Your very first paying job

[Josh]

13-14: Each summer I ran a firework stand and pumped gas. My parents owned a convient store so the firework stand was there and I pumped gas for 5% of the gas totals that day plus tips.

My first "real" job @ 16 was in a grocery store. I have been in one ever since...six years later, but that's ending very soon!!!

[Andre]

I was 15 and working at Loeb, the local grocery store. I kept pretty quiet. I scanned and bagged very quickly and was never rude. Many customers liked my no-nonsense quickness. Most of the time my till was spot-on -- not even one penny short or over.

One time, this woman I was serving (who seemed nice), after everything was done, was like, "Well thank you for the conversation." REALLY sarcastically, because we really hadn't said more than "hello." I felt so bad. I don't now, but back then I took stuff like that personally.

[Ms. Walsh]

We got a discount of 10%. It wasn't a lot, but it did add up during X-mas and other holidays. The problem w/ working there was that I bought all my stuff there. Before I worked there, I had never even shopped at Target...I was surprised at how cheap stuff was, so whenever something went on sale, I'd buy it. I bought my iPod from them, and saved $25, so that wasn't too bad. After working there for almost two years, I found out ways to work around the system. Aside from soda, food, candy, and magazines, I never stole anything from the store though.

Working in the clothing depts was nice, though, b/c every Thursday afternoon I had to do price changes, so I knew what was going on sale the next week. I was good friends w/ three of the managers, and they'd let me look at the flyers the week before they'd get put in the Sunday newspapers. I used to buy the things at full price, and then when the sale started on Sunday, I'd take my receipt to the service desk and get an adjustment. I also marked stuff on clearance, so the minute something went down to 75% off, I knew about it. I was also good friends w/ a lady from the pricing team, and she would always tell me about stuff getting marked down. Once, they marked down a $200 necklace to $50 and nobody knew about it but me.

Also, working in the food area meant free meals. They would always stick me there when people called in sick, so to piss them off, I would steal all the food. I would make myself a sandwich or calzone and eat it in the wash station, and take big bags of popcorn and pretzels home. Nobody seemed to care.

Wow, that's so cool! Yeah, Logan is the airport in Boston. I live in hour away from both Boston and the Cape. They're both nice places to visit.

[Keith]

LOL! Ms. Walsh, I didn't know you were a Mass. native.

I was 18. I worked at an insurance third party administrative firm. I took claims. I soon learned the ways of business. -shudder- I quit to go to school.

[Tracy J]

17 and I worked at KFC for 4 years til right before I graduated college. The first 2 years, I was a cashier/worked in the front. Then I was promoted to Shift Supervisor and was in charge of the closing shifts every Friday and Saturday night.

Needless to say, after working there, I don't eat much KFC anymore. And before anyone asks, I have no idea what the 11 herbs and spices are. LOL.

[Ms. Walsh]

Yeah, I am. I live near Providence, RI though. I go to school in Western Mass.

[bellcurve]

Oh Jesus. The almighty food stamp folks. Now, I have nothing against people who have them, but DON'T feel as though you are entitled every 1st and 15th day of the month because the government gave you a card for food that you, in essence, did not work for. The RUDEST customers were those who really had no reason to be.

Working at a grocery store made me HATE welfare absue. HATE IT!

[Keith]

Ah, cool! Boston's like a second home to me......when I have money.

[KBT]

At 14 on my Christmas break I worked with my mom at a paper company Idea Art(ideaart.com look it up). I ran credit cards through for the phone operators because they still did it by hand back then. And they also gave out free samples, so I picked samples and mailed them out. It was simple, but working with my mom wasnt always a good thing.

[Kay]

Not to show my age, but when I was a cashier, they didn't even have the food stamps card yet (that came along a few years later). They were still using the fake-looking money that came in books like checks! And I just knew people who weren't even on welfare were using them to buy stuff. Lots of people--mostly men and kids would come in with the bills already ripped out of the book and buy candy and other junk food. Noboby ever bought anything remotely healthy; it was all junk food. lol To this day, no matter how hard it gets for me, it doesn't even cross my mind to apply for assistance (I just don't want to have anything to do w/ it).

The only positive that came out of working at that dump was I met a really good-looking guy and we started dating and I got really good with numbers & adding tax in my head--which comes in handy now.

[Ms. Tee 7]

At 16, I worked as a cashier at Super K-mart.

[DevotedToAMC]

At age 16 I worked as a bagger in a grocery store-the best part was the pay happened to be good, saw a whole bunch of friends, worked with some great people that had a nice dose of humor, and always busy

The worst part? UFCW (labor union)-I had to depend on human resources to resolve my problems rather than those liars who charged an arm and a leg in monthly dues

[Jinxed Soul]

At the age of 16, I began working at a local Mc Donalds. I'm 19 now, and still working there as a manager. This should be my final year, hopefully. In between, I've had other short-term jobs in accounting.

[DevotedToAMC]

oooh McDonald's! I love the salads

[rxcats]

I started working at my dad's movie theatre when I was 10 years old. He paid me $1.00/hour to pop popcorn. I could eat all I wanted too. I can't even stand the smell of popcorn anymore!