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How old were you when you got your first job?

17. I worked part time washing dishes in a small cafe. I gave it up when they wanted me to start serving customers. I got the job as they'd advertised it in our 6th form common room.

I then had a part time job as a cleaner when I was 20 and in uni as a cleaner at a leisure centre. I actually didn't mind that job so much, as people don't really bother talking to the cleaners.

After uni, at 21/22 I had a full time job as an office junior. Hated it with a passion and ended up having to leave when I slipped a disc in my back from having to carry ridiculously heavy files up and down stairs every day.
 
If you're talking an over the table, normal job, after high school I worked at Subway for one year or so as swing shift. I got it by recommendation of a high school friend who already worked there to the owner. It was **** honestly, the pay stayed at $5.15 per hour though we were constantly promised raises, picking up the slack of the lazy morning manager who read romance novels at work and shirked all of her duties, embezzled from the till, and took two hours to buy lettuce next door then pawned off all of her duties on us yet did not get even a reprimand since she was friends with the owner. Not to mention, the owner herself was really bad about upkeep. She didn't pay the power til the day it was to be shut off, mostly didn't do anything except borrow from the till to run off to Idaho with her boyfriend then pay it back later, even had me use a marinara sauce pack covered in maggots after spraying it off rather than throwing it out and reordering as I'd suggested. After that, I couldn't eat sandwiches for at least a year.
 
15, summer job doing lawn care for a company that owned several office buildings in the area.

Next, I worked at a dairy products company, unloading trucks of empty returnable milk bottles, then sorting them and loading them in the bottle washer. That was for a couple of hours after school. I worked there for about 5 months. I had earned enough for the time being.

At 17 I started working in a ski shop, worked there through college, and at a bike shop during the summers.
 
17. I was a bus person/dishwasher in a seafood restaurant working for/with some of the best people I have ever known. I miss it and them.
 
ive never been able to work because of my functioning and my behaviors plus my disconection to the world, however in my late twenties i tried to get a voluntary job at some horse riding schools; just mucking out-doing all the dirty work i love that,but every one of those riding schools said i was to much of a high risk because of my challenging behavior and complex needs,regardless of the fact i would have had two support workers with me and have a massive drive to work to some degree.

as a 33 year old,ive looked into doing a 'foundation degree' in computing but its way above my level in terms of the complexity of the work, so i am now looking at an introduction to health and social care if the language isnt to complex, i want to get into support work with severely autistic or intellectually disabled adults because i have a lot to give,i have an uncle with profound intellectual disability who inspires me,i have no problem with facing other peoples challenging behavior and i dont care if i have to get my hands in crap and help change nappies but at the same time i could offer hope to them or their parents,being LFA yet capable of working to some level.
 
My first job was at age six where I swept the floors at our family business for a whopping $.25 a week.

The first job I scored by myself was taking over a carry route for TV Guide at nine. I think I made $.05 a copy when I started and delivered about 35 copies a week.
 
I pulled dandelions for my father when I was about 7.
Girls next door pulled the dandelions for their uncle, but
they didn't get any money because their was no contract
between them for that. So they got nothing. I got a penny
a bunch.

The 'real' job I had was when I was 9.
My father paid me to work on the labels for his business.
I had to cross off 'trademark' and write 'patent pending.'
 
As a teenager (~13?) I discovered that I could buy something and sell it for more. I bought a Sand Person (mint on the card) from Star Wars at a toy show for $20 and sold it for $40. I do this sort of thing for fun. I paid for my wife's engagement ring trading Magic: The Gathering cards. Lately I made ~$2,900 selling a Conan board-game on eBay (the same one 30-times) I bought off of Kickstarter. I go to conventions and end up, eventually, earning more than the cost of going via eBay.

I made a killing mowing lawns as a teenager.

~15 working at the high school library shelving books and delivering AV equipment to the classrooms.

~19 working 10-40 hours per week at a grocery store while going to college. Sometimes good, and sometimes bad. One manager made things difficult, I made a mistake, and I quit.

~25 when I got a full-time job working for an internet service provider doing tech support. My buddy got me a job an internet service provider. The interview went something like this "I play paintball with Dan, welcome aboard." I worked my way up to a technician in engineering, and then got laid off when they moved most of the department across the country.

I was ~3/50 in productivity, and was told to stop working after I hit 50/80 of the ticket quota by my supervisor. It took me ~90-120 minutes to hit the quota for the day. I spent the rest of they day surfing the internet and debating online (my writing skills improved dramatically). I was way too full of myself. Loosing this job was quite devastating to my ego. I was in a bad place for quite some time.

There are some other jobs in there, but that is the sum of it.

I was a stay-at-home dad for a long time. My youngest is now a first-grader, and I got back into the work force.

Now I am selling insurance downtown Chicago. Crazy traffic. I will need to learn to take the commuter train.
 
