here is where we talk about 1st jobs

[robbie]

What was your first job?

This does not include mowing lawns, etc.

It only counts if you filled out tax forms like a w-4 or I-9 (or whatever their foreign counterparts are).

I worked summers with my dad, because he was self-employed and my family couldn't afford day-care/summer camp/etc. So i'd do basic labor, and run to hide in the truck if the contractors or OSHA showed up to the job-site. It was work, but I wouldn't call it a job.

I got my very first job at 13 and a half or 14 on a work permit. I worked part time after school in a book and health food store my church ran, for 5$ an hour. I scaled and sacked random bulk items like 'textured vegetable protein' and 'gluten flour'. I was mostly the go-to guy for jobs no-one else wanted to do, like cleaning the bathrooms, taking out the trash, organizing the walk-in freezer.

Anyhow, what was your first job like?

 

[nerdykarim]

I worked at McDonalds to pay for debate camp after my first year of high school.
It wasn't as bad as one would imagine, but it was certainly not an enjoyable job.

 

[Hard2Fit]

I mixed cement at 12 (maybe 13).
Minimum wage.

 

[TyCooN]

Worked in a burger shop by the beach. Way too much work, pressure, and bullshit for a job that only paid a few more pennies above minimum wage, my state has the highest minimum wage rate. I dropped the job in about a month.

 

[bbaquiran]

I worked for a couple of months in our school's nuclear magnetic resonance lab writing software for logging and analyzing the results of other peoples experiments.

 

[VKK3450]

Bagging groceries at the local supermarket.

Minimum wage, plus some great tips. At times up to about 15-20 bucks an hour!

K

 

[j]

Wish I had done that. My first real job was at a video store, where I worked for 3 years during high school. Looking back, I could have had a lot more fun at that job, but oh well. It also ruined many movies for me that I was forced to watch 100x in a week. On the plus side, I can remember what the cover of almost any movie put on VHS before 1996 looks like, and I have a very good sense of what year any movie was put out.

 

[VKK3450]

Tapping into the thread on social awkwardness, I found that some of my earlier jobs where I was forced to interact with people beyond just a pure transaction, "That will be $6, thank you," were what really helped me to be able to develop small talk & social skills. I didnt have to hold long conversations bagging groceries, but I found that a bit of banter with the bored housewives would increase my tips, so I was always ready with a bit of news, goings on, comments on this or that.

I detailed cars for a while after that which paid great, but offered very little social interaction.

In college I bartended which taught me how to instantly strike up conversations (once again, it had financial rewards). You get to understand how eye contact, tone of voice, posture, etc immediately play into social dynamic. I do wonder sometimes though if my bartending convo skills have bled over to me still having shallow conversations in real life. Bar conversations were relatively short and broken up, and you wouldnt reveal too much about yourself as you never knew what kind of nutjobs were swilling down the drinks.

Now my girlfriend says that I never "open up" to others and dont show my feelings easily. I chalk it up to being a guy, and not being inclined to pour my heart out to every schmoe that I have known for 5 minutes.

K

 

[garmentmerchant]

I worked at Sbarros for 2 years in HS. No complaints. It was HS wages, I worked like a dog. I can say I liked my co workers and my boss was decent to. It was simple and responsibilities were few sometimes i wish i could go back to this way of work

 

[Matt]

selling Coke at Adelaide Oval during cricket matches

 

[Treen]

I worked in a local Coffee Shop, making the coffee. I got up at 5 every morning, and worked varying hours. It was incredibly enjoyable: it was pretty easy work, the owners were friendly and I got free coffee.

 

[johnapril]

KFC, downtown St. Louis

 

[Etienne]

At the age of 20 I got admitted to a school where you get the status of civil servant. As such, I started to pay taxes, get a salary, etc. I had no work obligation, however, so I don't know if you would call it a "job".

Moving on, I got jobs as a paid intern in an investment bank, and many teaching jobs as a grad students in various institutions. I guess they are my "first jobs".

 

[maxnharry]

I worked in a tree nursery as a field hand

 

[topcatny]

I worked at 7-Eleven as the stockboy for minimum wage. I was probably 14. One of the most "exciting" parts of that job was putting together all the sections of the Sunday Newspapers. I don't think they still do this but back then all the sections were delivered individually and you had to put them all together to make up the Sunday paper. I was there for 3-4 hours on Sat and used to show up at 4 in the morning on Sun to get them all ready by the time customers started arriving at 6am or so.