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What was your first ever job, ERA? Did you learn anything from it?
- Thread starter Mediking
- Start date
Grocery store. Customers are mostly terrible people and can get away with almost anything with impunity.
Systems support engineer with an MSP for mostly architecture and engineering firms. Half my work week is staff augmentation and equipment installations at client sites around Atlanta, other half is remote support for Windows Server 2008/2012/2016 networks.
Same- first job was at a grocery store. Mainly faced the aisles and bagged for the checkers. Facing the aisles definitely helped teach me where everything in a grocery store is, since most stores tend to group things together similarly. Actually been pretty valuable over the years.
Quite a few things. But overall it's difficult work that I don't enjoy.
Despite the fact that kids gravitate towards me, I don't particularly enjoy interacting with them for long periods of time. Teaching, especially teaching kids without good foundations (through no fault of their own), is difficult. And that's one-on-one. I can't imagine a classroom full of kids that need extra and directed attention.
My first job was as a laborer for a remodeling effort at a Toys R Us. I learned absolutely nothing, but they had Dreamcasts a couple months before it launched, and I got to play Sonic Adventure on my break.
I had a lot of really shitty jobs through college, mostly warehouse and factory work. Some were comically bad, like separating rotten, maggot-infested tuna from good tuna so it could be repackaged, or physically throwing 50 pound chunks of concrete into a dumpster as they came down a converyor belt. Also telemarketing.
My first "real" job was game journalism, which may not be a real job by some standards. When I left that, it took a couple years of freelancing to successfully transition to copywriting, because no one cares about game journalism.
I had a lot of really shitty jobs through college, mostly warehouse and factory work. Some were comically bad, like separating rotten, maggot-infested tuna from good tuna so it could be repackaged, or physically throwing 50 pound chunks of concrete into a dumpster as they came down a converyor belt. Also telemarketing.
My first "real" job was game journalism, which may not be a real job by some standards. When I left that, it took a couple years of freelancing to successfully transition to copywriting, because no one cares about game journalism.
OP
OP
But how are you gonna handle Bruce Wayne's children since you're the god-mother? Lol
Depends on what you mean by real.
Mowed lots and lots of lawns as a kid. First job at a company was slinging fries at Chick-fil-A.
I learned that there's pride in hard manual work at both jobs, but that an education was absolutely vital if I wanted to avoid that kind of work as an adult.
I also learned a bit about favoritism at Chick-fil-A and the negative impact it has on morale to the others in the building and have tried to remember that in my corporate life.
Also put a female coworker in a pretty hard headlock at CFA and got a really nice bite mark on my arm for a month, so I learned not to put coworkers in headlocks if I don't wanna get bit. Important lesson.
Mowed lots and lots of lawns as a kid. First job at a company was slinging fries at Chick-fil-A.
I learned that there's pride in hard manual work at both jobs, but that an education was absolutely vital if I wanted to avoid that kind of work as an adult.
I also learned a bit about favoritism at Chick-fil-A and the negative impact it has on morale to the others in the building and have tried to remember that in my corporate life.
Also put a female coworker in a pretty hard headlock at CFA and got a really nice bite mark on my arm for a month, so I learned not to put coworkers in headlocks if I don't wanna get bit. Important lesson.
Awesome man, congrats btw! I come from a similar time and background myself. Modems, BBSs, 80s through the mid/late 90s.. growing up on the tech basically and having skills waaaay before people had to go to school for them. I spent the last 15 years as a sr systems engineer managing all sorts of stuff like citrix, vmware, san, data center architecture etc.. etc.. I recently left for the dark side, and am now pre sales SC for a large OEM.
I asked about where you were because like you, I knew a lot of guys growing up during the early/mid 90s.. (like high school/middle school age) who were very skilled at that age and almost all of them wound up in great jobs later in life because of it. I do however know a few guys who either changed their career path or simply somewhere in their early 20s just lost focus on their IT skills and never really regained from it all. Its just an interesting thing I'm fascinated with since guys like you and me basically grew up before/during the internet explosion and I always figured it was a major leg up career wise and timing wise.
That's completely different! And most of them are adults now. :P
My first job was at a big retail chain. I basically learned how to call stupid people stupid in a way they wouldn't understand that I'm calling them stupid.
