Growing up on a farm, that sorta counts as my first job. I did get paid when hay season was in. My first "real" job was working over the summer at our high school radio station, which, by the way, was the first one in the state.
Telemarketing. I lasted two months and quit because the job was literally making me sick.
Unless you count the little summer jobs I did for my dad in high school, in which case I was just a gopher at a factory. Also soccer refereeing for the kids' league in the fall.
Telemarketing. I lasted two months and quit because the job was literally making me sick.
Unless you count the little summer jobs I did for my dad in high school, in which case I was just a gopher at a factory. Also soccer refereeing for the kids' league in the fall.
I lasted 10 days as a telemarketer. Like you, the job made me sick, especially when I researched it and discovered that only 11% of the money donated actually went to the charity it was calling for.
Maybe, DD, if being an entrepreneur means, like, mowing lawns or something. Most people get their first jobs between 14 and 16. There's not a whole lot of businesses that are going to be successful that are run by a 14 year old. Not many jobs that a sane adult is going to pay for a 14 year old to do for them.
For me, my first job, or rather having to get one, was more about my mom insisting I start paying a portion of the bills. And wanting to buy things that exceeded my meager allowance, which was $5/week.
My first job was working at McDonalds.
My father filled out the forms when I was 14 and told me that if I wanted to live in his house I needed to understand responsibility and the value of a hard earned buck.
To tell you the truth it wasn't the worst job I've ever had. But I learned what I did not want to do with my life and actually motivated me to do better in school and work towards an advanced degree.
I suppose knowing what you don't want to do is just as important as know what you do want to do.
My first "job" was various things with computers. Building, repairing, disassembling, sorting, logistics, and a lot more... (Although it was a given internship. I applied for a position there afterwards, and they were not interested.)
Sadly, I can't even get a job at McDonalds...
My first job was a paper route, but it seems like this former classic first job for prepubescent teenagers is now the strict preserve of retirees and grandfathers.
My first job was a paper route, but it seems like this former classic first job for prepubescent teenagers is now the strict preserve of retirees and grandfathers.
Me too!
Telemarketing. My very first job lasted two weeks.
I quit because after those two weeks of getting really angry and miserly customers, I got only 60 euros in hand for my troubles.
You are tough. I left telemarketing on second day of training. Twice in fact. Can not stand the idea of compeling people into buying BS. Specific instructions to not tell the consumers about their rights under the threat of being fired was too much.
The "employee mindset" is taught at home. As is the "entrepreneur mindset."
If mom and dad have a "thank God it's Friday/ oh God it's Monday" attitude, chances are their kids are going to have the same attitude.
That being said, I know a guy who's parents were of the "employee mindset", and he realized at a young age that following that path was not the way to success. Now he holds a full time "regular" job and runs a business with a couple employees on the side.
This weekend, I walked past a couple little girls selling lemonade at a stand in their driveway. Congratulations, kids. You're on the right path.
I'm curious as to what is your point, Doug.
You kind of went off-topic here without warning.
I'm curious as to what is your point, Doug.
You kind of went off-topic here without warning.
I'm pretty sure I used unambiguous language. I think y'all went off topic, since the OP never asked what your first jobs were. He made a comment regarding an employee mindset, and how to correct that attitude.
*Checks the first post* My bad, apologies for the oversight.
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Mine was Target. I'm still there. I hate the economic climate.
Maybe, instead of flipping burgers, they should start learning about business tax, financial planning, etc.
Every high school I've ever been to offers a semester-long class on personal finance. Teaches you among other things to make a budget, balance a checkbook, monitor bank statements, and fill out a basic tax form. I wish they'd require it.
My first job was Fast food, I was mistreated horribly, poor working hours (being rostered to work till 1 am on a school night) and if you refused to work a particular night you'd never get given a shift. I lasted about 2 years, 2nd was at McDonalds, same story, lasted for about 2 1/2 years. Then I went telemarketing, and I gotta say it was great, it wasn't so much calling people to force sales, we were the general tech support, it's just we got commision for sales so if you saw the opportunity you'd take it. I was there for 8 months, until the entire center was shut down and me as well as 200 other people lost there jobs.
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Every high school I've ever been to offers a semester-long class on personal finance. Teaches you among other things to make a budget, balance a checkbook, monitor bank statements, and fill out a basic tax form. I wish they'd require it.
My high school had a class like this, and it was required. It didn't cover tax forms or anything like that, though. Just basic bookkeeping, ledger-balancing, etc. Essentially a "financial math" class, where you would calculate things like how much interest you would pay on a car loan for 4 years at X% and such. I don't really think it taught me anything per se, it was just Algebra with story problems that involved dollar signs.
Every high school I've ever been to offers a semester-long class on personal finance. Teaches you among other things to make a budget, balance a checkbook, monitor bank statements, and fill out a basic tax form. I wish they'd require it.My high school had a class like this, and it was required. It didn't cover tax forms or anything like that, though. Just basic bookkeeping, ledger-balancing, etc. Essentially a "financial math" class, where you would calculate things like how much interest you would pay on a car loan for 4 years at X% and such. I don't really think it taught me anything per se, it was just Algebra with story problems that involved dollar signs.
