What was your first REAL job?

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by lostkiwi, Jun 15, 2004.

  1. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Debbie made me think of this for some reason :) I seem to have done a bazillion jobs (jack of all trades, master of none etc), but my first real out-of- school was as a "Girl Friday", (I kid you not) for a major shipping company. Learned a pbx switchboard, did the mail and learned telex and my favourite room was the "computer room", banks of monstrous machines that spat out stuff that had no meaning whatsover!
    Who knew it would lead to what we have today!
    So what did you all do first? Inquiring minds want to know! :D
     
  2. IMSA

    IMSA Private First Class

    My real job? I've been Realtor for almost 20 years. I also build Mission style furniture and do fine, custom woodworking. In the past I've worked in a racing tire shop, owned my own automotive repair shop, and was a CNC machinist. But my first and ongoing passion is vintage homes.

    IMSA
     
  3. slider

    slider Major Wise-***

    First full time job: Stockman/cashier for a drugstore chain

    Summer jobs during college: Hod carrier and house painter (part of a crew)

    Misc: Camera shop janitor, worked with a landscaping company (dug a lot of sprinkler ditches), tutoring, Interior painting.

    My goal in life is to never paint another house. Absolutely mind numbing.


    Now: Pharmacist and educator.
     
  4. Kodo

    Kodo SNATCHSQUATCH

    worked at a hospital as a runner. $7.45/hr . was easy work, but demanding because I had be everyones gopher at the drop of a hat. Lost 13 lbs that year! :)
     
  5. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hahaha cool thread.............


    jobs in order....

    1st .... Interior Designer for 2 months company went bust ( sadly I had just left Art College and first paid job )

    2nd .... Photo Printer........ neat job as I got to print and meet models ( some nudie ones too :) mmmm should have used tounge smilie here )

    3rd .... Photo Industry .... still, working for Kodak as a Lab Manager/Area Tech Support

    4th ... Photo Industry .....OMG when will I ever get released, honest I been a good boy! working as a Production Consultant ( job specs are MUST KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ALL SUBJECTS... could be tested at a moments notice ;) )

    I like my job really you get to see all sorts of stuff peeps get upto.... when you send your pictures away DON'T be fooled someone always sees what on them :D

    TIP: Use Digital or Video ;)
     
  6. David983es

    David983es Private First Class

    I delivered newspapers as a kid (13 to 17).

    First taxpaying job I had was helper in a cabinet shop. I made the minimum wage, a woping $1.60 an hour. After taxes and such, I got about $60.00 a week, but I lived at home, and it kept me in beer money.

    Joined the Navy in '72 and made $250.00 a month after taxes.
     
  7. Kodo

    Kodo SNATCHSQUATCH

    That's why I use digital! :)
     
  8. Robster12

    Robster12 The Horse Whisperer

    I haven't got my first real job yet :rolleyes:
     
  9. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    IMSA, okay that's funny, because, I am just beginning my career as a realtor (after 17 years out of the mainstream, Mission-style furniture is my favourite, 1st job was working for my parents in their automotive shop and you live in Oregon which is the direction we were headed (and still might be) before we ended up in the desert! I am open to any and all job offers! LOL (P.S. Craftsmen and Victorian houses too)
     
  10. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Yeah, it's like we always hear, they raise 'em tough in Texas :) So shouldn't you be something like "muscles" instead of xflat? Are you still tossing those bails around, (read your post from the weekend) or do you get your grandkids to do that for you? I spent a summer haymaking, that was probably the hardest work I ever did, but I loved driving the tractor!

    @Kodo, what does a runner in a hospital do? I am drawing a blank!
     
  11. harry

    harry Private "Bad" Joker

    First Job?

    Worked in a back street garage, which also did funerals, for a strange fellow who used to drink a crate, (12 pint bottles ) of Guiness every day. One of the perks working there was as the "lad", I had to top up the fuel tanks in the Rolls Royce hearses every day, and since no one checked, ran my own car for free!
    Quit because I was told to wash second hand tyres out in the open in February, with cold water!
    Often wonder what happened to those beautiful hearses!
     
  12. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Hey Robster, don't be in too much of a hurry, there are many, many, many years of work for you to look forward to! When you do, you can post it here :)
     
  13. G.T.

    G.T. R.I.P February 4, 2007. You will be missed.

    Paper routes don't hardly count. First actual job was working in a tool crib at an automotive trade school, on Saturdays, checking out (and getting BACK) all the special tools that the students weren't expected to have themselves; valve spring compressors, jacks, torque wrenches, yadda yadda. They'd been allowing students to simply grab what they needed, and a lot of tools disappeared. That ended when they started manning the crib. I was 14.

    First 40hour/week job was the summer I was 15, started rebuilding automotive starters, generators, and alternators. Real money! Woohoo! :)
     
  14. Sgt. Tibbs

    Sgt. Tibbs Ultra Geek

    Geez...I kinda looked at them ALL as "real jobs". :lol: Although if you ask the people I graduated with, I don't hold a real job now. :rolleyes:

    From ages 16-18, I worked at the local branch library as a page.

    The summer after graduation, I worked as an intern at a local community summerstock theatre.

    Fall/winter/spring that year, I worked as a clerk at a convenience store. Hired in for 15 hours per week, was doing 45 within two months.

    The summer I was 19, I worked as an intern for a different community theatre.

    From ages 19-24, I worked as first a clerk, then as showroom manager, then as office manager for the local theatrical supply store. Hired in for 15-20 hours per week, was doing 47 hours within four months.

    When I was 24, I spent four whole months in an office job. Hired in as the receptionist, ended up doing accounts payable/receivable and scheduling for a local pest control company.

    January of 1996, I started working as an extra for the stagehands union, and went back to the store part time.

    Through the union, I've held a number of positions: One summer as a lighting intern for a professional summerstock theatre. Next summer as the master electrician for a different professional summerstock theatre. Two summers after that as the deck electrician for the first one. Took a summer off for personal reasons, then spent another two summers as deck electrician there again. In between the house positions I've held, I've worked freelance whatever work was available.

    I've not needed employment in addition to my union work since late 1996.

    Technically, after a long-winded post, I guess my first "real" job was at the theatrical supply store, since that's the first one I worked full time.
     
  15. debbie

    debbie Private First Class

    i am an OM for a pest control co.....HATE IT!!!! not so much the actual JOB, but the people i work with are royal pains in the behind!!!
     
  16. IMSA

    IMSA Private First Class

    Psssssst lostkiwi

    Want to go steady? ;)


    IMSA
     
  17. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Re: Psssssst lostkiwi

    Why certainly :D , I'd love to, but I'd need to bring my husband and two kids. Really. I need to.
    <sigh>, the nicest offer I've had in years. ;)
     
  18. IMSA

    IMSA Private First Class

    I Can Understand lostkiwi

    I'ld have alot of 'splainin' to do around the house here. 'Hi Honey, look what I found, can I keep her?" Come to think of it, I don't think I could go steady until I found my letterman sweater anyway. Moths probably ate it. :)


    IMSA
     
  19. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Re: I Can Understand lostkiwi

    Oh phooey, picked up AND dumped in one day, that's first! My hubby said if you have a job for me we can move in right away!! Have recent employment as a housekeeper :) BTW, this real estate stuff is not as easy as it looks, there is a lot to learn but I'm getting there. We were going to move to Salem in '87, the houses were much cheaper there than here. Now we have another boom, houses in our area average around $150k less than surrounding, so we have been "discovered". There goes the neighbourhood! (Darn, hijacked my own thread..lol)
     
  20. zimpal

    zimpal Private First Class

    Right after high school - got a job assembling steel buildings (Butler). Traveled throughout rural south central Texas building grain storage 'silos' for feed lots, steel bldgs for refineries, etc. Strange job for a 17 yo scrawny wimp.
     
