# Your First Job **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707 "2012-05-22T13:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lizlizliz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/db5fbb/32.png) [@lizlizliz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizlizliz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/41 "2012-05-23T05:54:16Z")
Games operator and retail stand clerk at a kiddie amusement park when I was 16. My advice: treat EVERY customer as though they’re a secret shopper who might write a review of you. (Guess who got reviewed while having a bad day and wasn’t asked to come back and work the next year?) ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/42 "2012-05-23T05:54:30Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > My first job was cleaning fish in Ketchikan AK for a summer at age 16. Long days of blood, guts, smell, cold, and wet. I was going to add that “I loved it,” but I have a feeling that view is influenced by the fact that it’s 35 years in the rear view mirror. At the time, I was probably simply cold, wet, and smelly. Hehe, judging by my stints crab processing, I agree with you that it’s probably the tint of the rear-view mirror making it look so pretty. 😛 Aside from yardwork/babysitting/paper delivery, my first time-card job was…babysitting. At a health club. :smack: Soon after that I got a bagger job at a grocery store; the advice given upthread is about all you can use; everything else is learning by doing. 🙂 And good on her; I hope she enjoys it a little bit, at least. If she’s there after a year, let her know she can move on and look for something else; she’s not stuck there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/43 "2012-05-23T12:58:55Z")
Paid? Book store, Waldenbooks, many decades ago. Loved it. $2/hr, mucho dinero. Spent most of it on books, purchased at a discount. They put me in charge of the Science Fiction section. Worked some construction in college. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/44 "2012-05-23T13:36:04Z")
Oh. I never added my advice to the new worker. I’ll just echo others: Be on time Slackers that arrive late and leave early are a real irritant with me. Being on time is the easiest part of the whole job. If you can’t get that part right… ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/45 "2012-05-23T13:45:12Z")
My first continuing job was as assistant to the director at a funeral parlor. My advice? Remember that in any job, there will be laughs, if you only look for them. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/46 "2012-05-23T14:11:22Z")
My first real, had-to-apply-for-and-received-a-paycheck\* job was as a busboy for Planet Hollywood Chicago, during my sophomore year in university. Boy it was an eye opener. Shitty pay, but fun! The obvious advice - show up on time, work hard, be the guy/gal that everyone likes. \*I’ve had other jobs before, but they were all stipend-funded research/work-study positions. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707/47 "2012-05-23T14:42:20Z")
I worked at a Rax roast beef for a whopping $2.85 an hour. Somehow, Rax managed to decide that minors didn’t have to be paid minimum wage; they thought sub-minimum would suffice. I stayed there for three months until a gig as a page at the local county library opened up. That was a county gig, so I got a raise to $3.58, above minimum, which was $3.35 at the time. I was rollin’ in the dough! After a year and a half, I got a raise to something like $4.11 and was one of the highest paid high school seniors in my class. LOL I worked there for two years and saved 90% of what I made. ALL of it was completely wiped out after paying for just one quarter of tuition. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-job/622707.md?page=2)