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zeroninja said:
If you're talking an over the table, normal job, after high school I worked at Subway for one year or so as swing shift. I got it by recommendation of a high school friend who already worked there to the owner. It was **** honestly, the pay stayed at $5.15 per hour though we were constantly promised raises, picking up the slack of the lazy morning manager who read romance novels at work and shirked all of her duties, embezzled from the till, and took two hours to buy lettuce next door then pawned off all of her duties on us yet did not get even a reprimand since she was friends with the owner. Not to mention, the owner herself was really bad about upkeep. She didn't pay the power til the day it was to be shut off, mostly didn't do anything except borrow from the till to run off to Idaho with her boyfriend then pay it back later, even had me use a marinara sauce pack covered in maggots after spraying it off rather than throwing it out and reordering as I'd suggested. After that, I couldn't eat sandwiches for at least a year.
Click to expand...
Wtf.... wtf.... wtf....

I've actually had a few pretty terrible experiences with food from Subway... it's figures that naturally they just don't care...
 
I was 14 when I went on my first work placement from school, at a computer games Studio in Rotherham.

And then I was just turned 18 when I started at Presto Supermarket in Grimsby, that was my placement from College.
 
I think I was about 12 years of age, I worked a paper round. But on looking back, I had a really bad deal and it would be compared to slave labour for the amount of newspapers I had to deliver every day compared to what little money I received.
 
My very first job was working at Arby's (roast beef sandwich place in the US). It paid horribly, and sucked a lot. I think I worked there ~6 weeks before getting the job at the school library. The school library was much more fun. I got to ride the elevator (to deliver TVs and such) and I had keys that opened all the classrooms. I also worked with some friends and we goofed off shelving books. They paid us 2-hours (?) per day even if we worked less (I think one reason was that the head librarian wanted to go home, and did not want us dragging our feet).

Mowing lawns (could be ~$40-$120 per month in the spring and summer, an allowance $10/week, and the library paycheck ~$60/week). All told I had enough to go to the arcade, movies, buy RPGs (like Dungeons & Dragons), and eventually date a girl.
 
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Questella said:
How old were you when you got your first job? And what was it, how did you get it? How was it?

I'm curious, I wasn't allowed to work when I was school aged, I didn't get my license until I was 18, and immediately started applying everywhere I could think of... I only ever got three interviews in the couple years post high school before I started doing something else (I was in college for a while, married, ran away from him, was homeless for a minute) so there was a local club and I just started working there...

I've always been fascinated by people working in stores,especially at the mall, when I was 18-19-20 I wanted to work at the mall so bad lol.

So I've only ever worked housekeeping for a week but got fired because I took too long, (we'll they don't want you to actually clean anything just straighten up, hotels are straight scary). I worked at a grocer for only 2 hours before they sent me home and two weeks later told me I wasn't needed...

Anymore of don't bother looking I tried after I had my kid for a couple years bur then ended up crazy depressed, I only had 1 interview from hundreds of apps (and they take hours to fill out these days not like back when it was just like a page or two of paper, wtf) filling out online applications is the worst thing... :( :( :(

Now I'm even more fascinated by anybody that can get like a real job, in like an office, I always thought I'd be working in an office...
Click to expand...

I have that problem with cleaning. When I clean, I also organize everything, and get distracted via ADD, and can sometimes start multiple cleaning projects. As such it can take me forever to clean.

I also measure how clean something is by the amount of time it would take to clean, and this is not apparently normal.

My sister can clean my house in a fraction of the time. It would take me much longer due to me wanting to do things perfectly, and my ADD. I pay her to clean my house, and sell things on eBay in order to pay her. She gets money (she is not very good with money), I get a clean house, and everyone wins.
 
Rich Gray said:
I have that problem with cleaning. When I clean, I also organize everything, and get distracted via ADD, and can sometimes start multiple cleaning projects. As such it can take me forever to clean.

I also measure how clean something is by the amount of time it would take to clean, and this is not apparently normal.

My sister can clean my house in a fraction of the time. It would take me much longer due to me wanting to do things perfectly, and my ADD. I pay her to clean my house, and sell things on eBay in order to pay her. She gets money (she is not very good with money), I get a clean house, and everyone wins.
Click to expand...
That's awesome.

I just have to do mine, total ocd style, if I don't do it it won't be right then I'll just have to fix it anyways, I can have someone "help" but this is hard, people see me as bossy and controlling when I'm trying to accomplish a goal...
 
9 y/o, pulling thistles for a neighbor. First real job was at 15, when I started at a plant nursery. Worked there for a few summers before being offered a full-time position, and I'm still there. I started doing manual labor and eventually earned my way up to a better position that fits my skill set ...I'm also happy that I didn't have to go through an interview process because from other situations (scholarship, anyone?) I learned that I suck at interviews.
 
I was dog-walking, cleaning, delivering papers, baking and selling cakes on the street before I hit my teens. I also had to work for any allowance my parents gave me.
 
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