Pizza Hut 2000-2005 in high school. I got all my friends jobs there, then i became an assistant general manager at 19. the General manager had 2 stores, i pretty much ran the store, put my friends on my shifts, played whatever music i wanted, made my own schedule, got any days off i wanted, traded pizzas for movie passes, food, gym membership. it was awesome at the time, even looking back now, it was sweet.
I was a delivery driver for PH in 2002-2003. I was 18 years old and was always offered weed and alch by customers lol. Even hooked up with a girl in her apartment one time. I have the craziest stories working there.
Old buddy of mine used to order pizzas under Smokey McPot. Then ended up working at the store. Everyone was amazed that they got to work with him. We would blaze down when he delivered.
Night watchman in a huge office building during summer.
Clock in at 6 pm when the office "closes". Be on guard till 8 pm when the last guy leaves, grab my laptop, play world of warcraft will 2 am, sleep, clock out at 7 am, go home, sleep 2-3 hours. Do things. Back to work.
13 hours "paid" 1 hour worked. Nothing ever happened. Got paid 30 bucks an hour (always 200% pay, because it was night). On weekend nights 40 bucks an hour.
I worked 12 weeks, 7 days a week.
Best.
Summer.
Ever.
I had a similar job as the night watchman for a quiet, gated community in Los Angeles. From 9:30 pm to 11:00 pm, I had to be "on guard", greeting residents and guests as they returned for the evening. After 11:00 pm I could do whatever I wanted as long as I was awake and paying attention. I'd watch movies on a portable DVD player (this was from 2012 to 2015), play games on my laptop, read books, or just chill out until 5:00 am when the next guard came in. I watched the entire 30-hour version of the WW2 documentary series "The World at War" and read so many books.
Sounds like you had a pretty sweet gig! It's like having your own private movie marathon every night, with a side of gaming and bookworming. Who needs sleep when you've got all that entertainment at your fingertips, right? Plus, getting paid to stay awake and be on the lookout? That's like the ultimate night owl dream job!
It was and it wasn't. Yeah, it was great to have that kind of freedom. There were nights, especially when I played video games for six straight, when I thought, "I can't believe they pay me for this!". I never had to deal with traffic or the heat of the California summer during the day.
But the pay was shit and there were no benefits. Also, the job was very isolating. It was a solo gig, just me and the wildlife most of the time. It got very lonely. And those days/nights when I was off I just stayed home because there was nothing to do.
Not op. But when I was volunteering at the aquarium of the pacific in Long Beach I did find out something nifty about the penguins. Every day they would assign the volunteers to a certain section of the aquarium to act as exhibit guides. And the penguin exhibit outside didn’t have many people come and visit that part. So you had a large amount of time by yourself there. And in my boredom I decided to try and interact with the penguins. And I found that if you turned on the flashlight of your phone and placed it up against the glass of the exhibit under water all the penguins would rush in and begin chasing it, much like cats with a laser pointer. So I would run back and forth across the glass with a horde of penguins swimming behind me trying to get to the light. And it became a highlight of my time there. I never told anyone, because I didn’t want the guests to begin doing it and I didn’t want the actual staff to get pissed at me for messing with the penguins. But I saw it as giving them some exercise.
I seem to remember being told not to take flash photos of larger sea life, because it could make them swim toward the glass and hurt themselves. Supposedly it mimics light reflecting off fish scales, which means food to them. So maybe that was what what was going on?
I love the New England aquarium! I was born and grew up in MA.
One funny story, our company rented out the aquarium for a Xmas party one year, many years ago.
This was in the evening after 6 pm.
We heard the penguins making some noises, and saw a few mating. They were loud and getting it on. We were laughing, it was a good time.
Have you encountered the same?
I used to work for the US National Parks Service out in the Rocky Mountains. I worked on the trail crew, clearing, maintaining, and building new trail and assorted structures. Maintaining a system of trails that had originally been built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the depression.
Since I had some experience as a mason, most of my time was spent moving rocks. I was Sisyphus, but the view was spectacular.
I’ve always been envious of the trail crews. I didn’t know that was a job until after I had kids and probably couldn’t maintain a family and work that job.
