So, we often discuss a lot of career and "where we are in life" topics here but I'm curious about your jobs BEFORE your career. What jobs did you have? Were they good/bad/fun? Do you miss any of them? Were you lucky to live through them?
Posted by IntrovertBiker@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 48 comments
I'll start:
I worked in a carpet warehouse, then an industrial painter, after that I was a dishwasher and fry cook for a large local restaurant/caterer, then I was an overhead/height worker (billboards), and an animal caretaker for a large animal research/science housing facility (did that when I was in university).
Out of all of them, I was REALLY lucky to live through it (no exaggeration at all) but I miss a lot of things about the overhead/billboard job the most, I could never do it now though.
(yeah, I don't know if that's the best flair to pick but....whatever)
EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit
I worked in restaurants, delis, catering for almost a decade after high school. I became a great chef and creative in food arts. I love to cook so this was fun work! I was planning to go for a hospitality degree. But life had other plans. I became a mom and the hours in restaurant work is not great when raising kids. So I moved into corporate job and became an analyst. I work in cybersecurity governance now.
reepobob@reddit
At 11, I delivered a once a week newspaper.
From 12-16, I delivered a daily paper
From 16-18, I worked fast food (McDonalds and Arby’s)
From 18-23, I worked as a security guard to get through tech school then college
From 24-30, I worked as an electronics technician
From 30-55, I’ve been a manager of various levels in the industrial services industry
From 48-52, I worked in real estate and Uber’d after I got laid off just before Covid.
Odd jobs I did for one day or for a short stretch: RentACenter repo man assistant (worst job ever), annoying guy who asked for your signature on ballot petitions (2nd worst job ever), sales guy (NOT for me).
wordstogetherrandom@reddit
Waitress in 24 hour restaurant. Was fun sometimes, enjoyed my coworkers. Customers teach you about all the best and worst of humanity. DJ in a small local radio station. Think "Spirit of Radio" -Rush. "Glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity."
Emergency-Big-1503@reddit
Babysitting, mowing grass, shoveling snow and whatever "jobs" my parents loaned me out to thier friends for. Mostly yard cleaning and helping people move.
Once I got old enough, 14, I started helping in my uncle's repair shop and stopped doing the rest.
Been fixing things ever since.
Texaswheels@reddit
Had side jobs like mowing yards, shoveling snow, restocking the pop box for the gas station on the corner when i was in elementary and middle school. At 14 I got a job on a ranch in the panhandle of Texas and was part cowboy and part rancher, somedays on a horse, some on a tractor and some on your feet all day, I also rode bulls for 2 years and was on the front page of the Amarillo Sunday Sport page getting bucked off.
At 16 I quit to get a job in town at the mall at a place that sold snow skis because I wanted a discount. We moved, parents had a small gas station/cafe in the country that I would run, then wal mart in college, movie theater, borders books, customer service for AOL, Sprint, DirectTV. All shit jobs. Now I'm the Program Director and certified ski instructor at an adaptive ski school in CO.
Fussy_Fucker@reddit
The pizza place at 19 was fun. My friend was a manager. Other friends worked there. One time we traded a pizza for beer and shotgunned them in the back parking lot!
chimpyjnuts@reddit
I worked at a zoo/amusement park. Interesting. Convinced me I never wanted a public-facing job again.
Prize_Paper6708@reddit
I was a debt collector for a family lawyer part time while studying. It was fucking miserable.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
I was a family lawyer, can confirm.
Prize_Paper6708@reddit
I was about 19 listening to people whose lives are completely shattered trying to get them to pay tens of thousands of dollars they don’t have. I had anxiety going into work.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
Yep, I was 10 years older and putting them in that situation, but only because they asked me to. Being a lawyer sucked.
TheJokersChild@reddit
Started the career at 19 but had some off-field jobs in between jobs:
Greeting card proofreader
School photographer
Literal pet shop boy (3 whole weeks in retail at a pet supply place)
Customer service person
Paratransit driver
Almost had to take one of these types of jobs lat year.
slade797@reddit
Not necessarily in order:
Gas station attendant
Factory worker
Newspaper reporter/editor/publisher
Computer repair
Trucking dispatcher
Auto and heavy truck salesman
Construction safety manager
Firearms instructor
Firearms dealer
Social worker
Foster parent trainer
Community Support Specialist
Firefighter/EMT
Mental health therapist
I’m also an ordained minister, a notary public, and a Kentucky Colonel.
