August 5, 2000    
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What was your first job?

Baby-sitting. I was eleven. when I was twelve, I was a program aid (Girl Scout talk for "junior counselor") at a day camp. When I was sixteen, I spent the summer as nature counselor for a sleep-in camp.

Jill, 59
Saylorsburg
, PA

I was a caddy at a country club golf course when I was fifteen(15), in  between my sophomore and junior years in high school. . .Then, as now, I found it difficult to motivate myself to get up to go to work if I wasn't "punching a clock", or reporting to a supervisor at a specific set scheduled time. . . most of the time I'd rather sleep, or watch sitcoms and eat potato chips and Chex party mix and Coca-Cola all night(and day. . .)

mothmc, 35
Los Angeles
, LA

Not counting a paper route, my first job was as a dishwasher in restaurant at a Holiday Inn that averaged less than 15 customers a night. We'd say  things like "Any customers yet?" No. "What time is it?" Febuary. They tore the place down a couple years ago and replaced it with a Motel 6. But right before they did I had it as a security assignment. Kind of my own ghost town.

Alias Irrelevante

My first job was moving boxes in a warehouse.

Ernest, 29
Washington
, DC

I was the dockmaster at my parents' marina. This was my summer job through high school, college and graduate school.

Jane, 60
West Linn
, OR

I was a very bad baby-sitter (always seemed to get locked in closets and out of houses). My first "real" job was as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. I worked in the evening after school and during the summer. It was gunky, gross work, but I didn't mind it and I busted my butt for what seemed like a lot of cash back then.

Felicia, 34
Somerville
, MA

My first job was working for my father in his insurance business. My responsibilities included answering the phone, taking messages, filing, and other tasks. I was only 16 at the time so it was a good job. During the summer months there was air-conditioning, I sat at a desk, and breaks when I wanted to.

Dianne, 51
NY

My dad owns a painting company and I worked clerical for him off and on until I was 15. At that point, I spent a week scraping paint off of the floor with a razor blade at the newly built Orleans Parish Prison. My father wanted me to know what manual labor was. I do now, and I will never do it again. Try being the only woman within 2 square miles of a prison full of construction workers. Being the lovely spoiled brat I am, I often heard myself saying "do you know who my daddy is?" Apparently, they didn't until I told them.

Amy, 23
New Orleans
, LA

I worked at a cafeteria type eatery in an outlet mall. I was fired because I was hitting on a 1-thumbed girl that one of the managers was also interested in. True story.

Anthony, 25
Baton Rouge
, LA

I used to babysit as a teenager. But my first job with a paycheck was, I made keys at a local Sears hardware store.

Janet, 42
E. Brunswick
, NJ

Mowing lawns where my parents worked.

Kevin, 33
Sugar Hill
, GA