I used to work in a clothing store at the mall when I was in HS. I did it mainly for the discounts. But it was fun. I was actually able to save up for a small downpayment on my first car...a honda accord! I worked M,W,F after school, from 4-9pm. I only made minimum wage so my paychecks were really sad. But it totally taught me the value of hard work and money. If my kids are able to keep up their grades, I would encourage them to get a part time job while in high school.
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Yep. I was a barista at a tiny drive-through coffee stand. I had to be there to open by 4:30am and I would leave at 7am for school. During the summer I worked several 12 hour shifts. Then, I quit and got a job at a coffee house. I loved working and not being dependent on my parents for money (but really I was still dependent on them for housing, health insurance and food, lol).
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Yup. I was a hostess at a Denny's-like restaurant. I worked every Friday night, every Saturday and Sunday morning/day, and other random week nights for all of my senior year of high school (goodbye, social life). But, I saved up enough money to pay for half of a trip to Europe (my parents paid for the other half as my graduation present) and still have some left over for when I started college.
I also worked every summer starting the summer after eighth grade; my senior year was the only year I worked during school.
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Yep I did data entry during the summer
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Yes, I stocked shelves at a grocery store. It wasn't horrible, better then bagging
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I babysat a lot and worked in the town hardware store.
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@Smurfette: That sounds kinda nice and relaxing. I love organizing so I think I would've quite enjoyed that.
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Nope, my mom only wanted me to study!
That's awesome that you saved up for a car!
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@Andrea: It was a low end honda accord. But I loved it! I thought I was so cool having a car in HS cause I was the first of my friends to have one. But then everyone kept making me take them places and then it sucked big time.
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@banana: haha, I was one of those bc my mom would not let me drive. I was always being driven around by my friends. Hehe.
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@andrea: It wouldn't have been so bad but they kept wanting to hide in my trunk and ditch class! haha.
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Yes, I worked at the Gap starting at age 16 (stayed with them for 5 years). I also got a cleaning job doing post-construction clean up (aka- lots of saw dust) at a hospital that was being built the summer I was 16 (the pay was incredible). I also had a long term baby sitting job where I'd watch 3 kids after school for 2-3 hours until their mom got home from work from the age of 14-16 (again- the pay was incredible).
I have always loved working and I think those early experiences gave me a good work ethic and taught me tons of time management skills. I ended up continuing working through my 9 years of college about 25-40 hours a week. Working never affected my schoolwork (4.0 in high school, 3.93 in undergrad, and 4.0 in pharmacy school)
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I worked at a restaurant, first as a hostess then as a waitress, in high school. My dad felt strongly that me and my sibs should get jobs beginning the summer we were 16, just for the experience. I definitely think it was good experience and the spending money was nice! I'd encourage my kids to get jobs if they could handle that and grades.
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I worked as a runner in a law office during the school year and then did auditing for the county during the summer. It was so the opposite of my passions and I worked with all adults, but it paid pretty awesomely for a high school job.
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@banana: no way, that is weird? They would hide there the entire class?
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Ice cream scooper!
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Yep, I worked at Chuck E. Cheese's haha
and yes I was the rat sometimes.
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Yup, I was a cashier at a grocery store. Started when I was 16 and worked through college (and past) during the breaks.
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Only during the summer. I sold school uniforms...super exciting, right?
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Nope, my parents didn't want me to work during college either. They didn't want anything in the way of studying.
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@lawbee11: I sold school uniforms one summer in college!
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@Andrea: HAHAHA! No.
I should've explained it better. We had a scheme where I would create a fake doctor's note and get dismissed during lunch to go to the doctor's. Then my friends would hide in the trunk. They had guards at the exits, making sure people weren't ditching class. We actually pulled it off once during senior year. Nobody wanted to go to class cause we all got accepted to colleges and felt like there was no need to get A's anymore. I had 3 people in my trunk at one point!We were nuts. I don't know what we were thinking. Crazy teenagers.
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yup! As soon as I turned 16 I got a job at a pizza place, shortly after I worked at subway for a couple years before beginning to nanny full time.
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Yes, I worked after school at the supermarket as soon as I was old enough. Then a few years later I started doing nights and weekends in the ER. I always knew I wanted to do something related to medicine so I got my foot in the door before I was old enough to drive!
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Just at the end of high school; I worked for a dermatologist. Part of the job involved putting files back and I realized that all these grownups I knew had skin cancer!
@banana: We did something sort of similar...my friend and I used to hide in her car during PE senior year (it was that block before the official start of the day) and the teacher totally knew I was ditching! She even asked another friend about the fact that I was mysteriously missing on running days. We also figured out a way to take "field trips" to Jamba Juice or the boys' school during the last block of the day. So bad.
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@spaniellove: So bad but such good memories, no?
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Soo many jobs. I worked in a grocery store as a cashier, waitress, tour guide, cashier at a pet store, tutor and I even mowed the lawns at my dads office one summer. I usually had at least 2-3 jobs during the summer, and 1-2 all year long. Some of these gigs were only like 4-8 hours per week so I needed a couple together to make any real money.
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@banana: The best
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@prettylizy: Wow! What was your motivation for taking on those jobs? For me, it was mainly getting a 40% discount at the clothing store. I spent a lot of my money on clothes!
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The summer after I turned 15 I got a job & I've had one ever since. In order:
Lifeguard (at 15 a what we they thinking?!)
Clerk at an insurance office
Daycare center worker (in high school & college)
In college I worked in daycare, as a bank teller, & in a preschool. It wasn't until 2 summers ago that I stopped taking on summer jobs (I'm a teacher).I loved having a job. I liked having my own money, which I needed if I wanted gas money, lunch money, or clothes money. My parents stopped shelling out cash once I was employable! I think it gave me a good sense of work ethic & money management.
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@banana: Money! lol! My sister and I shared an old hand-me-down 94 Ford Tempo (you're all jealous, I know) so a lot of my money went to gas and maintenance. I can proudly (NOT!) say that I barely saved a penny from those days and happily pissed away all that money I was making on clothes, hair, nails, tanning salons and the like. Oh to be young again.
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Yup, started in 4th grade tho... delivering the local paper. Eventually picked up more routes, and ended up delivering the Washington Post for 5-6 years!
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I tutored in high school. $12 cash an hour. woohoo!
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I started my first real job when I was 14 working in the kitchen in the nursing home & saved enough money to buy my own car, 94 Pontiac grand am. When I was 17 I got my CNA and worked full time during the summer & was given work release in HS. I got out of class at two and worked till 11pm 30 hrs a week. Senior year I bought myself a 99 grand am, it was purple!
Edit: I also worked in a small town bar for about 3 weeks, but the owners were old and didn't like my crazy hair so they fired me.
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@banana: haha ok, that makes a lot more sense. Hiding in a trunk seemed worse than attending class!
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I started working when I was 14 at a dentist office across the street from my high school. It was nicknamed the "Monkey Dentist" because they had two monkeys in the office. Like real, live monkeys. It was totally bizarre.
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I started working at 12! My parents wanted me to have a job. My first job was at the local library. In high school I worked at Subway.
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I worked at a grocery store for 4 years, started as a cashier and ended up in customer service.
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I worked at a movie theater in high school. If I wanted a cell phone or a car I had to pay for them myself!
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I worked as a hostess at Outback all through my Junior and Senior years of high school. I becamse addicted to their brown bread dipped in ranch dressing! It was actually a pretty awesome job for a high schooler because they were only open for dinner, so there were no conflicts with my school schedule. And hostesses got tip share, so I usually averaged 10-11 dollars an hour at a time when minimum wage was something like $5.75
and yes I was the rat sometimes.
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