First Working experience

[Jin Jian]

Hi guys Starting from this week , my school holiday started so my friend invited me to give out flyer with him .. Since a couple of decks is coming out and i am short of money so i agreed and decided to go out with him to work .. if i give out 1000 flyer i will get $25 sgd so i take 2000 flyer .. at 1st i thought that the is like what happen in the television show you just have to stand infront of a shopping mall and give out flyer and if you cant finish you just throw the rest of it away and still will get the money .. but on the day of giving the flyer .. my friend told me that we have to go house by house and slip the flyer into their door .. Pretty easy huh ? NO! i started at 10 am giving out the flyer and end at 4pm when i was to tired to move , my whole body is aching ... i have learned that money is not easy to earn so next time before spending money i will defintely think whether i need it or not ...
So write down below what is your 1st working experience or the working experience that leave you the best memory ..

[Don Boyer]

Welcome to the working world...  Sucks, doesn't it? 


Let's see if I can even remember all the jobs I've held:


Computer data entry - first job, age 12!
Garden hired hand
Movie theater, several locations:
- Usher
- Cashier
- Concessionist
- Assistant Manager
Sales associate at Banana Republic's flagship store, opposite from Bloomingdale's in Manhattan
Cold caller for Bear Sterns and Assoc. - I think they went bust in '08.
US Army soldier in training
Health insurance claims processor
Harness racetrack pari-mutuel teller
Sales associate for Waldenbooks
Bartender, FAU Rathskellar
Bartender, Ft. Lauderdale Shrine Club
Bartender, Red Lobster, Boca Raton, FL
Server, Red Lobster, Scarsdale, NY


And my current position, concierge and administrative assistant for a New York apartment building, a job I've held for longer than all the other jobs conbined - 21 years as of January 4th, 2012.  I've had one paid gig as a magician, I've done some off-the-books computer consulting and training, and I have my volunteer gig as well.  More things may be around the corner... 


The average US resident legal to work here holds an average of 7 jobs over the course of their lifetime, last time I checked the numbers.  I'm at more than double that, and I'm still going...

[NathanCanadas]

Hi guys Starting from this week , my school holiday started so my friend invited me to give out flyer with him .. Since a couple of decks is coming out and i am short of money so i agreed and decided to go out with him to work .. if i give out 1000 flyer i will get $25 sgd so i take 2000 flyer .. at 1st i thought that the is like what happen in the television show you just have to stand infront of a shopping mall and give out flyer and if you cant finish you just throw the rest of it away and still will get the money .. but on the day of giving the flyer .. my friend told me that we have to go house by house and slip the flyer into their door .. Pretty easy huh ? NO! i started at 10 am giving out the flyer and end at 4pm when i was to tired to move , my whole body is aching ... i have learned that money is not easy to earn so next time before spending money i will defintely think whether i need it or not ...
So write down below what is your 1st working experience or the working experience that leave you the best memory ..

From when I remember I have always worked after school helping out with chores, working in the garden, babysitting etc. without getting any money. But since I turned 13, I decided I wanted to do more work and gain more money. So now I work in gardens, planting, uprooting, mowing lawns, cutting weeds etc. and get paid for 5-15$ an hour depending on the client. I also babysit 2 kids, 2 and 4 years old, change their diapers, play with them etc. from 5PM to 1AM for 5$ per kid.

[AceGambit]

The average US resident legal to work here holds an average of 7 jobs over the course of their lifetime, last time I checked the numbers.  I'm at more than double that, and I'm still going...

Well, at 23 years old, I guess that puts me ahead of the curve with 15 different jobs in my lifetime.

I'm currently a software developer, and absolutely love my job.  I really don't have a lot of 'bad' experiences with the working world.  I've almost always held jobs that I love with decent pay and fair hours.  The only exception to this would be the summer where I worked door to door sales.  For anyone with enough motivation and determination, I am here to tell you, if you want to make a lot of money, go into sales.  With commission based selling, there is practically no limit to the amount of money you can make.  I make a decent wage now, but I made more doing sales.  I also quit that job because it was an unreasonable strain.  Long hours, hard work, shirt&tie, lots of travel, 6 days/wk, etc.

