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First Jobs: True Tales of Bad Bosses, Quirky Coworkers, Big Breaks, and Small Paychecks
A future mayor shining shoes, an atheist shilling Bible, a housewife heading to work during World War II, a now-famous designer getting fired - we all got our start somewhere. A first job may not have the romance of the first kiss or the excitement of a first car, but more than anything else, it offers a taste of true independence and a preview of what the world has in store for us. In The First Job, reporter Merritt Watts collects real stories of these early forays into the workforce from a range of eras and industries, and a diversity of backgrounds. For some, a first job is a warm welcome to the working world. For others, it's a rude awaking, but as these stories show, it's an influential, entertaining experience that should not be underestimated. This book transforms what we might think of as a single, unassuming line at the bottom of a resume into a collection of absorbing tales and hard-earned wisdom to which we can all, for better or worse, relate. Perfect graduation gift; Picador True Tales is a new series of books in which reporters select short, candid, as-told-to, first-person narratives, and curate them in fascinating anthologies. The stories you'll discover within these books will be by turns hilarious, wise, and heartbreaking.
256 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 24, 2016
This was a nice collection of stories from people of all walks of life and the first jobs they had. Some were typical (fast food restaurant, ice cream shop, camp counselor), while others were ambitious (starting your own business at 12, interning at Microsoft...just because), and others still were really out there (nude model, carny.)
While most of them were fun to read, my favorite was the "Pecan-trepaneur", who built a business at 12 years old selling pecan halves door-to-door, continuing the "business" into college and making enough money for a car and a down payment on a house.
It certainly makes one think about their first job and the lessons learned from it.
While most of them were fun to read, my favorite was the "Pecan-trepaneur", who built a business at 12 years old selling pecan halves door-to-door, continuing the "business" into college and making enough money for a car and a down payment on a house.
It certainly makes one think about their first job and the lessons learned from it.
February 27, 2015
A wonderful fun read ,everyone remembers their first jobs the excitement of your first paycheck .There are memories of all types of experiences from nude modeling ,the fun of working in a bar&becoming friends with a young Dustin Hoffman.the horror of being held up at gunpoint while working in a store in a strip mall,each persons story is unique& each an interesting view of ther life's experiences.would be a fun read for a book club discussion.
August 29, 2017
This book was full of fun stories about nightmare bosses, menial jobs, and learning experiences. While I wish the stories were a bit longer (the average one was probably about 3 pages), it was interesting to read about people working jobs similar to ones I've had, as well as people who had fascinating jobs I've never even considered. Imagine driving the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, trading sea urchins with Japan, and being a nude art model. I also enjoyed seeing the jobs the same people have now, compared to where they started in the working world.
August 1, 2015
I received this a first read. This book was a mostly humorous look at first person stories about people working their first jobs. I really liked this book. It was a fun read. It was interesting to read the stories. I laughed out loud several times reading this book. A good entertaining read.
June 4, 2015
First Jobs is a series of stories involving the sometimes frustrating work arena. Some of these jobs were ones that the author herself had undertaken and while Watts describes herself as a, "...wise-a--..." we didn't get a lot of that. A wise-a-- has a responsibility, after all. We overlook or even enjoy this quality when it makes us laugh and Watts didn't. We do have a weird sense of humor though.
There were a few guffaws. There were some clever moments. However, there simply wasn't enough laughs and without those, this is simply a collection of work tales.
There are some interesting facets to this piece. For example, it's interesting how the idea for the book became to be. It's interesting to share in the experiences of another person. If we were to meet Watts in person, we think that we would like her.
We completely understand the premise for First Jobs and it's a great one. We like it. We wanted more. - See more at: http://www.ginaesays.com/#sthash.q9xh...
There were a few guffaws. There were some clever moments. However, there simply wasn't enough laughs and without those, this is simply a collection of work tales.
There are some interesting facets to this piece. For example, it's interesting how the idea for the book became to be. It's interesting to share in the experiences of another person. If we were to meet Watts in person, we think that we would like her.
We completely understand the premise for First Jobs and it's a great one. We like it. We wanted more. - See more at: http://www.ginaesays.com/#sthash.q9xh...
September 30, 2017
Entertaining read. And a good choice for anyone who likes shorter books with short chapters.
June 30, 2015
One and a half stars.
I was really disappointed in this book. I thought it would be a highly entertaining collection of essays about a variety of people's first jobs.
It was all of the above, except "highly entertaining". It read as though it would have been funny in conversation, but the humor didn't translate well. I didn't find almost any part funny. The stories were not long enough to garner any real relationship or attachments to the various employees, and they were simultaneously not witty enough to justify reading them. Equally annoyingly, all of the "good stories" were either spoiled for me by the introduction or an interview I heard regarding the book; and what's worse, those spoilers made the actual stories sound a lot more interesting than they were as I read them. I think it just wasn't written that well. There's no literary value here to salvage the book.
I was really disappointed in this book. I thought it would be a highly entertaining collection of essays about a variety of people's first jobs.
