COMMENTS

29 responses to “Open Thread Update: Your First Jobs”

1. My first job at 16 was typing affidavits for the NJ Law Journal. They hired high school boys to deliver papers to law offices (hence the affidavits). I remember taking the bus downtown after school. I cannot remember what I made but the job paid for all of my senior activities: prom (including my gown), pictures and class trips. And of course, the almighty SHOES from the 34th St. Bootery in NY!

   Reply to Cleta Bradwell

2. First jobs? Wow! Takes me back. My first job was housesitting with a nine-year-old. I was 12, and had been recommended to a recently divorced woman who did not want her child mingling with the children of factory workers during the summer. So, I “sat” with her daughter in a nice house all summer. And I used my skills as an older sister to communicate successfully with the nine-year-old.

   Reply to dr jeanne powell

3. My first real job was working as a page in my local branch of the N Y Public Library. That is someone whose primary job is reshelving books and keeping them in order. The head of that branch was someone for whom I worked, in the same branch, later as a librarian. Eventually I actually worked for her at another location when we were both in higher positions. To this day I still wonder if anyone in NYPL ever worked in three different capacities for the same person.

   Reply to David

4. My first real job was in East Los Angeles in a non profit Hospital Medical Records clerk. I had a Wonderful Supervisor Linda M. thought me a lot. Trained in all desks in case one coworker was out we knew what to do, pull charts for Dr’s to sign for when Join commission will all will be in order Type Birth certificates make sure all information was correct. So many tasks .I really loved the job we work together, we all share and had a good time like a big family. The Best Boss was the glue

   Reply to Virginia Bustamante

5. The first job I had that took out taxes was working for Hiram College a couple of months during the summer delivering the mail and putting together print jobs. I was 15. Learned how those plastic spines with the teeth are put on making a cookbook for the college! Worked with another girl I went to high school with. We had a good time walking the campus delivering mail to the different departments in that were in century homes. My Aunt was the boss.

   Reply to Kim Roth

6. My first paycheck job was Part Time in the Faculty-Student Association at the college I was attending. So proud of my 120 wpm steno skills, one of the first things I had to do was take dictation from Mr. Jack P., the director. He said ‘budget/expense’ and when I typed the letter I wrote ‘ budget slash expense’….exactly what he said!! I’ll never forget how exasperated he was. Not long after, he was let go! I stayed until I graduated!

   Reply to Nancy C

7. My first job was galley hand and cleaning fish for people who went out deep-sea fishing on my father’s boat. I was paid for the latter but not for the former. Later, in my life before college, I also baby sat and was a lifeguard.

   Reply to Paula Meyer

8. I was 17 when I got my first job, besides babysitting, as a part-time receptionist in a one-man flooring store. In a matter of days, I saw that my real job was to lie over the phone to the many customers who were home waiting for their work to be done.
   “I stayed home from work for this. Where is he?”
   “Oh, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Irate Customer. He just called to let me know the truck broke down. He’ll be delayed.”
   I learned a lot of curse words.

   Reply to Lucy Iscaro

9. I was a vegetable girl at a country club.

   Reply to Nancy Leve

10. My first job was working on a plugboard switchboard answering telephones while at the same time separating white, pink, yellow and green copies of orders. On my first day I was told that if the phones made me “crazy” and I had to pull all the connections out, I shouldn’t worry because everyone always did that at first. Needless to say, I made up my mind never to do that, and I never did.

    Reply to Barbara

11. I was #1 on civil service list for clerk typist and landed a job with Los Angeles Police Department right after high school. We worked in the Records Bureau answering phones, filing and helping people at the counter. Our supervisor was a retired Marine who insisted we dress/act/speak professionally. We wore dresses or skirt suits with heels — no pants allowed. We didn’t place personal calls. We WORKED! I loved that as it paved my future as I retired as a Professor teaching those skills!

    Reply to Sandy Bailey

12. My first real job was a good-paying civil service job working as a clerk-typist at the Los Angeles Police Department in the Records Bureau. We had to wear dresses or skirt suits with heels. Our supervisor was a retired Marine, and she ran the Bureau like she was in the military. It was the best thing to happen to me because I learned how to dress professionally, speak and act professionally. You came to work on time; you didn’t spend ANY time with personal phone calls. It paved my way!

    Reply to Sandy Bailey

13. My first job was at Gimbel’s Dept store in downtown Brooklyn. They put me on the floor as a salesgirl. I was barely 15. Back then, you used. Pad to write up the sale, took the cash and rung it up. For some reason,at the end of my shift, my register and sales book did not tally. No one would help and I just kept recounting . The bell rang to end the shift and everyone left me. The elevator stopped running and I took the stairs to drop off the cash, left my sweater and ran outthe side door

    Reply to Rita Crespi

14. I started working at 12 years old for a distant cousin in his Machine shop cleaning the floor and washing part for 25 cents a hour and only work 1 hour a day.

