When Did You Start Working and What Jobs Did You Have?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - When Did You Start Working and What Jobs Did You Have? (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:27:30 PM EDT

I first had a paper route. Before the route was mine it was my brothers. I can remember helping him as early as 8 years old. The route eventually became mine before I left to work at a fish fry. I was in 6th grade, and the owner lived down the road from us. Every Friday my mother would pick me up from school (6th grade) so I could make fish dinners, sandwiches, and when the fry cook called off I manned the deep fryers- all at 12. I needed the job because my step-father was laid off often. He worked three jobs to make ends meet during the time he was laid off. There was just no money. I worked that fish fry Friday and Saturday nights from 1500-2130.

When I turned 14, I worked washing dishes at a sit- down restaurant. Eventually, I became the pizza and fry cook. Best time of my life as a teenager- hot chicks and adult wagers...

I worked their until 16. I then went to work in retail. I sold consumer electronics at a mid to high end retailer. Ironically, I sold my BIL his camcorder for his honeymoon before I met his sister. We both remember the deal, and I actually hand him a great deal. I ended up being the GM for that store prior to me going into the Army. Funny thing was at the time I always said people who join the military were retards- I ended up doing 8 years

.

I got out and have worked in nursing ever since. What jobs have you had and how old were you when you started working?

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:30:31 PM EDT

[#1]

15.5 years old worked at kroger. Lasted 6 months.
16 worked at mcdonalds. Lasted 2 years.

18 worked at KI. I was a merchandise associate, then merchandise loss prevention (I was in charge of employee theft, security dealt with customer theft.

Then I got a job in Accounting once I had a degree.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:31:19 PM EDT

[#2]

I was working alongside my mother in her various jobs after the age of eight. I had my own separate full time job by ~13-14 years old.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:32:50 PM EDT

[#3]

I was 6 working in a steel mill next to my grandfather.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:34:57 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
I was 6 working in a steel mill next to my grandfather.

View Quote

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:36:37 PM EDT

[#5]

At 15 I started my first job raising and picking tomatoes in a greenhouse. At sixteen, I took a job as a night janitor at the local newspaper office, mostly ran a floor buffer there. Next was in a structural steel fab shop, drilling holes, bolting plates to I-beams, grinding cuts, etc. This job left me with several scars on my hands from getting caught in the drill press, smashing fingers and so on. I then joined the army at 17, served 4 years as a mechanic. After the army, at 21, I worked for a roofer, re-surfacing flat built up roofs like they have on school buildings in the northeast. Left that job, tended bar in college, then after graduation I worked in the instrument calibration field for several years, then got a second degree in computer science, worked as a software tester and developer, got a masters degree in software engineering, and moved into project management, which is what I still do.

Been a long strange trip....

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:38:55 PM EDT

[#6]

Started at age 8-9 on my Uncle's hog farm when my old man went back to Nam for his second tour, this time in the F-4. 10 bucks a week back in '70 (Illinois)

Mowed lawns and till about 12 (florida)

Then worked the tobacco fields at 12-13 yrs old in Georgia and made a cool 120 bucks a week in '76-77

Worked at Steak and ale restaurant/lawns/shoveled snow in high school in northern Va

Worked as a bill collector/repo dude for Remco TV/appliance rental thru college and at the moving companies during the summers New Mexico

While waiting to go to pilot training after graduating from college i worked nights as a security guard and days as a fish delivery man. New Mexico

Then the last 28 years flying jets/simulators. 21 years in A-10/F-16/At-38 and the last 7 in the AT-38C simulators as a NATO instructor

Im not gonna see a fucking dime of the tons of money i have paid into social security, but dont really give a shit

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:38:55 PM EDT

[#7]

16-18 fast food
18-20 video arcade
20-24 retail
24-26 IT Help Desk and LAN Admin
26-28 Telephone/Email software support
28-30 Inside Sales Systems Engineer
30-37 Field Sales Systems Engineer
37-current Product Management

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:39:55 PM EDT

[#8]

All jobs back to back, no breaks.

