View Full Version : First Seven Jobs
Apparently there's this hashtag thing going around where people post their first seven jobs. It seemed like a pretty harmless exercise in self-congratulation to me, but I see that one of the PC Police at Slate objects to the practice because it obscures the "privilege" that gets you to where you are.
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_ladder/2016/08/the_twitter_hashtag_first_seven_jobs_is_problemati c.html
The author explained how her parents paid her way through an Ivy League school and enabled her to work in a series of low-paid media jobs until she ultimately achieved the crowning glory of a job at Slate.
I suppose being born to parents who do their best for you is a sort of privilege, but is it something that should mute any achievement for the rest of your life? I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with this privilege thing except keep our vainglory to a minimum.
For full disclosure:
1 Paper Boy
2 Fast Food Worker
3 Factory Worker
4 Laboratory Assistant (Entomology)
5 Air Force Officer
6 Corporate Financial Analyst
7 Governmental Accountant
1. Dairy Bar
2. Drafter-roadway & sewer
3. Mapper-coal mining
4. Drafter-electric utility
5. Civil Designer
6. Payroll admin
7. GIS Co-ord
iris lilies
8-23-16, 9:45am
1. Babysitter
2. Waitress
3.Filing clerk then receptionist then secretary at same company
4.Food service worker
5. Librarian
Ultralight
8-23-16, 10:04am
1. Nightcrawler catcher/seller
2. Truck washer
3. Grocery bagger
4. Factory worker
5. Construction worker
6. Warehouseman
7. Americorps service member
1. Babysitter
2. Assistant to a bricklayer/farmer/drainage contractor (my dad's work and he paid me to help him)
3. Secretary
4. Piano teacher
5. Tutor in high school math
6. Assembly of fish nets at home for friend who started a business
7. Nurse
Chicken lady
8-23-16, 10:31am
Babysitter (multiple jobs for years)
camp counselor (multiple positions, multiple summers)
art teaching assistant
nanny (2 consecutive families)
freelance artist
child care at health club
headstart asst. teacher/bus driver
Ultralight
8-23-16, 10:34am
I betcha bae has an interesting list!
Ultralight
8-23-16, 10:35am
Apparently there's this hashtag thing going around where people post their first seven jobs. It seemed like a pretty harmless exercise in self-congratulation to me, but I see that one of the PC Police at Slate objects to the practice because it obscures the "privilege" that gets you to where you are.
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_ladder/2016/08/the_twitter_hashtag_first_seven_jobs_is_problemati c.html
The author explained how her parents paid her way through an Ivy League school and enabled her to work in a series of low-paid media jobs until she ultimately achieved the crowning glory of a job at Slate.
I suppose being born to parents who do their best for you is a sort of privilege, but is it something that should mute any achievement for the rest of your life? I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with this privilege thing except keep our vainglory to a minimum.
For full disclosure:
1 Paper Boy
2 Fast Food Worker
3 Factory Worker
4 Laboratory Assistant (Entomology)
5 Air Force Officer
6 Corporate Financial Analyst
7 Governmental Accountant
I find it interesting that you read Slate.
1. Magazine delivery person
2. Busboy
3. Fast food counter person
4. Busboy
5. Busboy
6. Opera Company administrative intern
7. Theater Company front of house manager
I find it interesting that you read Slate.
I also drop by the New York Times, the New Yorker and the New Republic (liberals like thinking of themselves as new, apparently). And the occasional other portside punditry site. I think of it as intellectual roughage to balance the rich diet obtainable through National Review and the American Spectator. And of course, there's always NPR.
I especially find the comments sections interesting.
catherine
8-23-16, 11:21am
1. babysitter
2. telesales for a vacation home developer
3. summer stock apprentice
4. gal friday at a wholesale florist
5. secretary/production assistant at a major TV network
6. family day care provider
7. secretary in a college PR department
1. Cotton Picker/Corn Detasseler - Seasonal
2. Dishwasher
3. Car Hop
4. Apprentice Butcher
5. US Air Force, Law Enforcement Specialist
6. Airport Policeman
7. Corporate Security Manager
ApatheticNoMore
8-23-16, 11:44am
1) fast food
2) I.T. work
3) I.T work
4) I.T work
5) I.T. work
ok I haven't even held 7 jobs in my life but I'm working on it, not all the I.T. work was the same of course, I could go into details. See we don't have all this ability to experiment with whatever job we want if you have to make the rent etc. - it's just not easy to survive in this world (must be nice to experiment without worry over paying bills, but I woke up again today and STILL didn't live in utopia!!!). And working was mostly strongly discouraged when I lived under my parents roof and they paid the bills (I was supposed to focus on school etc. instead - I'd have the rest of my life to work I was always told and therefore shouldn't work while I was in school).
I suppose being born to parents who do their best for you is a sort of privilege, but is it something that should mute any achievement for the rest of your life? I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with this privilege thing except keep our vainglory to a minimum.
well those who had difficulty childhoods will struggle with it the rest of their lives, so there is that. Vainglory to a minimum is always a good idea (unless one is already at that extreme, then maybe they need a little more), maybe it's meant to manifest in something like compassion or maybe the Buddhist loving-kindness. But the privileged have no monopoly on lacking it, ok there are studies that show poorer people ARE more generous etc.. (with what little they have), so there is something there, but you'd think oftentimes the struggle to survive if near the poverty level would overwhelm concerns for much else as well.
1. Bean picker
2. Telephone operator/retail sales (worked two jobs)
3. Transmission man
4. Communications technician
5. Library page
6. Central Office technician
7. Technical editor, on-line courses
1) fast food
2) I.T. work
3) I.T work
4) I.T work
5) I.T. work
ok I haven't even held 7 jobs in my life but I'm working on it, not all the I.T. work was the same of course, I could go into details. See we don't have all this ability to experiment with whatever job we want if you have to make the rent etc. - it's just not easy to survive in this world (must be nice to experiment without worry over paying bills, but I woke up again today and STILL didn't live in utopia!!!). And working was mostly strongly discouraged when I lived under my parents roof and they paid the bills (I was supposed to focus on school etc. instead - I'd have the rest of my life to work I was always told).
Except for a few individuals like Chelsea Clinton, I don't think many get the choice of trying on various careers without worrying about making a living. I think it's more a question (in the early years especially) of scratching for what you can get.
1. Waitress
2. Salad Lady (conference center in NM, 5 of us on the salad team making salad to feed 2000 twice a day, before bagged salad days)
3. Admissions Assistant (College work-study, loved giving campus tours, always wish I'd taken the offer to stay and be an Admissions Counselor)
4. Cave Guide
5. Church Recreation Center Associate
6. Bank Branch Manager
7. Camp Registrar/Trail Coordinator
pre #1 should be "Indentured Farm Hand" being the daughter of a farmer I learned many things. If there were jobs to do - we got it done, sometimes there was pay and sometimes there wasn't. Probably the funnest part of the job was selling Christmas Trees. I did get $1 per tree I sold, I remember that. I also got "credit" during harvest time. At 14 and in a farm truck you could, without a license, drive to the grain mill to drop a load. I'd get credit for each run to use at the Farm Store to buy special feed or equipment I needed for my horses.
Seed Salesman (for those people who advertised in the back of Boys Life)
Babysitter/Puppet Show Theater/Magic Show
Muskrat trapper
Office boy/odd jobs/property cleaning for real estate management firm
Construction electrician
Quality control engineer
Statistician, developing signal processing algorithms to pull signal out of noise from undersea recordings...
I have not had 7 employers but maybe had different jobs.
1. Temp job for a few weeks in high school at publication distribution company.
2. Clerk for State of Alaska in Oil and Gas Drilling section for about 6 months.
3. IRS for 31 years. Collection (1 year), Examination (Audit, Review, Classification for about 10 years), Problem Resolution/Taxpayer Advocate (15 years), Customer Service.
babysitter/seasonal field worker/cannery worker
drive-in theater snack bar
CNA
bank proof operator
public health admin assistant
office manager
news coordinator
freshstart
8-23-16, 5:53pm
babysitter
lawn mow-er
nursing home waitress
nurse- inpatient med/onc
nurse- visiting nurse
nurse- radiation oncology
nurse- hospice
Grew up on a farm so milked cows, ploughed/mowed fields etc
babysitter
telephone service operator
waitress/chambermaid to pay for school
dental hygienist
real estate sales
farmer
dental hygienist
retiree
I'm fascinated that there are folks here that don't have 7 jobs in their lifetime to list. Personally I've got another 8 after the first 7, and that's counting all of the year I spent temping as one "job" since it was all just random admin assignments to various offices, ranging from one day, someone called out sick, assignments, to a few months at one desk when someone was on maternity leave. And I'm not even a job hopper compared to a lot of people I know. My last 3 jobs have been 6, 6 and 8 (and counting) years.
Getting back to the OP's article's thesis that these lists are bad because they supposedly show privilege, I"m not sure whether anyone here's list does that or not. I guess we're all too old or too non-privileged to have done the multiple unpaid internship thing that is apparently common for certain careers these days. The two summer internships I did during college both paid and also provided free housing. (crappy, crowded housing, but housing nonetheless, and both with at least a private bedroom.)
I've also never had a job that had expectations of me working 80+ hours per week. One of my temp assignments was the sunday evening shift at a mega-corp bank in the M&A department doing document prep. The bankers, at least the ones on the lower two rungs of the hierarchy, were all expected to work 100+ hours per week, so the office was packed on sunday evening with everyone frantically trying to get stuff done before their week got started. When I wasn't working on a specific document task I was free to listen to music, read, eat, whatever. One day I was between tasks and reading my book when one of the bankers came to me to provide feedback on something I had done, and commented that she used to love reading but didn't have time anymore because of her job. Then she asked how much I made doing powerpoint and excel for the bank ($28/hour in 1999 dollars), did some quick math in her head and responded with "Crap! On an hourly basis you are making more money than I am..." And I silently did the math and realized that only half the bottom rung bankers survived to become second rung bankers and only 1/3 of those survived to become third rung bankers, only two out of twenty of the third rung became second rung bankers and only one dude had survived long enough to be the number one guy. The odds of any of them surviving long enough to make real money and not have to work all of their waking hours were pretty poor. But apparently the top tier MBA schools they all went to weren't teaching people to do that kind of math.
I'm fascinated that there are folks here that don't have 7 jobs in their lifetime to list. Personally I've got another 8 after the first 7...
Yup, my first-7 list doesn't even carry me through college graduation.
iris lilies
8-23-16, 10:25pm
Ive always been aware that my meager number of jobs brings that average down, the average number of jobs that an American has had. I remember the number as 7. I could be wrong. Age makes a difference in these counts.
I love the indentured servant thing, I basically was that as a babysitter to everyone my mom was friends with. They paid me but my mom set it all up and I had really no say at all. Let's start with my 'own' jobs.
1) pastry shop counter person
2) Taco Bell, regular crew and then shift manager
3) cashier at Student Rec Center in college, then manager
4) personal banker
5) home childcare provider
6) personal banker
7) substitute teacher
Then I go into all the education jobs that were part of the 2 job juggle of additional work at Target, babysitting, survey taking,
On the privilege thing, there were career tracks I really wanted to consider but they had started some of the unpaid internships back in the 80's or the low-paid 100 hour week opportunities that means you would have needed a good amount of support to pull it off. Either some financial boost or really understanding family to put up with the 100 hour weeks. I was fine, middle class, good family, but still no way I could do those things. I was expected to earn my own money,
Gardenarian
8-23-16, 11:31pm
Babysitter
Greenhouse worker
Burger King
Retail clerk
Movie theater popcorn stand
Waitress (several jobs)
Tutor (college)
It was while working at a movie theater that I realized I'd go through life as a kind of slave if I didn't go to college.
I do come from a privileged background (WASP, money) but I never got any career or financial advice from my parents or school. When I dropped out of high school, no one even noticed. I had a few messy years but managed to sort myself out on my own.
Having grown up in a world surrounded by books, art, science, good music, and highly educated people made me set certain standards for myself.
Ultralight
8-24-16, 7:44am
I think of it as intellectual roughage...
This is how I feel when I listen to right-wing radio, which I have been doing a couple times a week since high school (before I was all that political, let alone politically sophisticated).
This is how I feel when I listen to right-wing radio, which I have been doing a couple times a week since high school (before I was all that political, let alone politically sophisticated).
De gustibus non est disputandum.
I was never a big fan of the politics of outrage from either side of the fence. I would maintain that for an example of a comically mindless echo chamber, the comments posted after any opinion piece on the NYT website holds up pretty well against Rush on a bad day.
What is privilege?
Am I privileged because:
- my family immigrated to Canada?
- my parents, especially my dad, told me repeatedly that I could achieve and do anything my heart desired despite the challenges?
- I have an education?
- I always had good food and drink to nurture me despite severe lack of funds?
- a boss and his supervisor called me into the supervisor's office and very gently and tenderly told me at age 20 that I would not be considered for a clerical promotion because I was capable of great things and they wanted me to go for it when women didn't get much support of this kind?
- I took their advice and struggled to save the money and chose a career that was just coming into its own and succeeded?
- banking is usually transparent, free from fraud or graft so I could save and plan and graduate with minimal debt?
- a dear and wonderful man believed in me, loved and married me and supported me through all my efforts even if he had doubts?
- we bought and sold properties at the right time, within our very limited budget, that proved to be financially very wise decisions?
- we lived a 'pay-as-you-go' lifestyle with mortgage and very occasional car loans but no other debt?
- I am healthy with a wonderful family, good friends, love my little home in a peaceful town close enough to the amenities?
What is privilege?
Ultralight
8-24-16, 10:30am
De gustibus non est disputandum.
I was never a big fan of the politics of outrage from either side of the fence. I would maintain that for an example of a comically mindless echo chamber, the comments posted after any opinion piece on the NYT website holds up pretty well against Rush on a bad day.
:laff:
What is privilege?
What is privilege?
What I see is that being taught middle class financial skills is a real benefit. The idea of saving is different than families with poverty and generational poverty. It makes it hard to transition even when you get better jobs. However the skills to live at a level of poverty are not ones that I would have. I have been broke and low income, however I don't consider myself poor because I learned how to do many of the same things you have done, and survived a lot of broke times without too much long term damage.
Asking most of us about privilege is like asking a fish about water--hard to recognize when you're swimming in it.
That said, privilege isn't static--just ask the average old person. It's an interesting discussion, and perhaps thought-provoking, but the idea is mostly just a thought exercise.
iris lilies
8-24-16, 12:00pm
One privilege is referenced in ZG's broader item "family" in her OP. Family that teaches you ways to fit in easily in the middle class social world gives you privelege.
In reading JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy I learned that "hillbillies" are taught to be on the lookout for personal affronts and to avenge them, immediately. That sort of outlook works against you in boardrooms or at a cocktail party. Its not good to be punching everyone around you.
it kinda makes me wonder if The Donald was raised by hillbillies, but that is a different discussion. :)
...
it kinda makes me wonder if The Donlad was raised by hillbillies, but that is a different discussion. :) ...
Many aspects of The Donald's personality beg that question. His taste--or lack thereof--being one. He takes nouveau riche to new lows. (Yeah, I'm judgy where The Donald is concerned. Unapologetically.)
iris lilies
8-24-16, 12:21pm
I should note that Ive got a little hillbilly in my DNA. My grandmother was a Hatfield from Arkansas, one of those famously pugilistic Hatfields who went after the McCoys.
