My first real job was right out of high school. I wanted to buy a car so I needed a job. So I answered an ad in the newspaper for orderlies at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis MO. The job I got was as a nursing assistant in the operating room. $1.40 an hour which wasn’t bad back in 1967. I had always had a fear of hospitals … just the smell when you walked in the door used to freak me out. I got over that real quick.
My main job was picking people up from their rooms and taking them to the operating room. Occasionally I’d be called in to hold up a leg while they prepared the table below for surgery. Once I was holding somebody’s diseased leg in the air while they were cleaning it with ether. The aroma almost knocked me out. There was a time or two when I goofed up and stepped on somebody’s tube and blood started shooting out all over everywhere. I couldn’t help it, I had big feet. I also helped out in the Recovery Room when they were extra busy. We would take the patients back to their rooms after they woke up.
We were dressed in O.R. scrubs just like the doctors so some patients assumed we were doctors. They would ask us questions and we’d tell them we weren’t doctors and refer them to the nurses in charge. This 17 year old saw a lot of eye-opening sights in the several months I worked there.
We would also carry specimens to the lab for analysis. It’s kind of freaky to pick up a package that contains somebody’s leg and carry it around the hospital. We went to Central Supply for different items. Once I picked up a hammer, star drill bit and a pair of pliers and took them to an O.R. These tools were all just like you’d buy at Home Depot, only they’re sterilized. I was curious what they were going to use them for so I wandered to that OR a few minutes later and the doctor was had the star drill in the patients hip and he was tapping it with the hammer. They’d then take an x-ray and then he’d tap it a couple more times and take another x-ray. A nurse said were putting a pin into a guy’s hip.
We also had to go over to the Emergency Room, which was in a different building. The Barnes Hospital complex is made up of several buildings which were all connected by underground tunnels. We were always supposed to have a female escort if we were transporting a female patient, but every now and then no one was available and it was an emergency so we just shot out of the E.R., went down the elevator, through the underground tunnels and up the elevator at Barnes to the surgery floor. It was cool to rush patients to surgery.
Even though I was on the low end of the earnings scale it was a very interesting and rewarding job for me. I’d probably still be there if it had paid more.
What was your first job?
Jonco… Ever assist any pregnant women? I was born in Barnes in 67.
My first job was putting lids and labels on 5 gallon buckets of driveway sealer. I remember working 10 hour days (and stinking like shit), for $2.85 an hour. I still got my first paycheck stub somewhere in the house.
tim
Tim,
Unless your mom needed surgery I probably didn’t see her…. unless I passed her in the hallway. I’m guessing you’ve grown a little since then. OK…. a LOT.
My first job was working in a book store/what-have-you during the busy summer months when the tourists would come.
The building was attached to what used to be a trailer, my first day the boss brought me there. The trailer was covered 6 feet high and 40 feet long full of boxes and loose books and toys, he said I had one month to organize it. After my month was up I was placing the 10th to last book on the shelf and a truck rubbed against the trailer causing all the shelfs to collapse. I spent a week cleaning that up and my boss wouldnt even yell at the driver.
In the second month a rat died under the floor of the trailer. After enduring the odor for 3 days I finally crawled under the trailer to get it out. 9 feet of mud to fish-out a maggot covered rotting rat.
In the third month I helped setup his second store. It had used to be a pharmacy and had these giant display windows. Once while sorting through boxes I passed out and my coworker had to splash a bucket of water on me to wake me up. Since the phone company was giving him problems it seemed like half of my job was running across the block passing messages all day while using a handcart to move boxes.
At lunch I would order two slices of pizza and drink an entire poweraid. There was this cute girl who worked in the arcade next door, everyday I would ask her out and she would say no. Later on I ended up introducing her to a friend of mine and they got married.
Everyday I would take the bus too work and hitchhike home. There was never a bus that ran late enough that I could take. Generally I got a ride within about 20 minutes. Sadly, I was once hit by a car.
The most annoying customers were the ones that wanted to know which books were good. They would constantly point to a book and ask my opinion about it. My boss suggested just making something up. Once i caught a guy hiding in part of the building reading a book for like an hour when he saw me he got nervous and I just informed him that I wasnt paid enough to care.
Customers would ask to be not be charged sales tax, most of the time they were well dressed and old enough to afford (at the time 6 or so percent), once a priest asked. The boss would never do it.
