What was your first "paying" job???

[Butterfly0328]

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...

[Butterfly0328]

Subway when I was 15. I loved their sandwiches and I didn't really have anyone buying food for me or taking care of me, so I decided I would get a job there so I could eat their sandwiches for free. The manager told me they don't hire 15 year olds but I went there every day until he gave in and hired me. Looking back there has never been a job that I really wanted that I didn't get. lol

My first paycheck I rented 3 hotel rooms conjoining and threw a party.

Now that was being resourceful not to mention very smart in taking on a job that would give you a paycheck AND free food!

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

I worked at Burger King when I was 14 so I could pay for contact lenses - my mom let me quit though when I wanted to be in the school play...after that I worked at a Thrift Drug store (now defunct East coast drug store chain), worked for Dominos Pizza taking orders and folding boxes (you couldn't deliver until 18 and I was only 16) and then I worked for my mom for years (she had a restaurant) - I did EVERYTHING - waitressed, bartended, bussed, washed dishes, cooked and managed!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

spinning, weaving, dyeing with vegetable/plant materials, and candle-dipping at a 17th century house, in costume, sometimes teaching tourists' kids how to do the same, and giving tours of the place. given enough time i can still take a sheep and produce a sweater. buck and a quarter an hour, age 13-15.

after i turned 16 i got my first hospital summer job, x-ray darkroom wench at $2.85/hr, thought i was rich. no time to go to the beach to tan, though, in the darkroom 5 /2 days a week.

[noahsmama]

Cashier in the neighborhood grocery store when I was 15. Made $2/hour and thought that was good money because it was twice as much as what I had made babysitting.

Didn't even have to apply for the job -- the owner of the store, who lived up the street from us, called my mom and asked if I wanted to work there. He liked to hire neighborhood kids, I think because it increased customer loyalty in our parents (we were a family of 7, so we bought a lot of groceries!)

[nola1202]

Worked for Target for 2.50 an hour...Ladies Wear. Had a 15% discount and went a little clothes happy for a while. I would watch for the clearance items and pounce when they hit the rack. One of the my co-workers would talk me into making the "attention Target shoppers, in Ladies wear we have 10% off Juniors jeans...I'd get going then she'd sneak up behind me and snort like a pig. I would be paralyzed with laughter and trying to go on, my voice would be shaking, I'd get my composure and she'd snort again. Our mgr always managed to be gone before the required announcements. He'd come back shaking his head and trying not to smile. Later I was moved to Cashier and I hated it, more money but no variety. I loved that first job, even was proud of the ugly red polyester cover jacket and plastic name tag...my first in a long series.

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

Subway when I was 15. I loved their sandwiches and I didn't really have anyone buying food for me or taking care of me, so I decided I would get a job there so I could eat their sandwiches for free. The manager told me they don't hire 15 year olds but I went there every day until he gave in and hired me. Looking back there has never been a job that I really wanted that I didn't get. lol

My first paycheck I rented 3 hotel rooms conjoining and threw a party.

My 15 year old daughter now works at Subway. She said she constantly dreams about mayo, mustard, "do you want that toasted". She's cute as can be and takes her job very seriously.

[Brea LPN]

A fast food restaurant named Krystal. They served little burgers. I worked there two years. that job taught me people skills.

[knittingfan283]

I worked in factory putting plastic covers on soft back books and putting together the casette holders for books on tape. I was 15 years old, so by law I wasn't allowed to work on the machines that wound the casette tapes or put the tapes together. I liked it since I was able to borrow books for free to listen to. I was payed roughly 5.75 an hour, and at 15 years old that was quite a paycheck. I used to go to school all day and then work from 3pm to 10 pm ( I got to work later than others my age, because my mom drove me. I didn't have to worry about the curfew for new drivers.) That job taught me the value of a hard day's work. I gave my whole paycheck to my mom, except for 20 dollars so I could eat at Wendy's for dinner before work. I felt as thought I was contributing to my family.

[_Kevin]

Worked at an ice cream store, Carvel, when I was 15. I can make the best ice cream swirl in a cup or a cone

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

My 15 year old daughter now works at Subway. She said she constantly dreams about mayo, mustard, "do you want that toasted". She's cute as can be and takes her job very seriously.

We didn't toast the subs yet then. We also cut them the right way. Not the way they changed to years and years ago. LOL We also had a really good hot shredded chicken back then that you made hot and I would put ranch and cheese on it and it was HEAVEN!!!! I was grossed out making the seafood salad mix. Overall though I loved that job and I loved that I got paid to do something I enjoyed and got to eat yummy food. I loved making the cookies and eating them too! So soft and gooey! Oh those were the days!!!! When I was 16 and worked at McDonald's I always had so much fun too. I was a closer (even back then I was a night person still I guess. LOL ) After we closed we would clean up and hang out and go down the tube slides and stuff. My son thought I was the coolest mom ever for him having every toy we had. I had the entire 101 dalmatian collection for him.

I really have never had a job I didn't like. Mostly it was the people I enjoyed, whether it was my co-workers or the customers. Good for your daughter. My 15 year old has yet to find a job, he doesn't have time for it now with football but it's hard for 15 year olds to get jobs here. Most places told him they wait until 16 because of all the restrictions on 15 year olds. He really wants to be a sign holder on like the weekend because he would totally be out there dancing while holding the sign but they have told him 18 for that.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Food service in my dorm my first semester of college. My brothers were all encouraged to get jobs when they were very young. They even had paper routes (remember those)? My dad wouldn't let me work. Not sure why. I got a job in college my first month. I was 17.

[Hygiene Queen]

I worked in the jewelry department of a now-extinct catalog store.

Note:

I do not get excited about gold and diamonds like most women are *supposed* to (and do I ever hate the stereotype that women drool over diamonds! Bullocks!). I get excited because I like rocks... lol.

I rarely wear jewelry and you can't bribe me with it... but I am like a junkie in a gift shop with plenty of rocks!

I'm such a dork!

Anywho... my favorite part of the job was fixing broken chains and adjusting watch links and just using the tools and my hands.

I worked on commission and never made more than my base pay! I hated waiting on customers and would chose to stay in back doing repairs.

To this day, I love to undo knots! I can get undo any tangled mess of necklaces and wouldn't mind doing work like that again, if I had to.

And it would be fun to admire the "rocks" again.

I did that for about 2 years, when I was 16-18, until the stores closed for good... then a friend said, "Hey, you want to take a CNA class with me..."