I’m thinking that almost everyone started out with the average part-time highschool jobs. But I’m interested to see how the jobs progressed. Make a list, first job to present, and explain below, if desired/needed.
Here goes:
Gardener
Laundromat
Retail (clothing)
Pharmacy
Rehab
I’m young, so my list isn’t long. Hopefully won’t get much longer, I have my current dream job working overnights in a rehab. Love it! 
We’ve done this before, and I’ve had so many jobs that it’s hard to remember them all. I’ll give it a shot:
Paper route
Babysitting
Burger King
McDonald’s
Clown at the Ground Round
Pumped gas
Office work at a furniture store
Sold cameras and CB equipment
Convenience store
Refrigerator repair company
Waitress
Dry cleaners
Construction company
Answering service (and we used the old-fashioned plug boards)
two waitressing gigs up in the mountains
Credit insurance company
Accounting firm
Telecommunications admin assistant
Steel industry
Educational publishing - editorial assistant
Fire safety
Construction company
Defense contracting
Temp agency placement specialist
Temp agency again as Admin Asst. (ditzy co-worker used to tell me “Smile when you talk to Sarah!”)
Admin in Sears legal dept.
Admin in Sears soft goods
Admin in Sears hardware offices
Admin in Sears IT dept.
IT administrative work on 5 separate accounts
Paperboy- middle school afternoons
Prep worker at restaurant- HS summers
Fry cook at restaurant- HS summers
Deli/meat market- college summer (1 month)
Stagehand- college summers
Deliveries for sandwich shop- during college
Stagehand- college summers
Stagehand- post college
Bartender- during law school
Lawyer
HS jobs (can’t remember the order):
Chocolate factory (one summer)
Assemble electric motors (one summer)
Data entry
Putting papers in envelopes (Or whatever it’s called. I helped out a company when they were doing large mailings to all their clients)
During university:
Politician
Campaign worker
Post university jobs:
Researcher in Parliament
Consulting
Government Agency
Pharmaceutical Company
High School
NASA - summer high school internship
NASA - came back for more the next year
Burger King grill cleaning / floor sweeping monkey
Gas station clerk
College
Computer repair technician / New PC sales
Hotel front desk clerk
Telephone computer tech support guy
Wireless phone sales
Real Life
Aerospace engineer
For over twenty years of employment, my resume is quite short:
[ul]
[li]Burger King (progressed to assistant manager)[/li][li]Office Max (became a supervisor for the electronics department)[/li][li]Manpower Technical (performed tests on printers)[/li][li]Call center agent (booking travel for credit cardholders)[/li][/ul]
Fast Food Cashier
Retail Employee
US Army
Buyer
Facilities Buyer
IT Buyer
Purchasing Manager
Mechanical Buyer
State Park worker (High school)
Waitress (HS)
Fast food worker (HS)
Poultry farm worker (College)
Research Tech at poultry farm
Hardware store clerk
Hardware store manager
Accounting clerk
Accounting supervisor
Accounts receivable manager
IT Tech
Junior database administrator
Database administrator
Senior database administrator
Tobacco ground leaf gatherer
Tobacco leaf sprayer
Tobacco chopper and spearer
Tobacco hanger
Lawn maintenance
Chicken thief
Sales scammer
Janitor
Pool shark
Computer operator
Soldier
Computer programmer
Microwave Communications
Communications Plt Sgt
Military operations planner
IT support helpdesk
Systems Analyst
Testing Team lead
Systems designer
Senior Analyst
Bar Owner/DJ
SW Engineer Manager/Lead
Systems Engineer
Paper boy
Gas station attendant
Pilot (scenic flights)
Gas station attendant
Airborne radar operator
Twin piston engine pilot
Twin turbo-prop pilot (first officer)
Twin turbo-prop pilot (captain)
It’s all pretty much gone to plan apart from a small glitch in the middle where I was without work. I’m 34 so plenty of time for advancement, though there is no real practical advancement left with my current employer.
Chicken Thief?