My co-worker was a jerk, I still stand by what I said to him when I left the job
“If i ever see you again I dont care how many years pass and even if you forgot me I will punch you across the jaw”
On Saturday nights my job was to give out fliers to the store, mostly to people walking down the street and on cars.
I was paid about 150 dollars a week and worked over 40 hours, I was 14. All in all it was a pretty good summer and much better then camp.
other than my crappy newspaper route my first job was at a petshop cleaning up after reptiles and fish and selling them and their accessories. Fun times but I had to quit because it was too ‘expensive’ to keep me employed unless I made commission every week. Never mind all the cleaning and feeding and maintenance I did on a daily basis
I sold newspapers too and worked in my parents grocery store too, but the hospital was my first real job.
at my first job i stuffed all the sunday sale ads in newspapers for 5.15 a hour
then i was a janitor to the pressroom (picked up paper scraps and ink spills)
then i was a apprentice printer then a full journeyman printer
then laid off due to the economy
i have worked for xbox live
coca cola ncb
and now i make snickers bars
My first job was passing out fliers in apartment complexes and on car windshields for the whopping sum of .25 an hour. That lasted one week. My first real job was during summers while attending college. I did bill collecting by telephone. That started at $60.00 a week my first summer and went to $90.00 the last year. The job sucked but the office was great. Me and 40-50 young women. I wound up dating one of them for four years and eventually married another one of them years later.
My first real job was as a stocker/bagger at one of the local independent grocery stores in my hometown. I was 15 and needed to start saving for a car. I usually worked two evenings a week, after school of course, and most every Saturday. I was paid $2.00 an hour and all the snacks I could eat, as long as I paid for them. I soon discovered Raspberry Zingers and one Saturday during my 15 minute break I ate 3 packs worth(3 per pack)thinking those were the best things I had ever tasted. Thirty minutes later all nine came back up and I’ve never wanted another.
The first day the store manager Mr. Gilstrap gave me instruction on what he expected of me. The thing that I can still hear him saying (loudly;as he always spoke) “Son, if you want to kill time, work it to death.” About two weeks later after a few broken jars of pickles, ketchup,etc…and a few times caught bruising the produce (big no no w/Mr G.) he pulled me aside, looked me in the eye and said “Son, at first I had high hopes for you(sad head shake) but maybe I was wrong.”
Nevertheless I worked there for the next three years.
When I started to write this I thought I had at most two lines worth. Now, I need several more paragraphs, but, that’s all folks. Thanks Jonco, that brought back lots of good memories.
I worked in a cabinet shop in the afternoon ,I was still in high school
I worked for my parents at their Mini-Mart. I especially liked working the candy counter as a youngster- but eventually worked up to slicing deli meats, running the lottery machine and cashing checks. It was a good job- but you could never call in (fake) sick– not that I would do that!!
I washed dishes in a chinese restaraunt. They yelled at me “You wash faser, you wash faser.” until I broke some dishes. Then it was “You wash slowa, slowa.” Then they would yell at each other in chinese, look at me and laugh. Bastards paid well though.
My first real job was as a cashier in the local grocery store when I was in high school. I made $3.33/hour. I worked there for 2 years. Made me realize pretty quickly that I didn’t want to make $3.33/hour for the rest of my life.
My first interview consisted of adding a few sums up on a piece of paper and for a assistants job in jewellery shop.Thats all i was asked and i started working full-time at 14. I did 37.5 hrs a week. I remember serving 2-3 customers at the same time and nothing was ever robbed from the shop! how things have changed as i was trying to buy a ring last week and i couldnt even try it on, only look at it from a distance.
My first job was also in the medical field, though 1995. I started working as a CNA when I was 15 (state law made it to where I had to hold off getting certification until I was 16). While I couldn’t legally smoke, drink, vote, or join the army, I was responsible for the day to day care for residents in a nursing home. Body fluids, 12 hour or more shifts, preparing bodies for the funeral home to pick up, and constant understaffing. The pay was slightly less then I could make working the counter at the local Taco Bell. Being “medical” the nursing homes and hospitals could get away with working a minor longer and harder then jobs in normal fields.
I loved the residents/patients, but couldn’t stand the red tape or the higher ups. Anyone who had worked in the field for years had health problems including back issues, prolapsed uterus, just to name a few of the perks. I got out when I went to college and had a child at 19. I’ve considered getting back into the area now that I’m in an area that pays much better, but would have to regain certification before I could be hired.
