S/O What was your first job?

[gummybear]

I’m talking about an actual job where you file taxes.
You don’t have to be specific if it’s a password risk 😛
Did you get it on your own?
Did it build character?

I made minimum wage at a pizza chain. I started 2 weeks after I turned 16. I actually worked there summers until my junior year of college. I got it myself - my mom dropped me off on the corner in the center of our borough and told me to pound pavement until I got hired. It def built character. I cried and cried that first week bc I couldn’t figure out the computers. I met lots of people from all different backgrounds. This was very important for me bc I was fairly insulated from reality bc I was shipped out to the Main Line to private school. I LOVED that job!!

[circa1978]

I worked at Marshalls as soon as I was 16 through high school and over breaks at college, so around six years.

ETA: I drove myself and often after midnight. We were sometimes there until the early morning so I remember my friend and I used to drive with letters that said we could be out after curfew.

[laterz]

McDonald's at 16. Recommend it to anyone - learned so much about how to just function as an adult.

[nsl]

I worked at a B. Dalton bookstore from ages 16-22. I learned a lot there, mostly about how much I wanted to finish college because I couldn't imagine working retail for the rest of my life.

FWIW, I'm 40 now, have worked continuously since 16, and have only spent three years not working with books. I am truly a one-trick pony.

[bittybomb]

I was a gymnastics instructor for our local rec center on the weekends and was also a camp counselor at a private beach club.

[fivechickens]

Wendy’s and I hated it because the manager was a bitch. I lasted a month.

[Deleted]

I couldn't find a job til 17 because I was 16 in the recession.

It was Subway. My mom helped me get my first two jobs.

I didn't find customer service character building, but I know I hate people now lol

[W.T.Faulkner]

Farmer’s market when I was 16. I almost got fired after the 2nd day because I was too slow at cashiering. lol
I got it on my own, and it led to a better job in customer service in a supermarket that I held onto for five years after that.

It was worth it for multiple reasons.
Those fucking assholes ensured I went to college because I was like, I am absolutely not getting paid enough to be dragged to death for no reason.

[wildrice]

I worked at a frozen custard shop. I got the job "myself", though to be honest I don't recall the application process or anything. But we didn't know anyone who worked there. I assume my parents brought me over and I went in by myself to get an application. Applications for that kind of job are pretty basic so I would think any high schooler capable of reading and writing could fill one out without assistance, unless they have some kind of disability that would require an accommodation for that kind of thing.

I started a few weeks before I turned 16. I don't really remember how I got to and from work, but I assume my mom dropped me off/picked me up. I wasn't eligible to take drivers ed until around my 16th birthday so I definitely wasn't driving when I got the job. I also didn't have my own car when I was 16. It was technically within walking distance of home, but across a busy road that I doubt my mom would have been ok with me crossing regularly.

I only lasted a few months there. The place was basically run by other teens and since they did the scheduling, they would give their friends the better schedules and I was often called off last minute if they weren't busy and needed to cut someone. My last straw was when I turned down attending a birthday party in the city because I had to work, and then got called off. After that I got a job as a cashier at Ace Hardware, which was a much better social fit.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Jul 1, 2021 18:42:58 GMT -5 laterz said:

McDonald's at 16. Recommend it to anyone - learned so much about how to just function as an adult.

My dad, who’s now a veeeery high up executive at a Fortune 500 company, still talks about McDonald’s as his formative career experience (now 45 years ago). He kicks ass to this day at washing windows and making breakfast sandwiches. lol

[ginap]

I was a custodian at a preschool. I learned that small human bathrooms are disgusting and that glitter is never truly gone.

[W.T.Faulkner]

I forgot to add that I think every single person should work either retail or food service when they’re young. Everything I learned about dealing with people, especially disgruntled people, I learned from there. It’s made me a better professional and mom, I swear to God.

[FastHands]

I got a pity job when I was a freshman, so 14? I was in drama club with a senior whose mom worked at a construction supply company near my house. I didn't have a bus home from school and it was too far/unsafe to walk, so normally I waited till 6p for my parents to get there after work. This girl's mom offered me a job at the store doing filing and eventually accounting -- she would leave her office, drive to pick me up from school, we'd go back to the office to work, and then after work I was close enough to walk home.

I did not until this moment fully consider the lengths this woman went to for a rando kid her daughter knew! It was such a perfect arrangement.

[gummybear]

Jul 1, 2021 18:43:08 GMT -5 nsl said:

I worked at a B. Dalton bookstore from ages 16-22. I learned a lot there, mostly about how much I wanted to finish college because I couldn't imagine working retail for the rest of my life.

FWIW, I'm 40 now, have worked continuously since 16, and have only spent three years not working with books. I am truly a one-trick pony.

B Dalton! Now there’s a blast from the past. It’s funny bc when I decided to renter the workforce a couple years ago (with all my skills being obsolete) I thought about when I was the happiest. Outside of my years at a dotcom startup before the bubble burst (which was pretty much hedonism in the workplace and will never be replicated) it was at my pizza job. I loved being on my feet and moving all the time, helping people, and forgetting about everything as soon as my shift ended. I decided to try retail. I LOVE my job, for the most part. Now if it was 50 hours a week, prob not. But I’m very happy.

[plutosmoon]

I was a cashier and later supervisor at Kmart my junior and senior year of high school. I had to quit when they started giving me 40 hours a week as a 17 year old high school senior. They assumed I was in college because they had never had such a reliable high school employee. I made minimum wage to start, with an extra dollar an hour on Sunday.

[gummybear]

Jul 1, 2021 18:55:28 GMT -5 W.T.Faulkner said:

I forgot to add that I think every single person should work either retail or food service when they’re young. Everything I learned about dealing with people, especially disgruntled people, I learned from there. It’s made me a better professional and mom, I swear to God.

YESSSSSS
A thousand thumbs up

[circa1978]

Jul 1, 2021 18:58:21 GMT -5 gummybear said:

Jul 1, 2021 18:55:28 GMT -5 W.T.Faulkner said:

I forgot to add that I think every single person should work either retail or food service when they’re young. Everything I learned about dealing with people, especially disgruntled people, I learned from there. It’s made me a better professional and mom, I swear to God.

YESSSSSS
A thousand thumbs up

Amen.

It also makes you a better customer. The things I could tell you I saw in fitting rooms.

[notoriousmeg]

I worked in the kitchen at a restaurant in a hotel by our house. I garnished dishes, made coffee and delivered room service. H and I agree DS should work in a restaurant when he’s old enough. It’s a great learning experience.

[fivechickens]

I will go against the grain, I worked retail and food services (Dairy Queen) but I don’t think it helped me deal with people. I was very shy and any confrontational person made me nervous and I got really awkward and stammered.

Not saying that working at those places aren’t a good experience for kids (they are) but not everyone has the same experience (thank you capt obvious).

[wambam]

I was a busser at my friend’s mom’s restaurant. Her boyfriend was the co-owner and said some super inappropriate things to me so my parents made quit.

[af1212]

Camp counselor was my first job.

[konapoppy]

Jul 1, 2021 18:59:15 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Jul 1, 2021 18:58:21 GMT -5 gummybear said:

YESSSSSS
A thousand thumbs up

Amen.

It also makes you a better customer. The things I could tell you I saw in fitting rooms.

It’s so funny, because I worked at Target and I totally agree. I hate leaving things messy or where they don’t belong for whoever has to find it and return it.

But my husband worked retail for close to 10 years and he just does not give an f about that kind of stuff LOL. I wonder if there is a threshold where you just go fuck it, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

[pinkdutchtulips]

The counter of a seafood market ... the fishmonger there taught me how to steak and filet a whole salmon. I worked there w some friends. The best part - taking home excess crab that was steamed that day. They tried to steam enough but sometimes, they overshot it and whoever closed got to take home from fresh crab 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀 yum !!

Not sure if it built any character but I learned a ton about seafood (and how to cook it 😋).

[mandymay]

I worked at an ice cream shop by my house from 17-21. I noticed a help wanted sign in the window as I was walking past the store one day and went in to apply. No one helped me get it. It was a pretty great high school/part time college job and helped me be more assertive with people, especially irrational or disgruntled customers. I really couldn’t enjoy ice cream until years after I quit though. Lol! I definitely no longer have that problem!

[lauralala]

McDonald's when I was 17. My best friend worked there, so I applied.

[yaga]

I washed dishes at a restaurant on Saturday nights. My mom got me the job because it was on her mail route. I was in 9th grade, so I guess she decided I needed to start working! Lol I had applied at a new McDonald's that opened in the town next door, but didn't even get an interview. To be fair, it was the first fast food place in the area, so I imagine there were a lot of applicants.

I quit that job to work in the kitchen of a hospital - so more dishwashing plus food prep and taking patient meal orders, which I did for a few years until I stayed in my college house year-round. That was a really great job - paid well above minimum wage, I worked there long enough to train on a bunch on different roles, so I was always able to pick up shifts on my breaks, etc. I saved literally nothing from it, but went to a ton of concerts and always had new clothes to wear from Pacific Sunwear. 😐

[gummybear]

Jul 1, 2021 19:09:57 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Jul 1, 2021 18:59:15 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Amen.

It also makes you a better customer. The things I could tell you I saw in fitting rooms.

It’s so funny, because I worked at Target and I totally agree. I hate leaving things messy or where they don’t belong for whoever has to find it and return it.

But my husband worked retail for close to 10 years and he just does not give an f about that kind of stuff LOL. I wonder if there is a threshold where you just go fuck it, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Sometimes I have to ball my fists and dig my nails into my palms to keep from tidying up when I’m out shopping. We keep things extremely neat and organized at our store (and brand overall). It’s especially hard at our other (less organized and more messy) brand stores bc I know they follow similar protocol. The employees must think I’m nuts.

[TR]

I was 14 and got a job at this weird little gift shop. I had to get off at a different bus stop from school to get there and the woman who owned it was very eccentric. The two things I remember from that job was that we sold Beanie Babies during the craze and that we sold this cool homemade soap that was in rectangular logs and we would cut and wrap it on-demand in store.

Then I worked at a pet supply store I could walk to and had to carry 40 lb bags of dog food to the cars of grown ass men and then waited tables and worked at American Eagle in college.

[cherry1111]

Jul 1, 2021 18:42:24 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

I worked at Marshalls as soon as I was 16 through high school and over breaks at college, so around six years.

ETA: I drove myself and often after midnight. We were sometimes there until the early morning so I remember my friend and I used to drive with letters that said we could be out after curfew.

Me too. Exactly!

[pearls]

I was at bus-girl at a local pizza parlor when I was 15-16, and then through high school and college I worked at various Hallmark stores in malls. Not so much the Christmas rush (though black Friday was always busy) but ornament premiere days in July were insane from a customer perspective. I also had an on campus job during college, but it was much less crazy than retail. Definitely learned a lot of lessons about life in those years.