Was your first job at McDonalds?

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Not Burger King, not Wendy's, not a paper route. Was the first non-allowance money you earned at the Golden Arches? I'll bet for a lot of you it was. Like it was for me. Discuss first jobs of all kinds, but the question is Mickey D. specifically.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
No, I had some different first job. 109
Yes, that I did. 6


Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:24 (sixteen years ago)

Started dunkin' fries, pies and fish patties, but worked my way up to flippin' clownburgers! Mopped a few men's rooms, too.

Counter?

Drive through?

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:25 (sixteen years ago)

Never worked at a mickey ds or any other fast food or any other food. I was a paper route gangsta.

The Reverend, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:26 (sixteen years ago)

lol i just started another mcdonald's poll

velko, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:26 (sixteen years ago)

Never worked at a mickey ds or any other fast food or any other food. I was a paper route gangsta.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, March 17, 2009 10:26 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

You might be kidding, but a paper route is mad fucking gangster.

My first job was filing and data entry for a medical clinic. I was the richest 12 yr. old on the block. Woot!

batmeh (brightscreamer), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:29 (sixteen years ago)

PAPER HAT! PAPER HAT!

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:30 (sixteen years ago)

a paper route is mad fucking gangster.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/2535566409_e7ebed49a4.jpg?v=0

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:32 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.emulatorzone.com/games/images/paperboy.gif

iatee, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:34 (sixteen years ago)

my first job was 'sales associate' at a mall cd store

tehresa, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:34 (sixteen years ago)

You poor thing. You missed out on smelling like old grease all the time.

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:37 (sixteen years ago)

i washed dishes at a local breakfast restaurant.

ian, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:37 (sixteen years ago)

My first job was at Long John Silver's, so same thing pretty much. My shift leader was my older sister.

I f'd up the word rear (Z S), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:45 (sixteen years ago)

I worked at a one-hour photo lab inside a pharmacy. Thre was a summer job before that running the register onmy grandad's fruit & veg wholesaler but that doesnt count.

one art, please (Trayce), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 06:18 (sixteen years ago)

sold cherries at a fruit stand by the side of the highway. Occasionally people would complain about the prices and say that they were cheaper at the supermarket. I'd offer to give them directions to the nearest supermarket. No one ever took me up on it.

unexpected item in bagging area (sarahel), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:04 (sixteen years ago)

Stuffing envelopes. Numbingly tedious, but in a good way.

a tiny, faltering megaphone (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:17 (sixteen years ago)

paper round. quit after it very nearly killed me.

N1ck (Upt0eleven), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:22 (sixteen years ago)

Flipping burgers and making malts, yes, but in a drugstore soda fountain.

suggest bánh mi (suzy), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:42 (sixteen years ago)

I was gonna say yes, but then realised that I did a couple of weeks at a printing press/copy shop before that. So no.

Bubble Withdrawal (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:46 (sixteen years ago)

children's shoe shop in chi-chi wimbledon village. all the customers were rude braying and over-entitled parents, my boss looked like zelda from terrahawks and was running the store at a loss, as a hobby, and some weeks we didn't make enough cash for me to get paid.

i really wanted to work in a mcdonalds when i was a kid...

I probably just wasted some more energy in my fingers telling you guys (stevie), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 11:05 (sixteen years ago)

actually on reflection that shoe shop job was great prep for life as a freelance journalist

I probably just wasted some more energy in my fingers telling you guys (stevie), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 11:05 (sixteen years ago)

No but my next one might be at the rate this job search is going right now. They probably wouldn't hire me either though.

Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 11:27 (sixteen years ago)

i wish we could have a 'WDYLL working at McDonalds' thread.

Hard House SugBanton (blueski), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 11:30 (sixteen years ago)

While at school I had a paper round, helped on a milk round and was a glass collector at local working mens club.
1st full time job before college was working in a cardboard factory making pizza boxes. All the paper cuts you could ever want and more :(

I am now jobless :/

not_goodwin, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 11:36 (sixteen years ago)

I washed dishes at Friendly's.

kingkongvsgodzilla, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 11:37 (sixteen years ago)

I've never worked a retail or service job in my life. My first job was almost in a movie theater, but I quit the day after training and took a job as a file clerk in an insurance office instead.

Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 12:30 (sixteen years ago)

My actual first job was as a camp counselor. I think that everyone should be required to work a service job at some point in their life.

Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 12:31 (sixteen years ago)

First job was paperboy. Pretty good job except when Odin got miffed and arranged for the entire route to be covered with ice and for the paper to be stuffed double-up with thick brochures.
I've a fond memory of being stuck in someone's driveway, trying to crawl up the small hill of their driveway, dragging my bike behind of me. It took five minutes. Perhaps that's what limbo will be like.

Øystein, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 12:48 (sixteen years ago)

You poor thing. You missed out on smelling like old grease all the time.

i did work at a bakery in college, which somehow translated into smelling like mexican food. i never figured that out.

tehresa, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 13:20 (sixteen years ago)

Never worked at a fast food restaurant at all, although I did wash dishes at a steakhouse in college. My very first job, in 7th-8th grade, was delivering the Lake County News-Herald. Had about 40 customers, just in my immediate neighborhood. My best friend at the time delivered the competing paper, the Telegraph. Amazing to believe that tiny Lake County, OH had two newspapers at the time, when Cleveland was already down to one.

After that, major pre-college jobs included working in the nursery biz during the summer, picking strawberries, blueberries etc. for what must have been pennies a bushel, then bagging groceries. Ugh.

lolling through my bagel (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 13:33 (sixteen years ago)

snap my first job was in a nursery. repotting plants for £12 a day.

tomofthenest, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:15 (sixteen years ago)

never fast food for me eitha

Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:16 (sixteen years ago)

Lifeguard! Very glamorous. Also very tan, but only on my front side.

home of the vain (Jenny), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:17 (sixteen years ago)

my first job was at the l8 gr8 west coast video of princeton nj--i started when i was 14 or so and stayed there for almost 6 years, working on break when i came home from college

its still the greatest job ive ever had and probably ever will have, my coworkers were all hilarious and the mgr was pretty laid-back--wed just put on movies, kick back, eat free reeses and snapple... plus free movie rentals for me... in all honesty we probably put that place out of business for all the late fees we waived and movies we borrowed and never returned... but i will never 4get it

rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:21 (sixteen years ago)

washing dishes/peeling vegetables in local family run restaurant during the summer holidays, then after three years of that i spent a summer fitting kitchens. after finishing school, lane attendant in bowling alley was the first full time job. flipping burgers came next!

Anthony, I am not an Alcoholic & Drunk (darraghmac), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:24 (sixteen years ago)

in the latter half of my tenure @ west coast video half the video store was converted into a tanning salon--owned by the same people, we shared the same space. they set up the tanning beds where the DVDs used to be and sold lotion. they hired new people too.

rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:26 (sixteen years ago)

I've never worked a retail or service job in my life. My first job was almost in a movie theater, but I quit the day after training and took a job as a file clerk in an insurance office instead.

― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:30 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

were you like "in your FACE!" to the movie theatre people?

s1ocki, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:31 (sixteen years ago)

My 3rd job was McDs.
(#1, groundskeeper for little league; #2, stocker/sacker at Fred's)

WmC, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:32 (sixteen years ago)

almost in a movie theatre? Were you a concierge, outside?

Mark G, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:32 (sixteen years ago)

1st - Little Caesars. lasted two weeks before finding...
2nd - McRae's (regional mall anchor a la Macy's) shoe dept. Gross.

i quickly realized the only way to make any money was f&b service.

now is the time to winterize your manscape (will), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:41 (sixteen years ago)

paper route

ice cr?m, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:48 (sixteen years ago)

1st job - feeding horses.

only food jobs I worked - pizza and sub deliveries. sold liquor too, if you want to count that.

my step-brother worked at McDOnald's. Dude smelled like a french fry something fierce after he'd get off.

•--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:48 (sixteen years ago)

Cinnabon! I always left smelling delicious. I don't eat cinnamon rolls much anymore, though.

kate78, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:50 (sixteen years ago)

were you like "in your FACE!" to the movie theatre people?

Nah, I think I mumbled some excuse. Only thing I remember about the training is that the guy who would've been my supervisor pronounced "ambulance" as "ambalamps."

Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:20 (sixteen years ago)

My first job was at Miami Subs, just after I graduated high school. We were the only joint open in my neighborhood shortly after Hurricane Andrew struck, and it was like being at the center of another hurricane. During one particularly chaotic stretch, the district manager helped out in the kitchen; I was at the cold station making subs. Somebody ordered a tuna salad sub. I made it, then the customer changed her mind and the order was canceled. Since MS' motto at the time was "Great Food Served Fast" and we didn't like to keep food longer than two minutes, I threw it away without question.

Fifteen minutes later, a different customer ordered a tuna salad sub. After glancing at the monitor, the district manager silently takes the debris-covered sub out of the trask, wipes it, puts it in a different bag, and sells it.

I stayed another four months.

The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:29 (sixteen years ago)

My first was as a maid in a hotel. It was actually a summer resort with lifetime repeat customers who you'd get to know after a few years, so it was slightly nicer than "maid in a hotel" sounds, but we still had to clean their pubes out of bathtubs so it's basically the same thing. Extra fun in the evenings included kitchen duty either making salads, plating desserts, or scrubbing the cookware.

How can there be male ladybugs? (Laurel), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:35 (sixteen years ago)

1st job - garden/diy centre. I had to lug heavy gas canisters around, and giant bags of earth, and I was about 8 and a half stone and six-foot plus back then. It didn't give me muscles, oh well.

jel --, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:06 (sixteen years ago)

B&Q baby. Best job ever, skived the whole time and was friends with half of the staff.

Blackout Crew are the Beatles of donk (jim), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:10 (sixteen years ago)

note that that isn't a seperate shop called B&Q baby, I just have been watching too much Seinfeld and missed out a comma and exclamation mark.

Blackout Crew are the Beatles of donk (jim), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:11 (sixteen years ago)

the influence of bob the builder.

jel --, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:12 (sixteen years ago)

My first job involved dissecting and mounting midges for a research project about (if I remember right) the after-effects of bomb tests in the southwest. Just endless lining up of insect legs on slides.

My cousin worked at McDonald's, though.

nabisco, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:22 (sixteen years ago)

In answer to the thread question, no. First job was stamping books in a library, second was working for an insurance company.

snoball, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:26 (sixteen years ago)

checkout girl. in my town it was one small step above working at mcdonalds. i worked 20-25hrs p/week minimum for less than $5 p/hr, from the time i was 15 till i finished high school.

where we turn sweet dreams into remarkable realities (just1n3), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 18:43 (sixteen years ago)

Me too! (I think my first giant job challenge everywhere was when I switched from bagger to cashier, and suddenly had to learn which vegetables were which.)

nabisco, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:10 (sixteen years ago)

(Not that it's some insurmountable challenge, but when you're 16 it can be a bit like ... mustard greens versus collard greens? I have to correctly identify different kinds of pears?)

nabisco, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:12 (sixteen years ago)

that is still kind of hard for me

rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:13 (sixteen years ago)

i worked as a checker at a supermarket in high school, but the last few months i also worked in the produce aisle which was funny since i didn't really eat vegetables at that point in my life. i did learn a lot, like how to pike ripe cantaloupes.

velko, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:14 (sixteen years ago)

pick

velko, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:15 (sixteen years ago)

My first job was as a bagger at a grocery store. Since there were long stretches where there was nothing to do, the managers were creative in finding things for us to do. My "favorite": pouring bleach on the sidewalk and then mopping it up with water, to "clean" it. It didn't clean anything. I moved up to cashier a few months later. My friend worked in produce, and so for fun I'd call price checks to him over the loudspeaker, like "price check on peppermint watermelon" and he'd answer back a few moments later, "33 cents a pound" or whatever.

The McDonald's was just across the parking lot, and my friend Dave worked there. When he was working and I came in on break, I'd order fries and he'd charge me a quarter and give me a big bag of other food.