It was all of the above, except "highly entertaining". It read as though it would have been funny in conversation, but the humor didn't translate well. I didn't find almost any part funny. The stories were not long enough to garner any real relationship or attachments to the various employees, and they were simultaneously not witty enough to justify reading them. Equally annoyingly, all of the "good stories" were either spoiled for me by the introduction or an interview I heard regarding the book; and what's worse, those spoilers made the actual stories sound a lot more interesting than they were as I read them. I think it just wasn't written that well. There's no literary value here to salvage the book.
May 7, 2015
I was a First Read Winner of this book and I was very excited to get started on it. For whatever reason I was expecting funny stories, and so I was a little disappointed when that was not the case, but that was my bad. However I did find this book overall very entertaining, with a diverse mix of stories regarding just about any job you could imagine. It made me thing back to my first job and how that shaped me for the future. This might be a great gift for somebody just starting their first job.
January 21, 2016
OK, so this wasn't Studs Terkel's "Working" but it wasn't meant to be. However, it was an enjoyable book about peoples first jobs. The author interviewed and wrote about the first jobs of about three dozen people. Each little story is short, four to six pages, just enough to gleam the important details of their memories of that first job.
The book was well written and easy to read. It is a great book to read in bits and pieces, a bit now and a piece later. It held my interest and made me reflect back on not only my very first job, but all of my early jobs. I would recommend this book.
The book was well written and easy to read. It is a great book to read in bits and pieces, a bit now and a piece later. It held my interest and made me reflect back on not only my very first job, but all of my early jobs. I would recommend this book.
September 16, 2015
Such a great read! These stories are at turn moving, quirky, funny... they really represent all the facets of what a first job can be, and it is such an entertaining read. I would read one or two stories every day during my break and I couldn't wait to see what the next day's stories would bring.
March 31, 2015
What I especially like about this book is that there's something here everyone can relate to. We all had a first encounter with the working world. This is a very fun, easy to read book with stories told from the perspective of 50 very different people from different backgrounds and generations.
did-not-finish
January 3, 2017Just not what I was expecting - these were two-page transcriptions of very brief interview type stories, not overly polished. I would have liked longer better-written stories, but this is an enjoyable light read. Got a copy through Edelweiss.
August 17, 2015
Interesting collection of stories from first jobs going back to the 1940s. Each story captures the voice of the interviewee, as they tell their story to the author. The stories are only a few pages each, so perfect to read when you have a few minutes to spare.
October 6, 2015
This was a great idea, but it didn't feel like the author went far and wide to get the stories. It honestly seemed as if Watts asked the people who worked in the same building for their first job stories, typed them out and sent it of to be published. I had much higher expectations for this one.
May 5, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could relate to so many of the scenarios, coworkers, bosses, and situations.
This book was the only one I could find that was close to my book on jobs. It had down-to-earth details about a variety of jobs, and for me, it was a real page-turner.
This book was the only one I could find that was close to my book on jobs. It had down-to-earth details about a variety of jobs, and for me, it was a real page-turner.
December 20, 2015
Really Good, Funny, and Great Stories!!!!
April 1, 2017
A quick read. Reminded me of my first job. Which I wish I could forget.
August 30, 2017
A great collection of great stories about how wonderfully varied life can be, across decades.
March 12, 2023
A little lacklustre, but okay. There’s so many stories here, but only a few are memorable…and the stories had so much potential! The voice-to-text editing did the book a huge injustice. It just lacks great storytelling. I’d still recommend the book though to someone starting out at corporate for two things: principles and understanding that you might not get it right on the first try.
December 14, 2017
Quick read without enough substance to make it worthwhile. Some interesting stories in here (more than balanced out by the rest), though lacking organization and ultimately very repetitive. Starts off well, but quickly goes downhill. 1.5 stars.
March 26, 2020
Overall a fun read, some enjoyable tales about first jobs.
January 28, 2025
Fun!! Fun and funny! I had fun!
August 8, 2015
This is a collection of "first job" stories with a focus on generational diversity: this collection spans the WWII era all the way through some 17 year old intern in Portland in 2014. The difficulty here is that, while some of the stories are interesting, none are particularly remarkable, and for every story of this kind that is included there are hundreds that are left out.
The sampling of the stories in here isn't particularly good, either. You've got a whole bunch of nearly identical "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps in the 30's through 50's in Illinois" stories that are no longer relevant to the current economy, and then a bunch of 30 year olds, almost all of whom now work in the fashion industry in NYC, talking about the obligatory, and irrelevant, teenage service industry rite of passage before their parents paid for them to go to a fancy college that allowed them to network their way into the most exclusive industry in one of the most expensive cities in the world. There's also one 17 year old intern at an organic co-op in Portland who is so completely not unique (compared to the literally millions of other people out there just like her) you have to wonder who she knows. And, of course, except for token Latino Antonio Villaraigosa, who happens to be the former mayor of LA and is therefore "safe" for rich white people to approach, all of the people contributing to this book seem to be white and wealthy, so go figure. It's as though the editor just had a whole bunch of her friends from college and her dad's friends from Illinois contribute to this book and declared it mission accomplished. It's not really a real effort because of this incredible intellectual laziness, and it really just seems to be trying to affirm the American political myth being pushed by the rich and the elderly that hard work and perseverance will get you anywhere, when since the 1970's that's only actually been true if you're white or Asian; grew up in a rich neighborhood on one of the coasts; and have well-connected parents.