Im only 14 and still n my first job,i work in a horse barn in new york. we have to bring in and feed,water,hay,and clean up after 54 horses after school. The pay is only 15 an afternoon but it it very fun and rewarding to take care of these large animals and their owners who are close friends, and very colorful people as well
Tucker, you’ll remember that job for as long as you live. Enjoy it.
I got my first job as a carhop in 2000. I made a whole $2.33 an hour (min wage for waitresses). The tips weren’t huge, usually just the change or a dollar but if you were quick they could really add up. I averaged making $11 bucks an hour in tips my first year and left my fourth year making an average of $20.
The downsides were having to work outside when it was 10 degrees out, or pouring rain or 100 in the summer. I also hated it when people decided to literally smoke their cigarettes in your face (my city had a smoking ban in restaurants but you can’t really stop people from smoking in their car). I witnessed several car accidents including an elderly man on foot being hit by a car while he was crossing the street. I also got my toes run over once by a car. Overall I loved that job and I think it still might be my favorite one.
http://www.gillysfrozencustard.com/fonddulac/
my 1st was at a candy, popcorn, nutz and soda shop, was maybe 14,,wore black pants, white shirt, and a velvet bowtie, all this for a woppin 85 cents an hour,maybe 30 hrs a week,the best part was i had to roast the cashews, i can still taste them, fresh outta the frier, i remember my mom drove me the 1st week, but i told her i had a friend to ride with, i was actually hitchin there and back, she woulda kilt me fer sure,
oldbear !
Pumping Gas at the Billups station in Ocean Springs MS at 15. When there were no gas customers I was breaking down, repairing and remounting Semi and Dumptruck tires that had the old split ring to retain the tire. I stood right on the tire and ring to get it to seat. Had no idea how deadly it might be. Got paid $60 a week for 50 hrs work.
Next job was at a dining hall at Keesler AFB in Biloxi MS. Free food, But I never wanted to have anything with food service again.
Now I am A successful starving contractor
My first job was working in my Dad’s automobile repair shop. During the school year I would take customers to work before school and deliver their cars after school. On Saturdays and in the summer I worked as a mechanic. I also drove the wrecker. We were on the Police Department’s call list, so I made many wrecker runs in the middle of the night to auto accidents. Usually the victims had been removed before I got there, but occasionally I would have to help free them from their car. My worst experience was pulling a car out of a deep ravine one summer after a man had been dead in it for 3 days in 100 degree heat. You never forget that smell…..
My first real job was in the local medical college. It was union wages ($8.50/hour, not bad for 1978) and involved looking after animals used for the various medical research programs that were ongoing for the entire building. Mostly rats,mice and chickens but there were also rabbits and some other animals….in hindsight I would be a lot more reluctant to take that kind of job now but since it tied in well with my career plans (I was planning on becoming a veterinary technologist), it was a good job to have. Aside from one or two vicious rabbits (twenty pounds of sharp-toothed angry bunny can result in some nasty wounds, I can assure you) it was pretty good but I also was very dismayed to realise how cannibalistic chickens can be!! Yuck!
14 years old, dishwasher at a steak house. Later they made me a grill cook.
Other than pitching hay and driving a tractor, working on the ignorant end of a wheelbarrow pushing concrete was my first real job. During that same summer, a concrete truck turned over and to get the concrete out and recover the truck, we had to climb in and use a jackhammer to break it up and take it out. Kinda noisy in there. Another time, someone decided they didn’t like their concrete deck and we had to jackhammer it out. The bad thing was it was actually a balcony on the 3rd floor and we had to go up a scaffold and hold the jackhammer perpendicular to the wall and take it down. $2.25 an hour and I was considered highly paid. Made me decide I needed an easier job so I dropped out of college and joined the Marines. Gotta say, I was a hard worker, just a poor judge of the term ‘easier’….
Wowza, some real good stories here.
My first job was a dishwasher too at a resort in the hills when I was 13. Great job, great scenery, great fishing, and the wages weren’t bad. To this day, I refuse to wash dishes. I’ll take the top rack right out of the dishwasher to wash some things. Kind of like a mechanic whose car doesn’t run or a housekeeper whose own home is a mess. Tried it, didn’t like it. I worked there for 2 summers making it up to swing girl (chambermaid, dining room waitress, coffee shop attendant, Joe Girl) This was the view I woke up to every morning. Thanks for the memories Jonco.
