Oh, the coveted first job. Minimum wage, memories, and managers that you’ll remember for a lifetime. For some of us, first jobs introduced us to coworkers-turned-friends, work ethics, and our first real experiences with money (albeit, not a lot of it). But for others, first jobs were a nightmare. And these first job horror stories will show you there is something worse than a miniscule paycheck.
I started my first job as a YMCA youth leader at the ripe age of 15. I would, essentially, hang out with kids during the weekends and after school until their parents picked them up after work. Sounds pretty easy. They’re just kids, right? Wrong. Some of these kids were demons.
On my first day, I was on the bus picking up the kids from their respected developments when a sixth grader came onto the bus. She sat right in front of me, and I was trying to be nice — this is a child, after all — so I said, “Hey! I’m Jules! What’s your name?”
She turned around, looked me dead in the eyes and said, “You’re fat, you’re poor, and your shoes are from Walmart,” before putting earbuds in her ears and turning back around.
It still haunts me to the core of my being. She may even be my sleep paralysis demon.
Since my first job experience was memorable, I decided to reach out to some other college kids to hear about their worst first job experiences. From mean kids, to bugs, to salt, these horror stories may just keep you up at night.
FIONA, 21
“The first job I ever got paid for was when I was a counselor for my swim team’s after school daycare at 13. We’d watch the kids, play games, do crafts, get them ready for practice. So one day, I’m left with the ‘guppies,’ (aged six and younger) that were somehow beasts in the water. They all want to play duck duck goose and I’m like, ‘Great! Easy!’
So I’m sitting the circle and this vicious six-year-old girl is ‘duck duck ducking.’ She gets to me, goes ‘GOOSE!’ and yanks me by the hair down to the ground. She then kicks me in the nose and starts kicking me repeatedly. The other kids are laughing. I can’t just beat up this six-year-old I’m in charge of, so after my initial stage of shock and paralysis wears off, I squirm out from under her. Only then does my supervisor, the only real adult, come over to ask if I’m okay. I play it off because who wants to admit a six-year-old girl just bodied them? I got an ice pack and cried a bit in private after.”
Dori, 22
“I once lost $4,000 when I was cashiering. I was a ‘merchandise associate’ and I barely got any training. One day this woman comes to the register with a cart full of random items. I really should’ve known. About half way through ringing up the items, she asks me to put $2,000 on a gift card for a niece. She seemed friendly enough so it made sense that she’s the Cool Aunt. I swipe the gift card to activate it then finish ringing up her items. The lady looks into her purse, grabs at her pockets, looks at me apologetically and says she left her wallet in her car. So she leaves, and I finish wrapping up her items.
About two minutes go by. Then five. Then 10. My supervisor looks at me funny — I assume I look confused and panicked. I tell her what happened then she tells me to consider waiting another five minutes, though it looks like the customer ran off. I called the manager and told him what happened. He stopped me and said, ‘The register won’t process a gift card amount larger than 200.’ I locked my register so it’s out of operation for the day, but the $2000 still went through. I lost $2,000. I feel like crap. I go home.
The next time I go to work, another manager tells me that someone bought a $2,000 necklace with a gift card, so I caused the store to lose $4,000 and all of management knew. They couldn’t really fault me since I didn’t know, but I still felt really bad. So I quit.”
Van, 21
“I was 16 and had this 26-year-old supervisor who would constantly hit on me. On my last day before leaving for college, after I had clocked out, he locked me in the trash room.”
Lily, 21
“I worked with a good friend of mine at the YMCA. We worked with these boys on our after school shift, and they would torment us! They would take our stuff and act like they didn’t, and hide it around the gym like they were trying to hit on us. I’ll never forget when we were both working a shift on the courts. We were just talking to some friends who were there to play basketball when suddenly those boys started pelting us with basketballs for no reason.”
Ari, 19
“I was working at this hipster coffee shop in my hometown during high school, and we made our own almond milk. There was a recipe and everything, and when it was my first turn to make the almond milk, I read the recipe completely wrong. I put in four times more salt than I was supposed to. I did this for a month straight until a customer said something about their drink being salty and I realized I completely effed up. Like, it was four weeks of salty a** almond milk.”
Aidan, 21
“I work as a summer camp counselor from time to time. I was just chillin’ at work with a coworker, and all the kids were asking about her love life and if she had a boyfriend. The coworker told the kids to ask me about my love life, too. And at the time, I wasn’t talking to anyone and honestly was just living life. So the kids asked and I said I’m not looking for anything and that I have to take care of important things, like myself. Then one girl says, ‘Wow, too bad you don’t have a girlfriend. Even if you had one, she wouldn’t be that pretty anyways.’ Still stings after all these years.”
Jenna, 21
“Once I was working at a smoothie shop and they had cockroaches. So many cockroaches. They would go into the fruit and my manager would just be like, ‘It’s fine! Don’t tell anyone!’”
Anna, 19
“People pooped in the dining room of the fast food restaurant I worked at. Like, numerous times. One time, my manager came out on Mother’s Day because some older woman couldn’t make it to the bathroom, and just went in the dining room. Another time, my coworker had to clean the mess from a little kid who just decided to pull his pants down and go in the dining room. I swear this happened, like, twice a month. Someone was just constantly sh*tting on the floor, and it was different people each time. Like… why?! The bathroom is right there! And the mess they would make in the bathroom was even worse. Like, they’d smear it on the walls and toilet seat. Manners, please and thanks!”
At the time, our first jobs are frustrating, confusing, and maybe even scary. However, as we grow in our careers, those first experiences (and toxic work environments) shape us into the working individuals we’ll become. Maybe we have an appreciation for the clean-up crew, or more of an attention to deal when it comes to instructions.
Or maybe you gained a perpetual fear of middle schoolers. Or is that just me?
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.