OP
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First job was as a mover. I hated it, long grueling hours, was exposed to dangerous working conditions, hurt myself many times, and got a first hand sense of just how shitty some supposedly grown ass adults really are. But I came away from it with a super strong work ethic and an ability to put up with all kinds of shit and power through it just to make sure the job was done, which I think is pretty useful. I absolutely would have picked anything else in retrospect
Box office/projectionist at a movie theater when I was 17. Job was hard fucking work once movies like The dark knight/twilight/harry potter started coming out so frequently. I did learn how to deal with a massive population from people, and how to build trailer packs/movies on film reels. Now they just push play from the front desk, since the movies come on HDD now lol.
I worked as a salesman at frys electronics in the electronic components department.
I learned some stuff about computers and different electrical components, parts, etc
It was a weekend only job (and had work during off days from school) , pay was like 8 bucks at first but I got pay upgrades to all the way to $9.45 a hour. (They had us do tests to increase pay like 45 to 50 cents and if we failed it twice , would be let go, few new hires we had ended up being let go cause of it....)
Worked there for two years while going to school.
Shift would start 2pm and end at 11pm but got extra hours cause we usually left at 12am or 1am
It was pretty bad especially Black Friday
Worked for 24 hours straight , couldn't leave the premises and had 3 "lunch breaks" on Black Friday
It was the worst experience I ever had.
Ended up quitting because my old manager quit and the new manager was a asshole that wanted to conflict with my school schedule.
I was the last "senior" member of the team where else everyone else either quit, got fired or transferred to a new department.
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Done with retail and call center jobs which I had afterwards.
I work IT now and am happy.
I learned some stuff about computers and different electrical components, parts, etc
It was a weekend only job (and had work during off days from school) , pay was like 8 bucks at first but I got pay upgrades to all the way to $9.45 a hour. (They had us do tests to increase pay like 45 to 50 cents and if we failed it twice , would be let go, few new hires we had ended up being let go cause of it....)
Worked there for two years while going to school.
Shift would start 2pm and end at 11pm but got extra hours cause we usually left at 12am or 1am
It was pretty bad especially Black Friday
Worked for 24 hours straight , couldn't leave the premises and had 3 "lunch breaks" on Black Friday
It was the worst experience I ever had.
Ended up quitting because my old manager quit and the new manager was a asshole that wanted to conflict with my school schedule.
I was the last "senior" member of the team where else everyone else either quit, got fired or transferred to a new department.
—-
Done with retail and call center jobs which I had afterwards.
I work IT now and am happy.
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I was a dishwasher for a few years. I made $5 an hour.
I learned a lot. I learned to work hard, I learned to deal with complete and utter foulness and how it's actually not that big a deal. I learned how to deal with real fatigue. I didn't learn any "valuable" skills in that nothing about it made me get paid higher, but the skills I learned from that job gave me a ton of intangible experience that I value to this day.
Everyone should have to be elbow deep in waste at least once in their career, frankly.
I learned a lot. I learned to work hard, I learned to deal with complete and utter foulness and how it's actually not that big a deal. I learned how to deal with real fatigue. I didn't learn any "valuable" skills in that nothing about it made me get paid higher, but the skills I learned from that job gave me a ton of intangible experience that I value to this day.
Everyone should have to be elbow deep in waste at least once in their career, frankly.
LSD and N2O supplier. It was alright. Made a shit ton of money but had to watch my back all the time.
Picking strawberries. It sucked. I discovered muscles that I didn't even know I had, and couldn't walk afterwards.
I worked on NYC taxi cabs when I was 13, filthy and disgusting work. But without it, I never could have gone from being homeless to wealthy.
16, Worked Pick-up at a Toys R' Us for 3 years.
I learned
Management determines how shit your day is going to be
Whether I worked as hard as possible, or did just enough to not get fired my paycheck was the same amount.
I learned
Management determines how shit your day is going to be
Whether I worked as hard as possible, or did just enough to not get fired my paycheck was the same amount.
Same and mostly true but you could really tell the rich people who came from nothing/worked on tips before because they would always generously overtip. Once had a guy tip me $50 on a $10 order because he said he knew how it was to be young and working through college. Inversely the people who would ask for their change back when the bill was $19.95 and they would hand you a $20 was always fun too.
