That story about Bert and his dad* reminded me of those features magazines sometimes like to do about celebrities and their first jobs. The idea, I think, is to find the biggest celebrities that had the worst, most menial first jobs. Maybe as an inspiration to the rest of us that sure, now you work at Burger King peddling sub-standard food to smart-ass kids, but someday, you could be Jay-Z!
Or whatever. I don't know if Jay-Z ever worked at Burger King, it's just a made-up example, okay?
And now onto a not-made-up example! That would be me.
Now when we speak of "jobs," we can sometimes run into gray areas. Like, I worked for a neighbor who had an insurance business when I was about 13, calling the telephone directory to get updated phone numbers for his client database. This was before the Internet was widely used, so it was necessary to do quaint things like talk to an actual person on the telephone. But I don't really consider that my first job. It's not like I had to go to an actual place of employment and report income to the IRS, so no. Not the first real job.
I also, as used to be the case with most girls who couldn't drive yet, did a lot of babysitting. In fact, I babysat for one particular family pretty much every weekend for at least a couple of years. The Matusiaks were an extraordinarily nice family, and they basically funded the savings account I used when I went to college.
But still, not reportable to the IRS, so not a real job.
The first real job I had, in which I had to get up and get dressed and show up for regular work hours (and report income), was at a public library in Tucson. How appropriate. I worked as a page, which meant that I sorted and shelved books. It was a great job--nice people, easy work, reasonable hours. I did it for two summers and my senior year in high school. I would do it now, if I could.
And now, let's have some Audience Participation! What was your very first job, duckies? Dog walker? Dishwasher? Sales clerk? At what lowly occupation did you toil for gas money as a teenager?
* My brother, by the way, was also present at that visit with Bert, and he's calling shenanigans on my dad's recollection of the story. My brother does not actually remember the word "asshole" being used. But it totally makes for a funnier story, so I think it will have to stay.
20 comments:
My first real job in high school was working as a secretary part time. By the time I was 16 the job was full time and I also went to community college full time, which allowed me to work 40 hour weeks and still go to school. Yeah, my high school years were a little abnormal.
Does paperboy count? Next after that would be working at Wendy's. That's when I developed the life goal to work someplace that, when I left work at the end of the day, I didn't need to take a shower before I could go out for the evening.
Word verification: mentos -- Hmm, I got nothin'. That sounds like a made up word to me.
Like you, I babysat a lot. Pretty much every weekend starting at age 12. But my first "real" job (with paycheck and taxes!), I think, was as a junior counselor at a day camp when I was 16. I made $400 for the entire summer. That's right, $50 a week; and it was more than 40 hours a week, too. Terrible. The next job was as a cashier at Caldor, which was a store like Target except not as clean (so more like Wal-Mart, perhaps?). Minimum wage (I made more per hour babysitting that same year), crappy hours, good times.
My first real job was after my first year of college, working as a summer seasonal at a local national park. I got screamed at by people from all over the world! You'd be surprised how nasty some people are when they're on vacation, though I met many many other people that were fantastic. I enjoyed the job immensely, and worked 4 seasons covering two parks and two states. I definitely developed my social skills, and learned how to handle tense situations and smooth ruffled feathers. Great experience!
I worked in a hospital kitchen. It was a fairly decent job, as teenagers go. Reasonable hours, clean working conditions, close to home. It wasn't a "cool" job, but it helped me fill my savings account to pay my college bills.
Elvis was a truck driver. I wonder if he had any other menial jobs before that?
word verification: yacen -- chatting through blog comments. "She kept yacen all morning instead of cleaning house." Oops.
My first "real" job was detasseling corn. For those that are wondering what that is...well you walk the cornfields and pull the top off of field corn so it can get properly pollinated. This was a summer job when I was 10. That's right 10! The "company" would pick us up at our school bus stop at about 530 am and drop us off when we were finished for the day. You say, "How hard could that be?" Walk around all day with your hands over your heads pulling up. That job is for the young!!!
Here is a link for a more detailed look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detasseling
Word verification: BILYSIB – a Georgia reference to Billy brother, President Jimmy Carter
First real job, at 16, was working as a cashier at the old Highway Fruit Market. They sold groceries and beer as well, and it was pretty mortifying when I had to card (underage) classmates.
First reported income was at a McDonald's.