Euler, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:21 (sixteen years ago)

i actually had an abnormally good work ethic compared to my peers (thanks mum & dad) and would walk through the produce section before clocking in, to familiarise myself w/new fruit/veg. i also had quite a knack for memorising the 4-digit PLU #s. maybe the only job i was ever really good at. shame!

where we turn sweet dreams into remarkable realities (just1n3), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:37 (sixteen years ago)

eww i had to wear the ugliest uniform in the world: it was brick-red sack (really, it had big boxy shoulders and absolutely no shaping through the hips/waist). the had a really strict dress code: black shoes (totally black, no exceptions), no jewelry except for wedding rings and earrings (earrings must be black/gold, no bigger than a 20c piece), only a particular shade of pantyhose could be worn. hair completely pulled back from face, headband required if your bangs were too long.

where we turn sweet dreams into remarkable realities (just1n3), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:39 (sixteen years ago)

i loved my paper route. shit was tight.

then i worked in a drugstore for like 4 years. it was fine but indoorsy and boring.

He grew in Pussyville. Population: him. (call all destroyer), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:44 (sixteen years ago)

paper round, got about 5 pounds for work that took fucking hours and hours.

Ronan, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:46 (sixteen years ago)

i forgot to mention one of the worst parts of my job: my mother also worked there

where we turn sweet dreams into remarkable realities (just1n3), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:46 (sixteen years ago)

i did a paper round for 3 weeks replacing someone during the holidays and got £16 a week. I felt rich. Did take me almost two hours though.

The football player Charlie Miller was near the end of my round and once he was standing next to his car waiting for me to deliver his Daily Record before he left for training. I gave him the paper with a smile and said, "Mornin' Charlie!", then jogged off. He gave me a look that said "wee tim bastard".

Blackout Crew are the Beatles of donk (jim), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:49 (sixteen years ago)

nabisco was a checkout girl?

jel --, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:55 (sixteen years ago)

my first job was a summer position as a credit risk analyst at a bank

Lamp, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:56 (sixteen years ago)

I went through a lot of changes in college, Jel

nabisco, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 19:59 (sixteen years ago)

My first summer job was working in a factory, in stores, which meant that when the production line was running out of stuff we had to get it for them. It was a strange job - we were ridiculously over-staffed, but we kept being asked in to work overtime, which meant I was earning more money than I knew what to do with. My recollection is that working in this place for three or four weeks kept me in pocket money for the next academic year.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 20:42 (sixteen years ago)

I suggest Charlie Miller was more mystified at the concept of being fit enough to jog.

My first job was in a Little Chef. I was in charge of hot water and a toaster, allowing me to provide pots of tea and coffee, as well as toasted teacakes and regular old toast. I also did clearing and wiping tables. And I had a paper hat. My encounter with small-time Scottish footballers involved serving then-Celtic midfield general Mike Galloway.

ailsa, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 21:10 (sixteen years ago)

I had a paper route for a year or so, but besides that my first job was general labor for a friend's dad's friend's carpentry business.

-:¦:-•(¯'•omg•'¯)•-:¦:- (dan m), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 21:17 (sixteen years ago)

Huh. Well, even if I'm the only one here who got his employment cherry busted by the world's richest clown, the fact that others wore paper hats is some comfort.

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:26 (sixteen years ago)

Oh, you know what job I totally recommend to teenagers in any state with a high can/bottle deposit? Working the return in grocery stores! It's kinda disgusting to sort through people's half-empty beer cans and dump out the cigarette butts, but you might wind up in charge of your own personal kingdom of bottles and cans, which you get to crush in a cool machine and sort in a magic world of bins and two-story shelves

nabisco, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:31 (sixteen years ago)

A question I have about people whose first jobs were at McDonald's or any other chain food service place: do you eat at said establishment now? My s.o.'s first job was at Subway Sandwiches. He refuses to eat a Subway sandwich ever again after that, and to my knowledge, he hasn't.

unexpected item in bagging area (sarahel), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:34 (sixteen years ago)

I still have a Big Mac attack every now and then.

WmC, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:38 (sixteen years ago)

I did bagger to checker. Sold a lot of beer and cigarettes to high schoolers. Often let customers name a price for fruits and vegetables b/c I couldn't be bothered to learn them.

You should always thank the person who bags your groceries. Don't just nod or think a "thanks" in the general direction of the checker AND bagger covers it. It doesn't!

bnw, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:42 (sixteen years ago)

I was a checkout chick/general assistant and small local grocery story (4 checkouts total). BNW, on the money. Never did fast food.

xpost To answer the question above, my man worked at McD's for his first job and still eats there. So does everyone else I knew who used to work there. The one guy I know who used to work at Taco Bell, though, does not still eat their food and has warned me off it.

franny glass, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:44 (sixteen years ago)

I have not been to McDonald's since I quit.