Worked at Target for 2 years. Was a genuinely awful experience.
Still have an occasional nightmare where I dream I'm still working there.
Still have an occasional nightmare where I dream I'm still working there.
Worked at a grocery store for several months back in grade 10. My co workers were lousy and undermined each other at every turn, every one was miserable and the work load I was required to do in only 2 hours was ridiculous. I started at 430 and by 630 I was supposed to have the baking for 50 trays laid out properly to be baked the next day, a dozen bread loaves cut and bagged, donuts wrapped in plastic and sweep and mop the whole bakery. On top of that I was also put in charge of the deli so anytime someone wanted some meat cut I had to go out there and do that for them as well which could take up to half an hour if you got a customer who hasn't decided what they wanted yet. Then I had to take apart the slicer and wash that too.
Shit was absolutely ridiculous and I almost leaped for joy when I was let go. Only thing I learned was never to work at a grocery store ever again.
Shit was absolutely ridiculous and I almost leaped for joy when I was let go. Only thing I learned was never to work at a grocery store ever again.
Lift operator in Killington, VT. I was 18 years old at the time and went to the US with some friends as part of a program, it was cool and I believe it helped my English a lot, plus it was great interacting with guests and making conversation in English with several people. I guess I learned to be more outspoken since I had to speak in a language I wasn't used to as I hadn't been to the US before.
Worked in the steam room of a seafood restaurant. Smelled like Old Bay, steamed shrimp, and steamed blue crab, and it was of course hot as hell.
I loved that job. Biggie on the tape deck, as much food as my scrawny ass could eat, and a few friends worked there too. Learned a LOT about life in there. Parents forced me to quit to become a bag boy at a grocery store chain. To add insult to injury, they dined at the restaurant the last night I worked there. Boss said he was sorry to see me go, and he thought they were being pretty rude about it.
Which they were.
I loved that job. Biggie on the tape deck, as much food as my scrawny ass could eat, and a few friends worked there too. Learned a LOT about life in there. Parents forced me to quit to become a bag boy at a grocery store chain. To add insult to injury, they dined at the restaurant the last night I worked there. Boss said he was sorry to see me go, and he thought they were being pretty rude about it.
Which they were.
At 14, the summer prior to my freshman year of high school, I worked at a Dip'N'Dots in a Metro Atlanta Water Park. I didn't learn much, but I loved the hell out of it. Great, great summer memories. I met/encountered Montel Jordan, Mick Foley, Chili from TLC, Smash Mouth and the great Mario Van Peeples (Fresh off the 1996 cinema masterpiece Solo). It was the most 90's shit ever.
My first job ever was as a Cinema Usher, definitely not fun at all because some people are pigs and lack all sense of cleanliness which made me wonder what their homes/place of living looked like. I freaking hated it and only lasted around 4 months.
What I learned from it was to pick up after myself a bit more and not just assume someone else will take care of the mess I left behind because not even pigs do that.
What I learned from it was to pick up after myself a bit more and not just assume someone else will take care of the mess I left behind because not even pigs do that.
I worked at a local restaurant as a dishwasher with my two best friends for about 3 years through high school.
The work itself wasn't difficult at all, especially when we partnered up. We just jammed out to pop-punk and talked about video games. Good times.
The work itself wasn't difficult at all, especially when we partnered up. We just jammed out to pop-punk and talked about video games. Good times.
My first job was for a family owned Japanese fast food place. It was cool. It was me and a couple friends working together. I learned if you own a business, don't put 15 year olds in charge 2-3 days a week. Because we gave shit away like crazy to our friends and if you came at us with attitude, we wouldn't put up with it.
My first job was working at Arby's for $7.25 an hour when I was around 16. Wasn't horrible, I loved most of my co-workers but hated our GM. It definitely taught me that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life. Around 18 I got my second job at a retirement home, thanks to my mom, as a housekeeper for about $12 bucks an hour. Super easy job, I loved the people and residents there. I took their CNA class there and began working as an aid for almost $17 an hour. Right now I have an interview for an agency that pays $20. In about 2 years time I will hopefully be a registered nurse.
When I was 16, I caddied at a pretty prestigious golf course (it's in NJ).
It was nice in that it got me outside and was good exercise.
