What was your first "paying" job???

Published

I just thought it would be fun to find out what everybodys first legal "paying" job was. Babysitting doesn't count.. I will go first. At the age of 14 my first job was a motel maid at a Best Western motel...I worked there during the summer to earn money for my Drill Team uniform.

Scary thing is that during one of my breaks a friend of mine from high school and myself had left the "break room/laundry room" where a few other older ladies were also taking their breaks and had gone to the motel office for a soda. We had passed a man on the way, and when we returned noticed the door was closed; which it never was. I opened the door to find the man we had passed holding the older ladies at gun point and they were all naked. Had my friend and I waited even 30 seconds longer we would have been in there also and God only knows what would have happened. I eventually had to go to court in order to identify the guy. Thank God I wanted that soda...

Specializes in future OB/L&D nurse(I hope) or hospice.
A gift/clothing/clog/dollhouse shop !!! Very eclectic, and the boss was really nice. There had been a string of robberies at small businesses, and she told me I could keep the doors locked and only let in people I wanted to let in- and the guys in the camera store down the hall peeked in on me. It was a nice place.

The summer before, I'd been a nature counselor at a summer camp.... snakes, raccoons, ferrets, squirrels, fish, a few salamanders, a nasty tarantula.....I got 25 bucks/week plus room and board :D

That's awesome that the guys down the hall kept an eye out for you. The tarantuals would have been the deal breaker for me.:eek:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

Stock boy & delivery @ Conrad & Wunsch Pharmacy, established 1898. 50 cents per hour, plus tips.

Saturdays I'd stuff the inserts into the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune, & the Chicago Sun-Times. Back then, a Sunday paper weighed about 3 lbs due to all the ads & news content.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

I worked as a cashier at chick-fil-a from 15 and 1/2 until I was 18. I got the job because I really liked a guy that worked there. I worked there with him for 2 and half years and I never told him that i liked him until I quit. Why? Because he was having sex with girls from various shops in the mall in the managers office after hours.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

waited tables at 24hr restaurant. i was 16 made $2.13 hr plus tips and i loved it. had a great time at work and we were like a big family there, whenever i visit I always stop by and say hi to my old boss, he's the nicest guy. i blew every penny i made on trips to the movies & cds but i'm glad, it was a good experience and taught me alot. i was already planning on college but nothing like waiting tables with 40yo that had had a rough life made me definitely a believer in college!! my next job was a secretary for a GI office. made a third of what i make now but i had way more PTO and it accrued faster too. our PTO is a complete joke.

i love what i do, but sometimes i wonder, my darling aunt at 47 has professionally waited tables at a 5 star restaurant for 15 years and she makes more than twice what I do working the same hours and she has better PTO too!! :uhoh3:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC currently.
waited tables at 24hr restaurant. i was 16 made $2.13 hr plus tips and i loved it. had a great time at work and we were like a big family there, whenever i visit I always stop by and say hi to my old boss, he's the nicest guy. i blew every penny i made on trips to the movies & cds but i'm glad, it was a good experience and taught me alot. i was already planning on college but nothing like waiting tables with 40yo that had had a rough life made me definitely a believer in college!! my next job was a secretary for a GI office. made a third of what i make now but i had way more PTO and it accrued faster too. our PTO is a complete joke.

i love what i do, but sometimes i wonder, my darling aunt at 47 has professionally waited tables at a 5 star restaurant for 15 years and she makes more than twice what I do working the same hours and she has better PTO too!! :uhoh3:

This is soooo true! My first job was when i was 16. in high school working at mcdonalds. Worked there for two months, left and went to work at a movie theatre for less than a month and then went to another mcdonalds, located inside the mall(all of this while in high school). I was already determined to go to college, as my mother wasn't having it any way, but working with managers who been at mcdonalds for over 10 years, and make under $20,000 a year(in 2009), and listening to how they struggled pushed me even more to obtain a degree in my field of interest(medical), so here I am now completing all of my pre-req courses and have applied to three nursing programs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

I went to a boarding school in high school so I did not get a job as early and most of you. I graduated when I was 18 so I did not get my first job until then, which was at Round Table Pizza making $5.75 an hour. After getting married at 19 I worked at Pizza Hut and was self employed on the side making about $20/hr cleaning houses a few hours a week. Third job was at Best Western as the breakfast host while I was going to the local JC to become a medical assistant. Was a medical assistant for a few years making 8.50/hr while I took pre-nursing classes and then quit work all together once I got into the nursing program. I have been an RN since 2009 and make over three times as much as I did as a medical assistant, and almost five times as much as my very first job (would be making five times as much if I worked nights), and I love my job 100 times more than any of my other jobs

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I delivered newspapers from age 11-17. At 17, I got a job as a cashier at Rich's, a now-defunct New England retail chain. I made $5 per hour. I could've made overtime if I worked Sundays, but my extremely religious mother wouldn't allow it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Mental Health, Medical Research, Periop.

I was 15 and it was Busch Gardens WENDYS (actually not located in the amusement park, but right outside of it). We stayed busy during the summers, but I LOVED IT! Worked there for 3 years!!! Started off with $5.15/hr and left making $7.25/hr. I thought I was making a lot of money. LoL!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

Summer camp counselor at 14.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in long term care Alzheimers Patients.
I delivered newspapers from age 11-17. At 17, I got a job as a cashier at Rich's, a now-defunct New England retail chain. I made $5 per hour. I could've made overtime if I worked Sundays, but my extremely religious mother wouldn't allow it.

Yes I remember Rich's

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in long term care Alzheimers Patients.

My first paying job was as a nurse's aide at a nursing home.

We didn't have to be certified back then.Don't remember what the pay was but probably less then $2.00 an hr.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Worked as a hostess/waitress at a local family-owned restaurant. Worked my butt off for $3.35/hr and less when I waitressed. But I learned alot...like some people are never pleased no matter what you do for them...and the importance of counting change back to the customer. We had to calculate the change ($$) to give back to the customer...we were not allowed to "let" the cash register do it for us...now as a school nurse I have very little change in my pocket to count (ha ha!)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion