Contest - $50.00 gift card to the winner!

[KeenDogg]

I'm in!
I worked for the Vo-Tech between junior and senior year. A few of us were charged with moving our electric class to the basement. I got paid 5.50 an hour and the job lasted a month. We got free soda from food service and learned the important lesson to not take testing tables downstairs via the public elevator. Put a big scratch in the elevator that may still be there today! Thanks Scott!

 

[ynot151]

A&P grocery on bayview ave just south of old 7 (north GTA ppl will know the location) .
stock clerk after school. age 16 start.
very social...."closers" (4-11pm) were High School kids with a cool mid-late 20's night manager who was fun and looking back gave great advice to us teens.
i learned im not above scraping "old black floor chewing gum" off the floor tiles and females hated "price checks" on "feminine products" over the PA system.
i enjoyed it. if i could get my income today but work here again....i would.

 

[SavageMatty]

My first job was working at a movie theatre.. this was only 8 years ago. (I turn 26 next month, and happily married with 3 beautiful girls under 3. My youngest is 6 weeks old. Very expensive for daddy.) the only problem is that the movie theatre didn’t exist. Imagine filling out an application and going for an interview knowing that. They wanted me to help build the movie theatre first and than work inside of it after it opened. Talk about having pride in your job, lol. I worked late at night every night just to make sure every detail was perfect. I scrapped the floors of the movie theatre with an old library card and 409 spray to remove grout for 5 hours. We had to wear cotton gloves to hang these huge 4k movie screens coated in diamond dust, and crystals. Had to set up, test, and clean all of the kitchen equipment. The other people working with me didn’t care much about the work, but I never complained. I realized it was a true blessing. I almost broke my back moving hundreds of leather electric reclining chairs each worth more than me (as I thought at the time). I only made $8 an hour. The experience was worth much more than the money. Especially coming from a broken/abusive home. I had to learn to be a man on my own. My mom could only teach me so much. Bless her soul. But It was fantastic. I remember taking pride in everything from mopping the floors the first night, to staying till 3 am to shampoo the carpets from kids getting sick from too much sugar. I was there for a year and it helped shape me into the man I am today. I consider myself lucky I got to be part of that project. I still like to take my wife whenever we have the extra money just to enjoy my hard work paying off. Maybe if I win that $50 I would take my wife, and daughters to that fantastic movie theatre I hold close to my heart for the first time as a family. That would be a moment to never forget. Thanks for allowing me to share. I love you all, and God bless. -Matthew

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

I was fifteen, just getting out of school for the summer. Figured I'd have a nice, lazy time off school. My father thought otherwise, haha. I'd just gotten really serious about lifting weights, which of course comes with the obligatory gym dues and increased calories. "If you think you're going to sit around the house all summer and just eat on my dime, you've lost your mind", said my father. I started working as a "courier", if you will, for my dad's friend's business, which was selling office supplies, furniture, etc. to many of the local universities and businesses. Hard, grueling work, especially in the summer, but I enjoyed it. That was, until I tore both quadriceps muscles trying to push a file cabinet up a flight of stairs, only for it come back on me. I'm thinking I was paid somewhere around $12 an hour, not bad when you're still living at home and don't have any bills yet except for food. With the money I'd saved, I got my driver's license and bought my first car, a 1994 Camaro Z28. Probably not the best first car in the world, but holy heck did I love that thing.

Until I blew the engine in it. The transmission followed shortly after...

 

[PhillyB]

First job was working at the local McDonald's, making NYS minimum wage at about $9/hr.

In case you want to skip the essay: TLDR worked at McDonald's, not a bad job but crummy management.

I learned the wonders of aftershave, that being the only thing that could get the smell of grease and fry oil overridden in my nose.

Overall I actually enjoyed the job. Simple tasks and appreciation for doing them accurately and efficiently.

I also learned that all the ingredients that go into McDonald's food is surprisingly good. Not exactly exciting or amazing, but WAY better than people give it credit for. Much of your experience (both interactions and food quality) has more to do with the staff working there than the raw ingredients.