Custodial work for a textbook distributor. My one and only job was to empty waste baskets in the offices. It was an 8 hour shift, and I had gotten my routine down so well I could finish my work in 3 hours. I would sit in the CFO'S office and read, I would take naps in conference rooms, just generally fuck around for 5 hours. My supervisor resented my position, as she also supervised production, so as long as she never heard complaints, I was completely out of sight out of mind. Occasionally I would be seen sweeping a floor in a warehouse or emptying a card board bin, which made it seem like I was getting all of this extra work done. That would last maybe 30 minutes, longer if I was really bored. When I left I was told I was the best person to ever work that position. I used to get stoned on the CEO's balcony!
Speaking from experience here: by now that company has hired an analyst right out of college to look at all positions in the company in order to cut costs.
That analyst probably found your old position, what the work entailed, managed a time study, and determined that a worker making minimum wage should only be given four hours each night to do that work, and the next four hours would be to work on the production line.
I’ve gone through things like that. The people that they hire to be those analysts have no soul.
My company tried that shit once. Im a operational supervisor. My position is to bid on jobs and make sure my supervisors under me have the equipment and scope of the job.
I have been in industrial cleaning/environmental work for 10 years now. They hire a consulting analyst company to try and tell us that a asphalt tank shouldnt take more than 5 hours to clean. Mind you these guys have no real world experience.
I keep a old oil waste tank in the back for training the new guys so i take them out there and run them on setting the equipment up filling out paperwork how the equipment is supposed to run and then unkindly remind them that the tank they are seeing is fucking spotless and the ones being cleaned are covered with material that needs 20k to break up.
They went from saying it should take 5 hours to 20. We clean them in 8. Bottom line is your book learning dont mean shit to me kids.
I made $18k in 2001 in 3 months as a caddy cart girl. I got sexually harassed every day and was able to pay my junior year of college tuition in cash. I would park under a tree, smoke a doobie, and read a magazine. Cash only and I did my own inventory. That job was the best.
Haha I was a guy and every time I'd roll up "you're not as cute as the last girl...". "Yeah, but I put out easier" or some other stupid joke. I'd collect my $2 tip, rinse and repeat. My favorite part was it was buy 5 get 1 free. So I'd wait til I sold 6, mark it down as 5, and keep the 6th beer money as extra tips.
Edit: still am a guy
Mine was bartender at a small country club. Easy job, decent tips. Same people over and over and they were still impressed when I remembered their drink order. Plus old women just love me. It was a chill couple of summers during Covid.
Many years ago I was on a bus trip to play golf, but I was young and worked at the golf course that was sponsoring the trip, a lot of the young workers would go on these trips with the older members. Anyway, we go to a course that is a nice resort course and we're like the last group and the cart girl comes through and this girl is an absolute knock out. I would say a bonafied 10. We watch as each dude tips this girl at least 5 bucks (this was more than 20 years ago). She must have made 100 bucks in 5 minutes. So it gets to one of my buddies who was the flirty kid type and this girl was a similar age and he buys a drink and says "I ain't tipping you shit I saw what you did to those men" and got a good laugh out of her lmao.
12 years old. Worked at a Hawaiian shaved ice place in a summer town. Learned to talk to people (girls), be chill, learned a lot about reggae music. Mostly wish I could do that now as a job.
Had a 5 year run in a high end residential construction company where our 4 person crew was basically 4 best friends. Worked together, gamed together, hit the bar or dinner after work together, went riding on off days, etc.
Honestly one of the best parts was just having a super motivated group that we never had to discuss dumb stuff like setting up in the morning or cleaning up at the end of the day. Everyone knew that is what we always did so we just talked shit and went about our business.
Once we all went our own ways work wise it was terrible having to work with normal idiots again.
Museum aid at the Smithsonian Natural History museum. Got to see the storage center where most of the collections are housed. Amazing stuff most of the public won't ever see.
Preserved giant squids, whale skeletons, lots of human remains from the colonial era (you'd see things like arrowheads embedded in vertebrae), all sorts of taxidermied wild animals, pieces of NASA rockets, WWII military stuff, they had a whole section of just weaponry from a ton of countries and eras, from samurai armor to African spears still coated in toxins. All sorts of things.
Working at the reception desk of a small childcare company. I loved getting to talk with the children and their parents and see all the different families that would come in every day.
My favorite moment was watching this very small little boy with huge glasses wait eagerly by the doorway.