15-18, mowing yards as soon as I could push a mower as well as all forms of yard work.
18-20, bought my first S10 truck and started working for the family machine shop, sweeping and grinding.
20-22, went to work for radio shack
22-24, started work water blasting and polishing tanker trailers.
24-26, back at family shop, doing same as before.
26-27, started work for a publishing company and telemarketing.
27-30, back to work for family.
30-34, started work spraying bedliners and installing truck accessories.
34, back to family machine shop, doing IT, and data archives.

been working at family shop till now at 39.

It will be mine one day.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:40:40 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
At 15 I started my first job raising and picking tomatoes in a greenhouse. At sixteen, I took a job as a night janitor at the local newspaper office, mostly ran a floor buffer there. Next was in a structural steel fab shop, drilling holes, bolting plates to I-beams, grinding cuts, etc. This job left me with several scars[ on my hands from getting caught in the drill press, smashing fingers and so on. I then joined the army at 17, served 4 years as a mechanic. After the army, at 21, I worked for a roofer, re-surfacing flat built up roofs like they have on school buildings in the northeast. Left that job, tended bar in college, then after graduation I worked in the instrument calibration field for several years, then got a second degree in computer science, worked as a software tester and developer, got a masters degree in software engineering, and moved into project management, which is what I still do.

Been a long strange trip....

View Quote

yep, plenty a times I was burned on my hands and arms manning the deep fryers

too true

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:41:04 PM EDT

[#10]

setting clay pigeons in the trap-house, that pigeon flinger machine was a bit sketchy when you got a string of fast pullers in a row.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:41:24 PM EDT

[#11]

Aside from small babysitting jobs, my first job was working for Bob when I was 15. Bob was a quadriplegic who needed help with data entry (stocks and commodities), light housework (and scrubbing down the pool every few weeks

), hygiene stuff like cleaning the gunk out from under his fingernails, and emptying his catheter bag.

It wasn't exactly *fun* but it wasn't all that bad and I enjoyed working for my own money. Problem was Bob was a class A pre-vert and made things uncomfortable. I stood it as long as I could, found my replacement and skeedaddled out of there like my ass was on fire.

Worked at a grocery store from 17 to 25. Credit union for another 5 years until we decided I should be home with our daughter and have more kids.

I don't get a paycheck anymore but the benefits are awesome and the boss is hot as hell.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:42:58 PM EDT

[#12]

I was caring for my grandmother at 8.. just like taking care of a baby. She needed food, drink, and diapers. I didn't have to do the bathing thank God. At 11, I was apprenticed by a well known jeweler making design pieces.
at 14 I was, unbeknownst to me at the time, running money for the Russians out of a local ballet dance studio
At 16 I helped create the idea for the fresh prince of bell air tv show

After that it was stay normal jobs like asking adults for help finding your lost puppy so the older gypsies can rob them, etc etc

Oh then at 18 I went back to school and learned chemistry. Breaking bad is a true story.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:43:42 PM EDT

[#13]

Started as a kid at 14 with a paper route (saved enough money to buy my first car when I was old enough).

changed jobs -

Worked detailing cars for the Ford dealership in high school.

Also during high school I got a sales tax license and a became a dealership for American Eagle ten speed bicycles, along with bicycle repair.

went for my degree after high school -

Worked for the college I.T. department while getting my degree.

first job after my degree-

Worked as a bench technician for Control Data repairing computer magnetic core memory.

changed jobs -

Worked as an Avionics Technician installing and repairing general aviation avionics.

changed jobs in 1984 and remained with this company until I retired three years ago -

Worked as a bench technician building, testing, and repairing navigation equipment for corporate jets.

Worked as an electronic design engineering test technician on communication/navigation equipment for corporate jets.

Worked as an electronic engineering design engineer on tactical communications equipment for corporate jets and helicopters until I retired at age 56 three years ago.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:45:12 PM EDT

[#14]

I started work at 14 as a supermarket cashier. I had 3 other retail jobs on and off until high school was over. Then I worked security guard jobs and
worked at a quick lube while attending college to get my BS. I even drove a tow truck for a few weeks. Also during my 8 years of college (eventually night classes) I
started working full time as a temporary employee at a water utiliy company, which hired me full time.
I worked at that water company for 15 years, holding several jobs and ultimately becoming a licensed water system operator.