  21. eUpH0rIa

    eUpH0rIa Private E-2

    Ah...I have a short life story...*get the hint?:p *1st REAL job heh?Worked in a pharmacy...Entertaining customers who have endless enquries abt any medication they can get their hands on...Didn't hate that job but hated all the explanations to them,cos they never seem to understand...Currently a part-time comp info desk *not getting paid cos I am SO kind to offer this as a service to my frens..* n as a professional preacher in full-time...Hope to add more to that CV next time...Hahaha~~ :D
     
  22. ArchAngel

    ArchAngel Sergeant

    I started working at my folk's steak restaurant at 14. I washed dishes, bussed tables, etc. I got to eat alot. Overcooked steak they would give to me. I wouldn't even slow down to eat it. Just grab the steak in my hand and chow down. Not much higher than a dog in the evolutionary scale. :p
    Worked there until I enlisted in the Corps.
     
  23. dperino

    dperino Capt. Caveman

    My first job was Emporer of the world. I was on my own, at 15 years old,, trying to finish high school, and working at a gas station/car wash most of the night. Had my own apartment in Utah, (where I ran away to) Guess what?? I did it. I paid my rent and bills, I did it. I paid my way through all three years of high school, and graduated. But,, after that, I bought a Harley,, and things went to Hell in a handbasket. :D
     
  24. MrPewty

    MrPewty MajorGeek

    Squaddie :)
     
  25. Just Playin

    Just Playin MajorGeek

    I did deliveries for a rent-to-own store and repos for the guy's buy here-pay here car lot. Two of the lowest,scummiest jobs on earth rolled into one. Plus there are people who would literally kill to keep their car, no exaggeration.
     
  26. Gottheit

    Gottheit General Logic

    My first 40 hr. per week job was as a member of a golf course maintenance crew. Don't get the wrong idea, though. I didn't JUST cut grass. I even weed eated (or is that ate?). ;) Seriously though, there was a lot more stuff to it. Nearly every eight hour day, I would be called upon to fix 2-5 sprinklers. You know, the kind that are in the ground and that you have to dig a hole 4 feet deep and 3 feet wide just to get down to the swing joint that needed to be repaired. Oh yeah...the absolute WORST part of that job was the hand watering. There's nothing more dreadful than standing on a green for 3 hours with a garden hose spraying a few select spots. All the while, you had to make sure that you didn't overwater the dry spots, and you also had to make sure you didn't get knocked the hell out by some golfer who doesn't bother to make his presence known.

    My second real job was as a photo lab tech. Not much to say really...I just developed pictures and dealt with idiots who don't understand why we can't ALWAYS get their picture to them in an hour. There was this one time that a lady got a little (read: too) upset that I didn't have her pictures done yet. I then pointed to a sign that read, verbatim: 1 hour service limited to machine capacity. She looked at the sign, and then looked back at me only to continue arguing like that sign was written in greek or something.

    My third (and current) job is as a host at the Olive Garden. I take people to their seats and deal with a different breed of idiots. Now, the idiots aren't the customers (or, guests, as our managers are sure to pound into our heads), instead the idiots are now my co-workers. It's not easy working with people who are still in high school and feel that they need to gossip about everything.


    A nice little side-note for anyone who visits, has visited, or plans to visit the Olive Garden. The primary objective of Olive Garden is to sell you wine. Pay attention the next time you go in. Wine bottles are used as decoration, wine glasses (the tulip type) are sitting on the table waiting for you, the server is supposed to approach you with a bottle of wine and talk to you about it (which is referred to as "wine conversation"...they actually have to go through their spiel for the manager before they can come on the clock), and there are even contests that go on behind the scenes that encourage servers to sell more wine. Sometimes managers will give $100 cash to the server who sells the most bottles of wine (bartenders excluded), but it usually sticks between 20-50 dollars.
     