On a side note, we had a cabin at the other end of the lake and my Mums ashes are in this lake. I will be beside her when it’s my turn. It’s all good.
My first post high school job was as an aid in a nursing home. Ladybelle is right it is grueling, dirty work. But I was young and strong and I just loved the patients. Back in my day as an aid we didn’t even have disposable gloves. I went on to become a critical care RN and after 30 years my back is forever ruined. I miss patient care but I’ll never miss the body fluids, beaurocracy and politics.
Bella, what a beautiful place to work.
StAnne, I have the utmost respect for the profession that you were in. Throughout my journey lately, I have met the most wonderful people in healthcare. It’s one of the toughest jobs with some of the most ungrateful people but when you make a connection, you make a connection. I’m sure that some of your patients will remember your care forever.
I worked as a research assistant in network gaming at a university. I got to play computer games every day and ate lots of acadmically funded pizza. There was no hourly rate, just an annual salary, but I did A LOT of voluntary overtime. I lent my voice to a Quake 3 map (won’t tell you which one, haha).
are you in any other video games? the GTA series are my favorites GTA4 is the best video game ever made
Nope, just the one.
About a week after i turned 16 i took a summer job at the canning factory during corn pack. 12 hour shift, 5 days a week, 6pm to 6am. I was on the conveyor belt that took cans off the line just after being sealed and loaded them onto pallets. Conveyor belt was about 12 feet off the floor, cans would come off the line (covered in corn juice), would form about a 6×6 foot square quivering mass at the end of the conveyor belt and i would operate this big moving magnet that would pick them up, put them on a pallet, i would slide a piece of cardboard on top, repeat. The fun began when cans tipped over, i would either have to jump up on top of the cans and flip them upright (12 feet over a concrete floor on a moving conveyor belt) or reach underneath as the magnet swung by and stick extra cans on so the pallet wouldn’t tip over. Best moment, the line broke, announcement came over the line that it would be awhile, got a 4 hour nap on the conveyor belt. Every morning I’d go home sticky and reeking of sweet corn. I didn’t eat corn for maybe 10 years after that.
When I was 14 (in 1993) I started washing dishes at a country club in Irwin, PA for $4.25/hr. I had a radio right next to me and I could play whatever I wanted on it (which to this day is the best job perk one can have, IMO). I worked there with some of my friends, so we always had a good time. Once, one of the waiters brought me back a couple of dacquaries from the bar while I was working. I eventually got bored and wanted to move up to Salad Prep. The head chef kept promising me that I’d get to, but he kept putting it off so I quit. I still hate the way it smells when I wash anything that had spaghetti sauce on it. It’s the steam that hot water and leftover tomato sauce produces ~ that smell takes me right back to that kitchen.
Free pizza is better IMO!
It wasn’t a “real” job but when I was about 10 some neighbors got together to help repair an elderly farmer’s property after some storm damage. My first task was re-stringing fencing. You guessed it: BARBED WIRE. I’ve still got some of the scars.
my first job was working on the slime line at a fish cannery 12 hrs a day all summer for $6 hr. i was 13 and i still don’t eat a lot of salmon to this day.
I’ll cook you the best stuffed salmon rolls if you wash the dishes? Deal???
Oh no, poor fishies
My first job was enlisting into the Air Force back in 2000. I did 6 years as a cop and was honorably discharged. To this day it is the best job I’ve ever had.
I’m glad we have people like you. Thanks.
Thank you for your service, Robin.
And great job by all the industrious folks that commented here. Then again, I guess you have to be industrious if you’re commenting about having a job…
Okay, as I was reading your post I had this thought/ image about a story or a movie or a video of someone’s experience as an orderly in a hospital as you just described it! Have you told stories about this job before? As I recall (not very well) that it might have been a movie but it could have been a story/ blog post. Here is what I remember…
The person worked as an orderly. They moved patients from one place to another. They weren’t told of an elevator that had problems, so they got stuck in the elevator. There was a woman student nurse, the orderly and a patient. And the patient had a heart ache and the orderly climbed up on the gurney to perform CPR.
I think, I think it was a movie. Does that sound like any morie you know of? Oh brother! Art imitating life or life imitating art??
MarySnn, I don’t think I’ve told the story before. I seem to recall a TV show (was it Gray’s Anatomy perhaps?) where a doctor jumped up on the gurney to give chest compressions to a patient. It might have been during the season finale just a couple weeks ago. Your story does sound familiar.