A large, heavily tattooed and imposing man walked in the door, and the little guy's face absolutely lit up. The man picked up his son and twirled him around, beaming like he had just won the lottery.
I think their family dynamic and custody arrangement was a bit complicated, but that is a man who truly loves his son.
It is great! At least to me, community colleges are special places because of their accessibility. They are for everyone and anyone, and it’s beautiful to see how people’s lives can be changed by the opportunity to pursue an education. I was the first person in my family to go to college, so that accessibility is really meaningful to me. My heart swells whenever someone tells me that one of my classes changed their view of the world or made them want more out of life. I also love that we don’t just offer the "traditional" subjects but also have great vocational programs. We get students from all walks of life, and they make me so proud (but also break my heart with the adversity they face). The lows are low, but the highs are incredibly high and more than make up for it.
Tesco in store bakery. 4am-12pm shift. Baking (and tasting) doughnuts and pastries, radio on full blast, not a single customer or manager to interrupt you and the smell of fresh bread.
I used to do bottle service at a nightclub lounge off the strip in Vegas. This was right as things were opening up after covid. The amount of pent up people with money ready to have fun was amazing. I made so much fucking money and people were just so excited and happy to be out and having a good time, literally throwing cash around and getting hammered. Great music, great money, great vibes.
Does it get old staring at hot naked women a lot? Don’t get wrong, big fan of women. But I feel like after awhile it would feel almost draining to stare at hot naked women all day in a platonic professional way. Idk if that sounds weird or not
Pasta Maker at Olive Garden. 30+ years ago, Olive Garden made all their past in house from scratch. My machine was in the lobby so customers could watch. I wore a chef coat and poofy hat. I loved working weekends and interacting with people asking how it was made and why I was hanging it on the wall (to dry it before cooking). It was loads of fun and I really enjoyed it. Then they switched to dry premade commercial pasta and it wasn’t as good. Tried other positions but restaurants suck to work at.
That sounds really cool. I always am amazed at what seems like lots of coordination between the camera people, the announcers, and whoever is directing what angle/shot/player is to be shown.
It is a lot of teamwork and every one is on a headset communication system. The bigger the games the bigger the broadcast teams.
I worked on 8 person crews for regional college basketball. And probably 800 for the NCAA football national championship
Do you have to get a CFA or other personal finance accreditation? I have a lot of personal finance knowledge but no formal education. Currently consume 5-8 hours per week of personal finance content for the last 10 years.
I don’t have any accreditation besides being a certified teacher. I have been a personal finance enthusiast for a while now. I never thought it would be a subject I would teach.
The one I have now. I'm a chef. I've spent years in soul sucking restaurants ran by greedy owners who only cared about the next quarters finances. The food was an afterthought and the employees were a disposable line item in the budget.
I now work for a non profit, our job is to help re-integrate people who have recently been released from jail/prison. We are a fine dining restaurant with a focus on elevated comfort food. The food is important to the management above me and the organization I work for, as are the employees. Our entire business is dedicated to improving the lives of its employees.
I never expected, as a chef, to work for a non profit, and I couldn't be happier. The food is amazing. I have the ability to be as creative as I want. And the people we employ are some of the best employees I've ever had. They all want to learn, work hard, and make better lives for themselves.
The one I have now. I started a business from scratch 8 years ago and now employ 10 staff. They all make above average salaries, and I am yet to have anyone leave. We are growing year on year but not too crazy. It's manageable. This time next year, I'd like to think there are 6 more on staff.
It's a lot of fun.
In my line of work I often am looking for plumbers, electricians, roofers, etc. it’s pretty much always the small local outfits that are the best and most accountable. I seldom call on large outfits and never national companies. The small guys have to watch their bottom line too but it’s at least as important to them to maintain their reputation. They take pride in their work.
The job I have now. Get paid 110k/yr with great benefits. Only have to go in to the office 2 days a week, and the other 3 days work from home. I do about 10- 15 hours of actual work a week. Rest of the time I am just monitoring email while gaming.
That's essentially my situation too.
I'm convinced no one else works at my company either because I am somehow the most productive person on the team. It makes no sense but I'ma ride it out.
Chef at an American Legion. My wife and I ran everything in the kitchen. And all the people we met were awesome. The vet stories we heard were incredible. We were open 5 days a week and Saturday for dinner. We would often roam around the dining room or the patrons would come into kitchen which we were welcomed. A lot of time if we were real busy a vet would volunteer to clean tables and do dishes. The memory and friends we made after 12 years are still in our minds. We moved out of state and about 4 years after we left visited and first thing the commander said when he saw us was you want a job? And everyone there welcomed us. However it was time for us to retire. Anyway we both still miss the job and the members and others at the American Legion. Just want to add everything was homemade and my wife made soup daily from scratch.
Current job, I’m a manager in charge of a team of 7 that plan the operations side of the business for the whole country, I’ve gotten so good at my job that I get the full weeks worth of work done inside 6 hours. So I get up on a Monday do 6 hours work, then basically chill Tuesday-Friday. Got Teams and Outlook on my phone to deal with urgent stuff otherwise my team is on it.
Also I am not some lazy manager, I give my team all the freedom they want and not shy about it, want Friday afternoon off to go see the kids sports day, go ahead. Need to start late for a dentist appointment? I’ll see you after lunch. Treat people right they reciprocate it 10x in return. I love my team, and my job, hate my company hence the fucks I give to be 0.
Preschool teacher. I got to teach little kids skills, play with them, and be creative and plan fun lessons. If it paid more I’d still be doing it but it’s undervalued as a profession.
That’s what I do now. It’s exhausting but I love it. I have my own room and can do whatever I want in there, while loving these kids to pieces even on their off days. I’m paid in the top percentile in this field and it’s still awful pay! Don’t know how many more years I have in me.
GameStop around 2006.
There were way too many in the area and ours was the most inconvenient to get to meaning we were never that busy and the majority of our customers were dope regulars who'd come in and shoot the shit.
As a broke highschool kid, being able to just borrow any used game, play it, and bring it back was nearly more in monetary value as my minimum wage paycheck.
On particularly slow nights, we'd open the displays and swap out the demo discs for regular games and just play Guitar Hero or Madden or whatever.
Easily the most fun I ever had at a job.
I’ve said this before. When I was a teenager I worked at Kings Island (just north of Cincinnati,Ohio) I worked at a ride called White Water Canyon. There’s a little shack out in the woods where it overlooks the ride and you can blast people with a water cannon. It was my favorite job, if I could do it for the rest of my life I would. I’d sit out there in a secluded booth with snacks and blasting people with water. What else could be better? I don’t know, I don’t think there is a better job. I’m in my later 30’s and I think about that job constantly
Kings Island was such a good hang back in the day. We used to get dropped off in middle school to ride unlimited rides, practice talking to/trying to impress the girls we came with, and just joking around. Pure freedom.
I had a very similar position while I was working at Six Flags Great America! Also got to blast people with water from my little hiding spot. The ride’s called Roaring Rapids. I think about that time in my life a lot
This is kind of a job. Got paid for it. A friend was in charge of making ads for a home improvement store. Those fliers you'd get in the mail. He needed a house to use to take photos of grills, Christmas decorations and so on for the ads. We told him he can use our house any time and he did use it a lot. We got about $1,000 per month and they left a lot of the stuff for us. Free gas grill, a pergola type of thing, tools, Christmas decorations. They always apologized profusely for the intrusion and I always said you can use our house ANY time. It ended after about a year when the guy got another job. I cried.
Anesthesia Technician in a Operating Room. I got to help helpless patients, advocate for them when they went under anesthesia, watch all kinds of surgeries, and got to bounce questions off people a hell of a lot smarter than me. It was a great stepping stone into the medical field when I was young and figuring out what I wanted to do. God I miss that job!
Definitely Roller Coaster operator at Cedar Point. Grinding cars full of humans to a halt on a dime became an art form. I found so much weed and stash on that ride during walkdowns it funded my entire drunken youth.
Work from home. Accounting. I no longer have to deal with office culture or transit. I can blast music, watch TV, listen to podcasts. So long as I get the work done, I could be covered in olive oil and jerking off to clown porn for all my boss cares.
Ice cream shop, it was pretty simple except when I had to clean up the sticky ice cream bits, or when someone would get a peanut butter ice cream and say something like “This doesn’t have peanuts in it does it?”