Also, you should only go to McDonald's during busy times. Your food will be fresher, and the service will be faster. Nothing sits around for very long, 15 minutes at most for meat products. This can vary location to location, again dependent on how much the staff cares.

Management was a joke though, and was the only reason I left. I told them 3 months in advance that I would not be available for 1 specific week in September, after which I was headed back to school anyway. Got it approved by the general manager, even the owner gave their approval.

Well, after weeks of not putting me on for any more than my basic weekly guaranteed hours they decided to schedule me to work EVERY DAY that week. I usually picked up the hours for people who didn't show, so they liked me.

I asked the sub-manager why I was scheduled for that week over the phone. She said she didn't know about any time off that had been approved by her higher up, and told me to show up or I'd be fired.

Quit on the spot, then hung up.

Got a call 2 days into my vacation from the general manager.

GM - "Sorry about her, you're not fired. We're making her fill the time she scheduled you for."

Me - "Ok, but I'm not interested in coming back anyway. I'm headed back to college next week anyway, but you already knew that."

GM - "Yeah, I figured as much. Good luck at college, and you can use us as a favorable reference without hesitation!"

Nice way to end that little story.

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Well, based on all of the contributions The Captain has decided to change the rules. Originally the one winner would receive one gift card for $50.00 to purchase anything in our store. That still stands. In addition, there will be two more winners. The second one drawn will receive a $25.00 gift card to be used in our store. The third one drawn will be able to choose one sample pack in our store - either aftershave, balm, cream, or soap.

Random.org has selected the THREE WINNERS and they are:

$50.00 Gift Card:

Bravoure



$25.00 Gift Card:

Acmemfg



Free Sample Pack:

KeenDog



Congratulations to our three winners and thank you to each of you who entered the contest. Well done!

~ The Captain

 

[Acmemfg]

Wow. Thank you so much

 

[MilkCrate]

Great job @Captain Pre-Capsize! Congrats to the winners!

 

[rockviper]

Nice job, Scott!

 

[Bravoure]

Wow! This is awesome, thank you!

 

[Flintstone65]

Congrats to the winners....well done!!! This was a fun PIF, brought back some interesting memories, and it was great learning more about everyone else!

Cheers,
Fred

 

[KeenDogg]

Wow, Thanks, Scott! Congrats to the other winners!

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

A most gentlemanly development fellows...

KeenDogg has decided to pay it forward - him winning the free sample pack. So random.org has had another spin of the wheel so-to-speak and the winner of one free sample pack of his choosing is....

timj219

Congrats to the winner and a tip of the hat to a classy move on the part of a longtime member in good standing, KeenDogg.

 

[ajkel64]

Thanks Scott, another fantastic competition. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the ever classy @KeenDogg great stuff all round.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Congratulations to the winners. Fantastic PIF! I enjoyed reading through the posts.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[snowback]

Congratulations to Scott for another great contest and to the lucky winners. Very generous PIF from KeenDog! Love reading all the entries and a great job by all who took the time to write in.

 

[gvw755]

Congratulations to the winners and thank you Captain and Keen Dog.

 

[emwolf]

I'm in!

1979 I must have been 16. Small grocery store chain of independent grocery stores - IGA.
I think I was only there 3 or 4 weeks. Involved some shelf stocking (1st item I ever handled was "Coco Lopez")

Looks like they still make it . Also did "Carriage Roundup" which was getting the shopping carts from the parking lot out in the summer heat. I did like unloading in the walk-in freezer and snitching frozen canolis with my buddy Mike.

What I learned, along with many others here, was the reality of the payroll tax. And I learned that having two very different bosses was an introduction to workplace politics.

According to the internet I must have been scoring $2.90 an hour. Woo hoo!

Still shop at IGA occasionally (I used to work in a town with a great one). Grew up on it in central Illinois.

And congrats to one and all, the winners are in for some really good products!

 

[FarmerTan]

Awesome PIF! Congratulations to all. Nobody does it like Cappy!

 

[KeenDogg]

Thanks guys and I hope the winners get to experience the goodness of Captains Choice.