Perhaps my favorite job ever (aside from dressing up as Chuck E. Cheese, which was unbelievably fun) has to be a toss up between Bartending and DJing.  No I lied, it's bartending.  Fun, Social, and Pays well.

[Kanped]

3 different off-licences (stores that more or less exclusively sell alcohol and cigarettes).  Last one of those paid me less than minimum wage for 6 months and didn't want to make up the difference when I found out.  Second hand DVD/CD/Games store for a little while; got made redundant when they stopped opening late.  Then there was a call centre, where I was cold-calling people right up to 9pm, selling a BT broadband package I knew to be terrible for a price I knew was cheaper elsewhere. 

They were all existing BT phone customers and had, for the most part, dealt with shitty BT customer support in the past and hated the company.  Of course, I didn't actually work for BT so on the many occasions where people had grievances or problems with the company, I was unable to help.  We were also told not to tell them specifically we weren't BT so I couldn't explain why I couldn't help them.  Basically, I got incredibly depressed and it ended up with me yelling in an empty car park after my shift one night.  I don't really know what about, don't really remember much of it  Couldn't find anything else, so I decided to go to University. 

I've since come into a position where I play bass guitar with a band for weddings, functions etc. and we're really good at what we do, the guys are great and it's brilliant fun.  The pay's nowhere near enough to live on but it's feeding me through University and I defy anyone to find a better way to make a bit of cash.

[RandyButterfield]

My first job was probably the worst I've had - Bailing Hay. My uncles are farmers so my brothers and I had to work a few days a week for them over the summer during most of my teen years. After that, every other job was a cakewalk!

During college I worked at KFC and Meijers. In the summers during college I worked at the Food Warehouse in Cedar Point. That was a blast! You work tons of hours and 6 days a week but party like crazy on off-hours. Two of my brothers worked at the warehouse also so it was a lot of fun, especially seeing as we all went to colleges that were far from each other. I also met my ex-wife at Cedar Point, she worked at the Gemini Roller Coaster.

After college it's been just sitting at the computer jobs. Sometimes I miss the fun of a manual labor job.

thanks, Randy

[Don Boyer]

If I were to give someone one piece of advice about working it would be this:

You don't have to love your job, but you do have to respect it.

As much as you may hate any job, if you've got no safety net and no other job waiting in the wings, you will sure miss that job if you lose it...and you'll miss being able to pay your rent, and having food in the 'fridge, and having gas in the car, and having an kind of leisure life outside of reading and taking long walks, and...you get the idea.

[Aaron]

for a job I ref hockey, It pays pretty good, average of about $30 per 1.5 hour game, If I fill a day with those I have the money to buy a months worth of cards. Although the hockey season is ending in the next couple weeks so idk what I am going to do for money now

[xZEROx]

On the side, @Aaron, where do you ref hockey?

[Aaron]

I ref at the hockey rink. I ref young kids 6-13ish and some games pay $18 some games when I am by myself are $80, it is really good pay.

[xZEROx]

Oh lol for some reason I thought it was NHL >.<

[Aaron]

Haha no I am only 14 I don`t think I am quite old enough to do that

[Daniel]

I had no first job, but as a boy scout there's always jobweek.
You'd have to go to some random person's house or apartment and ask them whether they have any household chores aka jobs for you to do and they'd have to pay a small sum of money for what you did.
some of these people would be nice and tell you that they have nothing for you to do but give you money anyways. others would let you rake their gardens, water their plants of sweep their floor and give you some money and even some snacks.
there are also those people who are really stingy, they would ask you to sweep their floor, fold their clothes, water the plants and mop their house and in the end they give you 2 dollars. i know that you are allowed to give any amount but you've got to be considerate right? they was this one job i remember though, my friend and i were working together and we decided to go up to this landed property. the people were nice and invited us into their home and told us that they do have a job for us. they us that it was arranging legos and the first though that came into my mind was that it sounded easy! but i was so wrong. the lady showed us to her son's room and low and behold, the whole room was a mess with legos scattered everywhere  it was horrifying. haha. she told us to arrange it in color, and how many bumps there were. so we sat there for an hour or two sorting them out. they gave us 10 dollars each. it was a funny experience but we never wanted to do that again.

