What was your shortest employment?
- Thread starter KrisZ
- Start date
College summer jobs. One was a material handler for a Foam Factory - big perk was free defective nerf balls. They made the foam in the facility, and had a 'bun room" where they foamed the urethane and a big loaf of hot foam would come out hot and smelly and outgassing and a bunch of us would have to carry out back to cure, Thing was huge. Actually passed out at break time the work was so exhausting. Lasted one season.
Second was a machine assembler at Compugraphic, the nice supervisor would work the line when his paperwork was complete and assist in training. You owned the machine you built and signed off on it. If there was an issue at system test you would have to go over and repair it. Not the most efficient production method but effective - sort of 'self training".
Alot of the guys would be tokin' it up in their cars at break. Noticed this when I went out to listen to the radio in my car. My first real exposure to the working-class drug culture. I was a beer or scotch guy. But never at work.
I think the first job was under three dollars an hour and the second one was about five bucks an hour
Second was a machine assembler at Compugraphic, the nice supervisor would work the line when his paperwork was complete and assist in training. You owned the machine you built and signed off on it. If there was an issue at system test you would have to go over and repair it. Not the most efficient production method but effective - sort of 'self training".
Alot of the guys would be tokin' it up in their cars at break. Noticed this when I went out to listen to the radio in my car. My first real exposure to the working-class drug culture. I was a beer or scotch guy. But never at work.
I think the first job was under three dollars an hour and the second one was about five bucks an hour
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3 months. Manufacturing engineer. My first job out of college. Moved 3 hours away from everyone i knew to a small town. Commute was far, job content was pretty rough. The last straw was my Dad getting really sick and realizing i wanted to be closer to my family.
Yeah I did a census here too when I was younger, but I think it was 4-6 weeks. Saw every residence in part of our rural municipality, and met lots of interesting people, rich farmers, poor farmers, artists, a retirement trailer park owner/dictator/bully... He had to give me his speech on why any government or regulation is bad and why he's not filling out his census form, and then I got to hear from the residents of his trailer park complaining and asking if I could get them government help to deal with this guy...
My first job at McDonald's in 1968 when I was 16. I lasted just three months. A gas station was far more my style.
A bizarre side story about McDonald's - I made Filet of Fish that summer with a guy named Karl Werner. He was a serial killer!!!! Look him up.
Scott
A bizarre side story about McDonald's - I made Filet of Fish that summer with a guy named Karl Werner. He was a serial killer!!!! Look him up.
Scott
Hi Scott, did Karl Werner seem like a normal person to you, or did something seem a bit off?
A friend of mine had a sister that briefly dated Craig Peyer. Craig was the California Highway Patrol officer who was convicted for murdering Kara Knott. My friends sister said she could something was really wrong with him.
A friend of mine had a sister that briefly dated Craig Peyer. Craig was the California Highway Patrol officer who was convicted for murdering Kara Knott. My friends sister said she could something was really wrong with him.
My shortest job was working in a seed plant filling burlap bags with 50lbs of seed, sewing them shut and stacking them on a pallet. I remember a Spanish speaking man telling me to slow down and pace myself. This was a summer job in a metal warehouse in the Imperial Valley, California. Outside air temps in the summer months probably averages 108 degrees during the day. Quitting a job never felt so good..
My first 'real' job at 16 lasted about a month. I got a job collecting carts and stocking shelves at ShopRite which was perfectly fine with me, exactly what I wanted. But I was soon forced to be cross-trained on running the cash register, which is a completely different job that I had absolutely no interest in doing. I was told the training was mandatory but I wouldn't need to do it unless they were extremely busy. Ugh, fine.
I did a few days of training which I hated. Then I was put on the register one evening for some experience and I hated it even more. Then the schedule for the following week was posted and I was on register duty all week including the super-busy weekend. I asked what that was all about and my boss basically told me that I'm on register from now on. What happened to 'only unless we were extremely busy'? She denied saying anything like that. I quit on the spot.
I did a few days of training which I hated. Then I was put on the register one evening for some experience and I hated it even more. Then the schedule for the following week was posted and I was on register duty all week including the super-busy weekend. I asked what that was all about and my boss basically told me that I'm on register from now on. What happened to 'only unless we were extremely busy'? She denied saying anything like that. I quit on the spot.
45 min.
I was 16, using a fake ID stating I was 18 and I got a loading job as a forklift operator at a warehouse in Peoria Il.
This was going to be a slam dunk because I practiced all summer using a hyster forklift at a friends machine shop - and I got pretty good.
