At what age did you start working? And what was your first job?

[CottonBolus]

I've been thinking about starting to work this summer (in the months of July and August) for some extra cash and to get some work experience. I'm thinking about applying for jobs like car-washing, perhaps working at Wal-Mart if there are positions available. As we all know, you don't truly know what society is like until you've tried your hand at putting food on the table. It would be my first job and I can't wait. At what age did you start working and what was your first job? How did you like the experience?




Various jobs...

[AWP82]

Jerry's Subs & Pizza when I was 16.

[Seasoned]

Nine. I was a paperboy.

[G-Lexington]

I did some stuff for neighbors - yard work, babysitting - in my tween and teen years. My first job proper was at a Pizza Hut delivery location when I was 16.

Lex

[Swellegant]

The first real job (where I signed a W4) was when I was 19. I got a job at a frozen-yogurt shop, twenty-five hours a week at three fifty an hour. I wasn't very good at it, I only lasted six weeks, but it was a great learning experience. I worked in counter-service (delis, coffee-houses, bakeries, etc.) for the next several years, and really liked it. It's a good way to learn a work ethic, doesn't take a lot of training, and gives you exposure to lots of different kinds of people. I think I'd still work in that field if I could live on ten bucks an hour, and stand up for eight hours.

[gsdx]

When I was 13, my father came home one day and said, "You've got a job. Be there on Monday."

'There' was a cucumber grading station for Bick's Pickles. It involved a lot of heavy lifting - burlap sacks and bushel hampers full of cucumbers. The sacks were lifted onto a conveyor belt where the cucumbers were dumped and sorted into 7 different sizes. Bushel hampers of sorted cucumbers were lifted onto a roller system for weighing and then dumped into huge bins.

The working hours:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - Noon to midnight
Tuesday and Thursday - 7 AM to midnight
Saturday - 7 AM until finished (the latest was 4:30 AM)

The first year, I earned $1.10 per hour. The next, $1.25 per hour.

I did that job for 5 years.

That was back in the 1960s. Labour laws were a bit more lax back then.

Oh, year. My pay went to my parents. I got a $5 per week allowance out of it.

[refujiunderground]

19 at this video store. worst job ever. it wasn't the work that made it suck. it was the dickhead assistant manager who i think was a racist. he was a twat. i think he wanted me to quit by acting the way he did around me. i know the job sucks but you certainly don't have to yell or act super angry about it where you're cursing and the whole nine about it while we're working. it was funny how he would act the way he did around me but turn around kissing the customers asses acting like he cared. so now that i think of it, he was only trying to make me act off point so i can get fired. i eventually did though because i didn't perform the job well which i didn't do. fuck up on the register and etc. they just fired me about a month in. he was the guy that got me fired too. what a cunt. even to this day, i don't like him. that place got shut down 4 years ago and now he's doing whatever. fuck him.

[ronboy]

I got my first part-time job in 1980, while I was in high school.
I was age 16.
I worked as a book shelver and desk helper in my town's public library.
The pay? $3.10 per hour (that was minimum wage at the time...)

EDIT...My second job was working for a now-defunct chain of Rochester grocers called Star Markets. I worked there while I was in college. There's a thread around JUB somewhere where I wrote about my experiences.....

[MJEH89]

The Golden Arches. I was 17/18, the summer between HS and college.

[Hard-up1]

I did yardwork as a kid, and washed cars, and did housework for some ladies. My first work at a business was a summer job at the funeral home, dusting the pews in the chapel, the caskets in the showroom, and that sort of thing.

When I was 16, I worked about 20 hours a week at Howard's Department Store, a part of a regional chain. It was great experience. I made enough money to keep gas in my car, buy clothes, and pay for expenses in general. The lessons I learned in waiting on customers was invaluable.

During college I had various summer jobs, working at a paper mill in the bag division, as a crew member in a forestry team, and in a rubber boot factory. In addition to the on-campus college work study in various spots, I also worked off campus at a Bonanza Sirloin Restaurant.

Don't let the menial nature of starter jobs get you down; the work is excellent preparation for dealing with people for the rest of your life.

All the best to you, Cotton!

[chrisrobin]

.
Got a part-time (after school) office job. Got to work all summer too!

[BillyT]

When I was around 12 I mowed lawns in the neighborhood and when I was 14 went to work for my brother in his gas station.

[Red Storm]

Mcdonalds
I was 15/16 yrs old.

[thatgirl]

Dairy Queen. 16yrs old.

A friend who already worked there during high school hooked me up and it was really fun as a summer job. We basically hung out with all the other teen employees and just ate ice cream often.

[counterspade]

I was 16, working over my summer vacation doing janitorial work at the local YMCA overnight.

[ixthrock]

Age 5; my parents owned a BBQ restaurant and I was a dishwasher. I started waiting tables at 12.

[LatimerRd]

16. Lifeguard.

[medic1]

Mine was as a paper-boy when i was about 12yrs ,, after Uni i joined the RAF for a short-service-commission and now i work in the Medical Field .

[loveguys72]

My first real job was dipping ice cream at Thrify Drug Store when I was 16. It paid $5.25/hr, which was minimum wage at the time. It was actually kinda fun, except when I had to grab another cube of ice cream out of the back freezer. That place was colder than hell!

[-Xibalba-]

I did some stuff for neighbors - yard work, babysitting - in my tween and teen years. My first job proper was at a Pizza Hut delivery location when I was 16.

Lex

Did you deliver? What's the craziest delivery story you have?

[-Xibalba-]

Dairy Queen. 16yrs old.

A friend who already worked there during high school hooked me up and it was really fun as a summer job. We basically hung out with all the other teen employees and just ate ice cream often.

My high school crush, who I sadly still think about today, worked at a Dairy Queen. I would always go see him.

Eventually we became friends and I helped teach him a little about driving. He moved away towards the end of our junior year though.

[-Xibalba-]

My first job was at a grocery store. Bagging groceries and collecting carts. I tried my hardest to avoid doing both of those things though because I just wanted to do go-backs. Carts full of non-perishable items that just needed to be put back on the shelves. It was a good way to learn where everything was.

I didn't last there long. I ended up really, really hating it. Awful job. I think I lasted a few months before I found a runner job (plus some minimal office work) with a lawyer's office. That job was great!

[Scealle]

17. But it's an on and off thing. Usually during school holidays / semester holidays. First job was a subject tutor for my younger cousins. Worked for about 3 months. I like kids so I work well with them.

[Yooper]

First 'for pay' outside job was selling garden seeds door to door at age 10. Sold both Vegetable and Flower seeds. I would buy the seed packets at wholesale and got to keep the profit (about 50%), plus got 'bonuses' depending on how many packets I would sell. First year I sold enough to earn a backpack, second year I was able to get this AWESOME Chemistry Set that my Mom, upon inspecting it, promptly made it disappear (it had 48 different bottles of chemicals to do experiments with, apparently enough to blow up the house...it was a long time ago and safety standards were different then).

In the winters I went door to door, offering to shovel sidewalks. $10 a lot, $15 for corner lots. Included the driveways. I did well.

First income-tax eligible job was at 15, working for a religious retreat/camp type operation further up the Canyon from us. I was technically a dishwasher, but was used for practically everything....kitchen help, laundry person, dorm cleaner, general laborer, etc. etc. It was fun but it was run by a bunch of Baptists which made it kinda scary from time to time. I can't begin to tell you how many gallons of Kool-Aid I mixed! Once I turned 16, two summers I was full-time Laundry Person, running the Laundry for three 3-week sessions; 150 campers at a time. During the school year, I worked as a custodian part-time; worked 4 hours a night after school was out for the day.

[RonR18]

I've been thinking about starting to work this summer (in the months of July and August) for some extra cash and to get some work experience. I'm thinking about applying for jobs like car-washing, perhaps working at Wal-Mart if there are positions available. As we all know, you don't truly know what society is like until you've tried your hand at putting food on the table. It would be my first job and I can't wait. At what age did you start working and what was your first job? How did you like the experience?




Various jobs...

I think you should consider a modeling job as well...

[eastofeden]

I was 11...Paperboy.

I think I was 14 or 15 when I started my fun job in HS. I worked at an amusement park called Frontier Village...I was a ride operator for a couple of years.