[Don Boyer]

I had no first job, but as a boy scout there's always jobweek.
You'd have to go to some random person's house or apartment and ask them whether they have any household chores aka jobs for you to do and they'd have to pay a small sum of money for what you did.
some of these people would be nice and tell you that they have nothing for you to do but give you money anyways. others would let you rake their gardens, water their plants of sweep their floor and give you some money and even some snacks.
there are also those people who are really stingy, they would ask you to sweep their floor, fold their clothes, water the plants and mop their house and in the end they give you 2 dollars. i know that you are allowed to give any amount but you've got to be considerate right? they was this one job i remember though, my friend and i were working together and we decided to go up to this landed property. the people were nice and invited us into their home and told us that they do have a job for us. they us that it was arranging legos and the first though that came into my mind was that it sounded easy! but i was so wrong. the lady showed us to her son's room and low and behold, the whole room was a mess with legos scattered everywhere  it was horrifying. haha. she told us to arrange it in color, and how many bumps there were. so we sat there for an hour or two sorting them out. they gave us 10 dollars each. it was a funny experience but we never wanted to do that again.

You may have created a brand new job title for the Department of Labor - plastic interlocking building brick sorter!

[AceGambit]

I would have dumped them all into one giant bucket and told the kids to sort through them on their own.  Have a REAL childhood.  No one ever sorted my legos when I was a kid.  I remember having to sift through the giant tupperware bin to find the tiny 1 peg mini piece.  "I GOT ONE!!!  Only 3 more to go!" 

Legos seem to have taken a turn for the worse these days.  You used to only get blocks and stuff, now its like, "Put these pieces together, now attach the dinosaurs head...."  What happened to building the head!?

[Daniel]

I had no first job, but as a boy scout there's always jobweek.
You'd have to go to some random person's house or apartment and ask them whether they have any household chores aka jobs for you to do and they'd have to pay a small sum of money for what you did.
some of these people would be nice and tell you that they have nothing for you to do but give you money anyways. others would let you rake their gardens, water their plants of sweep their floor and give you some money and even some snacks.
there are also those people who are really stingy, they would ask you to sweep their floor, fold their clothes, water the plants and mop their house and in the end they give you 2 dollars. i know that you are allowed to give any amount but you've got to be considerate right? they was this one job i remember though, my friend and i were working together and we decided to go up to this landed property. the people were nice and invited us into their home and told us that they do have a job for us. they us that it was arranging legos and the first though that came into my mind was that it sounded easy! but i was so wrong. the lady showed us to her son's room and low and behold, the whole room was a mess with legos scattered everywhere  it was horrifying. haha. she told us to arrange it in color, and how many bumps there were. so we sat there for an hour or two sorting them out. they gave us 10 dollars each. it was a funny experience but we never wanted to do that again.

You may have created a brand new job title for the Department of Labor - plastic interlocking building brick sorter!

hahaha  sounds cool! you should try it.

I would have dumped them all into one giant bucket and told the kids to sort through them on their own.  Have a REAL childhood.  No one ever sorted my legos when I was a kid.  I remember having to sift through the giant tupperware bin to find the tiny 1 peg mini piece.  "I GOT ONE!!!  Only 3 more to go!" 

Legos seem to have taken a turn for the worse these days.  You used to only get blocks and stuff, now its like, "Put these pieces together, now attach the dinosaurs head...."  What happened to building the head!?

haha. the kid wasn't at home at the time and yeah i remember those days too. the feeling after completing your robot or something and showing it to your parents. good old days...