Here are my jobs, ages 15-36:
Janitor/light maintenance - retail craft shop
Picture framer - retail craft shop (a promotion! Still minimum wage.)
Library drone (pasted barcode labels in books. Thousands of them.)
cafeteria worker (Christ, that job was gross)
research assistant to a political science professor (I got mentioned in the acknowledgements!)
construction laborer
print shop drone (counted tiny pieces of film)
Red Cross disaster relief
Bartender at a club for rich pricks
IT analyst (later manager)- manufacturing company
Database developer - legal aid organization
IT analyst/security - healthcare organization
IT analyst/security - another healthcare organization
IT analyst - yet another healthcare organization
IT security officer - same place as above
There were a few volunteer IT gigs in there too – mostly Access development, some security assessments.
And… hopefully I’ll add another to the list soon. I’m moving to Columbia, Missouri this year.
I hear tobacco bugs are pretty fucking creepy. Is that true?
A lot of these overlap. I seem drawn to small family firms where I end up doing two or three disparate jobs under one paycheck.
Telemarketer
Waitress
Running Children’s Birthday Parties
Assistant to Wardrobe, Blackfriar’s Theater
Photon (Harvey - Chicago South) Manager
Teen Dance Club Concession Stand Drone
Costume Mistress, College Theater*
Newborn Nanny
CSR, Blockbuster Video
Manager, Blockbuster Video
Perfume Sprayer, Hugo Boss
Administrative Assistant, alt med clinic
Person Who Gets Shit Done Around Here, herb and massage school**
Massage Therapist/Medicinal Herbalist
Nanny, redux
SAHM/babysitter
And, in two years, I get to add:
Nurse
I feel like I’m leaving stuff out, but I can’t think what…
*Included design, build and archiving. And occasionally talking a bulimic college actress off the roof.
**I was one of two employees. The one was the herbal pharmacist, the other was me. I did everything: designing and printing flyers, signing people up for classes, processing payroll, billing and payable for two businesses plus the personal accounts of the owners, writing student handbooks/course catalogs, getting and renewing state approval, maintaining a student database and grades, issuing transcripts, scheduling classes, changing sheets in the treatment rooms and more. And I was still working as the AA for the alt med clinic in the same building. Nearly killed me, those jobs did. Seriously.
Retail clerk (family store)
Medical assistant (did EKGs and drew blood for testing)
OTB betting parlor manager
TV technical worker
TV sports talk show host
Assistant manager at a Spencer Gifts
Radio advertising sales
Editor of directory for Human Services organization
Information and Referral specialist
Assistant editor for a newsletter
Volunteer coordinator
Software documentation
Technical writer
Administrative assistant for a power plan construction project
Technical writer/computer graphic designer
Freelance technical writer
Desktop publishing specialist & general computer guru.
User Services specialist
Instructional technologist.
Bus Boy
Hooters Cook
Waiter
Bouncer
Substitute Teacher
Gun Range Manager/Firearms Instructor
Machinegun/Special Weapons Dealer, SWAT Instructor
Dolphin Hospital Volunteer
US ARMY
Some of those were concurrent. That’s the general timeline, though.
I’m sure I’m leaving some out, but I remember:
Lawn Maintenance
Orchard Maintenance
Fast-food grill jockey
Semi washer
Assistant photo hut builder
Security Guard
Retail manager – photo
Retail – record store
Retail – agricultural products
Free-lance photography
Camper shell construction and sales
Courier
Courier manager
Substitute teacher
High School teacher
My sister volunteered as an addicted baby cuddler at the hospital for a while. :(
Child Care
Cafeteria Worker
Writing Tutor
House Cleaner
Environmental Scientist / Consultant
Consultant to National Nuclear Security Administration
Still haven’t made Fire Fighter though, which at age 8 I swore up and down would be my career.
Me neither. I got as far as volunteer for a rural department. I scored well on the series of tests to qualify for the St. Louis FD, but didn’t make it in. I am likely too old now. Alas.
I was a house cleaner, too. And I worked for a roofing company, as well.