HypergolicHyperbola@reddit
From 7th grade through high school, ages 13 - 18 for those not in the USA, I worked dozens of odd jobs. Washing cars, mowing lawns, shoveling snow from walks, stocking shelves, throwing a news paper, bailing hay, swinging a machete, pulling weeds, fast food, babysitting, and working at a video arcade just after graduation. Some of the farm labor was pretty grueling, but it payed well over minimum wage and I appreciated that. I worked exactly one day on a sandblasting crew until the foreman found out I was under age. I spent a week working for the state Weights and Measures inspector loading steel calibration weights onto commercial scales in grain storage silos and at flour mills.
One of the interesting things was babysitting while in high school. Most babysitters were girls, but I took classes to get a babysitting certificate. It turned out that I got a reputation as the guy who would babysit the 'bad kids'. There were a couple of families that had boys whom they never disciplined. The kids were absolute terrors and eventually the girls in town refused to babysit. Once mom and dad had had enough of never getting a night out to themselves, they would call me. They would give me some variation of, "We don't care what you do. You are free to use whatever means necessary to keep our kid in line, just please take this job and let us have a night to our selves!" I made good money letting the kids tear the house apart and then forcing them to clean it all up before bed! The kids ended up liking me just fine after the first time or two, and I made good money. I was always sad for the kids that they were growing up half ferral.
Once I went off to college, I worked fast food for a couple of months before getting a good job as a delivery driver. It was awesome for learning the new city I'd moved to. Then I did a short stint right out of school working in my chosen field, but for low pay and for a dishonest boss who kept two sets of books. In 1989 I applied repeatedly to my current employer and eventually got hired that year. Still there and hoping to retire next year.
sungodly@reddit
As a teen, I worked in food service at an amusement park for three summers. The patrons often sucked but the whole place was pretty much run by teenagers, so it could be a blast too. Once a month or so, they're open a section of the park for us after hours and we'd get to ride the rides and have food and music for a couple of hours. Kinda cool.
Affectionate-Map2583@reddit
I've liked every job that I've had. These are the ones before my real career:
Grape picker at a vineyard
Horse farm worker
Horse trainer
Wholesale plant nursery
Summer camp in charge of horses and petting zoo
County park & planning office
WinninRoam@reddit
Summer break in 9th and 10th grade, I hung sheetrock. In 11th and 12th grade it was a mix of fast food and working as a sign painter.
After high school, I worked in retail (OfficeMax, then Office Depot). Then my daughter was born so I had to find a grown-up job. So I worked for a auto parts wholesaler, doing everything from delivering parts to helping the bookkeeper. They had their billing computer crash once and I, being the youngest person there, was assumed to "knew about computers" (this was circa 1995 and computers were still dark magic to a lot of people).
I didn't know jack about computers but opened the case anyway. I saw something that looked like it was supposed to be plugged into some kind of slot...so I put it back. The computer worked again, and I was the "whiz" who fixed it. 🤷♂️
Anyway, then the dotcom boom hit and suddenly my microscopic level of IT experience made me worth more than what I was making so I chased the money.
That's how I accidentally started my IT career. Been doing it in various forms for 30 years now.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
So similar to my start in IT. You knew a pinch more than the next guy and you were “an expert.”
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
I worked in a warehouse - don’t miss. Worked as a lifeguard at a water park - lol it was fun. Worked as an Infantryman - I miss some aspects of it. Being a Bradley Gunner was a lot of fun. I was a student for too long. I was a practicing lawyer - not fun, don’t miss it. Still have my license, don’t practice.
Maximum-Still-2484@reddit
In high school, I worked in a pharmaceutical warehouse. Did a lot of mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, cutting grass etc. But I also helped packing products like isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, aspirin, etc. Bottling hydrogen peroxide kind of sucked as it turned your fingertips white handling that stuff.
QueenofCross_871@reddit
I’ve had such a wide variety of jobs in my life, they’ve all led me up to where I am now. But along the way, I think one of my favorite jobs was working for an automobile auction. We would go pick up vehicles from all over the state, usually very nice cars, bring them back to the auction, check them in to run, then line them up to sell. It was really exciting! I got to drive some amazing cars I probably would have never had the opportunity to drive otherwise. Classic cars, enviable sports cars, luxury cars, and yes, occasionally there were the clunkers that shouldn’t have been allowed on the road, but for the most part, these were cars you were thrilled to be seen in. That experience taught me a lot about cars. Everything from how to read a VIN, to how to make an E-brake release when there’s no release lever. I miss that job, I worked with some amazing people, had way too much fun, and drove cool cars. Jobs like that don’t last forever, so I’m glad I got to enjoy it while I could.