I should note that Ive got a little hillbilly in my DNA. My grandmother was a Hatfield from Arkansas, one of those famously pugilistic Hatfields who went after the McCoys.
Part of my mother's family came here by way of Kentucky...:cool:
Yes, I know that hillbillies and "poor white trash" are some of the last cultures it is acceptable to mock these days.
But I should note that I was raised in a single-wide in the woods in the Ohio/Kentucky part of the world, and still have a banjo, accordion, two hound dogs, shotgun, and rocking chair. Grandpa had a still in back, and the family had a long and proud history as moonshiners and back roads bootlegging.
So take your hillbilly stereotypes and have a nice stroll...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaEJzoaYZk
When I traveled to Southern Ohio in the 1980s, that group was referred to as "Briars".
iris lilies
8-24-16, 4:06pm
When I traveled to Southern Ohio in the 1980s, that group was referred to as "Briars".
What does that reger to, "Briars?"
What does that reger to, "Briars?"
I'm not sure about the derivation. The way people used it, it sounded like it originated as a pejorative term that people began applying to themselves out of either defiance or pride. Sort of like how my grandfather used to refer to himself as a "mick" or a "harp".
One privilege is referenced in ZG's broader item "family" in her OP. Family that teaches you ways to fit in easily in the middle class social world gives you privelege.
In reading JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy I learned that "hillbillies" are taught to be on the lookout for personal affronts and to avenge them, immediately. That sort of outlook works against you in boardrooms or at a cocktail party. Its not good to be punching everyone around you.
.
I faced some of that this summer in my camp, families in question were white or hispanic. When I talked to the family about kids in fights they responded that their child had been taught to fight if anyone bothered them. One of the family members was an elderly grandfather with a military cap on. So I had to deal with the fights in a way that still respected the family but still didn't encourage a brawl!
I faced some of that this summer in my camp, families in question were white or hispanic. When I talked to the family about kids in fights they responded that their child had been taught to fight if anyone bothered them.
I have taught my daughter to fight since she was 6, if anyone offers her violence, or if the innocent need protecting. She is quite proficient with bare hands, knives, sticks, swords, handguns, rifles, and a few other things. We still fence almost every day when she is home.
I have taught my daughter to fight since she was 6, if anyone offers her violence, or if the innocent need protecting. She is quite proficient with bare hands, knives, sticks, swords, handguns, rifles, and a few other things. We still fence almost every day when she is home.
I talk to the kids and families the same way I do about things like R-rated movies, swear words, etc. in our program. Anything that may be okay at home but not at school. I basically say that we have some ways we work things out, talk, etc. at school that may be different than at home. As long as there are adults around they should be solving problems non-physically, but if they talk about learning self defense I don't say anything against that. If they hit back they probably have a consequence, not the same as a un-provoked incident, but still something. Of course in my program we have a 15-1 ratio and kids in line of sight at all times. That is not the same as 100 kids with 2 adults on a playground or walking home from school independently.
I faced some of that this summer in my camp, families in question were white or hispanic. When I talked to the family about kids in fights they responded that their child had been taught to fight if anyone bothered them. One of the family members was an elderly grandfather with a military cap on. So I had to deal with the fights in a way that still respected the family but still didn't encourage a brawl!
I was taught to avoid a fight if any other solution was available but if that was not the case to be sure and get in the first punch. In other words, to issue a sucker punch, and go for a vulnerable area like the nose, if need be. I'll be 49 in a couple of months and am frankly glad that there has never been a situation where I needed to take my father's advice.
I was taught to avoid a fight if any other solution was available ...
That is indeed what we taught our daughter. We are a pacific family, but when violence is called for, we don't play around.
When she was ~14 or so, I saw her take an adult male to the ground who had sexually assaulted her at the farmer's market. She didn't stop until he was unable to leave. She was far more merciful than I would have been.
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