These subjects were included in General Math class at my school.
The same reason lots of places emphasize "leadership roles" and "leadership opportunities" but never talk about "follower roles" - no one likes to think of themselves as anything less than the best, so emphasis is always placed on being on top. Nevermind that too many leaders and no followers get nothing done.
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I think that service industry positions teach great lessons about your fellow human beings.
Certainly working in a service position, you can always mark those who have never had to do such things; they're jerks.
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I wasn't encouraging an entrepreneur mindset.
I'm no fan of the entrepreneur mindset. I tried a business degree and switched majors because I hated it. =)
I was encouraging making sure students left schools knowing how to be functional human beings who are to be trusted with money.
Do you have any idea how many high school seniors there are, poised to graduate, who have the "but Daddy will pay for it all" mindset and no idea how the world really works? They'll get a credit card in the mail and max it out, completely shocked by this interest of which you speak. This is (in part at least) why we have such a messed up economy. People live beyond their means because they never learned to balance a budget and live only in the moment for instant gratification and don't learn about consequences until it's too late to fix things.
First jobs are intended to teach kids about the value of a dollar, but it's really the practical application of that useless business math that teaches it. A McDonald's paycheck might only teach a kid that they can now buy a Starbucks latte for a few days and still ask a parent for money to go to the mall. Unless Example Kid A happens to be one of those sorts who does look to the future to plan for "I want a car, but I also want to go to the movies," there is no motivation to make a budget or learn any of this without an outside push. Such as the class I wish was mandatory.
Heck, roll it into home ec for a year-long schedule of learning to be an adult - first semester finance, second semester how to bargain hunt, cook stuff with cheap ramen, and why you don't need 600+ channels to live. Even household chores! When I got to college, there were people who didn't know how to do laundry.
Oh, and don't get me started on the leadership classes they offer nowadays...
I think y'all went off topic, since the OP never asked what your first jobs were. He made a comment regarding an employee mindset, and how to correct that attitude.
Well, in that case, I think all of the big financial services, credit raters and international banks should be handed over to 14-year-olds. That way, when the economy crashes, at least the guilty parties will have a legitimate excuse.
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Any company larger than one person has employees; those people can profit from having a good employee mindset. Back in the day, this was called "work ethic." The facts of the matter are these: that we need burger flippers, and not everybody is cut out for middle management or white collar tech employment. Being a food service worker is nothing to be ashamed about--you are pulling down a paycheck and contributing to the economy by providing a ubiquitously-used service.
Although I do agree that teaching entrepreneurship and financial self-responsibility young is a great idea.
My first job was farm labor; while I was still in high school I started a small janitorial business that I kept through college.
Mowing the lawn/yardwork for an old lady. Paid more than I got at any other job until I was 3 years out of college and landed white collar.
My first job was structural detailer! I really should have stuck with that. It was a better career than what I ended up with.
My first job was running and performing in a string quartet that did weddings and other gigs. I started it in 7th grade, including writing the contracts, advertising and paying the other members. By the time we were in high school, we had multiple gigs a week and were making $100/hr each (which is nice money when you're in high school). I expanded the business to be a pool of about 12 musicians that could be hired in different combinations, set up cross-promotional relationships with caterers and photographers, made sure we got hired for pretty much every major social event or fundraiser in the area, set up a standardized performance schedule and guidelines for how the members dressed and what equipment they brought (which I think is actually still being used by the youth orchestra's chamber music program back home), found reasons to get the newspaper to write about us, and so on. I did it until my second year of college, and then passed the torch on to my younger sister, who's still doing it.
And I learned a very important life lesson:
I never want to run my own business again.
It was great experience, and very empowering, but the stress of being responsible for other people, and being the person who was directly accountable to the clients, meant that I was rarely able to just enjoy doing the job. I have a lot more flow experiences working for someone else.
There's an awful lot more kids these days who are pretty damn acquainted with being poor and using whatever minimal pay they can get from their first jobs to help the family pay rent or buy food.
Then those are obviously not the ones being complained about.
Nor do I see how it relates to her point that a mandatory class on finances would be good for all involved.
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We had macroeconomics courses where we were handed an imaginary amount of money and told to buy stocks, then followed those stocks in the paper to determine who won and lost money. Interesting as a thought exercise, but much less useful than basic household finance and budgeting classes would have been, really.
My first job was watching my brothers while my parents worked. I got $10 a week for this, and wasn't allowed to work outside the home because of it. I was allowed to babysit, and got a little money through that. I wasn't, otherwise, allowed to work outside the house until I graduated from High school, and then was required to have a job within a week or be kicked out of the house. That job I got in a Lifesavers factory for Nabisco through Manpower. It sucked - especially getting up at 4 in the morning for first shift. Ugh. :P
Working at a pool in a state park. Cleaning up, cashiering, and crowd control. First summer i helped out the guy running the filters, second summer i was running the filters. Since I'm on the large side, I often got sent to deal with unruly patrons, so after a while they slapped me in the park ranger uniform to make me look more official.
Some memorable incidents...