IranticBehaviour@reddit
Never really had a job before my career. I occasionally babysat, mowed lawns and shoveled driveways to augment my allowance, but that's about it. I started basic training 2 months after grad, and retired 36 years later, almost to the day. I've arguably never had a real job.
Muggi@reddit
Best job ever was working for a tool rental company, run/owned by a moron. We had a great crew of guys, grew pot in the back lot, and had endless shenanigans.
When the boss went on vacation for a week, we closed at noon every day and set up a portable hot tub in the shop. Filled the soda machine with beer.
I had a cardboard box that fit perfectly over me while sitting on a folding chair. I cut an eye slot in it, would pull it over myself and sit in the middle of the shop. The moron would walk right past me screaming my name.
If you take the bucket off a Bobcat, you can make it roll on to its back easily. Makes the seat in it a great angle to take a nap.
The moron once accepted a job to rebuild an old motorcycle, didn’t tell any of us, just left this non-working bike in the shop…he came out a week later to see me and another guy trying to settle a bet about which could throw the bike further, a Bobcat or a Kubota tractor with a bucket on it.
Man…so many other stories. Good, good times
bluealien78@reddit
I bartended my way through college. Most fun job I ever had.
marcduberge@reddit
So did I. It was an amazing gig that I lucked into. I’m still friends with a couple of my coworkers
Grafakos@reddit
Burger King (fries and janitorial duty, mostly)
Domino's (delivery)
a horrible warehouse job where I lasted 4 days
dishwasher in my dorm cafeteria
grader and later TA at college
GalianoGirl@reddit
Not many people have worked scrubbing Geoduck necks. Mink coming up through the drains, under a constant spray of cold water.
unclefes@reddit
Dishwasher in high school. Bartender, short order cook, janitor, unloaded trucks at JCPenney, cleared farmland, drove a dump truck, tournament fishing reporter, online headline writer during college.
KurtStation68@reddit
Drive In - cook, protectionist, splicer McDonald's - slave Uncles catering business - cook and food prep College - Student Affairs Bank of America - regional vault clerk Bookstore - retail and maps
Career - Healthcare paper monkey 🐒
KurtStation68@reddit
University - DJ and entertainment
Since high school until 10 years ago - punk bands (writer/bassist) - paid gigs and shows.
Photographer of local bands
9inez@reddit
High school: - washed dishes until 2am at Swenson’s Ice Cream for one day - True Value Hardware - Delivered drugs…prescriptions for a pharmacy, mostly to old people
College: - delivered pizza - cleaned rental cars at Austin airport during summer ‘86. Record (at the time) consecutive days 100+ temps. Pretty rough after a nights of tequila. Fun fact, we had to go retrieve a Lincoln Town Car that The Cure rented…it was stuck in a median, two flat tires, bent rims. Various men’s/women’s clothing articles in there, and 3 joints retrieved. - bar tended
After college: - Collected 90+ day passed due loans on mobile homes (I mean “manufactured homes”) for 4 months at GE Capital. Most were in depressed oil patch in Bartlesville, OK. People in the room actually enjoyed this job and threatening people. I was done. - Worked for customs broker/freight forwarder. Had to observe customs agent frisk a dead body and search casket before it was shipped to Colombia. Also had to process import docs (on behalf of DEA) for some dumbasses importing “auto parts” from Ecuador. It was a few kilos of cocaine. Coworker and I parked at a distance from the airline cargo pickup point to see the how it went down. - Did some time in the O&G biz, scouring county courthouse records (all paper) for mineral owners around TX Gulf Coast. Digging back to Spanish land grants in South TX was interesting. - Eventually schooled more, started graphic design biz on the side at the beginning of the dotcom boom, quit O&G 2.5 yrs later, never looked back. Ready to retire soon and have adventurous fun while still physically fit.
blackpony04@reddit
I've shared my Pizza Hut waiter job I had from age 16 to 19 before (I made massive bank!), but I quit when I went away to a university after getting my Associate's at a community college.
For two summers I worked at my father's chemical plant where I learned that I definitely didn't want to do that for a living after having walked into a very slight anhydrous ammonia leak. Having your breath sucked out and eyes instantly watering tends to scare you at 20 years old.
