What did you do in your first job?

[Stephen]

What did you do in the first job that you worked in?

Mine was a temp office job doing data entry work, when I was 22, after finishing college.

[IMJ]

My first job ever was in High School at a pizza place where I learned to hand toss the dough, old-school without a roller machine. Super fun.

My first "real job" was working brokerage and doing customs freight audits for an entry-writer.

My first "job in my field" after college was as an Academic Advisor at a college.

And my last "first job" in my modified field when I wrapped up my Masters degree was a state Public Service position.

[IndigoErth]

Camp counselor for a summer day camp in my teens. Started out as an unpaid CIT (counselor in training) at 13, only a year older than the oldest camp kids, and eventually I was old enough to be hired as a regular counselor and paid.

[Andrew NDB]

Grilling meats at McDonald's!

[CyberCubed]

I worked at the airport. I never had a job when I was in High School or even in College. Didn't get my first job till after I graduated.

I think I was 23?

[Leo656]

I was a porter at the local supermarket. It was a small town, once you were old enough to work you either got a job at Edwards (later bought out by Stop N Shop) or the pharmacy next door to it. The only kids who didn't work at either place, their parents generally owned a business so they'd work for them instead. But everyone, everyone else had their First Job at either the grocery store or the pharmacy. Really weren't many other options.

I was only there for about two months, long enough to realize that I absolutely didn't want to be there for long because you definitely don't want to end up a "lifer" in that sh*tty job. I would be in the break room eating lunch, and every day you'd see full-grown adults burst randomly into tears and start wailing about what a miserable existence they had, and I don't mean one or two people, I mean absolutely everyone. Anyone who'd been working there for more than five years was completely dead inside, and it frankly scared the sh*t out of me. I ended up getting fired and it was a huge relief because I immediately got a better job.

I can't really blame the people working there for being so miserable; the "management" was awful and the customers were even worse. It was an eye-opener and a character-builder but I pray every single day that I never end up having to do it again.

[DarkFell]

My first paying job was working on-base for an enlisted club as a banquet person / busser. My first volunteer job was working in an retirement home.

At least the paying job had a guy that would make decent philly cheese steak subs.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I ended up getting fired and it was a huge relief because I immediately got a better job.

Did they ask why you'd been fired when interviewing for your next job?

[Leo656]

Yep, and I told them the truth: I was sick when I went in that day, and after about an hour, I was pulled into the office where a policeman was, forced to go with him down to the station and spent the entire day answering very aggressive questions about an incident I knew nothing at all about. Turns out that the day before someone had stolen a purse out of a shopping cart and used the credit cards inside to buy beer from the liquor store next door. First I had heard of it, but they basically ooerated on the idea that it HAD to be me, despite hundreds of people having been in the parking lot throughout the day.

Went back to work all shook up, but finished my work an hour early. Right before Thanksgiving, done with work, not feeling well, all the bullsh*t of the day... I asked my immediate Supervisor, the Assistant Manager, if I could go home one hour early. He said "Yeah, fine, I'll talk to Bob (the head manager)." So I went home an hour early, then went to Atlantic City for a few days with my family for Thanksgiving.

Came back on Monday, my punch card wouldn't work. I found the Assistant Manager - the guy who said it was okay to leave early - and with a smile, he said I had been fired for "vanishing" that day. I reminded him that he had told me to go, and that he'd talk to the Manager. "Yeah, I did talk to him about it... After you left. And he said no. But you were already gone, so... Sucks for you, huh?" The guy had never liked me at all, so in hindsight I wasn't shocked, but it was a very rude awakening about how things actually work in life.

My new boss really couldn't argue with me about the whole situation being bullsh*t, so he didn't hold it against me. That job (lumber yard) lasted longer but I eventually had to quit after I got pneumonia.

[Storm Eagle]

I was a clerical aide at a hospital, and I was 14. It was a summer job. I'd work there for the next five summers, and all those times, I was in the hospital file room, which wasn't as fun as the first year. I worked in an office with two people then.