  27. alanc

    alanc MajorGeek

    Right out of high school, I worked for minimum wage at a leather shop that made stuff for police depts. Belts, holsters, etc. - even blackjacks! :cool: It came to an end when the elderly owner dropped dead of a heart attack right there in his office. His wife tried to keep it going but ended up closing it down a couple weeks later.
     
  28. g1lgam3sh

    g1lgam3sh MajorGeek

    I had a Fairground (Carnie) background. My first real (paid) job was at 8 years old on the Clown Game, then subsequent promotions, Slot Machines, Rifle Range and Noah's Ark followed by the acme of fairground jobs 'The Waltzer'. Don't have to tell the UK people about that job and it's perks;) :cool: :D
     
  29. Freddy

    Freddy Sergeant

    Not counting time served in my father's shop - I worked for a beer distributor before working on Wall Street.
     
  30. ArchAngel

    ArchAngel Sergeant


    I wanted to Google first so I didn't have to look dumb. This is the first thing that popped up.

    SM Squaddie Skinhead Biker Bootlicker John's MiliSM .net Home Page ...
    Gay soldiers, Submission wrestling/wrestlers, Leather/rubber sm submissive squaddie
    skinhead biker, Naked hiking and climbing, Pony training fantasy interests ...
    Description: Description, contact and interests, including gay soldiers, fitness training, submission wrestling,...
    Category: Regional > Europe > ... > Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual > Personal Pages
    www.milism.net/ - 35k - Jun 14, 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

    So, which were you? ;) :)
     
  31. SixShooter

    SixShooter Major Malfunction

    My first.....hmmmm.......I assisted a concrete finisher when I was in my mid teens. Then there was a brief stint at a carwash...I hated that one. Then I helped out on construction sites...gopher and clean-up. After highschool went into the Navy to be an Aviation Electrician (worked on A-7's). After that worked for a few security companies. Maintenance for an RV park for a couple of years. Back to school for computers for only a short while, then first wife got ill, had to drop out. Had my own landscape company until my first wife died.
    After I moved to SE AZ I worked at a gas station repairing tires. Night watch which later turned into Instruction Aide at a youth rehabilitation camp. A couple of years as a corrections officer for the Arizona Dept of Corrections. Tree trimmer/climber/driver (that put me in excellent shape). Auto parts store manager/clerk/stock. Labor which turned into septic tank builder and driver for a plumbing outfit. Went to college for a couple of years to major in network management. Owned and operated a computer repair shop. Supply room clerk which turned into industrial maintenance. Then maintenance for a 60 unit apartment complex. Labor/operator for my father-in-laws heavy equipment company (currently doing).
     
  32. Lordelin

    Lordelin Sgt. Nobody

    Burger jockey at Bruger King

    :rolleyes:
     
  33. Brian C

    Brian C Private Peanut Gallery

    Hey.........A lot of you didn't follow the post request. It's your FIRST real job. Not ALL your jobs. Those of you that posted ALL of you jobs, do not....and will not, ever be able to get a government job now. ( Cuz you volunteered MORE information than was asked of you ) LOL :)

    My first job: Private Police Officer (railroad).
     
  34. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Hi Brian
    Oh that's okay, please don't take it so literally :), I think it's kind of fun watching how peoples' careers have evolved.
    What would suck would be if our last jobs were worse than our first - although I imagine some of us feel that way! :)
    BTW, I had a government job, talk about your "if it's hard make it difficult, when it's difficult make it impossible and when it's impossible -why you've done your job"! :D
     
  35. muskybob

    muskybob Fish Tickler

    I used to stretch underwear at my first paid job. Honest, Really.

