What was your first job?

[Cashmanimal 0]

"Warehouse Manager" AKA the guy that sweeps the floor in a warehouse that repaired espresso machines. That's where I learned that sweeping all day is boring, copper fittings bring a lot of money when you recycle them, and 3 shots of espresso at lunch will make the afternoon go REALLY fast. I was 14.

It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

[Baksteen 84]

At fifteen I was a grocery clerk at a supermarket.
The job sucked - often I cycled the seven kilometers to work only to find that the people in the Butchers deparment had had a quiet day and restocked the shelves themselves and I could go back home. I still stuck at it for two years.
Also starting at age fifteen, Iworked summers as a ride operator at a glorified playing ground - this job sucked even worse.
Just press two buttons in the same order all day wait ten seconds before pressing the first button again, and repeat ad infinitum / nauseam.

So I guess you could say that my first *real* job was doing dishes in a restaurant at age seventeen.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[skyh2omedic 0]

11-15 newspaper route, yard work, hauling hay.
!5 lifeguard-uncle sam started taking taxes.

"You can't teach what you don't know and you can't lead where you won't go"

[slotperfect 7]

At 14 I was the Assistant Sexton for the little town just north of my own called Walden, VT, caring for eight different cemeteries. Duties were mostly mowing, trimming, and raking leaves, but there were several other things we did occasionally as well. The first summer I worked directly for the Sexton, the second summer I did it with my friend PJ (who had the job before I did), and the third summer I did it by myself. It was a great job - these cemeteries were in beautiful picturesque places off dirt roads in the Vermont countryside.

PJ and I had to dig one grave (by hand) because the location of the gravesite was such that a backhoe couldn't get in there. We finished it up in the dark, with a thunderstorm blowing its way in, listening to the only cassette we had for the boom box: Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare." That was some creepy stuff . . .

Arrive Safely

John

[skymama 35]

First real job was working as a cashier in the lingerie department at Sears. Before you get all excited that it was the lingerie department, I sold mostly granny panties and suntan colored pantyhose.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[DaveBjork 0]

Paper route when I was 13. Worked for my neighbor, learning car mechanics at 14 for 1.40 an hour. The first thing he taught me was to rebuild starters, literally under a large shade tree. Fun stuff.

[usedtajump 1]

Fry cook at a drive in theatre snack bar. Had no cooking experience whatever before that and luckily, AFAIK, no one died from it.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[micduran 0]

Taking care of the plants at Walgreen's. I was "promoted" to cashier and hated it. I like the plants more than the customers.

Be patient with the faults of others; they have to be patient with yours.

[Icon134 0]

Besides the occasional gig watching younger cousins... my first real job was working summers at a sod farm cutting and laying sod.

The pay sucked and for that matter so did the job...

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[skydiverbry 0]

Auto Body repair at 16 for a classic car restoratiom shop.

--------------------------------------------------
Growing old is mandatory.Growing up is optional!!

D.S.#13(Dudeist Skdiver)

[jimmytavino 16]

Around the age of 14 ...I was a Caddy, at a private golf club which was about 4 miles from our home. My 3 brothers and a couple of cousins, also worked there...before that ,,, my 'job' was to do anything around the house which my Mom or dad asked of us... mow lawns, work in the garden, clean the yard..or our play areas,,,rake leaves,,,

made good Money for the times, at the Golf Club.. ( mid 60's)
double 18,,,,, 2 golfers at a time. paid 16 bucks, and took about 4 hours.. If we did a double 18 in the morning and another in the afternoon, we'd make over 30 dollars, get lots of excersize, and then always had money in our pockets.
Also got to play the course for free,,, ( caddies day) when they closed on mondays...

once i turned 16 however, i got 'working papers', and a social security # so i could be on the payroll and worked as a full time carpenter apprentice
for a corporation which My father and my Uncle Joe owned...and where they worked, themselves...
( i then caddied on the weekends)
We built NICE custom homes,, no 2 alike. 2500 to 3,000 square feet...
I worked 8 to 4 :30, all summer and whenever we had a day off from school.. hard work,,cement blocks and mason laborer, then carpenter and roofer,,, we did everything except the plumbing and electric... i have 3 brothers near in age to myself, and we ALL were on the construction crew, at one time or another.

made 4.50 an hour,, back when gasoline for my car cost 35 CENTS a gallon...
learned a LOT,,, including that working for one's father,, is a tough job....

still working, but Now for myself and MY family..
( i sometimes take MY son to work with me,,,he's 23, and i pay him pretty well.
I enjoy his company on the job., though i can't say for sure,,,, that MY father would say the same....
jimmy

[cocheese 0]

Quote

First real job was working as a cashier in the lingerie department at Sears. Before you get all excited that it was the lingerie department, I sold mostly granny panties and suntan colored pantyhose.

wups, i got excited.

[poe62 0]

ugh..At 15 I was a "Back Booth Betty" at McDonalds...
(drive thru cashier)

~Nikki
http://www.facebook.com/poe62

Irgity Dirgity

[shortyj 0]

washing dishes in a pizza place at the mall

Playtime is essential.

[Bolas 5]

Quote

Quote

First real job was working as a cashier in the lingerie department at Sears.

wups, i got excited.

Ditto. I didn't hear anything after the above either.

Did she say anymore?

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[Racenic 0]

At 15 a Pizza Cook for 2.5 years I ate at least a slice of pizza 5 days a week for 2.5 years!
Every night there was at least 2-4 pizzas that never got picked up, so you ate them!

I still love that pizza place 31 years later!

Nick D

The key to Immortality is- first living a life worth remembering”

[NWFlyer 2]

Other than babysitting, my first real job was at a chocolate store at the mall.

Bad idea on many levels. I worked there about 4 months then got a job down the hall at Sam Goody. Also a bad idea (most of my paychecks went into CDs at the employee discount) but at least not as damaging to my health.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[TKE_440 0]

Started teaching Taekwondo at 14. did it for 9 years until I finally had enough nearly two years ago!

[ACMESkydiver 0]

At 10 I was a horse groom.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[doug925 0]

Assistant instructor, and chief demonstration pilot at a motorcycle safety course for the state.
(North Harris location)

I would come in occasionally battered and bruised, and my motorcycle would be all busted up. the only answer to the new students questions was "Tripped over the cat"

Doug

I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.
Winston Churchill

[skydiver30960 0]

Worked as a waiter in a nearby retirement home.

Crappy pay and no tips. But hey, at least I got to work with the same cranky residents (customers) every damn day.



Elvisio "glad to be done with it" Rodriguez

[DavidB 0]

My first job where someone gave me a check was, again, cutting lawns. That lasted one week, one DAY actually, a Saturday. The next Saturday my ride stopped at the house, blew the horn, then drove off after 10 seconds!

The next summer, at 17 (1971) I started working at a garage for an old Hungarian who fixed VW's & Mercedes (& the odd Porsche now & then), for $75 a week. Mostly doing things like oil changes, tune ups, & brake adjustments.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[Tuna-Salad 0]

Pizza Hut.

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[Beerlight 0]

At 14, fueling and preflighting 300 hp Cessna crop dusters and pulling them around for the pilots.

Loader, flagger, and scheduler for that ag service.

72 hour weeks in the summer!

Fed my grandads cows thru the winter.......

[ravenhk 0]

When I was 15 on the weekends I worked at this drap strip in the cafe and running errands for the owners, then rest of the time I took care of their horses and claening their stables.

pain is weakness leaving the body