# Does your first "real" job even exist anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303 "2014-07-16T21:30:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bunyupp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@bunyupp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunyupp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/21 "2014-07-16T23:28:10Z")
No. In 1972 I worked on an RCA television assembly line placing resistors, capacitors, etc. into little circuit boards [afterwards the boards went through a solder bath]. (I think I was making $1.35/hour) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/22 "2014-07-17T00:47:52Z")
My school jobs don’t. I was a pin-setter at a bowling alley. College summers, I worked in a canning factory, loading cases of peas and corn onto pallets. I doubt if that is still done by hand, but it might be, basic warehousing. First job after college was disc jockey at radio station, and that barely exists anymore. Everything is preprogrammed digitally, from a satellite, including the pre-recorded announcer cut-ins, and very few small-market radio stations have a duty announcer in the building, except maybe a few hours in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/23 "2014-07-17T00:53:57Z")
The type of job, yes: customer service/cashier/stocker. The company, though, no. It was a franchised candy store concept, long since shuttered. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/24 "2014-07-17T01:00:51Z")
Pizza delivery is bigger now than it was when I did it. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/25 "2014-07-17T01:13:21Z")
First real job was working at a discount store called Family Bargain Center in 1996. Stores were too small to specialize, so everybody had to cashier/stock/help customers/clean store. The chain went out of business ten years ago due to overexpansion, but obviously retail work still exists. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/26 "2014-07-17T01:17:30Z")
My first paying job was a part-time stint in high-school as a busboy in a restaurant, so yes. My first full-time job was a doughnut maker at Dunkin’ Donuts, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/27 "2014-07-17T01:30:40Z")
Yep, my first “real” job still exists: Worked the counter and flipped burgers at Jack In The Box. My _second_ real job does not exist any longer: After a short stint at JIB, I moved on to the Silver Dollar Saloon at [Frontier Village](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Village). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/28 "2014-07-17T01:34:12Z")
Law clerk to a judge. Plenty of clerkships around; probably more now than then. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/29 "2014-07-17T01:35:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > My first paying job was a part-time stint in high-school as a busboy in a restaurant, so yes. > > My first full-time job was a doughnut maker at Dunkin’ Donuts, so yes. Actually, while those types of jobs do still exist, that restaurant doesn’t anymore, and neither does that particular Dunkin’ Donuts. So yes and no. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/30 "2014-07-17T01:40:33Z")
My first real job was working on a farm. The job of farm worker still exists but that particular farm doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/31 "2014-07-17T01:51:22Z")
First paying job that I needed training and references for was babysitting. Still pretty common, I think. First office job was a water department working as a filing clerk and cashier. Also likely to be around for a while, even though I bet it is a lot more automated these days. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/32 "2014-07-17T01:58:58Z")
My first real job was as a door person and bouncer. And until they can make a 75 IQ robot, that job isn’t going anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/33 "2014-07-17T02:44:16Z")
Yes, but it’s different. The store where I was a stocker/cashier doubled in size and completely changed orientation. And when I worked there in the 90s they still didn’t have price scanners, nor did they accept credit cards (for those in Ohio, it’s Marc’s). Now they have scanners that scan most things, and they accept Discover cards. So instead of like the 50s it’s more like the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/34 "2014-07-17T02:49:23Z")
Well, it’s kind of a toss-up among janitoring, lawn mowing, and corn detasseling, and they all still exist. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/35 "2014-07-17T02:50:17Z")
First part-time job? Yep, people still scoop ice cream. First full-time, post-college job? Yep, people still help refugees get retrained and find jobs. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/36 "2014-07-17T03:00:58Z")
No. In 1977 I was drafting trade show exhibits made of 1x4s, Masonite, and 3/4" birch plywood, in pencil, while standing at a drafting board. Both the product and the process are obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/37 "2014-07-17T03:06:06Z")
I worked at a pager store. We sold pagers and pager accessories. (This was actually not my first job out of college, but it was my first non-temp, completely supporting myself job.) ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/38 "2014-07-17T04:13:02Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Yes, there are still plenty of radio DJs working insane hours for minimal pay. However, there are a lot fewer of them than there were in your day. At corporate-owed (i.e. Clear Channel) stations in medium markets on up, a DJ will typically appear on the airwaves of at least two or three different stations under different names. He or she can “track” a four-hour air shift in about a half hour by reading their pre-determined song intros and outros one after the other, then letting a computer stitch everything together and spit it back out. Just about the only “live” DJs in all but the largest markets are heard on morning shows. Everything else is canned. In my market, the last and only station that actually had a real human being who gathered local news and reported it on the air fired that person a few weeks ago. It’s a Clear Channel station, of course. Welcome to “radio” in the 21st century…what a joke. ETA: I didn’t realize that jtur88 had already told essentially the same story. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/39 "2014-07-17T04:19:43Z")
I’m still working my first full-time job. It’s administrative work involving the use of computers. I think it’ll exist for perhaps one more decade. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303/40 "2014-07-17T04:37:27Z")
My first job was as a research assistant in a poultry genetics lab. As long as there is research to be done there will be some poor student [doing unmentionable things](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16461764&postcount=58) to chickens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-first-real-job-even-exist-anymore/693303.md?page=3)