What was your first job?

Tell us about some of your first jobs and has anyone ever worked for a place that no longer exists?
I mostly worked for some Italian bakeries starting when I was 11 years old into my mid teens. I worked for a Woolworth's I remember it had a little lunch counter which I thought was so odd but was the coolest thing ever. It's sad it no longer exists.

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DrWatson · 70-79, M

I was a counselor at a summer camp in the Adirondack mountains of New York. I loved it, but a few years after I stopped doing that the camp closed. I am not sure if the property stayed with the same owner or not, but the cabins got converted into a hunting lodge.

During my summers in college, I worked at Grumman Aerospace corporation. After I was done there, they had some financial difficulties (a small defense contractor has a tough time of competing with others) and they eventually merged with Northrop Aviation to become Northrop-Grumman. That company seems to have rebounded.

While at Grumman, I was amazed at how much time all the engineers spent on coffee breaks. I came to the conclusion that their major product was neither planes nor spacecraft, but donuts!

LaLumieri · 51-55, F

@DrWatson I always wished that I lived in the kind of place where I could have gone to camp and got that experience. We didn't see mountains or anything like that until we were grown ups in our late 20s it's sad to think of how much I missed as a kid fresh air and mountains and Greenery I grew up in City Life. Seeing all that beautiful environment and even having the pleasure of working in it must have been amazing. And it seems like you've stuck with the same company after that for quite some time that says a lot about you.

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@LaLumieri I grew up in the city and suburbs, but I spent my summers up in the mountains, until I went to college.

And no, I only worked at that company for the 4 summers I spent in college. I simply kept track of it afterwards by reading the news.

I went to graduate school and then took a job as a professor, and yes I [i]have[i] been at the same institution for my entire career.

Orca4950 · 70-79, M

@DrWatson i started my IT career on a system that that Grumman sold to my employer. Never got to long Island .

That computer system is long gone

Orca4950 · 70-79, M

@Orca4950 my first job was at McDo, the first one in Canada back in 1968

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@Orca4950 The computers they ran on are long gone too!