Pay was decent. It was 100% tips. I think the minimum tip was something like $45. Some "guests" went under that occasionally, but then some went well over that, so it evened out. Members always did the minimum or over. Occasionally I would carry 2 bags at a time, so a minimum of $90. For a 16 yr old in 1996, that's damn good money for about 5 hours of work.
Didn't really learn much at all; there wasn't a whole lot of interaction, other than "clubbing" the player.
It was nice in that it got me outside and was good exercise.
Pay was decent. It was 100% tips. I think the minimum tip was something like $45. Some "guests" went under that occasionally, but then some went well over that, so it evened out. Members always did the minimum or over. Occasionally I would carry 2 bags at a time, so a minimum of $90. For a 16 yr old in 1996, that's damn good money for about 5 hours of work.
Didn't really learn much at all; there wasn't a whole lot of interaction, other than "clubbing" the player.
My very first job (not counting my dad bringing me to work to do small tasks) was as a berry picker. It taught me that sometimes the perks are better than the pay. Unlimited fresh berries.
Worked at a Smart & Final. Basically did whatever needed to be done. Cleaning the aisles, being a cashier, bringing back carts, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. I learned a few things.
- The work environment sucked. Nobody wanted to be there and no one was going to help you.
- We were understaffed and overworked. There was rarely anymore than 2 cashiers, no matter what.
- Employees not only half-assed stuff, but were actively told to. Because there were so few of us on a given day, we had to do everything, while at the same time barely managing to put a dent into any of it. We just barely kept the place running.
- There's a lot of questionable-at-best business practices that get taught. For example, if you drop a fruit/vegetable on the floor, try to pick it up and put it back where it fell without any customers noticing. Yes, we were told to be that cheap.
- The stuff people will do to a bathroom when there's no consequences is... appalling.
- Nearly every day there would be a shitty customer of some sort complaining about something that was their fault, or just insulting someone. Lots of racist, sexist, and disablist people, even in Los Angeles.
- The work environment sucked. Nobody wanted to be there and no one was going to help you.
- We were understaffed and overworked. There was rarely anymore than 2 cashiers, no matter what.
- Employees not only half-assed stuff, but were actively told to. Because there were so few of us on a given day, we had to do everything, while at the same time barely managing to put a dent into any of it. We just barely kept the place running.
- There's a lot of questionable-at-best business practices that get taught. For example, if you drop a fruit/vegetable on the floor, try to pick it up and put it back where it fell without any customers noticing. Yes, we were told to be that cheap.
- The stuff people will do to a bathroom when there's no consequences is... appalling.
- Nearly every day there would be a shitty customer of some sort complaining about something that was their fault, or just insulting someone. Lots of racist, sexist, and disablist people, even in Los Angeles.
My first job was at a Famous Footwear. They were moving to a new store and I applied to help with that. After everything was moved the general manager offered me a job and I accepted.
I did learn that it's best not to have relationships with coworkers. I slept with the assistant manager a few times. That made work awkward and damn near impossible.
I did learn that it's best not to have relationships with coworkers. I slept with the assistant manager a few times. That made work awkward and damn near impossible.
My first job was at the brick factory when I was 12 and I did it every summer till I was 16. It was fine, good money, rspecially for that age lol
I worked at a Suncoast Video. Unless alphabetizing shelves counts as learning something, I didn't learn squat.
That was always my dream job as a kid because I thought "You just get to play video games all day!" but I've heard it's not at all what it's cracked up to be. I had a coworker at my current job who did QA for Naughty Dog and apparently it was a hot mess.
My first job was at coldstone creamery. They made me sing ice cream related parodies of Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake and my depression and self loathing was basically at it's peak. I learned that non slip shoes are extremely important, and what gummy bears look like when you fish them out of dirty water drains.
It was the military (USAF). I joined straight out of high school at 18 and did a six year enlistment. If I had to do it all over again, I would, but I'd just change my AFSC (job). The military gives you that kick start on life; it forces you to grow up fast. There was so much I saw, I learned, and did. There are times I look back and I miss it and yet other times I look back and despise it. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
My Aunt got me a job at Gap Kids. I'd get to the mall at 5am, open the shipment boxes and tag every clothing item with the thief protection. I'd work from 5am to 10am when the mall opened.