First Job

[bruceolee]

So, my first job was a CSR for a video store called Hollywood video. You might remember them as the only competition to blockbuster videos. I actually didn't mind the job but it was unchallenging to say the least. In 1999, i was on the fast track to become a store manager and i refused every promotion because i had no interest in what i found to be a dying platform. This was back in the day of VHS as well. DVD's were only just starting to become a thing. So, after my final refusal to become the assistant manager (plus i was getting tired to working in a video store) i decided it was time for me to move on so i had a friend who was a rehab technician in a little PT clinic called Joyner sportsmedicine and she was moving into the front office in the billing department and they needed a replacement. So, i interviewed pretty well and had a nice referral from my friend and thus began my career in medicine and physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology. The guys at the video store were gut punched by the news and began telling me all their plans for me but i could see video stores dying and netflix was not a thing back then other than dvd rentals and you had to pay far too much for them. anyways, i was curious about first jobs here and what did you start out with and what led ultimately to your chosen careers. God bless you all!

[Porch Dweller]

I worked summers on my aunt and uncle's farm from ages 13-15. Nothing like walking beans and shovelling $hit in the heat of a Midwest summer for $2.50/hour. But hey, it bought me my first guitar.

When I turned 16 and could "legally" work I got myself two jobs. One in a local video rental store and the other in the bait and tackle shop that was right next to it. They were good jobs working for good bosses, so I didn't mind sometimes when schedules coincided and I'd be in the tackle shop on a Sunday from 5:00am to 3:00pm, then head next door to work until 8:00pm.

I graduated and two months later at the age of 17 I headed off to USAF Basic Training. I spent almost 24.5 years in, the first ten as an air traffic control radar maintenance technician, the rest as an electromagnetic spectrum manager. I chose electronics because I planned on doing four years then getting out and I wanted marketable skills for post-military employment. But I enjoyed what I was doing so much that I re-enlisted without a second thought. I saved and invested heavily, so that when I retired two months after I turned 42 I wouldn't need to work if I chose not to.

[bruceolee]

The nice part about working in a video store was the free rentals and the screener copies of movies still in the theaters. Of course the quality on these VHS's wasn't the best. I just got sick of moms coming in and asking me if a movie would be appropriate for minors and so on all the while the kids are behind mom begging me with their eyes because they were desperate to watch robocop. I was never the cool guy about it either. I just gave my honest opinions about it. The movie was rated X and it's on the box but the mother is asking my opinion about it? I didn't wanna deal with the inevitable wrath of an angry mom for allowing her boys to watch an extremely violent movie for it's time.

So, james did you retire or are you still hitting the grind? It's nice to have that financial stability to retire so young. My biggest regret is not enlisting in the military. I wish i could go back and smack my younger self for all the stupid choices i made early on. God bless you sir!

[Porch Dweller]

Still retired. My last year in the USAF was in a rather toxic organization, sadly. After that experience I did not want the stress of working for asshats. I was on blood pressure medication for my last year. 30 days after retiring I was able to come off of it.

[Havanaaddict]

Are we talking legal jobs I worked in high school at a gas station graveyard (that sucked) Next job was working at a pharmacy in the store and as delivery driver ( lots of stores there) Next was I worked in the body shop at a Ferrari, Aston Martin Dealer. Then moved to a place converting new Porsches to slant nose (all steel body modification) Then I spent many years rebuilding stolen and recovered Porsche & Mercedes Benz. reassembling them from the ground up (installing body parts, wiring looms, glass, interiors anything that can be bolted on or glued in) Then ran an Auto Body shop, writing estimates, ordering all parts, every aspect. (even putting in the painters mask when he didn't show up because of a weekend bender) Then moved into the roll of stay at home dad for our first baby and then the next. That is still going on but I was also a part time then full time caregiver for my mom for 5 years in my home till she passed. I now am doing the Caregiver thing for my FIL and still taking care of the last kid she just turned 18. I thought I would have been playing golf 3 days a week and relaxing but my body has other plans, at least till I deal with this spinal stenosis All in all I wouldn't do anything different, I loved being there every minute raising both my girls

[shark]

I worked for a while at a Hardees, then a bowling alley that turned out to be a pretty fun job. I wanted to do something else so I lost my senses (haha) and joined the Army. Did my 4 years and got uot. I was sorta drifting along not really doing anything when my brother got on me about getting a job where he worked as a draftsman for the automotive industry. I took some drafting classes in high school so I figured what the heck. I interviewed and was hired on the spot. That evolved to working on CAD on the computer (I started out on the drawing board, real old school stuff.) I still work in the same industry.

[cmitch]

My first job was at a furniture manufacturer making Motel 6 furniture. You know, that cheap, disposable, throw it away after a year, paper printed in wood grain, laminated, cheap presswood stuff. We did 2 a '2 drawer' nightstand, a '3 drawer' dresser and '4 drawer lingerie.' Owner was immensely pissed because he was measuring them for quality and found the drawers to be nearly 1/8" smaller than the inside opening. We explained that if we made the drawers the same size, they would stick especially when moisture of any kind got near them and you'd have to ship a crow bar with each one to open them. He didn't listen. He demanded we make the dressers where you could hear the drawers scrape the sides as they were opened or closed. You got it boss. We built an entire truck load of furniture and shipped it out. In less than a week, it came back. He was so pissed the drawers were stuck that he was throwing the furniture off the truck. Well it was HIS fault but it didn't matter. We were dumbasses (most of us came straight out of vocational college just to make $3.35 hr.). Him and table saw operator got in an argument (he said to boss, "I told you so!"). He fired saw operator. I left a week later because he lost contract and had no work for us to do.

[bruceolee]

These are great guys! I love reading this stuff and getting to know you all a little better. Thank you to all who shared! God bless you!

[Brian D.]

Self employed grass cutter/snow shoveler at 12-15 or so. Got a temp job at the VA hospital during summers when I was 16-17. They were supposed to hire disadvantaged big city kids but none applied! My neighbor ran the HVAC there so he got clearance to hire some of us instead. $6 an hour wasn't bad in 1978, plus benefits and even overtime (1.5x pay) occasionally.

General labor. Cut grass, painted, maintenance, etc.

[longknocker]

First "Job" With A Paycheck Was A Summer Job At Age 14, Groundskeeper At A Local College. I Hoed Weeds, Shoveled Gravel, Planted Trees, Etc., In The Hot Sun For $1.25/Hr. That Taught Me I Needed To Go To College!

[The camaro show]

First legit job was working at Panera Bread at 19-20 being a line cook. My uncle owns a large used car dealership and I’ve always done stuff for him off and on before that. I also started my coral business 4 years ago and has been very successful so far. This past summer I worked at Menards which is brand new to the area, it was a OK job definitely a lot of internal issues and poorly ran and managed. I have 4 weeks left before I graduate college as well. I am still going to have to go back this summer or fall and take a micro bio and organic chemistry before I can take my DAT and apply to Dental school because my goal is still to be a dentist.

[DMK]

The first job.... I was 6... I was a farm kid in Saskatchewan.
A newborn calf was mine to care for, feed, etc.
When he was ready for sale, the proceeds went in my newly opened bank account.
A massive $50.00 .... I was rich.
My dad died a year later and my birth canal sold off the farm and moved us east to Ontario to be close to her sisters...
I delivered newspapers, flowers, ran errands for neighbors, anything to make pocket money because birth canal didn't believe in allowances.
Once I get old enough, I went on to food deliveries, prescriptions from the pharmacy, and later ..... umm illegal things.....

[trogdor]

As a grade schooler I did some pet minding for neighbors when they went away on vacation.
Later I refereed soccer games, which paid pretty good for a kid.
When I turned 16 I got a job at a restaurant bussing dishes, then did line cook and filled in the other miscellaneous back of the house jobs.
When I was back from college for break, I did one summer part time volunteering at a research lab, and the next summer they hired me.
Right out of college I did temporary office work while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, then got a job doing biotech research, which is the field I've been in since.
In the past few years I've transitioned out of the lab to be a scientific technical writer, working on regulatory filings related to getting drug approvals.