A bat flew down from the ceiling and landed on a coworkers stomach. It looked like a decal, and it took him about 5 seconds to notice it. The person he was talking to stammered for a few seconds, and ran away screaming, then the guy was shaking the shirt saying "GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!"
Someone was complaining about the leash rules for dogs. I tried explaining that even if the dog is well behaved there are wild anim... and a Giant Raccoon popped out of the garbage can and the dog went nuts.
"... did you train the raccoon to do that?"
Probably the same raccoon getting into a fight with a seeing eye dog. The dog needed his owner to get away, but couldn't pull him away and stay in between his owner and the raccoon. I had to get in between the two before they'd break it up.
Some poor black rat snake was sunning himself on the pool deck. People saw him, went nuts and started chucking bottles at him. I picked him up... and people still kept throwing things at him. "Come on people, would i do this if it was poisonous?" and put him around my neck.
Picked up a garter snake. He was fine with it. I walked passed a camp full of kids they started screaming and splashing me... the snake of course bit me. Held out the snake hanging on my thumb to scare off the kids. Councilor asked why i carried a fake snake around, i showed him the teeth marks.
Some rowdy patrons picked up the other ranger but were disuaded from throwing them into the pool. Later that day someone tried picking me up. I had to do first aid for the hernia.
Eating lunch on a rock wall. Finish the first cheese sandwhich, reach down to make a second one... no bread. I look down and there's a raccoon holding onto my hero roll with one paw and reaching up for the cheese with the other. We both pause.. scamper away from each other, give each other the same look and both go back to where we were. I put the cheese on the bread, added some honey mustard and gave her the sandwhich. (she was quite visibly nursing)
I wasn't encouraging an entrepreneur mindset.
I'm no fan of the entrepreneur mindset. I tried a business degree and switched majors because I hated it. =)I was encouraging making sure students left schools knowing how to be functional human beings who are to be trusted with money.
Do you have any idea how many high school seniors there are, poised to graduate, who have the "but Daddy will pay for it all" mindset and no idea how the world really works? They'll get a credit card in the mail and max it out, completely shocked by this interest of which you speak. This is (in part at least) why we have such a messed up economy. People live beyond their means because they never learned to balance a budget and live only in the moment for instant gratification and don't learn about consequences until it's too late to fix things.
First jobs are intended to teach kids about the value of a dollar, but it's really the practical application of that useless business math that teaches it. A McDonald's paycheck might only teach a kid that they can now buy a Starbucks latte for a few days and still ask a parent for money to go to the mall. Unless Example Kid A happens to be one of those sorts who does look to the future to plan for "I want a car, but I also want to go to the movies," there is no motivation to make a budget or learn any of this without an outside push. Such as the class I wish was mandatory.
.There's an awful lot more kids these days who are pretty damn acquainted with being poor and using whatever minimal pay they can get from their first jobs to help the family pay rent or buy food.
Sure there are privileged high school seniors living high on Daddies credit card, but they're a minority and a smaller one than a few years ago.
Never said it was all of them. Just pointing out that this is what I see in the classrooms I get sent to - including the schools I have been informed by other staff are quite low on the socioeconomic spectrum. (Can't cite numbers, and quite frankly, it ain't my business. I'm just there to make sure lesson plans get followed. Actually, I see this problem even in those schools...but yes, to a somewhat lesser degree than the more affluent ones.)
All I wanted to get at was that the schools require basic math, reading, and reasoning skills, but most schools don't really prepare you for life so much as they do for daily interaction. And many of those kids who *do* help with rent and necessary expenses could benefit from some financials in the classroom. Even if it's just helping Mom/Dad/legal guardian out at the store with "This is cheaper per unit price even if it's not the brand we wanted" or making sure they know to read the fine print on stuff. Little stuff adds up.
My first job was working as a cashier and delivery boy for a local nursery and garden shop. The pay was decent for the time, about $2 above minimum wage, and the work wasn't bad aside from having to do weekends. The worst part, though, was peeling flower bulbs - I had a horrible allergic reaction to paperwhite bulbs and my palms were blistered red for a week.
The only way to have control over one's self is to take it. The best way to teach kids how to take self-control economically is for them to be entrepreneurs. Else, you start to think of job as "that place where the other guy has all the power".
I disagree.
The best way is for them to get jobs and demand respect and appropriate compensation from their employer. Don't be afraid to quit a job if they treat you like dirt or you feel uncomfortable doing it.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There are lots of service industries that offer an entrepreneurial mindset and are available to teens. Babysitting is one of them. Newspaper delivery (which was my first job) is another.
I would suggest that any teenager who wants to learn an entrepreneurial mindset should follow the example of hundreds of thousands of Future Business Leaders of America over the last 40 years and sell drugs.
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Scouting programs also teach entrepreneurial spirit. Girl Scout cookies and Boy Scout popcorn, and all that. Plus, when Scouting is done right, the Scouts take ownership and responsibility for their own activities and the adults are just there to teach, support, advise, and assist. One of the best entrepreneurial things Scouting teaches is that you are in charge of your own stuff; if you don't make it happen, no one else will.
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As I recall from my own happy adolescence, Boy Scout troops are also a good place to distribute drugs.