I left that job and moved with my wife and child from communist NY to much better NH 2 years ago where I started a small, mobile auto detailing business which failed after 1 year. I got a job doing insurance surveys and then put myself thru trade school
and immediately got hired as an oil service technician in Feb 2015. (I'm 41 years old now)

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:47:45 PM EDT

[#15]

I mowed lawns starting in 6th grade. After that, chopped wood for old folks that lived near me and painted sheds and fences, put insulation under houses with crawl spaces, etc.

My first taxes taken out job was when I was 15 for a supermarket.

Up until I graduated high school, I worked the following jobs. Some of them part time at the same time (I'd do my max hours per week at one employer part time and then the other).

Supermarket

Janitor at a marina

Grounds keeper at a park.

Lifeguard

Delivered Pizzas

Sandwich shop/Deli

Loaded trucks at a warehouse.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:47:54 PM EDT

[#16]

I was 13 years old when I got my first job. It was for a construction company escalating dirt under the libary at an detention high school along the border in Campo, California on the weekends. The year was 1967. I was one dirt digging MOFO. I also was making big buck, $20 a day.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:48:00 PM EDT

[#17]

11, working at a daycare center.

14, worked at a plant nursery. Hauled trees, went out on landscape job. Worked after school and on the weekends until I was 17.

17, hauled furniture and set up office spaces.

18, worked at a stalling barn (162 stalls). Cleaned stalls, worked horse shows. Worked on catering crew at nights after class (freshman).

Bartending, waiting tables, more furniture hauling.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:48:17 PM EDT

[#18]

Started at Walmart when I was 15. Worked there til I joined the army at 18

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:49:31 PM EDT

[#19]

I shoveled snow, washed cars & cleaned a neighbor's garage starting when I was about 10-12. When I was old enough, I added mowing grass. I cut about 6 lawns in the neighborhood (including our own). At 15, I got my first real job working at the local all female college. I was a mop-jock and cleaned classrooms during the school year and worked the entire campus in the summer - basically stripped it clean. Eventually, I got a job at a department store as a stock boy, increasing my pay from $1.60 to $2.75. My dad went ballistic when I told him I gave my notice but didn't know exactly when my first day was. I was 16 and getting my ass chewed like I was married with kids and did something irresponsible.

The job at the college was awesome. I was the recipient of so much sexual harassment! Fridays were the best days, our boss went home at 5pm, we brought beer and binoculars to work! Cheap thrills are sometimes the best!

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:50:36 PM EDT

[#20]

Snow shoveling and Mowing yards working the neighborhood around 12-13 or so. With my buddy next door

Didn't get a real Tax-paying job til 17

And have been working pretty much non stop (no breaks in service) since turned 44 this April.
Apparently WE'RE a catch with what I hear from my wifes friends JUST because WE have JOBS.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:52:28 PM EDT

[#21]

12 or 13. Was a cart boy at the local golf course where I was pretty much raised at.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:53:53 PM EDT

[#22]

13 yo (1960s)

"Food service industry"

next

"Retail sales"

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:54:18 PM EDT

[#23]

Was getting paid to mow the neighbor's lawns before I was 10, in between working on my uncle's shrimp boat and fixing the neighborhood kid's bikes.
I can't remember a time I didn't work.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:54:54 PM EDT

[#24]

My first job having taxes took out I was 14, bus boy in a restaurant.

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:58:16 PM EDT

[#25]

13 - I cleaned the village phone box, I think I got 10 Pounds a month
13ish - Paper route for the village
!4 - I washed dishes at the Private school in Oundle and moved up to server and washer

16 - we moved back to the states and I started work at McDonalds
18 - Joined the Army for 23+ years
Now I still work for the Artmy as a GS

Posted: 9/1/2015 7:58:31 PM EDT

[#26]

13-17: bag boy, mcd's, dishwasher, construction demo
18-39: USAF, retired 7/2001
39-47: worked for govt housing maintain contractor
47-52: govt civil svc. Resigned 7/2015, couldn't take the beaurucratic bullshit anymore.

