It may come as no surprise but I really havent not had that many jobs in my lifetime. Besides the odd one like shoveling snow or raking leaves of babysitting when I was younger. An official job where I was on a pay roll I really have only ever had 3 of those in my life. Well, three types of them anyways!

My very first official job was at Burger King. It was your typical job for a teenager. I worked after school starting anywhere from 4 or 5pm until 9pm to closing time. Though weekends I would work til close since it was a lot of hours in one shift. I worked an average of part-time hours and when I had holidays and things I typically volunteered for those as well too. Because why not right? Looking back I think it was a great job fir a teenager. I was never interested in a job at Tim Hortons or a coffee shop or a “regular” restaurant. This fast food worked. It was relatively easy to pick up and it wasnt very demanding mentally or physically. I started in the back making the foods and then I worked my way to cashier and drive thru. Not to mention the store I worked gave employees 50% off when you worked and whenever your family went in you got a 25% discount too. Funny enough, for working at fast food, I was my skinnest in highschool working at burger king then I was later in life not working fast food. I will say now I feel a bit tainted, I very rarely eat at Burger king. Food prob is the same, but eating so much as a teen I think of it as a very very rare treat now!

My second job that I got was at a gas station. This was super convient since it was right across the street from my community college housing. I was pumped to get this job as I had quit my burger king job. When I moved to college which was 45 minutes away I had the ability to switch burger kings so I was working at a new one. This one was across town though which was quite the cab ride in a town with no busses. Not to mention they also had been really harsh with shifts for me knowing I was in school. For example, I was susposed to work a 11-2pm, 3 hour shift. They were calling me at 10am telling me I was late (I wasnt and showed them once I seen the schedule which I was right) And then I was off for 2 hours, and I worked 4-7pm. Two split shifts on a Sunday where I obviously didn’t drive so I was taking a cab there and back which why would I spend money on a cab to go back home for a few minutes and what not. That did not make any sense. I left that job and was hoping I could get one at this gas station and I did. It worked out great and despite working til 10pm often since I was in school all day, it was a convenient place to make money especially since I could see the building from my dorm room as well. My second year in college I had moved home because my ex and I had wasted money and I was able to transfer to a different gas station. It was on a major bus route so I was able to travel on my own most times even though my parents did pick me up and drop me off when they could help. Especially when I was working a closing shift at 10pm by myself. That way I wasn’t there alone for long and I had someone to could get me instead of waiting for the bus at night. I quit this job because the boss was a bit of a jerk. I did really well with the secret shoppers, in fact I had won 2 secret shoppers previously. Then apparently I had failed 2 suddenly which I wanted to see the paperwork for and he wouldn’t give me. I was at this time doing a work placement for college and was essentially going to school, doing this placement nearly 40 hours a week, and then picking up weekends and evenings I wasn’t doing placement at the gas station. He offered me to quit or be fired. I quit for how it would look on my resume if they were to be called for future jobs also.

After this I continued placement in a group home for at risk teens, there is no pay for placement for school. Afterwards when I had graduated though I had briefly worked at a hotel in Halifax. The Westin to be exact. I only worked here for a month however it was a very physically high demanding job. It probably was the most demanding job physically that I had ever done up til this point. I would take the bus and get up about 530am and be out the door by 6am to work for about 730am or 8am. I would work right til 330-4pm and would bus back home. If it was a morning on the weekend though, my parents would typically drive me due to buses being not the greatest on weekend mornings and not connecting very well at all.

My last official job and probably the one I will go into more detail in a future blog was being Support Worker for people who have intellectual and physical disabilities. This job was inspired to me by a family friend, (more like a sister and our old babysitter) which motivated me to check it out. When I went to college I had originally taken the Human Services route with a concentration in Child and Youth. I loved it. However getting your foot in the door for those organizations you need to have some experience and working with disabled adults was similar and you needed basically the same credentials. I loved this job. It was shocking to my parents and family friends since I was a pretty rough teenager and this job was helping people. It was one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs I think I will ever have to do. Going back to that will be near impossible until my boyfriend and I are dont having a children and they are in school because that type of work is shift work.

And now I am a stay at home!

What are some jobs that you have had growing up?
Did you hate them or love them?

Let me know in the comments, I am curious which you enjoyed!

-StaySeeJ