I have been working ever since I was 14 and I've had some interesting experiences. Actually, I've been working ever since I was 11 but I'm not counting babysitting. I'm counting jobs where I earned a paycheck.
My first job lasted two years (ages 14 - 16). I worked as a clerk at a local clothing store. Since I was a teen, most of my paycheck went into buying clothes. I met my first uncloseted gay person at this job. The poor guy got really harrassed by some co-workers. These co-workers weren't cream of the crop though. One guy was particularly gross and kept telling me that I didn't look like a teenager. He wound up getting fired when management found out he had a police record for drunk driving that wound up killing a toddler. I remember a particularly flustering customer experience: a priest was in my check-out line with a basket full of underwear. As I rang up everything, I was so perturbed by the thought of a priest wearing tighty whities, I screwed up something and turned magenta when I wound up having to page a manager.
After I quit the clothing store job, I wound up working for the local CVS. That lasted two years as well. We got a 20% off discount that extended to our family. I was a cashier and the work was pretty ho-hum. For some reason I was cigarette blind for this job. When a customer asked for a certain brand of cigarettes, I wound stand in front of the case scanning the package labels until the customer got fed up and directed me to the correct pack. I loved Marlboro smokers because I could always find that bright red pack. Cashiers are supposed to "face" the aisles during down-time. Facing is straightening up products on shelves. I hated trying to multi-task and hearing the customer ring the bell for a cashier. One night I was closing up the store when a customer tried to get in. The door was locked and I shouted through saying we're closed. Then, he went apeshit screaming about how he needed his medication and started banging on the door. I slowly edged out of his line of sight and had a male co-worker walk me to my car. My senior year in high school, I played Aunt Eller in the annual high school musical. The show was sold out every night. It was very weird working at CVS during that time. I would have customers giving me strange looks and finally figuring out where they knew me from. My brief encounter with fame, sigh... Then, I went off to college and tried to pick up shifts during breaks but that didn't really work out so I quit.
I held a variety of jobs during the college years. For winter breaks, I worked for the Ford Foundation at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. I was part of a team who processed grant applications. It was pretty interesting work and made me research government processes. There were some strange applications i.e. for non-nuclear mulch.
The summer between freshman year and sophomore year, I worked at Continental Cablevision as a customer service rep. I had a headset, made service calls and pay your bill calls. I had to learn how to say pay your bills in Spanish when I called Lowell. Then, after a couple months my boss promoted me to manager so I got to get off the phones, manage shifts and use the computer to schedule service appointments. During this time, my family got free cable with all the movie stations. Even though I only worked for the summer, my family got free cable for almost a year.
The winter of sophomore year, I got a job at Moto Photo. It was pretty fun preparing negatives and seeing the whole process behind picture development. I did occasional cashier work. The store charged outrageous prices for film development - since I got a discount, I could afford the development. The owner was pretty scattered and manic. I tried to work full-time during the summer between sophomore and junior year but her mania and erraticness got worse and worse. She lost the negatives for a $500 portrait shoot for a Harvard grad and tried to pin the blame on me and my co-workers. I wound up quitting in July.
The summer between junior and senior year, I lived in Amherst alone. I tried working for Clean Water Action and lasted a day. I didn't mind canvassing neighborhoods asking for money but I did mind canvassing obviously depressed neighborhoods where folks were barely getting by. One particular visit broke me. It was an elderly woman who seemed very lonely, got to talking about her husbands surgery and all the bills they had piling up. Then, he showed up in the doorway with a huge scar on his torso. I lamely tried my spiel and when they turned me down, I walked around the corner, sat down and started crying. When I gave my notice, I found out the manager who oversaw my group had been accused of sexually harrassing girls and I was asked if I was quitting due to that. Luckily, I wasn't. Since I had rent to pay, I got a temp job. The agency I worked for were excellent and got me a steady stream of jobs in the area. In mid-July, an opening came up at Phoenix Life Insurance for a mail team member. That job lasted 6 weeks, paid amazingly well, and was one of the most fun jobs I ever had. A bunch of college age temps sat around a table stuffing envelopes for 8 hours. We got to bring in music and talk all day. As the weeks passed by, the group dwindled. There was this one guy, Nate, who I had my eye on. In the last couple of weeks, it was just him and I. We wound up hanging out after work as well. I kind of thought we were dating but in retrospect I think we weren't. Thus began my weakness for male co-workers.
After I graduated (barely), I got a job in Boston at a performing arts organization as an Admin. The job paid horribly but gave me a nice group of friends. Plus, working in Boston with friends means fun in the city. This is where I met Adam. Yes, I was a peon. I had two bosses. One was very supportive and understanding, the other was a bitch on wheels. When she was in the office, the mood was considerably darker. If I was screamed at, at least I had the support of my friends. That group of friends started dwindling after a year. In fact, 3 gave their notice within 1 month. I couldn't work at the company without the moral support so I wound up quitting as well with no plan, no job lined up. Hell, I was living with my parents rent-free.
Over four months, I used up my savings and wound up looking for a job. I got a faculty admin job at a local college. That job started out great but over four and half years, constant staff turnover, two different bosses, and faculty sabbaticals it became hell.
So, here I am at my 8th job working at a laboratory device manufacturing company as a staff admin earning more money than I have ever earned, with a supportive boss, and endless opportunity in the company. A pretty good path I have taken, huh?
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