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What was your first job for pay?/where did you work while in college?

mebanedeac said:
A different twist on the question: what jobs did you work during college? Were they just summer jobs or did you work during the school year?



The reason for this thread: it is fascinating to learn how people began their work lives and progressed to places of relative success; also, it is good to remember.
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During school year: a) had work study job in the Art Slide Library, recataloging slides, making new slides, assisting students & professors with finding slides. Best part of job was getting to know the art professors - very cool & interesting folks! Harry Titus was probably my favorite. b) worked dorm desk in Bostwick & Babcock collecting IDs from guys visiting the dorms. Best part of job was announcing over the speaker 5 minutes before visitation ended the names of the guys who were still in the dorm. c) senior year did typesetting for the OG&B (thanks to wakegrrl for hooking me up with the gig). my first experience with desktop computers (early Macs - named Larry, Moe & Curly).

Summer after freshman year: waitress at Cracker Barrel - Kennesaw, GA
Summer after sophomore year: HR clerk for Defense Dept. - Marietta, GA
Summer after junior year: worked for temporary staffing company doing short term accounts payable & HR jobs - Marietta, GA
Summer after graduation: 3 week anthropology field study with Dr. Evans on island of Saba, then worked for temp company again until beginning full-time job after Labor Day
 
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My college summers were rather boring in comparison with these.

I spent a couple summers making cigs at RJR: 9 hr. days, came home smelling like tobacco...tobacco dust everywhere. But the money was good.

For 6 weeks each over 3 summers I traveled with a singing group. That was an experience! Covered the entire east coast, except for Maine, and the entire mid-west, 10,000 miles or so in 6 wks.

Other than that I worked sales in several stores from Sears to Thalhimers. I also worked in a couple men's stores: Frank A. Stiths and Hine-Bagbys. Sad to me that the local men's stores are no more.
 
Paper route and lawn mowing. Probably started around age 12, would be my best guess. It started as my older brother's paper route but I filled in a lot and then took it over.

Killed it selling mistletoe sprigs door to door around Christmas when I was probably around 7.
 
Started out delivering papers when I was 12, as soon as I could legally get a route. Did some fill-in for older neighbors at an even earlier age. Passed the route to my sister, who became the first official "papergirl" for the newspaper.

Eventually moved up to working in the soil testing laboratory for the local University Ag school (not in NC). Continued that through my college summers. Had a job giving out keys to music practice rooms during school. Easy money, and time to study except for a few days each semester, when there was major demand.
 
I was the dipshit driving the range cart at a local golf club. I also cleaned the carts as they came back and members' clubs. All for minimum wage which, back then, was $3.80/hour.


This was during high school.
 
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Summer after freshman year: McDonald's drive-thru order taker - Tampa, FL
Summer after sophomore year: Philly Zoo customer service and banquet hall server - Philadelphia, PA
Summer after junior year: Accounting intern at semi-conductor manufacturer - Singapore
Summer after fourth year: Internship with Big 5 Accounting firm, 1 summer school session and lots of nights drinking at Freddie B's - Winston-Salem
Summer after graduation - None, spent all my money before starting my full-time job in September
 
While at Wake, I worked in the Library for work-study. Freshman year I worked in the back putting spine labels on books. Sophomore through Senior year I worked circulation and shelving.

Summers I worked at the grocery store.

Right after graduation, I worked a 12 hour night shift factory job since I needed money and insurance (Worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; was off Monday and Tuesday; worked Wednesday and Thursday; off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; worked Monday and Tuesday; off Wednesday and Thursday). This was the same factory my dad has worked in for the past 34 years. It was hard work and I gained a lot of respect for my dad for working like that for so long to provide for us.

After I got laid off from the factory job, I was unemployed for a few months then started working for a sub-prime consumer finance company doing small loans, car loans, and mortgages. I hated that job but it paid for grad school.

During grad school, I was a graduate research assistant the first year then interned in the HR department for the City of Winston-Salem. Following that I was a budget analyst in Alexandria, VA and now Roanoke VA.
 
I still can't figure out the work study thing. Wake wouldn't let me get paid for being a basketball manager (usually 20-30 hrs a week) but there were several kids that I knew who drove a Lexus or Mercedes and vacationed in their home in the Hamptons that did qualify for work study.
 
I started working for my Dad about age 7, sweeping floors and cleaning up in his woodworking shop. I think I got $1.75 an hour (late 70's). I worked for my Dad off and on through college.

I mowed lawns with my brothers from about age 8 or so until I left for college. We mowed about 5 yards plus a church, cemetery and a ball field. I probably pulled in $125 a month in the warm months. I thought I was rich.

When I was 14, I got a job at a local ratty seafood restaurant as a fry cook and dishwasher. Minimum wage was about $3.25 an hour. I got fired after 3 months because I was hitting on the owner's granddaughter (which I was).

When I was a senior in high school, I got a job as a stocker/ bagger at the local Winn Dixie. I really liked that job and even seriously considered entering their management training program after college.

The summers after my freshman, sophomore, and junior years at Wake, I worked on a farm, picking watermelons and cantaloupes. I was part of a pretty rough 7-man crew. It was a eye-opener for me- the first summer, I was the only one that didn't spend at least a few nights in jail. I made $6 a hour but I was able to work about 80 hours a week. I saved every dime and used it towards tuition.

After my junior year, I lived at Kitty Hawk and worked at a PT clinic during the day and Kmart at night.
During school all four years, my work study job was as a student athletic trainer, working mostly with football and basketball. These were some of my best memories as a student at Wake.
 
DeacGeneral11 said:
I still can't figure out the work study thing. Wake wouldn't let me get paid for being a basketball manager (usually 20-30 hrs a week) but there were several kids that I knew who drove a Lexus or Mercedes and vacationed in their home in the Hamptons that did qualify for work study.
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That definitely wasn't me and wasn't the case for the folks I knew with work study jobs at Wake when I was there. I did 4 years at Wake sans vehicle...and only did 1 week of vacationing at Yaupon Beach, NC.
 
Mowed Lawns throughout high school. Also every summer worked for a general contractor/landscaper. Learned a bunch during that job. Nice to know how to do things around the house now too.

I worked a variety of jobs at Wake. I was an RA, worked in IM office, and in Library.

During summers at Wake I worked one summer in DC for the Dept of Education, one summer at a restaurant a friends dad owned, and the other two summers doing logistics for the organization I am currently working with now
 
First jobs for pay were little leage scorekeeper and soccer linesman/referee. I think I started scorekeeping around 10 yrs old and linesman/refereeing around 12. After that it was Pizza Hut in HS until I got fired. In college I worked in the Intramural Dept. as a supervisor and referee and at Shorty's as a provider of free beer.
 
I know I went back to CT Golfland at least one or two of my summers in college - maybe all three.

I had an internship spring of my senior year that turned into a full-time job, so I had no summer vacation after I graduated. Left W-S Monday afternoon after graduation to head back to Connecticut and pack up my stuff, and moved it back down to Winston four days later and started work that Monday.
 
First job was as dock girl/general office help at the marina in town. That would have been the summer before my junior year in HS. The next summer I was at Governor's School. The spring/summer I graduated from HS I checked groceries; did that again the summer after freshman year.

Then the summer after sophomore year I started working in a shop in Manteo. After a week I got a call from the National Park Service on Thursday; they needed someone who could start the next Monday as a seasonal ranger at Fort Raleigh. I gave one day's notice at the shop and started with the Park Service as an interpretive ranger (tour guide). Went back the next two summers doing talks and tours at Wright Brothers and Fort Raleigh. Best job ever but didn't pay much at all.
 
mebanedeac said:
What was it?
How old were you?
How much did you make?
How long did it last?
What did you learn from it, if anything?
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Made popcorn at the bank on Saturday mornings

6th grade

$4.75 an hour for four hours

every other weekend for about two years

Old people like popcorn
 
First job was the freestanding Chick-Fil-A on Walnut Ave in Dalton, GA (just off the I-75 exit) and I started when I was 15. Worked there for a little over 3 years and averaged about 15-20 hours per week. Started at whatever minimum wage was and when I quit I was making $.10 over minimum wage. I couldn't commit to more hours so they wouldn't promote me to a manager. Though I ate CFA on my breaks at least 2x (often more) per week for 3 years, I never got tired of it. I enjoyed the people I worked with, but man, that job was shit.

The summer after HS, over Christmas break my freshman year and my first summer of college, I worked in the "Young Men's" and shoe departments of JC Penney at the Walnut Square mall in Dalton. That job taught me how to cope with profound boredom. Compared to fast food, it was the greatest job in the world.
 
First job where I got a W2 was working a summer in a J. P. Taylor packing plant. They packed flue cured tobacco into big wooden barrels. Cleared about $55 for 40 hours. Plant was a dinky warehouse, maybe 10,00 sq feet and was so dusty you couldn't see one side to the other. My job was to stack like grade sheets of tobacco into stacks of 4. Sheets weighed around 200 pounds. Took 2 guys to pick up the sheets. I was 16 and weighed about 135 lbs. Was drinking Nehi grape drinks constantly just to breathe. Kidneys were killing me and blowing massive quantities of crap out of my nose in the shower after work. By far the worst job I experienced.

Next job was bag boy/stocking peon in the local A&P grocery. Great job, was making 4.40/hour there 20 to 30 hours a week when I went off to college. Gas was .32/gal. Had more spending money working there in high school than at any time in my life..
 
I worked evening hours and weekends as "mechanic" at a bowling alley. i was fifteen and needed to get working papers. For both AMF and Brunswick machines most common problems, table won't reset pins, ball won't return, etc, are attributable to just a few things that anyone could learn to fix after about an hour of training. If the problem could not be fixed by addressing those few causes, I would shut down the lane and the real mechanic would fix it when he came in the next morning. And he would always be pissed and leave me hand-written notes telling me what I should have done.

I also came in at the crack of dawn weekend mornings and cleaned up the shit mess from the night before and basically cleaned EVERYTHING in the place. I started at $1.75 an hour.
 
What was it? Moving, cleaning, organizing at a Furniture Store
How old were you? 15
How much did you make? Oh lord, whatever minimum wage was at the time.
How long did it last? 2 summers
What did you learn from it, if anything? Customer Service, working with different types of people, the feeling of going home at the end of the day sweaty and tired

During college for Summer and Winter breaks I worked as the Delivery/Shipping guy for a gift basket company. During school I was a RA.
 
First job for pay was as a bat boy for the Carolina Mudcats minor league baseball team. I was 16 years old and made a cool $15 a game. I would arrive around 3 PM for a 7 PM game and usually leave around 11 PM, so it worked out to about $2 per hour. Still pretty cool. That was an awesome team -- Jason Kendall, Tony Womack, Elmer Dessens.
 
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