    Now I just do it for a hobby. :eek:
     
  36. debbie

    debbie Private First Class

    My first PAID job and first REAL job (in my mind are different) I worked at a TCBY in HIgh school....that would be my first PAID job. i still love white chocolate mousse frozen yogurt!!! mmmmmmmmmm
     
  37. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Hah :D
    ((((vet))))
     
  38. muskybob

    muskybob Fish Tickler

    Ditto - Thanks for the hug, I needed that. :D
     
  39. HUDIK

    HUDIK Sergeant

    Planting trees (pines mostly) as a teenager. Paid real good, but lordy did you hurt by the end of the day...............;)
     
  40. Boccemon

    Boccemon First Sergeant

    First real job was with Carerra Marble Co. out of L.A. I grouted shut sarcophigi, crypts and mausoleum crypt fronts. Spooky job for an 18 y.o. guy. :eek:
     
  41. Wenchie

    Wenchie I R teh brat

    My first "real" job started August 14, 2000 and it's a lifelong commitment to the highest standards of personal excellence for the greater good. Of course, it's a financial suck-hole, and has a stress factor of 20 on scale of 10, but the rewards are reaped in fringe benefits.. hugs, kisses, itty bitty i love yous....
     

    Attached Files:

  42. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    what a wee doll! Congratulations wenchie, I was wondering when someone would do the most important job ever to be undertaken! Probably won't ever find another as thankless or unrewarded in terms of money or time, but thankless or unrewarded in joy or love - never :) Best job I've ever had.
     
  43. morlok

    morlok Private E-2

    Got ya beat.
    Bag boy at Partyka's market for $1.20/hr.
    I thought the owner had taken a shine to me when he raised me to $1.40.
    I found out years later that the minimum wage had gone up!

    1st 'real' job was in a S/W sweat shop writing comms programs for a navy satellite for $10/hr.
     
  44. mag00

    mag00 Sergeant

    John Deere Impliment dealer helper. $1.45/hr I think. I'd have to go look as I saved my check stubs, go figure. My plan was to add up all the money I paid in to the Govt. Finally a few years back I just decided to clean house and kept only the early years.
     
  45. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    my first job was as an office jr in an advertsing agency called BBDO in the west end of london in the early seventies. boy did i have a ball
     
  46. Radiofool

    Radiofool Private First Class

    My first real job, not including paper rounds, babysitting etc., was as a Carer in a old folks home. Just sorta general care and light nursing stuff. It was very hard work, physically and emotionally, but i loved it. I was 15.
     
  47. jarcher

    jarcher I can't handle a title

    In HS worked at a truck stop near my house (grew up in corn country) as a cook, waiter, cashier, janitor
    when I got a car I got a second job at another truckstop near my girlfrieds house(not another, a 2nd)
    Then the owners of the first truckstop, who owned a Dairy Queen across street, wanted me to work there too. Got GED, joined Army, furthered education (kinda) got married, left Army, Got job as a Maint. Tech. at a local steel forge, lost job, got divorced. moved back home, got remarried.
    Now I stay home.


    TO every "Old Fashioned Family\Housewife":

    My deepest sympathy
    and deeper respect

    jarcher;)
     
  48. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    Thank you for the sympathy and the respect :), that's kind of you.
    And, yeah, you know what, that whole "oh, you don't work?" thing gets real tired after a while, as does "Oh, you don't have a real job?" or "when are you going back to work?" I think that the one that got to me most was, "it must be nice to just stay home and do nothing all day". Nearly bite through the tongue trying not to lose it! So now they are in their teens and able to watch themselves (more or less), I am free to get a real job and get my lazy butt off the couch where it has been parked for 17 years. NOT!! I am going back out, because I want to or I will go nuts, family will still come first though. :D
     
  49. Shiver Me Timbers

    Shiver Me Timbers MajorGeek

    Not sure if you would qualify this as a real job, but I worked for a catering service when I was thirteen. I lied about my age and told them my social insurance card was in the mail. Then after a few months I told them there was a problem with the application for my SIN, then he layed me off. :(
    I worked all through school from thirteen on at different jobs, but after high school and before I went to college, I worked as a researcher.
     
  50. we_at208

    we_at208 Private E-2

    Kinda boring...worked at a Woolworth's. Made a wopping $34 a paycheque for 2 days worth of work. WOW!!!:rolleyes:
     

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