I also worked at two different gas stations, one at home and the other back at school. The college one was fun because it was mainly students and I met a girl who lived 5 miles from the hometown I moved away from at age 15 when I saw her address on the check she wrote for gas. That was in New York state and we were in Illinois. Needless to say, that was an awesome ice breaker and we went out for a full semester and had a lot of fun. Like a lot. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.
That gas station sold during the summer and wasn't hiring when I came back so I took two jobs at school, one paid to call alumni for donations and the other voluntary as a judicial advocate for students. The cold calling gig didn't suck as much as you would think as this was 1991 and college was mostly still paid in cash, so alumni were pleasant and usually donated 10 bucks. The judicial advocate job was very satisfying as I argued a student shouldn't be expelled and won and it really told me I should go into law. Naturally, I didn't listen and to this day everyone that knows me says I should have been a lawyer because I can logically argue anything.
After I graduated, I took a copy machine sales job and hated it so much (cold calling by phone was not the same as cold calling in person). I would get my weekly quota of 20 business cards in 2 days and then spend the rest of the week reading books in a park. 3 months later I would take a customer service job for the cable company back home and planned to only work there for a year to pad my resume. I would end up staying for 17 years, parlaying that role into a technical management position.
hereforrule34@reddit
I started as a general employee at a grocery store doing whatever I was told
Worked at a personal loan company got shot at while out collecting (drive-by not targeted)
Was an associate at Service Merchandise
Worked as a courier for a large multi-specialty medical clinic, then security guard at said clinic and ended up being a medical assistant/head ball shaver in the urology clinic there.
Went into corporate credit and collections
Worked collections for a local credit union
Was HR/Safety manager at a lumber mill
Manager for Equity Auto Loan (was part of Titlemax) worst job and worst company ever.
Briefly night shift manager for a hospital housekeeping staff
Back to corporate credit and collections
Except for Equity I liked most of my co-workers and even bosses. My current employer has been my favorite even though I never intended to be in this line of work. I always wanted to be Indiana Jones.
jayhawkwds@reddit
I loved delivering Gumbys pizza in college. 4pm to 4am shifts, and we would go to the casino afterwards.
inode71@reddit
Paper boy
Stock boy at liquor store
Bus boy
Life guard
Pizza delivery
Copy shop
Graphic design
Then my 30 years of IT work.
HilariousBosch@reddit
I worked my way through college slinging and delivering pizzas. I was robbed once and escaped another attempt. Would not repeat the delivery aspects. I would work in the kitchen, but it didn't pay enough.
samuellbroncowitz@reddit
In order:
Bowling alleys from 92-03. Night manager, bartended (that was hands down the most fun), cook (also super fun, because the owner would let me do specials every couple of weeks, so I spent the whole shift actually cooking, not just dropping frozen shit into a fryer), mechanic (taught me trouble shooting and also greatly encouraged my belief in myself to fix things I've never touched). If the pay wasn't awful, I would still be doing it.
Furniture delivery (hated it, except the one time I delivered bar stools to Rancho Relaxo. Les wasn't home ), construction foreman (taught me building codes, how to read structural blueprints, and how to insult mothers in Spanish. I still owe you some beers, Pedro!), neon signs (the most potentially lethal job I've ever had), making/selling my own hot sauce, pinball restoration/repair.
After typing this out and reading it, my job experiences are not normal :)
Blue_Cloud_2000@reddit
I worked at a Church taking care of toddlers while their parents were at fellowship from age 9-17. It was really hard work and I was only paid 20 dollars to look after 6 kids. I was constantly changing diapers.
At 18, I was an admin at a university bio lab over the summer and taught 4 50 year old secretaries how to set up auto replies and filter for their emails and did the equipment audit for the entire lab. I did not love climbing under lab benches in my office attire, but it's not as though the other ladies could do it. I ate a lot of cake because the ladies loved to bake and they gave me a big bonus at the end of the summer.
At 19, I prepared slides and mixed solutions for a genetics lab -- this was absolute grunt work and the pay was terrible, but I wanted a recommendation letter from the head PI, which I did get. On the weekends, I did the odd catering job at museum events. The tips were really good, but my shoulders would be screaming from carrying trays and wiping down tables.
At 20, I catalogued periodicals and thesis journals and became the weekend open and closer for a University Maths library. The weekend pay was really good and I could usually get an hour or two of homework done if there was an away football game.
I graded 1st year Maths papers my last year of uni that I continued to do after I graduated and got a full time job because it was really good money and helped me pay off all of the student loans.
