Friday, August 5, 2016

Your first seven jobs?

Marian Call asks: What were your first seven jobs?

Mine: computer lab assistant, night dorm clerk, lab assistant, grader, camp counselor, analytical chemist, graduate student

UPDATE: Twenty years makes memories fade. Computer lab assistant, night dorm clerk, lab assistant, aide at a nursing home, grader, camp counselor, analytical chemist

UPDATE 2: Another one forgotten. Computer lab assistant, night dorm clerk, lab assistant, aide at a nursing home, coffee/bagel store clerk, grader, camp counselor

I'll let you define it yourself, but my first seven jobs were all paid (and all basically temporary.) Readers?

32 comments:

  1. camp counselor, movie theater employee, tutor, undergraduate researcher, graduate student, postdoc
    2 unpaid at times

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grocery bagger, electrician's assistant (every summer through undergrad), retail lackey at clothing store, undergrad researcher, intern at large chemical company, grad student/tutor, intern at large pharma company

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paintball field referee, Grocery Bag Boy, Engineering Tech., Cashier, Lab assistant, Lab assistant, Netflix Binge Watching Consultant (unemployed), Staff Scientist.

    Both lab assistantships were unpaid, and my paintball field reffing gig paid me in ammunition and free admission.

    ReplyDelete
  4. gymnastics teacher, filing work at an office, selling knives (didn't last long) sandwich artist at subway, summer undergrad researcher, campus tour guide, pizza place waitstaff/cashier/delivery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "sandwich artist at subway"

      Were you the one producing those delicious looking sandwiches that look nothing like the real product? Also, did you ever get into science or are you just a pizza dude who reads about chemistry jobs?

      Delete
    2. It's the entitled attitude people have that makes min-wage customer service jobs such a joy.

      Delete
    3. I was making a joke, because that's how Subway, at least used to, refer to its employees. I did indeed get into science. After the pizza place I was a grad student, post doc, part time editor for scientific journals, and now run a program that trains HS students to work in the lab at a CTE school. Also, I'm not a dude.

      Delete
  5. Car wash, bus boy, lab asst., waiter, parking lot attendant, TA, grad student.

    Most valuable? The first. Spent all day getting yelled at by the grumpy couple who ran it. They didn't care who I was, how I felt, where I came from, or whether I was happy. All they cared about was whether the cars were clean when I was done with them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Camp counselor, tutor, deli worker, undergraduate researcher, research associate/bench chemist, graduate research assistant, product manager.

    Only thing completely unpaid was the camp counselor gig. As an undergrad researcher I was paid in credits during the school year and got an hourly wage in the summer.

    ReplyDelete
  7. yardwork/house-sitting/odd jobs, tutor (when in highscool), intern at engineering dept in city hall (paid, did this for 4 summers during college to help pay tuition), college phonathon, college lab prep/dishwashing, grad student

    Now I am an assistant professor.

    My memory is terrible... i know there was more when I was in highschool. I was also a camp counselor (unpaid) in highschool.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Babysitter, waitress, lifeguard, health club attendant, analytical chemist, research associate, graduate assistant

    That was fun! Walk down memory lane. All paid and I can't figure out which was best. Had the most fun as a graduate student worked hard/played even harder :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Boy Scout camp counselor, ticket taker at drive in theater, grocery stock clerk/cashier/floor buffer, undergrad chem lab assistant, minion for grad students, summer intern at chem manufacturer.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Potato peeler, sports store sales assistant, PhD student, postdoc, professional runner (unemployed), postdoc, soon to be senior chemist

    ReplyDelete
  11. Farmer's son, fast food operative, nightclub barman, paint mixing technician, hotel barman, pub barman, chemist.

    #3-5 spanned undergrad years, and #1 involved the most work / least money by far.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Coffee shop, pizzeria, sub shop, pharmacy technician, grad student, law firm 1, law firm 2 (current)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Tutor, pizza delivery boy, stockroom assistant, ugrad research assistant, grad student, postdoc, assistant prof

    ReplyDelete
  14. Worked on farm in summers pulling weeds and collecting potatoes as kid (unpaid, but was expected to do it as it was the family farm), highschool: painter, then salesman for a shady company. After high school: warehouse worker, then factory worker, then undergraduate paid chemistry researcher, and finally after undergrad language tutor/hourly lessons before I started grad school.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Janitor, undergrad research assistant, lumber associate at home improvement store, grad student, grad student, mobile technician, line cook

    ReplyDelete
  16. My first seven jobs were: berry picker, burger flipper, cashier, courtesy clerk, cashier (different place), telemarketer, and burger flipper (again). That goes through my first bit of college.

    If I've counted correctly, my current position is job #21 for me.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Paperboy, busboy, used brick cleaner, catering go-fer, fraction collector tube cleaner, lab assistant, graduate student, PhD chemist

    ReplyDelete
  18. summer lab helper (duPont), summer lab tech (Ft Detrick), summer lab tech (Edgewood), programmer (Navy Res Lab), systems programmer, network engineer, telecom engineer, ... Last 38 years in the same place through five mergers which I guess is pretty unusual these days. I guess ditching chemistry as a career early might have helped.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hah, this is fun.

    Ice cream scooper, house framer, biomedical lab technician, night desk clerk, sandwich artist 1, sandwich artist 2, graduate student.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Shelf filler/trolley collector at major grocery store, graduated to dish washing at a restaurant, then paper pusher at an office for a small business, taking on a second job entering data for scientific publisher, before leaving both jobs to undertake graduate studies, followed by a post-doc. Not even at number seven yet, but hope to make it one that I can truly call a "proper job".

    ReplyDelete
  21. Video room clerk, food stocker/runner/server, cafeteria server/dishwasher (in my dorm), fast food cashier, supermarket cashier, tutor, TA.

    ReplyDelete
  22. My highlight was library assistant in a rarely used, small library.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Housekeeping assistant, housekeeping supervisor, industrial intern, alcohol test-buyer (to see if shops would ID me), industrial intern (2nd company), freelance writer, toilet cleaner.

    I don't even drink alcohol!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Babysitter, Soccer Referee, Cashier, Work Study - Copy Center, Work Study - Lab Assistant, RA, AP Bio Tutor, Waitress, Summer Research Fellow, Graduate Student, Divemaster
    now a recent grad :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Haven't worked 7 jobs yet.
    First was a cashier, then lab tech, and now as QC chemist

    ReplyDelete
  26. Piece work/intern/apprentice machinist (6-7 years), comic book shop clerk (1 summer), lab aid (4 semester), undergraduate TA (2 semesters), department store dockworker (2 summers), chemistry tutor (2 semesters) and graduate student (5 years)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Ice cream scooper, investment bank gopher, web site updater, computer science TA, undergrad lab rat, grad student, computer modeler (during grad school)

    By the way, the only computer stuff I do now is excel and outlook.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Groundskeeper/Nuclear Decontamination (That was an interesting one), Bio Intern, Med Chem Intern, Med Chem #1, Contract Med Chem, Med Chem #2, Teaching Assistant.

    ReplyDelete
  29. panera. wendy's. medical records tech. lab tech. lab tech. server. chemist.

    ReplyDelete

looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20