Week One: Five Winners will receive a signed hardback copy of Piper Reed Navy Brat
Week Two: Five Winners will receive a signed hardback copy of Piper Reed the Great Gypsy
Week Three: Five Winners will receive a signed hardback copy of Piper Reed Gets a Job
Week Four: Five Winners will receive a Cd of Piper Reed Gets a Job
Educators(only sorry) are also eligible to enter the drawing for a classroom set of Piper Reed the Great Gypsy. (If also entering this contest, please mention your school name, too)
How do you enter?
Answer the question: What was your first job?
Post your answer as a comment below. Enter once and be eligible for each weekly giveaway.
Weekly winners will be chosen randomly and announced Friday.
So what was your first job?
For more information on PIPER REED GETS A JOB.
I was a salesperson at the local variety store called Duckwalls~
ReplyDeleteMy first job was McDonald's when I was 17 years old. It was an easy job and I actually liked it. I met a lot of great people-- a couple of them I still talk to today. :-)
ReplyDeleteYay for Piper Reed Week!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was as a file clerk for a credit bureau in Honolulu :).
Babysitting would be my true first job but I guess the first "real" job was as a clerk at the cosmetic counter in a drug store. Really weird to think since I don't ever wear make up.
ReplyDeleteMy first job was as a day care afternoon teacher of the 4 and 5 year olds when I was 17. Hard to believe that was only 2 and a half years ago.
ReplyDeleteFilled with irony, my first job was to cold-call people to buy tickets for a Fireman's Charity Event. I had a script and everything. Turns out I was one of the better telemarketers in the mid-80's, even at 15. . .
ReplyDeleteThen the other shoe dropped. The people were heading up a scam. . .I should have suspected this since our office was a motel room and we used motel room phones to make our calls. . .
Paul W. Hankins
My first job was working in my uncle's nursery. (Plant nursery that is, in Forest Hill) It was HOT in the summer and COLD in the winter. I hated it! That's what made me want to go to school to be a teacher. I love teaching!
ReplyDeleteBesides babysitting, my first "real" job was McDonalds. I worked there a little over a year before going off to college. This gave me more encouragement to study hard so I wouldn't have to ever go back.
ReplyDeleteEducator
Creek View Elementary
Maylene,AL
My first job, besides a few babysitting gigs, was being our church's organist. I was 14 at the time. Not very good, either! But, they were patient with me, and I developed some decent organ-playing skills eventually.
ReplyDeleteStephenie (teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Green Bay, WI)
Hi, Kimberly!
ReplyDeleteMy first job, besides babysitting, was working behind the counter at Burger King. Now I teach 3rd grade at Peachland Elementary in Newhall, CA!
My first job was as a clerk typist at Sheppard Air Force Base. I was just out of high school.
ReplyDeleteBabysitting was my first job, but I supposed my first "official" job was working for the vet down the road: cleaning kennels, walking animals, etc. I even fostered a litter of kittens that were ridiculously young-THAT was work!
ReplyDeleteI was a clerk at a dry cleaners. I was 15 and careless and they trusted me with way too much.
ReplyDeleteGreetings! Yeah, Piper!!! My much older brother was a Veterinarian.
ReplyDeleteHis office was built on the home where we grew up. All of the family members pitched in when he first began his business. My first job was answering the telephone and scheduling surgeries. Please count me in your marvelous Piper Contests!
Many thanks, Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com
My first job was babysitting at age 11! I entertained a 5 year old after school each day for an hour. We spent many an afternoon building tents inside or forts outside. Lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was lawn boy. It filled my summer, kept me out-of-doors, and established my love of plants and gardening.
ReplyDeleteLarry Dane Brimner
For my first job, I vacuumed, swept and mopped floors, miles of floors, at the county courthouse. Think that's where I developed an aversion to cleaning!
ReplyDeleteCarol
carolwscorner.blogspot.com
My first full time job was as a library assistant in a college library.
ReplyDelete"Good-evening-Pizza-Hut-May-I-take-your-order?" --Chery W.
ReplyDeleteI was the art counselor at a Camp Fire Girl camp outside of Stephenville, TX. The sad part was I thought my salary was $800.00 each session but it was $800 for the entire summer. Good times, though!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was reporting to my local paper on game stats for my high school basketball team. My first nonfiction PAID writing assignment.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I work at St. Clare School
What a fun contest, Kimberly!!! BIG congratulations on your new book....
ReplyDeleteMy first "real" job (aka school of hard knocks) came when I took a job at a plant that makes all the tiny pieces needed for orthodontia. I stetched the metal bands that go around the molars for 40 hours a week all summer. I punched a time clock. I grieved my babysitting days... Liz Garton Scanlon
Argh! I sold bras in the lingerie department of a large store! Thanks for the contest.
ReplyDeleteMy first real job was working at Taco Bell in high school. When after 3 weeks I still couldn't fold a burrito correctly, I quit and went to work at McDonalds.
ReplyDeleteI went door to door selling my pictures when I was five. Needless to say, I had some terrific (and patient) neighbors who always kept a stash of quarters by the door. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you all for getting into the spirit of this contest. You've made me smile all day with your comments. Seems we all connect some kind of emotion with those first jobs--nice to know for many of us, it's humor.
