What was your first ever job?

I've just gotten my first job- I'm 19- (magically, after my first application and first interview) and I'm very surprised that it's something relevant to me career wise (I'm a lab operator in a micro lab, and I wanna go into biomedical research).

This got me thinking...
* How old were you guys when you got your first job?
* what was your first job and what was it like?
* what do you do now and was your first job relevant to what you do now?

 

15 years old, working with brick layers.

 

First real job (more than editing people's term papers or tutoring History or suchlike) was as a file clerk at a Legal Aid type deal specific for cases involving public health law. I was 17. Turns out lawyers have a fuck of a lot of files, and that summer, they were creating a digital index of them for the first time (remember, this was like 1990, and a lot of offices still weren't fully computerized). I had to go through every file cabinet they had, with a microcasette recorder, and read off the name of each and every file onto the tape. Then when the tape was full, go to the computer, transcribe it into a Wordstar document on their DOS system machine, then go back and record more file names, and so on, until done. With a huge room full of filing cabinets. For minimum wage, which I think was around $4/hour. It sucked.

My second job more than made up for it, though. The next summer, I worked for a rare book seller, specializing in Judaica, Bibles, and Holocaust literature (though of course carrying other things as well). I was cataloguing acquisitions for him into a database. The data entry wasn't fun, but with every entry, I had to inspect every acquisition in order to catalogue it properly. I got to look and and touch some incredible things, like a Luther translation of the Bible into German, printed in around 1615 or so; a collection of evidence, testimony transcripts, and memos (all with handwritten annotations) from the American prosecutorial team at the Nuremberg trials; a first edition of Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on the Torah (1890s); a magazine article covering the Dreyfus affair; first editions of Dracula and of A Farewell To Arms; and so on. Plus it paid almost twice what the law clerk job did. Honestly, it was the probably the best job I've ever had, except that I couldn't live on it and I wanted to finish college. But if it had paid more and I'd been done with school, I would've kept that job until they folded (which they did, five or six years later). I couldn't believe I was getting paid for looking at rare books and literary/historical treasures!

 

I did some lawn mowing when I was younger, but my first actual employment was as a janitor in a bingo hall.

 

My first paying job was as a clown at some kid's birthday party. I was maybe 14 or so and somehow got duped into wearing a clown outfit and 'entertaining' a bunch of screaming kids. I had no idea what I was doing and resorted to chucking sweets at them. I was paid - by cheque - a meager ZAR50 (about $1) for my 3 hour's work. Worst job ever.

My first real job was as a cook at a local KFC, aged 16. The pay was OK and the hours were decent - mostly weekends and some evenings. I learnt a hell of a lot about working with people, stress and pressure. I also learned that working with a hangover sucks, and people are not usually sympathetic about it.

After 2 years of KFC I moved onto retail as an in-store sales assistant at one of our mass retailers. I was fortunate to work in the electronics department, selling TV's and such. I'm not a natural salesman, but the job taught me about customer service and I think had a big role to play in shaping my future (I'm in IT service delivery today).

That kept me going right through varsity, after which I got my first real job in my field of study around the age of 21. A few more IT jobs over the years, each with progressively more responsibility and equal amount of stress, brings me to where I am today - IT ServiceDelivery/Operations Manager for one of the German motor manufacturers.

 

I started getting paid for babysitting when I was around 11 or 12. Helped out a few times at my great-uncle's restaurant, busing tables, refilling drinks, that kind of thing.

My first "official" job was at a movie theatre when I was 16, and it was a pretty fantastic job for a teenager. Free movies and free popcorn! There was also a small staff (less than 10 people), which was nice. I'm still friends with a couple of those guys.

 

I enjoyed the free movies too! Thanks for that.



I was a referee for little teeny tiny soccer players when I was like 14 or something. Parents are ASSHOLES!

 

I started mowing lawns when I was ten or eleven. What an easy job that I wish I had worked harder at. 1984, one lawn that took an hour and I was paid $15 for. $15 was good money back then. I never cut more than four lawns a week though. There was a kid in my boy scout troop who did it right. When he was sixteen (1989) his parents fronted him the money to get a professional walk behind kawasaki 36 inch mower. Also a 20 inch mower, a trailer, and a trimmer. Total was about 6k. He worked two days a week, 22 lawns, 11 a day. His younger brother did the trimming. He made about $450 a week. He paid off his equipment in June, and bought a nice used jeep at the end of the summer. I think he was 1.5 years behind in high school, so he still had two more summers if he was going away for college.
My first real job was a lifeguard. Did that for five summers as well as cutting grass. I also sold christmas wreaths door to door during the winter a couple times. Worked several different jobs in college. Never worked during the school year though, except for lawn mowing.

 

All under the table too. That's awesome. I want to do that.

 

I did the lawn mowing and paper route things until the summer I turned 15. That's when I was hired to paint a local gas station...exterior, curbs and pump island. That led to other fix-up/clean- up projects, and, eventually, working inside. I played mechanic's assistant and general maintenance man until the boss pointed me at his messy parts room and said, "Straighten this up." I learned to organize stock and some rudimentary catalog skills. 46 summers later, I am managing an auto parts store.

/put me out of my misery

 

My first paying job was hauling hay and working steers at the rodeo. a
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My first paying job was hauling hay and working steers at the rodeo. a

 

I'm not sure which was actually first. Either a paper route delivering a free weekly newspaper (I think this was first, about 12 YO) , or selling roses on the street corner. The "roses" job was interesting because part of it also included selling leaf bags door to door for a bogus charity (that job didn't last long). This probably set my aversion to doing sales; I hated the candy sales fundraisers the schools forced the kids to participate in.
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I went to HS with a guy whose father owned a towing service and vehicle storage lot. He had his own towing truck, financed through his dad. Up to a certain time in the early evening, maybe 7:00PM??, he was an employee who split the fees with his dad. After 7 he was independent, all fees were his to keep. He used to brag about how much money he cleared--after the truck note and insurance--which varied but was about $500.00 a week; damn good money for a 17 year old kid in 1979.

 

I had a paper route as a young teenager.
I think that was a really valuable job. Taught me responsibility and how to manage cash.
My first "typical" job was as a cashier in a local grocery store (A&P). We had to count our drawers in and out at the beginning and end of the shift. I guess I did a good job because the bookkeeper then plucked me from the front end to work part time with her.
I worked with another high school guy, and on weekends we were there with no grown-ups, just the two of us.
This is when most people paid cash for everything. I remember weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas when we would have $30,000 in cash on the desk in front of us. Two high school kids. Crazy shit.

 

Speaking of a teenager mowing lawns for money -- this is from an alternative version of Harry Potter's first visit to his vault in Gringotts:

 

I grew up picking berries every summer in the fields that my aunt managed. Made my own summer camp money. I started delivering newspapers around age 11, and babysitting shortly after.