ranking every job i've had
i saw this trend on substack of people ranking every job they've had and i thought it might be fun! i am not a substack poster, simply a scroller. i prefer a good ole fashioned long form blog post over a status-length post anyway...
in order of when i had them:
my first ever job was when i was 12; i worked at the daycare my mother started in our apartment. she eventually expanded into the downstairs apartment and then a second building. no, i literally like had to work. hello, child labor laws?? 0/10, working for my mother was awful.
my first 'real' 'adult' job was as a cashier at a winn dixie supermarket. i was 16. i cried once because someone didn't give me enough money for the bouquet they bought and they ran out the door and i was so scared i was gonna get fired lol. when i gave notice, they fired me. then they asked me to come to work the next week lol. 0/10.
next i was a cashier at a small local grocery store. i was 18. i actually made friends here! i also met my first real boyfriend here (he was a customer who wouldn't stop hitting on me). one of the supervisors hated me and another was obsessed with me. i got fired for a single no show. 3/10.
another grocery store cashier job and unfortunately not the last! this was a slightly bigger chain than the small local grocer, but not as big as winn dixie. it was weirdly sexist; only girls could be cashiers and only guys could fetch carts?? soooooo fucking slow and boring. i quit after a couple months. 1/10.
still 18. i worked at a baskin-robbins for minimum wage (which in louisiana was like $7.25 and probably still is?). my boss was a weirdo micromanager who would watch us on his cameras all night and then hold meetings to berate us for leaning on the counters and that the reason we didn't get raises is because we gave the customers scoops that were 'too big.' i quit! 1/10.
upon moving back to maine, my first job there was an overnight stocker at walmart. i was 19 at this point. i hated this job. i was severely sick almost the entire time. i never slept. some guy made a rape joke at me and everyone laughed? -100/10.
i got hired at a starbucks and had my orientation the same day as my future husband (this would happen like, ten years later lol). i worked here for almost two years. it was honestly back breaking work and i only made minimum wage, but it was fun and i learned a lot. would work there again. 7.5/10.
i then worked briefly at time warner cable because i was tired of being on my feet all day. i only worked there for about 3 months. i've never experienced so much verbal abuse from customers in my life. hated this place. 0/10.
i got a job at whole foods! still not the last grocery store. it was fine. i then transferred to a whole foods in virginia that i absolutely despised. those customers are fucking deranged. i got a complaint because a woman said i made her 'feel stupid' when all i did was point out where the service desk was for her... like she asked... 5/10 for maine whole foods, but 0/10 for virginia whole foods.
i worked at yet another local grocery store! back in maine. this was also mostly fine. the boss man fired me because he decided i wasn't doing enough work in the winter, when it's slow as fuck... lol whatever. 2/10.
i got a job at a local donut shop after a few months of unemployment (again, winter...). i met my best friend here and a few other great friends. i actually enjoyed this job. i quit because my best friend got unceremoniously fired and the boss threatened to call the cops on me for picking up her tips for her at her request. 4/10.
i started working at aaa, in a call center environment. my best friend and i both got hired here. we were specifically in dispatch, which is way more than fun than the other customer service calls. i made two more best friends here and for a while we had a great weekly trivia team. these were probably the best years of my young adult life at this point lol. the job was just fine, but i liked the schedule and i could leave the work at work. 7/10.
i worked briefly in the medical records department of a healthcare agency. i got stuck on phones immediately even though i was told i would be doing something else. super boring, hated this job. 0/10. i quit and went back to aaa.
i worked in a coffee roastery for a small local coffee shop. this was actually really fun. very laborious, but i felt myself getting stronger and really loved the people i worked with. i would have happily stayed here, but i moved to the southwest shortly after starting here... rip. 9/10.
my first job in the southwest was a front office admin at a therapy agency. i turned 30 working here. this place was strictly chaotic and toxic. everyone talked shit about each other all the time. the boss was constantly doing illegal shit and sleeping with half the women he hired for the front desk. he impregnated one of them! then he laid all of us off because he was getting sued for sleeping with a client... i got paid really well here, but i was so glad to leave. 4/10. my former boss was arrested for murder last summer. you can't make this shit up!
the current therapy agency i work at! huge improvement over the last place in many, many ways. i am making the most money i ever have (which still isn't impressive to most people). i got promoted fairly quickly. the boss loves me. i can do my homework while on the clock. i have also officially decided to finish my bachelor's and go to grad school for social work because of this job (despite my overall dislike of the field lol). 8/10.
my current second 'job'/side gig/hustle i just recently started. i do the billing for my therapist friend's tiny therapy agency. very chill and i mostly do it when i want. 9/10.
who knows what the future holds, but goddamn, i cannot wait to never be customer facing ever ever again. you may be thinking, but therapy is customer facing! not in nearly the same way. i don't have to kiss their assess. i am there to hold them accountable and help them work on themselves. i can break up with clients i don't like. i don't need to talk to more than the clients on my direct caseload every single week (max 30-40 people, over like, 1000???). i can also work from home and make my own hours. i cannot wait!!!!!!!!!!!
lastly, work sucks. solidarity with my all my fellow peons forever and ever. nationalized healthcare, when?!