ReplyDeleteI was a park recreation assistant. Wonderful for a 16 year old-play in the park with kids and get a tan! School entry too--Pleasant Valley Elementary in Amarillo ISD
ReplyDeleteI was the manager of a local coffee shop near my college. I went in for a part-time job, and just two weeks after I started, the previous manager quit. The owner, in a pinch, promoted me on the spot!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention my school name:
ReplyDeleteStephen Decatur Elementary School in Sicily, Italy (on a Navy base...just like Piper!)
I was a gift wrapper during Christmas holiday in Jackson Mississippi. The year was 1970. Don't know what I made per hour, but I bet it was about $3.00. Not much less than now being a 16 year school librarian. Ha, ha.
ReplyDeleteMy first real job was working for an office supply/printing company. I started working for them during the summers of my junior and senior year of high school. There was a snowball stand across the street and my first assignment was to acquire snowballs (snowcones) for everyone. I learned a lot about how overpriced office supplies really are. Alas the company is no longer there, but the snowball stand still is!
ReplyDeleteMy first and only job until recently was at a supermarket. I am blessed to have just completed college and will be a first year teacher at Pleasant Valley Elementary School teaching 2nd grade!!! I am so excited. Wish me luck!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Melissa Hilderbrand
missykearns@yahoo.com
I first got paid for walking soybean fields for my neighbors - walking up and down the rows pulling weeds.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kimberly!
ReplyDeleteGee, after seeing your readers' responses, it looks like my early job history is pretty common--except that I had a twin sister to share all our "firsts". Beth and I started babysitting since we were 12 years old ...as soon as we were able to earn big ol' minimum wages, it was working at the McDonald's on Carol Sue in Terrytown for us both -- I think it's still there.
Tell us what was your first job!
Love,
Gette
Oops! NEver mind...I see you already answered the question about your first job in that lovely essay on your 19 First Jobs. I really need to come online and read this blog more often, it's terrific :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kimberly. Congratulations on your new Piper Reed book! - My first real job was working in the kitchen of a nursing home serving food to the residents and washing dishes. I earned $2.85 an hour plus $.07 uniform allowance. The minimum wage was $3.35 an hour, but they were able to pay me student wage since I was 15. I learned a lot at this job!
ReplyDeleteKris Pfeil
Blair Middle School
kris.pfeil@blairschools.org
I remember you reading some of your first stories to us when Shannon and I were at Arden Road.
ReplyDeleteMy first job was a nanny! I can't wait to read your books to my students. I start student teaching in 3 weeks. YAYYYY!!!!
My first "real" job was working on a doctor's office. I got hired as a temp to set up their filing system and stayed for 7 months - even got to work full time in the summer.
ReplyDeleteLibrarian at Oak Park Elementary School, Stillwater MN
The first thing I got paid to do -- aside from babysitting -- was to perform mime at a supermarket opening.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to say no more about it, except that if I win this contest, the humiliation will have been worth it.
My first job was at Harpers 10 cent store making Easter Baskets. This was done in the dreary basement. My older sister worked there and got me the job...I was about 12!
ReplyDeleteMy first job was a full time baby sitter 6am - 2pm...out in the pool laying out by 2:30 with baby oil and iodine. $10 per hour! I was the richest 8th grader around Arlington.
ReplyDeleteMy first job was at Sonic Drive-In when I was 15. I liked my job until one day my boss thought it would be amusing to send the fountain girl (me) out to carhop. My task- deliver 6 drinks in Dixie cups with the wind blowing about 25mph. Out the door I went only to have all 6 cups swirled away with the wind. Everyone in the parking lot was laughing, but when I turned to go back inside, I found that they were all laughing harder. The boss had everyone looking at me. There was NO order for the Dixie cup drinks! After the deep red left my cheeks, I laughed with them.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Samantha and Melissa on becoming teachers. Your students are going to love you.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, I thought every woman's first job was going to be babysitting(although Angie, 10 dollars an hour? I don't think I would have ever stopped babysitting.) It's been so interesting to read all the various first jobs.
Nita, I feel your pain. It's nice to know you could end up laughing with them.
August 5, 2009 6:27 AM
I worked as a teacher aide at special education school. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteMy first job was a skating carhop at Sonic. Too bad I'm terribly uncoordinated :)
ReplyDeleteMy first job was teaching gymnastics to preschool and elementary-aged kids. I loved it and now that my daughter is taking gymnastics it kind of makes me want to teach it again!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 17 and a senior in high school, I took my first job. I was a cashier at a busy grocery store. I worked all day Saturday and three weekday nights depending on the schedule. I lost a lot of weight because the smell from the bakery was just too much and I lost my appetite. I felt so lucky to be working at a store with the machines that told you how much change the customer needed! Back in 1969 that was a new feature on the registers, and most cashiers still needed to count the change backwards.
ReplyDeleteMy first job was busing tables at a steak restaurant, and I hated it. Now I teach middle school children, and I love it!
ReplyDeleteEducator
West Fork Middle School
West Fork, Ar
72774
My first job was busing tables at a steak restaurant. I was 14 and very self conscience. Now I teach 5th grade, and I love every minute of it!
ReplyDeleteEducator
West Fork Middle School
West Fork, AR
72774
I think it's so interesting how our first jobs stay with us. Seems everyone who has commented has a strong feeling about their first job one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteI love that some of you have found your bliss in teaching. And Kelly that you are thinking of teaching gymnastics again.
Sharon, I remember having to count backwards for the change, too. It was at my first official job at the movie theater. I think that's one reason I can add and subtract in my head pretty quickly.