GwonWitcha@reddit
I had a job as an overnight security guard when I was young. It was at a really old shingle factory. Separate guard shack from the rest of the facility. All I had to do was walk the property once an hour make sure gates were locked. Doors were locked, and nobody was inside the building… It took about 10-15 minutes maybe. I started bringing in my acoustic guitar, a small portable color TV with a screen that was maybe 6 inches, and the recently released original PlayStation console, and would hook it up to the tiny portable TV screen… Good times.
Jas62021@reddit
Worked at a dry cleaners/ launders Small animal vet Eyeglass lens lab Banking Non profit as a copyright liaison Daycare Health insurance sales Seasonal kids zoo Many barns and stables
ttkciar@reddit
I was a fry cook at KFC for a while, and yeah, I was lucky to have lived through it.
In particular, once when I failed to properly latch a fryer and it was set to explode, the more experienced cook elbowed me out of the way to fix it, which provoked an entirely irrational stubbornness/pride response: I hip-checked him out of the way before he could fix it, and fixed it myself. My mistake, I fix!!
That had a happy ending, but it could have just as easily turned into a spectacular catastrophe, and by the expression on his face he totally knew it.
I'm also amazed to have gotten through that job without getting hand/finger infections, because the broken chicken bones would slash through our plastic gloves and skin when we breaded them, and there was no time to do it carefully. At the end of the day our hands were bleeding from myriad small cuts. We would joke that the "special herbs and spices" touted in the KFC advertisements of the time was really our blood mingled into the breading.
After that I had jobs in data collation and IT before transitioning into engineering (my real career path), but other than a couple minor cases of electrocution those weren't nearly as exciting as KFC.
ShouldersBBoulders@reddit
Tux & costume rental shop, video store, delivery driver from DC to several local mall stores.
Working at the tuck shop taught me how to sell people on things. It was a blast! Video store was a real cross-section of society. We had a small 'adult' section. I learned a lot about people who weren't at all like me or others I grew up around, and finding out most of them were good people too! Learning how to read people & not just trust everyone was key growth! Driving deliveries to several local malls was fun! Tooling down the freeway in a 20' dock-hi van with the slide doors open was too cool! Getting to go on the "secret road" under the mall then take the hidden hallways behind the stores. My girlfriend worked at one of the stores... I was in Stranger Things before it was a thing! I learned so much about other people and myself in those jobs & loved about every moment of it!
concerts85701@reddit
Worked in a used music store - CD’s/tapes/vinyl. Basically a pawn shop for music. Really loud music all day, getting stoned and putting cd’s back in alphabetic order was a decent day as a recent college grad.
mashed_pajamas@reddit
Price Chopper supermarkets. Worked my way up from bag boy to running the customer service desk (and sometimes being in charge of locking up tens of thousands of dollars, somehow?) at 18. Had a blast.
Dining hall in college. Made crepes and deli sandwiches and served up hot slop before realizing that the dish room was where the real party was. Best job I ever had.
Dotcom bubble era: Worked for a language learning website startup. Had no business working there. Free bagels in the morning. Ping pong table. Quit before they fired me. 2000 was wild.
Waited tables at one of those TGI Fridays clones. I was barely okay at it, ended up choosing the dead shifts with no money and somehow made ends meet. But the friends I made were lifers.
TyeMoreBinding@reddit
I feel like I did it all…
Washed semi trucks on Saturday mornings when the long haul drivers were home for the weekend.
Bagged groceries and collected carts at Kroger.
Barista at a coffee shop in the mall.
Bus boy at a high end restaurant.
Clean-up boy for a tree company
Server at a low end restaurant.
Server at a high end restaurant.
2 god awful shifts at a telemarketing firm.
Processed film at the 1-hr Photo Booth in the mall.
Sold weed paraphernalia (bongs, pipes, etc) on the weekend at a flea market.
Worked the cell phone stand inside Best Buy.
About the only thing I didn’t do was fast food.
I miss the mall days. Broke af back then, but life was never boring.
iwritesinsnotcomedy@reddit
I worked at Blockbuster from my junior year of high school until the summer after graduating college.
Repulsive-Box5243@reddit
I had paper routes, and then worked at a bakery/restaurant before my father moved us into his girlfriend's house, several towns away. I had no choice but to quit that bakery job. I loved it, actually. Very much.
I didn't work again until after college, when I started my gov IT career.
But I still miss that bakery.
cgund@reddit
Frozen yogurt, McDonald's, and then I hit the mother lode: Tower Records.