At Liberty Nation News, we’ve covered Labor Day just about every way you can over the years – from the history of the holiday to the politics of labor in general. This year, we decided it was time for something a little different. We polled a dozen writers and editors at LNN with this question: “What was your first job, and what did it teach you?” Here’s what they said:
Scott D. Cosenza:
“My first job was as a busboy and dishwasher at a Jersey Shore deli and restaurant. When I think about what I learned from it, the scandal of the theft of that experience from today’s youth outrages me. My job taught me: cooperation, scheduling discipline, how to flip an omelet, workplace pride, the value of a dollar, an understanding of how a small business operates, the folly of government regulation, and the madness of government wage confiscation.
“Aside from occasional sibling care duties, adolescents are seldom entrusted with roles that others rely on. At work, though, if the dishes aren’t bussed, the newspapers aren’t delivered, or the trash goes unemptied, the whole operation stutters at least. Teens can have low-level jobs that are, nevertheless, essential, and jobs that they gain much more than just dollars from.”
Corey Smith:
“I flipped burgers at New Hampshire International Speedway and learned never to go back there again. If I took anything away from that one insanely busy shift, it’s that working hard earns respect.”
Joe Schaeffer:
“My first job was working at a supermarket I guess around the age of 16. It taught me the importance of being on time – we had to punch an old-fashioned timeclock – and how to be a small part of an overall operation. I bagged groceries, collected shopping carts in the parking lot (which taught me the benefits of being out of eyesight of your immediate supervisors!), stocked shelves, and eventually earned a KEY promotion to guy in charge of the recycled bottles and cans booth, which was a thing at the time. I also learned how awful a closed-shop union joint could be. They gouged my every paycheck even though I was a 16-year-old kid trying to earn a few bucks. Yeesh.”
John Klar:
“I started working for $1 an hour at age twelve, stacking wood, mowing lawns, cleaning up construction sites. I learned to do what I was told, don’t stand around idle, and don’t complain. By 14, I had graduated to house painter for $3.50 an hour, where I learned to do what I was told, not to stand around idle, and to use a ground cloth. At 16, I had my first legal job, earning $3 per hour stocking shelves at a national grocery chain. I learned to do what I was told, never stop moving, and that all the nation’s grocery shelves would be empty in three days without stockboys.”
Kelli Ballard:
“If I don’t count babysitting and doing yard work, then my first job was working at Foster Freeze, a fast-food restaurant. Besides responsibility, my first job taught me how to deal with the public and count back change. Back in the ‘80s, the customer was always right, and you had to be nice to them. Today, you’re lucky if a customer service employee says “hello,” much less even offers you a smile. Math was never my strong suit, but working at a cash register that didn’t tell you how much change to give back still serves me today. If computers go down while you’re in line to pay at a store, workers can’t help you because they don’t know how to count back change. Both of these art forms are lost in today’s workforce.”
Kirsten Brooker:
“I got my first job when I was 14. I was tasked with detasseling corn. I learned very quickly that I am not a morning person and that corn plants can cut your skin up amazingly easily. I did, however, appreciate the paycheck and the freedom that making my own money provides.”
Sarah Cowgill:
“I grew up as a farm girl. Responsibility was instilled with having horses and pigs to care for. And my first job, not in my daily routine, came one summer when I was 14. I was old enough to detassle corn. It was hard, physical work, under the burning sun, and the corn sweat was nearly unbearable. All of us rural kids worked that job for six weeks every summer. That’s farm life, and I am still a farm girl.”
Dave Patterson:
“After graduating from high school, I had two real jobs. The first started at 7:00 a.m. and lasted until 3:00 p.m. at Tokheim Pump Corp. Those were the folks who built the market share of gasoline pumps used at filling stations. I assembled the submerged pumps that were installed in the underground tanks. I learned that the people around me depended on me to do my job right the first time. There were no do-overs. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. I’ve tried to keep that lesson in mind. Haven’t always been successful.
“My second job was as a hospital orderly on second shift from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. What could be more different? On a light note, I learned how to clean my hands. Removing the oil and grease to achieve hospital-standard cleanliness was a challenge. Eventually, I developed a combination of industrial-strength oil and grease remover, followed by this gritty powdered soap. To be sure, I’m confident I contributed a lot of skin to the effort. I also learned that people in extremis need a helper in whom they have confidence. When I went into a patient’s room and explained, ‘Hi, I’m Dave, and I’m here to insert your catheter before surgery in the morning,’ glee was not the first reaction I would receive. However there was a momentary relationship, call it an emotional bond, that must develop when the patient knows the procedure is required and is placing his confidence in your hands, along with other things. You want to deserve that confidence in everything you do.”
Connie Pollock:
My first job was in high school when my best friend’s sister worked at Robert Hall, a now-defunct clothing store. She asked us to come help with inventory, and we counted shelves and racks of blouses, shirts, pants and coats. I didn’t even know how to cash the check I earned.
Leesa K. Donner
“When I turned 16, I promptly applied for my work permit and landed a job as a waitress at Barnhill’s Ice Cream Parlor in Pittsburgh, PA. It turned out to be a job that lasted all the way through college, and it taught me a great deal. It was a hugely popular restaurant that served both food and extravagant ice cream concoctions, with long lines of people waiting out the door every night. I quickly learned the art of cooperation as our team of waitresses had to coordinate with the kitchen staff, the ice cream scoopers, the busboys, and the hostesses. It was a crazy atmosphere, and when you are a waitress, you quickly learn the importance of attention to detail once a customer rails at you for forgetting their spoon, ketchup, or hamburger. It also taught me the value of good service because my tip was an immediate indication of whether I had done a good job or not. Looking back, the lessons I learned at Barnhill’s are too numerous to count.”
Tim Donner
“My first job was as a 15-year-old summer office assistant at a New York nonprofit, the Fresh Air Fund. My first task on my first day was to deliver photographic equipment by subway to Queens. I was held up at knifepoint on the subway platform and surrendered the package. Lesson: Maybe this working business is not for me!”
James Fite:
“I suppose the first thing that working for $10 an hour under the table as part of a construction crew at age 15 taught me was that not all job opportunities open up at 16 – some you have to be 18 or 21 before any company will insure you! Jokes aside, I learned the value of taking pride in personal craftsmanship. To be able to look at something you’ve built – or helped build – and know that it was built in a way that it very well could be around long after the builder is gone brings pride and instills a sense of dedication to craft that few other things can.
“My first legal job was as a busboy at Brown’s Country Kitchen and Restaurant in Benton, AR – a restaurant that hasn’t been around for many a year at this point. I learned all the mundane, normal things one learns at their first legitimate job, of course. But I also learned the difference between good and garbage management – and how to very quickly recognize which one I’m dealing with. The store was managed by two brothers. One fell into the first category, and the other, well, you get the drift. But there was one other important takeaway from my time at Brown’s. Building on the lessons of my previous job in construction, I quickly discovered that going above and beyond in one’s work can bring more than a sense of pride. This was a self-serve establishment with a sign on the wall declaring the staff as non-tipped. Still, my friend and I worked the tables as if we were waiters, and we ended up making more money than the head cook thanks to all the tips we weren’t ‘supposed’ to get. When you work for someone else, you’re building their wealth – but that doesn’t mean you can’t be building something for yourself along the way.”
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For the old hands among you who’ve put in your years and paid your dues, sit back this Labor Day and enjoy the nostalgia. If you know, you know. If you don’t know … get out there and get to work! The life lessons you see here and so many more just like ‘em will serve you well throughout the years – but they aren’t going to learn themselves.