I also worked at the counter at a dry cleaners twice a week after school for a couple hours.

[G-Lexington]

Did you deliver? What's the craziest delivery story you have?

You had to be 18 to deliver. I just made the pizzas.

Lex

[oakpope]

I started working at 27. Long studies + conscript service in the military (it was before it was abolished by President Chirac in the 90's) + hard time finding a job as a experience less scientist.

Worked as a computer software developer.

[glasvegas]

I was 13. My mum is friend with one of the restaurant owner in my neighbourhood, she asked me to help them out. I am basically a wait staff. They paid me RM 15 per day. It lasted for 6 weeks. At 17, I got a job in a famous clothing store, hired to be pretty and standing at selling floor and sell clothes.

[Stoowii]

19 at a call center downtown. Got fired for hanging up on people.

[animalius]

When I was 16, I got a job at...



It went out of business shortly after I quit LOL.

[Ganoderma]

At 17, I got a job in a famous clothing store, hired to be pretty and standing at selling floor (...).

So did you enjoy this job?

[The Fly]

At 14, I worked in a textile mill as a card tender. A cars is a machine that turns bulk wool into spools of yarn. I worked there 4 years then enlisted in the Army. I have been self employed since leaving the Army.

[rareboy]

I keep reading the title as When did you start WANKING? My eyes are going I guess.

Anyway. At the same age as I started working. 13. Haying and then working in Tobacco.

I enjoyed wanking (with my friend) more than I enjoyed working.

[mikey3000]

Nine. I was a paperboy.

Ditto. Paper boy at 9. Was up at 4 am and delivering by 5 am. I had a big route and had to do it before school.

[AlmondMilk]

15. I worked at my aunts "store".

[PreTTy PeTe]

I was 16 and I was a stock boy for Bata Shoes. I was soon was upgraded to Sales because I was charming with the customers.

I met some really good people there with who I have lost touch.

It was a fun first job because literally we did nothing. I forget what my pay was but it was all mine and with the commission I made on sales I think for a kid I was doing okay.

[Pianist]

I was paperboying at 12. At 16 I worked for the a couple of months as a crusher operator earning money for a trip to Disneyland. Since then, all sorts of stuff from front desk clerk, to exterior painter, to church musician.

[RDaniel]

16 at pizza hut woooooo.

[indudela]

I was 18. Working part time while going to college. My first paycheck was $169.13 and yes, I still remember.

[Illmatic]

15 just 2 evenings a week in a supermarket, 17 I started working full time at the same job and still working over there

[-Callum-]

14 and continued/worked at a Tim Hortons to 20.

[hanzosword]

Good for you. Having a job is good experience. I was 16 and worked at McDonalds as a cook. It was fun for a while because a lot of my classmates worked there. One of my classmates, a male used to grab my butt every time we worked together and I secretly loved it even though I pretended not to haha.

[Thynight]

My first job was grabbing beer for my family members when I was around 10 years old. They paid me a quarter a can. Since they were drunks I made good money.


My first real job was as a security video tech.

[rocabar]

I picked Tobacco with the rest of my family, I was 12 at the time. I didn't see any of the money, though.

At 15, I started work in a Saw Mill, on the Green Chain; I eventually made it all the way up to a Grader, before I quit to join the Navy.

[Rayvontae]

I worked at KB Toys when I was 16.

[Sultan]

16 at KFC.

Other places I worked:

Call Center doing telephone surveys
Jimmy Johns
Motor Sports automotive shop
Abercrombie and Fitch
Club Monaco
Gant
Kenneth Cole
Sketchers
Greek restaraunt
Best Western working the catering halls during weddings / parties
Black Finn (a bar as a busser)
Hallmark (a retirement home)


Military (where I am now). I got fired from a lot of the places I worked at and in other times I quit within about two weeks or so.

[Nishin]

Started working occasionally for pocket money around 15, then part-time jobs around 17 (interim), then full time summer jobs at 18 (cashier in a casino), then permanent full time at 27, reading newspapers and magazines

[- Some Like It Hot]

I'm 19 and still haven't worked

[SuperNatural]

18,it was pretty rough at first