    Reply to James A. Miller

15. My first job was working the Concession stand at the Ascot Drive-In Movie Theater. I’d cook hamburgers,put them in foil bags under the heat lamp. I made popcorn and french fries. When the movie was playing it was slow. My boss and I would chit-chat and smoke cigarettes, back when you could smoke anywhere. Sometimes I would play the pinball game they had. It was kept unplugged because it was broken in a way that everyone got a free game. Watching the movies was fun. It was a great first job.

    Reply to Elizabeth Ryan

16. My first job at 16 was working at a dry cleaners checking in the clothes.
    I earned 1.15 an hour

    So excited when I received my first paycheck.

    I also remember hiding under the counter when a boy from school came in. I had the biggest crush on him. Thought he would never leave.

    Reply to Brenda Price

    1. omg that is So adorable.

       Reply to Virge

17. My first job was at age 15 working in a Greenhouse planting flowers and veggies in March for the summer plantings. It was a wonderful job where I learned how seeds germinate and how to care for many different plants. I had to get working papers because I was under working age but our family really needed the money for food. So I was learning how to plant seedlings that became food, and after that we never went hungry again

    Reply to Anna Solitaire Miles

18. My first job was as a cashier. My boss was a fellow named Patrick – he was young and oh so good looking. I think I was 17 or 18. I worked part time after school. I loved my job, and even though I am still shy, I can deal with people on a one to one basis (customers). But because of that experience, I learned to speak out about what I believe in and volunteer as an advocate.

    Reply to Aubretia Edick

19. My first job (not at my father’s newspaper) was at a Citgo gas station, Ocean City, Maryland. First day: in a two-piece swimsuit. Rest of the summer: In shorts, T-shirts. Male co-workers weren’t told to wear swimtrunks. Sexism,1969. Check your oil? Missed Woodstock; Outlaws from NC invited me; I declined. I learned to be nice to customers. And that the gas tank was behind the license plate on some cars. I made minimum wage and read lots of books.
    Official title: pump bunny. I kid you not.

    Reply to Marlene Dryden

20. My first job was casual labor for Hallmark Cards in the 70s. A team if us would meet at a store going from American Greetings to Hallmark or to a store that needed their Hallmark stock totally revamped. It was my first exposure to computer printouts that guided how we reorganized their store. I still remember our supervisor comparing an American greeting card to one from Hallmark and talking about the quality of the Hallmark item. Such pride in her voice!

    Reply to Patience Frederiksen

21. Besides helping my mother and siblings with a neighborhood paper route and some babysitting, I was a secretary for our county Teachers Union organized by my school guidance counselor. My typing skills were my strength, and I even competed in the Future Secretaries Association. This was almost 50 years ago. Today I am still friends with that guidance counselor who helped me pursue a college degree. After several rewarding careers I followed his path and became a School Counselor for the Deaf.

    Reply to Kathleen Young

22. I was a soda jerk at Marra’s Drug Store in Secaucus NJ. It was a real soda fountain, just like the one you recently saw in a movie fromthe 50’s or an old tv show. I was 15 years old and life was good. One thing it taught me was interacting with people I wouldn’t know otherwise, older, younger, friendly, crabby, people from the two other major neigborhoods in town (the “north end:” and the “back road”). It was a good place to start.

    Reply to Mrs. Fitz

23. First job….there were many (babysitting, telephone solicitor, working in my father’s factory). But my first real job out of college was in 1967–the “women’s movement” was hot and I was made a publicist with CPC International (Hellmann’s, Skippy, Mazola, etc) and given my own secretary. I knew nothing but companies were suddenly eager to hire females. The secretary taught me how to work, dress, answer the phone, and behave at meetings. I do not remember her name but I am so grateful.

    Reply to Susan Stevens

24. My first job was at Jewel Foods and my boss’s name was Jewel. I remember that my first day was a off-site training. We spent eight hours on learning how to correctly bag groceries, be polite to customers and to never ever tell I customer, “I don’t know.” If we didn’t know we were supposed to say, “I’m not sure, let me get someone else to help you.” Oh, and to make eye contact and SMILE.

    Reply to Margie

25. My first paying job was selling the New Orleans States Item , an afternoon paper, at one shipyard gate with my younger brother doing the same at a gate one street over. I was 12 and he was ten. We lived in south Mississippi but the workers were from all over the state and Alabama. We learned to make change fast, that some men would swear they gave us a dime for the nickel paper when they didn’t. We learned to count our take every day, record it in our logs and bank our share every Friday.

    Reply to Robert P. Krebs

26. My first job was working at a local agency that assisted blind clients. My job was to aide clients on outings around the city. I ultimately learned that I was well suited for working with people and specifically those described as having some special need. My career focused on children, parents, families. Turned out the skills I learned working with blind clients easily transferred to other populations. Loved my final career wouldn’t change a things ❤️

    Reply to Patricia Williams

    1. I think working for those less fortunate than ourselves is the best job, and I think the as long as you can financially survive there is no better paying job.

       Reply to Aubretia Edick

    2. Patricia, isn’t it wonderful to look back and see where you started and how it related and led you to your future employment?

       Reply to Sandy Bailey