This is long, but I feel the need to explain anyway: My first job was in college as part of the Federal Work Study program (where you work at the college you attend in exchange for scholarship money). There were many hospitals and clinics associated with my university, and I had a job basically filing things for the secretaries in the cardiology department of one of the clinics. All of them seemed to be in very bad moods a lot and displeased with their jobs, so it was a bad workplace. Also, the stairwell was really gross, and they never cleaned it. For many months, there was a slice of dried out pizza there, and so I took the elevator instead even though it was only on the second floor.
The woman in charge of me got transferred to a cardiology office at the hospital across the street, so I basically went with her and filed things there instead. It seemed like it might be better for a while; the people, other than my boss, were more cheerful and the building was nicer and more clean. Unfortunately, my basic task was filing patient charts, and there was no filing cabinet. There was one shelf for the amount of charts to fit on about four shelves, but the charts didn't stay on the shelf very well. So the charts were in stacks all over a closet floor. It is surprisingly physically taxing to deal with very tall stacks of patient charts all the time. Also, to spend most of your time crawling around on the floor in a small windowless closet and have a depressing boss. It was very difficult to find anyone's file because of this system. They finally got a filing cabinet, but it had to be approved by facilities management and they must have been really busy because it just sat in the hallway for about two months. After six months of work there, I quietly found another job and quit. The new job involved filing but filing is surprisingly not that bad when someone actually has filing cabinets.
P.S. This system of filing was utilized at one of the nation's most renowned hospitals. I am surprised they didn't lose more patient charts. They lost one for a few months while I was there but I eventually found it.
HM, besides being a slave farm worker for my parents in their gigantic garden...
Ironically they didn't want me to work in High School and College, but I had a few not real jobs including:
I answered the phone at the switchboard at my college for like 4 hours a week.
I consider my first "real" job to be working as an English teacher at a language institute after college. I taught foreign businessmen how to speak English. I had one student in the morning, one in the afternoon. I'd take them both to lunch each day (and get paid for it and they paid for my lunch). I had a blast with my students walking around the city teaching them how to speak English. I was sad when we had to move and I had to quit.
I worked at a membership pool's snack bar for a year and then became a lifeguard, which, by the way, is the best job one can have as a teenager.
Like you, I'd do that job again now if I could afford it anyway.
Hmm, i used to mow other people's grass for spending money like comics, candy and soda. Even did some baby sitting. My first job that i filed taxes on was when i worked part time as a Tutor for the English department. Then i got another part time as a Dorm supervisor at my University. Which was pretty much how i made my money all four years of University.
My first real job, other than babysitting, was at English Fish and Chips in Denver. I used to clean the shrimp (a messy job) and plate the fish and shrimp during rush hour. I loved it because I got to eat shrimp every day for lunch for a whole summer! Then I helped run the housekeeping department (assigned an equal number of rooms and beds to the maids) in a hotel. Mary in MN
Hmm...baby sitting and bean walking (Sister's Sailor ought to know what that is!) were my first unreported-income jobs. First one I had to report income on was a waitress at a restaurant when I was in high school, and I developed the same life goal as Drew. Oh, yeah.
Busboy in a Mexican food establishment, New Mexico. It was an awful experience. Just imagine the mess when adults/chlidren are pouring honey over sopapillas. I moved on to the Merchant Marines! LA&A Railroad
I've always wanted to work in a library! I bet that was awesome.
I was a cashier at Toys R Us during Christmas. NEVER. AGAIN.
My first job was gutting and cleaning fish at a cannery. 12 hour days, seven days a week for the summer. Yep, lied about my age to get it. When i got home from work I had to undress in the garage, put my clothes in the washer, shower, go to bed. I would pick fish scales of me that did not come off in the shower. The stories that I could tell, gut fight, throwing fish eyes at co-workers.......
First real job with reportable income was selling cleaning cabins at a fishing resort on an island. Sounds picturesque, but believe me, there is nothing pretty about a cabin that has been occupied by four fisherman getting away from their lives & families for week!!
Word verification: Sconat--the snot that flies everywhere when you sneeze.
(CLEANING! Not selling...sheesh, must have sneezed some of my brain out, too...)
I had an awesome first job! I worked as a dishwasher at an non-chained family style restaurant. I was a senior in high school and we had to hand wash the dishes. The restaurant I worked at had been in business so long that they didn't have to use commercial washing machines, just teenagers looking for money. We got paid in cash with our pay stub written out and when the kitchen was closed all the workers would sit down and have dinner together. we could have anything except steak. I would usually have stuffed chicken breast,mashed potatoes and corn, plus pie for dessert. ALL HOMEMADE!!! I miss that place! It was well know for its home cooking.
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