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:57 (sixteen years ago)

But I go to other places (taco bell included, for example) that I'm sure are just as terrible.

Thrills as Cheap as Gas (Oilyrags), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:57 (sixteen years ago)

I think my first job was picking rock in my uncle's fields. Never worked at McDonalds, though I did wash dishes (in addition to a bunch of other shit jobs) at Old Country Buffet for like three years.

No more food service, never again. I'm done with overnights, too.

this is jazz! (╓abies), Thursday, 19 March 2009 11:40 (sixteen years ago)

(Considering that I'm still unemployed I may wind up eating those words.)

this is jazz! (╓abies), Thursday, 19 March 2009 11:41 (sixteen years ago)

My first job was working as a waiter in a horribly busy steak-house run by the most evil people I have ever met in my life. The fact that I last three months was only because of Stockholm Syndrome.

Plaxico (I know, right?), Thursday, 19 March 2009 11:51 (sixteen years ago)

sarahel, I worked as a cook at Pizza Hut for awhile and I rarely intentionally seek out their pizza. I don't think those things are related, though, as I ate plenty of Pizza Hut pizza in the like, million years since I worked there. There are just better options as easily or more easily available. I was a server in another pizza place in my hometown during high school and again, much to my chagrin, when I was in my early 20s, and I still crave and love that pizza with all of my heart and will tear up one of their strombolis like some sort of feral starving animal every time I go visit my parents.

home of the vain (Jenny), Thursday, 19 March 2009 12:05 (sixteen years ago)

Yeah, it's more like Pizza Hut is just some bullshit pizza.

I forgot that my first paid gig was actually running around putting pizza flyers on people's doors for the local pizza place. My friend ran straight into someone's screen door and broke it and we got fired on our first shift. He still paid us though.

Eephin' Pageant (kingkongvsgodzilla), Thursday, 19 March 2009 12:15 (sixteen years ago)

xpost

Yeh, I think you're right. I've never worked at Pizza Hut but I very rarely intentionally seek out their pizza either :)

a tiny, faltering megaphone (grimly fiendish), Thursday, 19 March 2009 12:16 (sixteen years ago)

The only times I've gone to Pizza Hut was for those "all you can eat for £X" lunchtime specials. Used to go there with seven work colleagues. Pizza arrives, we'd each grab a slice, demolish it in a minute, then the next pizza would be put on the table, same thing... There'd be a steady procession of staff bringing pizzas to the table.

snoball, Thursday, 19 March 2009 12:25 (sixteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Sunday, 29 March 2009 00:01 (sixteen years ago)

i started at mcdonalds when i was 15 and lasted 3 months. in that time i graduated from fish patties , nuggets and pies station to the french fry station and spent one night on the front counter. I only applied because they were having an open job type day and my friend wanted a job but didnt want to go by herself. i got interviewed and lied that i was totally into drama class which was actually my most hated class. i got a job and she didnt. i hated it so much and learned a valuable lesson never to lie at job interviews because youll just end up with a job you hate more than anything.

I wish I was the royal trux (sunny successor), Sunday, 29 March 2009 00:07 (sixteen years ago)

When I was 16, I decided to put an awesome guitar on layaway. I traded in my old one & had three months to pay it off. So I needed to get a job, any job, immediately. I actually got hired at McDonald's, but then, before my first day, I also got a callback on a bagboy position at a local grocery store. And that is as close as I ever got to burger flippin (which is pretty damn close).

2 ears + 1 ❤ (Pillbox), Sunday, 29 March 2009 00:09 (sixteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Sunday, 29 March 2009 23:01 (sixteen years ago)

5.5%! That's pretty amazing.

Zero Transfats Waller (Oilyrags), Sunday, 29 March 2009 23:12 (sixteen years ago)

is it?

\∫Öζ/.... argh oh noes! (ken c), Sunday, 29 March 2009 23:15 (sixteen years ago)

More people enjoy GoodFellas as their all-time favorite movie than worked their first job at a McDonalds, just sayin.

•--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 30 March 2009 02:40 (sixteen years ago)


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