Currently living on my mil retirement, house is paid off and mama and I are doing just fine.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:01:04 PM EDT

[#27]

Worked on my neighbors farm starting at the age of 8 throwing hay and straw bales for $25 a week. Besides my brother and I, there were 3 other kids that worked there as well.
Our record for the most bales in one day was 5,000.
Started working on a dairy farm when I was 16, and stayed there till they sold the cows 3.5 years later.
Boss got me an interview at the local township office to work on the road crew / sewer department. Worked there till I was 26, when I moved over to my current job. Been here almost
10 years now.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:01:25 PM EDT

[#28]

16-18 Safeway grocery, bagging groceries
18-21 TSA at LAX security screener
21-22 production, Novak racing electronics
22-24 pizza delivery and Starbucks barista (both full time)
25 on call wildland Fire crew
26-27 restaurant During summers, expo, bussing etc and ski resort in the winters, bussing that first year
28-31 tree company during summer (and still on call for fire crew) and barista at ski resort, later bartender
31 and current, fire engine on the tahoe national forest, just today accepted a food and beverage management job for winter at the same ski resort I have been working at

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:06:05 PM EDT

[#29]

First job I was 13.5. I drove the driving range tractor at a golf course my grandpa worked at. He told all the management that I was 16, and then told me to act like I was older. Which in his mind was to cuss a lot and try to sneak beer. It was by far the best job I ever had. This was the mid 90s and I'm sure even a few years later, with computer databases it wouldn't have filed. The pay sucked,but none of my other friends had jobs, and I got free pop and half price food while working. Then free golf year round, which meant I got to play with my grandpa's WW2 buddies every day. I wouldn't have changed those summers for the world.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:07:36 PM EDT

[#30]

Paper route at 12.
Concrete construction in the summers until graduation.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:07:43 PM EDT

[#31]

My first job was at 17 working for a crook of a man who had a commercial cleaning business. I worked for him for about 2 months.
Then I got a job where I worked for about a year at a Food Lion as a cashier and bagger.
I worked for another 8 months or so for Ericsson when they were still around at a packaging facility.
I spent the next 5 years installing car electronics at 3 different shops. The first shop was the best job I ever had and I walked away for a shorter commute. Stupid. Stupid.
I then got my Accounting degree, worked 1 year as an intern and then got hired full time at the job I have currently. Been here about 10 years so far.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:10:06 PM EDT

[#32]

14-15: math tutor
16-18: local sub shop
18-23: firearms instructor at boy scout camp during summers
23-present: teacher

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:10:08 PM EDT

[#33]

I grew up on a farm.

I found it odd as a teen that all kids didn't grow up having to do something all summer vacation.

I remember attempting to throw hay around 7 or 8, I couldn't do it, but I still had regular chores.

By 12ish I was in the hay field all summer long.

When I turned 18 I asked my neighbor to hire me, he was a mason, and it started me on the way to my trade now.

Held various jobs trade related, now I work for myself.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:10:51 PM EDT

[#34]

First job I had my dad checked me out of High School to work. I think I was 15.

Loaded trucks from 4pm until they were all gone. first night I worked over 12 hours.

Did that all through High School and by the time I quit to join the Marines at 20 I was in charge of logistics for 9 states.

Came home, worked in a gun store where I was spending all my money anyways.

Got married and somehow ended up as a realtor. I cant wait for a few years back in the gun store before I go to POST

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:11:33 PM EDT

[#35]

When I was 12 I started working for my dad, hanging drywall. I did that until I was 18, also working for a friend of the family that had a concession business.

When I was 15 I was buying wrecked cars, then fixing and selling them.

At 18 I went to work full time at a place that straightened automobile frames, We also fixed rusted Corvette frames.

At 20 I went to work at a body shop, I ran the frame machine and learned the other aspects of the automotive world.

At 22 I worked at a mechanical shop, I did wheel alignments and mechanical repairs. I did that for a lot of years, not sure what I want to do now.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:13:05 PM EDT

[#36]

Cutting grass at 12 or so.
First real job was a few days after my 16th birthday, as a school janitor.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:19:05 PM EDT

[#37]

Not counting 'chores' (for no pay) beginning about six years old: cutting lawns and yard work at seven to about ten, paper route for several years, 'box boy' at a local market and on and on and on ...... worked several careers as a landscape contractor in CA and for about 25 years in the 'mental health' field in marketing. Made a lot of money and retired debt free with property (ranch), equipment and a great (if not extensive) life style.
Hare, long work appears to have paid off - who knew?

