that rented out yard and party equipment and we also filled Propane so I had to get certified.

 

[Lady Bow]

Deli Clerk at Dominicks

Not the most glamorous first job. People can be a pain with their meats and cheeses and cleaning the slicers at the end of the day was rough.

 

[Sanjuro]

Wiping cum off VHS tapes.

 

[BadWolf]

Stocker at a grocery store.

 

[Cross-Section]

Tutoring at the college.

 

[nightstalker962]

Selling pool chemicals.

 

[Walter White Walker]

Cleaning the meat department at a grocery store in the evening. It was so nasty especially when I first got there and it was very abundantly clear the prior person hadn't been taking the grinder apart to clean behind the parts, etc.
This was in the 80s so it's likely meat departments are better than they were back then (God I hope so) but, for the one and only time I'll post this word on ERA, yikes.
Before that, I did lay insulation in attics for the construction company my father worked for during one summer when I was 12. I guess that counts but it wasn't something I did a huge amount of.

 

[HardTimesFamilyPride]

My first paying gig was playing Jackie in a production of Cheaper by the Dozen. Still remember singing Kadooka, and the director/audience falling in love with my improv of eating popcorn off the floor in the movie theater scene. Bought my SNES with the funds. :)

First actual employment was Pizza Hut lmao. So much illegal shit I was expected to do that I was oblivious to. Got fired for reasons related to that and I've been at my current job ever since.

 

[mugurumakensei]

Outside of working with my dad one summer during high school, my first job was writing a reporting client in VB6 that would be deployed to windows 3.1(also in high school around 200-3-2004). The data would be provided from small robots that would scan for anomalies inside of oil pipelines.

 

[Professor RAWR]

Unexpectedly I've worked for a winery factory and I was a quality inspector. Before all of this, my first job was putting wine bottles inside boxes for 8 hours straight.... so depressing...

I felt like you needed a Bachelors/Master degree in Chemistry for this yet they've decided to let a young guy like me check their wine quality. Only a seasonal part time job, gave me enough $$$ to buy the Xbox One S hahaha

 

[Prolepro]

Landscaping.

 

[moneywoes]

Courtesy clerk at a grocery store

 

[Shokunin]

Worked at a metal manufacturing shop the summer of freshman year of College. It was decent money and honestly I'm glad it never led to a career.

They closed that shop down 4 years ago and everyone lost their job.

 

[BasilZero]

Salesman at an electronics store.

Selling computer parts and other small electronics.

 

[Wubby]

Attraction Host on the Autopia ride at Disneyland

 

[Kyuur]

My family owned a restaurant and then a liquor store so I helped out there.

My first non-family job was dishwashing at a mom 'n' pop restaurant.

 

[Rbk_3]

Worked on a dairy farm

 

[Septimus Prime]

If you count regional occupational program in high school, my first job was being part of the crew for my high school's weekly student news show. Otherwise, my first paid job was as the systems coordinator's assistant for a clothing distributor.

Looking back on it, though, the "real" job was probably BS, as I didn't really do anything (and what she did give me was probably busywork), and I got the job because the CEO was my mom's friend.

The high school job, on the other hand, was legit, and we all worked hard as hell--regularly staying at school until midnight--to put on a show no matter what every week.

 

[TaySan]

Deli Clerk. I fucking hate people now.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

Worked in a middle school attendance office as a co-op for high school. It satisfied the credit, so whatever. Guess I learned dealing with kids and adults?

 

[Stryder]

Working at a luxury brand hotel (JW Marriott) as a purchasing clerk, which is especially just a stock boy for a fancy hotel. Made great money for my age and was a pretty great first job... I was older than most people who would get their first job though...

 

[Forerunner]

It was the military, I did that for six years after high school.

 

[carlsojo]

I sold snacks at a pool.

 

[SeanBoocock]

First real job was working as a group home facilitator in a home for three severely disabled young men who needed 24/7 care. Did that for two summers my first two years in undergrad. Hardest and most emotionally draining thing I've ever done.

 

[GamerJM]

Subway Sandwich Artist

It actually wasn't so bad. My boss was nice but he was an unorganized mess who had trouble keeping consistent schedules (it's not like it would have been difficult to schedule people in a consistent way, he just....didn't). But the actual job was pretty chill, my coworkers were very hard working immigrants who were really nice to me as a college student. I actually kinda miss it sometimes. I definitely miss hearing music playing (even a repetitive radio station is preferable to a soulless office where the only sound is people on calls all of the time imo), customers who appreciated the work I did, and never having to work late or from home. Only ever did it during some Summers in college so I didn't have the stress of having to balance a job and stuff outside of it. Also I was actually not very good at it lol, I was pretty slow at making sandwiches, but most people didn't really seem to mind and I usually worked later shifts which aren't very busy.

 

[Chainshada]

Waste disposal at a local department store. Nothing gross, would go in 6pm every night as the store was closing and as the shelf packers emptied out their boxes, I'd roll around a big metal cage, throw everything into it and wheel it out to the loading dock, separate the plastic into bins, flatten cardboard boxes and toss them into a compactor.

It was supposed to be a 3hr shift every week night, packers would go in 5pm-8pm, I was 6pm-9pm..but a few of the older packers would take their sweet time and often not finish til 9-9:30..which meant I'd usually end up leaving closer to 10:30-11pm. Complained to my boss about it and these 3 asshole ladies in their late 40s/early 50s started to hide their stuff under the shelves, still taking their sweet time, then when they left at 9:30, would drag 4hrs worth of cardboard boxes out from under the shelves and leave. Quit shortly after that.

 

[starpower]

kay eff see

 

[BringBackSonics]

I worked at our families hardware business.

 

[Rag]

I bucked hay bales onto a truck for a few weeks during high school, but quit when my first paycheck bounced. My first real job was at a screenprinting shop. I was in charge of cleaning screens and running the dark room and exposure unit that we used to make screens for printing. It was fun stuff and got me interested in graphic design at an early-ish age.

 

[hydruxo]

Youth counselor at a YMCA afterschool program

It was a pretty awesome job honestly. Got paid to play dodgeball and goof around everyday.

 

[Quantum Leap]

Busser/food runner/server
NEVER AGAIN. fuck the restaurant business.

 

[nasirum]

Office Max

Nope. Retail sucks.

 

[RestEerie]

IT Phone Helpdesk Operator...............basically all i did was......