15 Stories That Prove the First Job Can Be a Thrilling Journey

We can change a lot of jobs in a lifetime. But the first one will definitely never be erased from our memory. This is why our today’s heroes are those whose career path began a long time ago.

• My first real paying job was awesome! There were 2 waterslides very close to my house, so at 16 I didn’t have to drive far. Then I got $3.35 an hour to lay out in the sun and blow a whistle at kids! For my bubble-headed teen self, it was a dream job!! © godleymama / Reddit
• I was 17, about 3 months from my 18th birthday. I tried my luck and went for a job interview at a big local company that sold phones for home, office and mobile phones. And they hired me... During the first couple of weeks, I realized that besides mobile phones and covers, people needed car chargers, which we didn’t have. I suggested this idea to the management a couple of times, which was refused.
  After the 5th person asked for a car charger, my inner businessman couldn’t stand it, and I bought car chargers at the wholesale market for my entire advance payment. This was how I earned more than my monthly salary in a week. However, I spent it too quickly. © Mr.tip / Pikabu
• I was 12 and worked in an ice cream shop, scooping ice cream. A small girl isn’t good at that, but it gave me enough nickels to buy a candy bar that day! It was 1965. No one really paid attention to kids helping out. I wish candy was still a nickel. © Imaginary-Junket-232 / Reddit

• When I was 6, I fed my neighbor’s fish for a month. I dumped the whole canister of food in the bowl the first day and the fish never died. Got paid $20. © Theresa_Isaacs1 / Reddit
• I started working in tech support at a bank. I got a call from a woman who told me that the ATM wouldn’t accept her large note, and she had to buy 7 cans of corn to get smaller notes. When asked why not just 1 can of corn, but 7, she said there was some kind of promotion, something like “7 for the price of 6.5.” We talked for half an hour. It ended with her promising to sue us and “return every penny.” © MSTRDRFT / Pikabu
• At my first job, I accidentally knocked over a giant stack of cases of glass-bottle 6 packs while crawling over piles in the back room looking for a case of who-knows-what that we were supposed to have in inventory. It’s actually a fond memory now, but I was pretty sure I was going to get fired. Instead, I just had to spend a lot of time with a mop. © well_uh_yeah / Reddit
• In 8th grade, my dad gave me a summer job. Dad has his own construction company. The evening before the first day, I ask my dad, like, what time we’re leaving tomorrow. He looks at me and says, “What do you mean by ’we’re leaving’? The boss is coming at 9 a.m. And you have to be there by 8 a.m. They’re expecting you tomorrow, I told them about you.”
  Damn, it’s 30 minutes by car and an hour by bus. Here I realized that there would be no freebies, and I was already reluctant, but it was too late to back off. But it was great. I almost didn’t see my dad at work.
  During the first week, or maybe 2, I was very tired, so I would come home, eat something and immediately fall asleep. I was worried that the whole summer would go like that. But in the third week, I had enough strength to stay up late and even go for a walk or sit at the computer. I recall this summer with a smile. © Qvistoffer / Pikabu

• I was a teenager working as a dishwasher in a restaurant. The manager told me to move some boxes in a storage room. This was not a task I had ever been asked to do before.
  Later that day, he claimed some items were missing from the storage room. I realized he had likely stolen some stuff, and he’d set me up to take the fall. It was a losing situation, so I just walked. It’s true, you can learn a lot by getting a job. © sir_wooly_merkins / Reddit
• I worked in a family restaurant. Learned what having a job was actually like, learned to cook on the grill and deep fryers, learned to work as a team, learned how to be more social, learned how to stand up for myself, and got my first girlfriend through that job. © HalfSoul30/ Reddit
• My first job was at a pet shop. I really liked it. I was in high school, and all the closers and weekend workers were also in high school. Or around my age.
  I was pretty good at my job, too. I got fired out of nowhere for a stupid reason after 3 years. I texted our little group that I got fired. They all quit instantly. Even over the phone.
  They lost about 8 employees within a 24-hour period. Which at the time was about half their employees. The store struggled for a while after that. © jaypreme13 / Reddit
• I was 22 when I got my first job. I tried to combine it with studies in university and agreed to work part-time in the office. I passed the interview and was hired. I was very nervous about it, but my mum was even more nervous. I am a very domestic child, and it was a stress for her that I would work with strange people and start earning money myself.
  I remember on my first day at work, I was busy working at my computer, and my boss came up to me. With a surprised look on his face, he handed me a plastic container. When I asked him what it was, he said that some woman gave it to him outside the office. She asked him not to offend her daughter and to give her pancakes for lunch, because I didn’t even have breakfast from nerves. © Not everyone will understand / VK

• I got my first serious job and was very nervous, especially because of the strict boss who never smiled. One day, he asked me to make an important report, and I double-checked it a hundred times to make sure I hadn’t made any mistake.
  The next morning, he came over and silently put a piece of paper with a little smiley face in the corner and nodded to me. That’s when I finally felt that my boss was a living person and not a robot. Since then, I’ve been working with confidence and, to be honest, I really enjoy my job. © Caramel / VK
• My first job was a waitress in one of the prestigious hotels in our city. At the same time, I studied in the field of restaurant and hotel business and always dreamed of working in this hotel, but at the reception.
  When I finished my studies, I got a job as a receptionist in another hotel, a smaller one, because they didn’t hire me here without experience. I worked there for a year and a half, got my first experience and tried to get my dream job at that hotel. And I succeeded!
  I’ve been working here for 2 years now, but you know what? I miss being a waitress so much! It was the most interesting and fun time of my life. I often go to the kitchen to my former colleagues and chat with them. © Work Stories / VK
• I work in the HR department of a big company, and recently we got a new employee. The guy was hired right after university, this is his first job, so I was sympathetic to the fact that he was slow sometimes.
  I asked him to bring 4 photos for papers, but he brought more and took his child’s photo album with him. He sat down next to me, started showing me the house where he grew up, his parents, how he was in a Pinocchio costume at a children’s carnival. Out of politeness, I looked at a few pages, and then clarified what kind of photos I needed. © Caramel / VK
• When I got my first job, I quickly became friends with one coworker. We were inseparable. He was kind, sympathetic, but only until 6 p.m. After that he would as if turn into a pumpkin — didn’t respond to messages, avoided meeting me.
  6 months later, I found out that he was keeping an eye on me at our boss’s request. He was making sure that I worked normally and that I didn’t tell anyone any corporate secrets. In general, the coworker turned out to be not a friend, but the “eyes” of the boss. © Caramel / VK

If you enjoy reading stories about work, check out this selection.