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:22:51 PM EDT

[#38]

Hauled small hay bails, worked in construction (mostly cement, mostly building chicken houses), then moved on to cleaning shit out of a chicken house (and hauling more small hay bails).

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:23:45 PM EDT

[#39]

16
Busboy, bar back, waiter at my first job

Next was a porter at a car dealer

Then market research recruiter

Then waiter/bartender through college.

Graduate teaching assistant during my MBA.

Mortgage broker/marketing manager for a small mortgage company.

Now investment strategist

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:25:27 PM EDT

[#40]

12, packing groceries.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:26:45 PM EDT

[#41]

15. Mowing grass and watering plants and general grunt work at a winery.
When I turned 16 they had me hauling cases of hooch back and forth to one of their other locations. Thank God I never got pulled over. I was dumb and figured "well I'm at work, so there's nothing illegal about it".

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:28:10 PM EDT

[#42]

12-14 Babysitting neighbors kids.
12-16 Started mowing lawns and raking leaves
15 Dishwasher in a nice waterfront rest
16-18 Busboy in a few rests/Sunday brunch cook
Off to college
Caller at BJ's
Bar Back at club in Hilton Hotel
Bartender at lounge in Hilton Hotel
Door Man at most popular college bar.
College summers and winter breaks were spent on construction crews
framing houses or doing renovations.

Graduated and real life started, damn I miss college

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:28:27 PM EDT

[#43]

Quote History

Quoted:
I grew up on a farm.

I found it odd as a teen that all kids didn't grow up having to do something all summer vacation.

I remember attempting to throw hay around 7 or 8, I couldn't do it, but I still had regular chores.

By 12ish I was in the hay field all summer long.

When I turned 18 I asked my neighbor to hire me, he was a mason, and it started me on the way to my trade now.

Held various jobs trade related, now I work for myself.

View Quote

Yep. Though I don't let my kids work ( I want them to enjoy being kids) I couldn't imagine not working. I remember having to buy my back-to-school clothes during the summer as I worked. Pay-less patent leather shoes really looked good I guess. A whole day's pay from the fish fry ($20.00).

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:29:51 PM EDT

[#44]

12 years old doing voncrete work.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:33:27 PM EDT

[#45]

I started working on the farm at about 10, regular by 12.

Worked on the farm until I joined the Army, ten years later.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:35:50 PM EDT

[#46]

16, working with an interior design firm doing mirrors, closet systems, etc.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:37:49 PM EDT

[#47]

I started at 14 and the local park district children's park. They paid less than minimum wage because I was underage.

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:37:58 PM EDT

[#48]

17.

Started at an A&W restaurant and lasted 2 days before quitting.

3 months later I was off to boot camp.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:42:22 PM EDT

[#49]

Quote History

Quoted:
17.

Started at an A&W restaurant and lasted 2 days before quitting.

3 months later I was off to boot camp.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

View Quote

Posted: 9/1/2015 8:42:23 PM EDT

[#50]

Started at 12 doing lawns for other families. At 13 I was hired by a family friend to work in his tobacco field. I kept working in tobacco until age 18, moving up from $5/day to $50/day, which was very good money for the late 1960 and early 1970s.

When I turned 16 I started working at the local Sears store, doing shipping, cleaning and the tire shop and doing tobacco on my days off. I stayed there until I left for college. Next I joined the AF and stayed there for 20 years doing crew training and flight simulation.

After retiring I worked for an automated assembly line equipment maker as an electrical tech, but when the Asian market tanked the company lost over 1/3 of its business and I got laid off. Then I went to work as a contract temp in quality testing, but Lockheed Martin sold that division to BAE Systems and I was let go as a cost reduction.

Then I went truck driving, because the only jobs in the local market were trucker and nurses, and I don't have very much empathy for people who inflict injury on themselves. I did that for 8 & 1/2 years and then had the heart issues that have me on disability.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - When Did You Start Working and What Jobs Did You Have? (Page 1 of 3)

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