I didnt really lift much over my head though - mostly moving engine blocks and machinery pieces from the ground up to platform where guys could get at them.
Day 1 they handed me an electric standup forklift with completely different controls and a clipboard with my mornings pulls, my first load was a full pallet all the way at the end of a row, all the way at the top.
I watched in slow motion horror as the pallet dragged just enough to tip while I fumbled at the controls over controlling the entire time, and the whole thing descended on me - There was a deafening bang combined with what I can only describe as a " thwaang" as the strike made the entire rig "ring" as though it had become a giant tuning fork.
The pallet was relatively light which was why it was stacked so high - vitamins.
Seemingly millions of them showered me like a rainstorm and they rolled EVERYWHERE.
The super walked around the corner - and simply said - " go home".
I was 16, using a fake ID stating I was 18 and I got a loading job as a forklift operator at a warehouse in Peoria Il.
This was going to be a slam dunk because I practiced all summer using a hyster forklift at a friends machine shop - and I got pretty good.
I didnt really lift much over my head though - mostly moving engine blocks and machinery pieces from the ground up to platform where guys could get at them.
Day 1 they handed me an electric standup forklift with completely different controls and a clipboard with my mornings pulls, my first load was a full pallet all the way at the end of a row, all the way at the top.
I watched in slow motion horror as the pallet dragged just enough to tip while I fumbled at the controls over controlling the entire time, and the whole thing descended on me - There was a deafening bang combined with what I can only describe as a " thwaang" as the strike made the entire rig "ring" as though it had become a giant tuning fork.
The pallet was relatively light which was why it was stacked so high - vitamins.
Seemingly millions of them showered me like a rainstorm and they rolled EVERYWHERE.
The super walked around the corner - and simply said - " go home".
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Three months. I was an assistant dining manager for a real upscale retirement community. The retirement community is in a very wealthy county. We had high school students that were waitstaff and servers. The problem was they really needed college age people as every restaurant had a bar. The bar tender was lazy and apparently her morning gym workout was more important than being on time. My boss didn't do anything about it and was a micro manager uhhh.
So was it more the "I love Lucy" chocolate factory or the brewery out of "Laverne and Shirley"?
3 days working for an MSP, they sent me to a customer and asked to do very unethical thing to cover their behind, I refused, got back to office and was fired on the spot.
And more on-topic, I just remembered my shortest job!
I got a job working at Best Buy during the peak of Black Friday madness over 20 years ago. First night, me and about 15 other new employees had to sit through training, specifically sexual harassment training. The presentation was some weird white-background mind-numbing show of over-acted examples of sexual harassment, shown over and over from different angles. I felt like it was trying to reprogram my brain. I felt dumber having been exposed to it as I tried to figure out who needed this kind of material presented in this way in order for it to stick. I actually found it offensive and hard to sit though. At the first break I thanked the instructor for the opportunity and left. I lasted all of two hours.
I got a job working at Best Buy during the peak of Black Friday madness over 20 years ago. First night, me and about 15 other new employees had to sit through training, specifically sexual harassment training. The presentation was some weird white-background mind-numbing show of over-acted examples of sexual harassment, shown over and over from different angles. I felt like it was trying to reprogram my brain. I felt dumber having been exposed to it as I tried to figure out who needed this kind of material presented in this way in order for it to stick. I actually found it offensive and hard to sit though. At the first break I thanked the instructor for the opportunity and left. I lasted all of two hours.
Shortest job lasted about 30-40 minutes back in the mid 90's. I worked as a builder/carpenter and every winter got laid off for a month or two and always got a "winter job" to stay busy. Got a quick job at a metal extrusion place and decided I wanted to go drink beer with friends that night, I bounced!
4 hours. Temp job while I was in college at a mass event. Got paid about $35 and we were all provided snacks during a break.
Owen Lucas
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Sounds like you lived around and experienced the real "Sopranos" aka DeCavalcante family.
I worked at Office max for a summer and when it was time for the big back to school rush, I resigned, the boss asked why are your leaving? I said, I have to go back to school!
You can look up your work history on theworknumber.com. It's run by Experian and has a history of all your employers, even places where you applied. I guess this service gathers data from background checks as well? Who knows. I was surprised to find companies on the list where I only applied to a job and had an interview. never worked there. Shows employment in some cases for 1 day or even -1 days....so there you go, the shortest job I had, - 1 days.
I actually sort of kept up, but one guy was yelling at me to inspect them more carefully.
I that was my first venture into process control. They needed some learning.....