As for this collection, you really can't claim to represent the common man if more than half of your stories are by 30 year olds who can actually afford to live in New York, and if you can just nonchalantly stick the former mayor of Los Angeles in there as though he's an average joe. Ultimately, I found this entire collection to be an adequate bathroom book, but very superficial, classist, and ultimately hypocritical given that the author clearly has never worked hard for anything in her entire life. At the end of the day, this is just another self-affirimation vanity project by some rich daddy's girl who got everything, knows nothing, and should be treated with about as much respect.
The sampling of the stories in here isn't particularly good, either. You've got a whole bunch of nearly identical "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps in the 30's through 50's in Illinois" stories that are no longer relevant to the current economy, and then a bunch of 30 year olds, almost all of whom now work in the fashion industry in NYC, talking about the obligatory, and irrelevant, teenage service industry rite of passage before their parents paid for them to go to a fancy college that allowed them to network their way into the most exclusive industry in one of the most expensive cities in the world. There's also one 17 year old intern at an organic co-op in Portland who is so completely not unique (compared to the literally millions of other people out there just like her) you have to wonder who she knows. And, of course, except for token Latino Antonio Villaraigosa, who happens to be the former mayor of LA and is therefore "safe" for rich white people to approach, all of the people contributing to this book seem to be white and wealthy, so go figure. It's as though the editor just had a whole bunch of her friends from college and her dad's friends from Illinois contribute to this book and declared it mission accomplished. It's not really a real effort because of this incredible intellectual laziness, and it really just seems to be trying to affirm the American political myth being pushed by the rich and the elderly that hard work and perseverance will get you anywhere, when since the 1970's that's only actually been true if you're white or Asian; grew up in a rich neighborhood on one of the coasts; and have well-connected parents.
As for this collection, you really can't claim to represent the common man if more than half of your stories are by 30 year olds who can actually afford to live in New York, and if you can just nonchalantly stick the former mayor of Los Angeles in there as though he's an average joe. Ultimately, I found this entire collection to be an adequate bathroom book, but very superficial, classist, and ultimately hypocritical given that the author clearly has never worked hard for anything in her entire life. At the end of the day, this is just another self-affirimation vanity project by some rich daddy's girl who got everything, knows nothing, and should be treated with about as much respect.
September 8, 2015
Writing
Much like The Job, this book consists of persona essays from various people about the first jobs they ever worked - from the horrible to the inspiring. Some have a better quality of writing than the others, but the true standout here is in the personal anecdotes, not in the writing itself.
Entertainment Value
Again, I'd highly recommend this to those who enjoy hearing personal stories along the lines of Story Corps or This American Life. These are short and easy to read and have a pretty broad appeal. And like a podcast, you can read just one at a time here and there or you can binge on them.
Overall
Worth checking out, especially if you had a terrible first job and can identify with some of the madness these people dealt with. It's not something that I think people will be itching to get their hands on, but I think it's a pleasant diversionary read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with copies of these titles to review!
Much like The Job, this book consists of persona essays from various people about the first jobs they ever worked - from the horrible to the inspiring. Some have a better quality of writing than the others, but the true standout here is in the personal anecdotes, not in the writing itself.
Entertainment Value
Again, I'd highly recommend this to those who enjoy hearing personal stories along the lines of Story Corps or This American Life. These are short and easy to read and have a pretty broad appeal. And like a podcast, you can read just one at a time here and there or you can binge on them.
Overall
Worth checking out, especially if you had a terrible first job and can identify with some of the madness these people dealt with. It's not something that I think people will be itching to get their hands on, but I think it's a pleasant diversionary read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with copies of these titles to review!
August 3, 2015
Do you remember your first job? I sure do, mine was at a fairly upscale clothing store and frankly I had no idea what I was doing there at the time. Interestingly enough the company that owned the store has now declared bankruptcy, and it no longer exists.
The editors of First Jobs: True Tales of Bad Bosses, Quirky Coworkers, Big Breaks, and Small Paychecks make a fair point when they say that while the majority of us may remember where we first worked, few of us actually remember what we spent our money we made from those jobs on.
To read the rest of the read click here: http://wp.me/p36jwx-Q2
The editors of First Jobs: True Tales of Bad Bosses, Quirky Coworkers, Big Breaks, and Small Paychecks make a fair point when they say that while the majority of us may remember where we first worked, few of us actually remember what we spent our money we made from those jobs on.
To read the rest of the read click here: http://wp.me/p36jwx-Q2
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews