What was your first job?

I worked at my institute's library. It was a wonderful job, I could read books all day.

helenS your friendly bookworm 📚

I grew up on a farm . Farmer, plumber, welder, electrician, carpenter, painter, detailer, heavy equipment operator, veterinarian, animal control officer, wood chopper, cook, auto/tractor mechanic. 😌😌😌

Modelling for a children’s clothing catalogue 🙂

paper round

Cashier at a grocery store

Military

"Landscaping" at my Great Uncle's slum lord properties. I was 14. I turned a literal garbage dump into a level, lush green lot. I got a dollar an hour and a cheeseburger & Coke for lunch at the local diner.

You mean other than chores to earn my allowance, I assume. That would have been cutting apricots to dry. I was still bedridden, but they would put the tray over my bed so I could reach the cots, cut them, and spread them. Because it was cumbersome, I was slow, and it was paid piece rate so I got all the squish over-ripe ones that slowed down the other workers. As I recall it was something like 50 cents a tray for like a 4' x 8' drying tray.

When I was healthier, I got to pick cotton. That was $1 for 100 pounds as I recall.

Babysitting as parents went out on a weekend night. There child was already in bed when I arrived, never woke while they were out. Fast food truck, Buddy bar.

Next job, Burger King, mostly made the sandwiches. Friday night after, the local high schools football games was done, we'd get swamped with the fans after. I'd be the only one on the sandwich board, making every sandwich that went out. Then, worked drive thru... The jobs taught me a solid work ethic.

Lawnmowing business from 12, then workings in grocery store as bagger / stocker until.18, then military...

Cobblers runner.

Pole dancing

On-site hardware & software support specialist.

Worked at a movie theater ..

Delivering pharmacy prescriptions after school, around 15 years old, then at 16 valeting used cars in a local garage. I saved up to buy a Lambretta motor-scooter.

sandwich shop in college. I worked the night shift . I got a free sandwich everyday which was nice --to get food --was so poor at the time. Store manage was sleeping with an employee and I had nothing in common with anyone in the store.

I spent a lot of time in th back cleaning tubs and stocking because the shift manager would tell me to clean /nobody wanted to do that job. Most of the workers were as poor as I was (at the time not poor now). Managers were pretty mean. I think they were more just bitter in life. I knew I would be somepalce better one day but for them this was a career. The store manager and the asst manager were both college drop outs.

I met the owner once. His father bought him 2 stores as a college graduation present. He told me I was whitty at the time but I can't remember the dialog.

My first job? My dad owned a construction company and during the summer I would get up at 5:30 in the morning just to go hang out with him at the shop. I was 10yo when I started doing it and all those rough construction workers treated me like a princess! I did little odd jobs to help out.

The repair shop was managed by a man called 'Tank.' He was a mechanic in the military, big, strong, and black! He was always so sweet to me. I would help him in the shop and go home dirty, smelling like diesel fuel...lol... mom would be so mad!

But in time she got over it. And even now, when I work from home and can literally stay in bed all day and do my job, I'm up making coffee most mornings before 6.

A&W

Keeping the lot of a new car dealer swept and clean. I wanted to buy a go-kart but after I worked that long I didn't want to spend the money

My first job no longer exists, I was a “bag boy” in a grocery store.

Farm hand, cleaned pig pens was around 1000 pigs every day for $2 an hour

delivered newspapers house to house

I was the Assistant Day-Manager at a drive-in theater. Basically I dragged an oversized wagon with a huge metal cage on top of it. I picked up all the trash people dumped out of their cars during the movie the night before. I dumped all the trash into the cage where a roaring fire was burning. This was a decade or more before OSHA came into existence. I was often burned and inhaled a lot of trash smoke.

Working on an alpaca farm when I was a teen, as a summer job.

Working summers in a sawmill when I was 13

Sweeping floors in a cabinet factory

Taco bender for Taco Bell.

Potato picker, I only lasted one day.

Circulars called the Penny saver and the Dollar saver at 12. Then delivered the Register newspaper at 14, then finally got an hourly paying job at a Italian restaurant. All before 18.

That's not counting helping my father at the bakery for nothing on the weekends.

Paper route when I was 11. That Winter I came down with an ear infection and tonsilitis. I stiil had to deliver papers after school and early Sunday morning and spend all day on Saturday collecting. I've been deaf in my left ear ever since. Quite a price to pay for about $5 a week.

Cleaning cages in a Pet Shop

House cleaner and baby sitter

Working in a hospital kitchen.

Waitress

teaching

As a kid I’d cut lawns to make money. From the time I was 16 through college, we’d paint houses (interior and exterior) to make money.

Once I graduated I got a job on Wall Street with an investment bank. I loved the pace of NYC.

Baby sitting

I was 14 when I got a job unloading Fishing Trawlers.

Before that, my brother and I used to wake up before dawn to go fishing for Squid and sold what we caught to buy something at Lunch.

Newsgirl, delivering papers. Low income. I saved for various things but lost interest before I had enough money. That short attention span made me rich at twelve. In my own mind, anyway.

Pianist for a ballet class.

My first full-time job, fresh out of college, was as a software engineer for a large dinosaur of a computer company.

I dug assessment holes for a guy's mining claim. I went to a place on the claim and dug. I was about 15 I think.

Age 12 farm hand for an old farmer. $20 dollars for 8 or more hours plus a home cooked lunch.

First I worked in a grocery store photo lab, then in a video store, now I work in a library.

Traffic direction on a parking platform a big event

Started my first job as a graduate engineer in Construction.

Cashier. Lasted a few months. Never had a retail job again.😒

Worked at an internet cafe helping people with email.

Check out chick/assistant at a car parts store. I loved it.

Pizza and sandwich maker, cashier and counter. $1 per hour. Taxable.