[gravel]

I appreciate the hustle kids used to do to make a little cash. The classic is lawn mowing, but for me it was annually helping chop and stack wood.

My first “real” job was in the summer between 8th and 9th grade. I worked for a restaurant that was very busy on the weekends and parking was limited. My job was to tell people that they couldn’t park unless they were eating at the restaurant. I only needed to inform people, I didn’t need to take any action. I took it seriously. I was paid minimum wage (I think 3.15/he?) and got a free meal if I wanted it. Regulars paid tips.

In 9th grade I got a job as a prep cook/dishwasher. That restaurant closed down, but that wasn’t surprising. Who hires a 14 year old to be a prep cook? I later got a job working for a bakery washing their baking pans and I hated it. I had to hand wash pans that had been clearly neglected for years. That place also shut down after I quit.

As a 10th grader I found work in a new pizza place in town (Pizza Factory). I worked there until quitting my senior year after the ownership changed.

In college I worked a lot of jobs: landscaping, construction, roofing, night security, layout design, library, and a paid internship in a church. I also did a lot of volunteer work that paid in very valuable experience.

Right out of college I became a youth pastor. Aside from a 5 year stint selling and servicing surety bonds, I’ve been working in churches as either a youth pastor or an executive pastor.

[357]

My first gig was on a construction crew building apartment buildings. I was 16 and about 6'3" at the time. The site was across the street from my dad's apartment complex. My dad had worked as a journeymen between office jobs and thought it would be good for me to learn the basics. He asked the owner of the company if he needed a laborer. He said no, my guys carry their own lumber. My dad told him my son is bigger than all the guys on your crew and he can swing a hammer. Apparently that worked and I had a job. It was $7.50/hr when minimum wage was $4.25/hr but, I earned it. I carried every single floor joist and nearly every sheet of plywood and drywall (for fire breaks in the attic) all summer. That said I did swing a hammer and used every tool on the site aside from the table saw. We had a dedicated guy for that. I was stoked and worked the maximum hours allowed. Sometimes I even worked a few extra as the boss paid normal wages but cash for weekend work (off book). I learned a ton and toughened up quite a bit. I worked there the whole summer. The guys gave me some crap, like go grab the board stretcher and whatnot but warmed up to me pretty quick. Once the first floor was framed and the second floor deck went on I got to staple all the bridging between the floor joists since I didn't need a stool to reach it. The other guys needed to move a stool or bench every 3 ft to reach. Of course my arms nearly fell off after a few hours working like that. But, not having to do that made them like me even more, LOL.

My next gig was at CompUSA selling PCs retail. I started there just after the summer ended. I learned the hardware and made spiffs, as they called them, off extended warranty sales. I made $7.50/hr plus spiffs which were often about half the size of the rest of my hourly wages. So, my actual pay was closer to $11/hr. I worked there about a year. I took another PC sales job nearby at a mom-and-pop shop that built PCs. Eventually I applied for a PC tech job at BestBuy, before the GeekSquad had that name. They said no openings and put me on the sales floor. I did eventually transfer to their PC tech department a few months later. That was my first computer tech job. I've been doing it in some capacity ever since. I have some certifications but never completed a degree of any kind. Fortunately my experience and skill set have allowed me to make a good living.

[AdamJoshua]

Blow or hand because these are vastly different stories.

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by AdamJoshua

Blow or hand because these are vastly different stories.

About whether it was your jaw or hands that cramped up?

[bonjing]

It hurts to laugh.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Porch Dweller

About whether it was your jaw or hands that cramped up?

[oldforge]

I had a very bizarre first "real" job. A local law firm hired me for the summer (I was 16) to "clean up the files in the basement".

The reason they had to hire a "kid" to do this is that the staff refused to go into the basement because of the little "critters" that resided there. Killing and removing them was part of my "other duties as assigned". Then I had to remove spider webs and other filth from the shelves.

After I removed the trespassers I then got to open up tons and tons of boxes and put the files in alpha order on shelves.

Some of the files were so dusty that it was hard to read the labels to figure out what the alpha order was.

I got it done--and the staff took me out for a "thank you" lunch when the summer was over...