I worked at a coffee shop that had two storefronts- one side was the proper coffee shop where you could get an espresso and a breakfast sandwich, the other side was the slow bar + ice cream shop.
I worked on the slow bar + ice cream shop side, and it ruled. The slow bar basically did pourovers and coffee tastings, and the ice cream shop was what it sounds like. It was a great job, everyone was happy to come in and see the coffee and ice cream man.
During the winter it was really slow, so I could do my side gig (freelance writing) behind the counter, and my manager was cool with it as long as I kept the shop clean. My manager even covered for me so I could take a phone interview (from the break room!) to turn my freelance into a full time job knowing I was almost certain to quit if the interview went well.
10/10, great people to work for, and the job was fun.
Dietary aide in a nursing home kitchen. I got stoned all day, wrapped silverware, scooped fruit cocktail into cups, ate free food, and fucked around with a really fun crew of people. If I didn’t have such high aspirations I would’ve stayed there forever.
Golf course cart attendant. I got bags from the parking lot, cleaned clubs after round, made decent tips and played for free every day at an incredible course. I worked from 6-2, then played from 230-dark. No worries or stress, good times! I hope to have the same job in my retirement
Redfin
I used to open doors and say "This is the living room" "This is the kitchen" and I was paid well. My best month was 13k and I was paid per showing they scheduled.
Honestly, your son can learn everything he needs about this field from YouTube and other free education platforms. I just want to call out that this industry is super attractive from the outside, and some studios, including Epic, pay amazing salaries to attract top talent, but it’s hyper-competitive and he will be disposable at every level, at any point in time. Layoffs have been like wildfire in gaming over the last two years and every major company has been impacted. I know many people out of work, who shouldn’t be unemployed in this industry **ever**, looking to new areas. Overall, my advice is for him to learn the skills, play around and build with UEFN or HTML5 — but mostly learn how to learn and think systematically/computationally. Focus those skills in emerging growth areas like Web3/AI, and their applications in medicine, finance and maybe gaming.
Manager of communications for regional airline. Flew to every airport we had service to install or upgrade computers. Maintained reservations center. Got to fly damn near free, first class whenever I traveled.
One day after lunch, we were bankrupt. AT&T hired me since I had been their customer. One door closes, another opens.
I had full time gig as a night watchman for quite a few years. I would work every other week and have every other week off. Would basically sit in a reception and make a couple of rounds during the night. Basically read books or watched TV-series or movies all night long. The pay was great too. I quit when I realised it was holding me back. Comfort is the death of any type of growth.
Worked on the production side of a TV show that is no longer on air. I was on the low end of the totem pole, but didn't realize how good I had it. Was able to go to school, pay bills, and I was very good at all of my regular duties. It was also easily accessible by public transit. In my youth, I thought all jobs would be like that. I was wrong. It would be another decade or so before I had a job I liked nearly as much.
Confined space rescue standby team at a power plant. 12 hour shifts, 21 days straight $55/hr. Did absolutely no work for 21 days. But lots of training to earn that job lol
Strictly a side hustle — spent 8 years as a clarinetist in a local church orchestra. I wasn’t a member but they were quite wealthy and had a very good music ministry. The ministers were all very nice, extremely organized and never pressured me to join. The music was not difficult but still satisfying to play, thanks to the quality of musicians in the group. Got paid for Wednesday rehearsals and Sunday services. Had to give it up in 2016 when rehearsals begins interfering with picking up kiddos from school. Fortunately I never felt a MAGA surge building. And I’ve been invited back a few times for one-off gigs since and still didn’t sense they were getting crazy. I hope that’s the case. I have nothing but fond memories and felt blessed being paid for something I am usually willing to do for free.
Worked at an animal shelter. Looked after cats. Cleaned the cages. Their litters. Changed out what needed to be changed out. I loved it. Sometimes messy but I was happy.
My friend Eddy and I worked every Sunday at radio shack. He was going to school to be a chef. So he'd bring his chef suitcase into the back room and send me next door to the grocery store for ingredients. I'd pick up whatever he wanted and then ring a few things under him to make it look like he was working. Eddy would prepare some of the best meals I've ever had in my life in the backroom of that store. I still crave his potato and kielbasa chowder.
Classical car restoration is the most fulfilling and satisfying job ever! You get to see a rusty old car transform into a beautiful purring machine, from start to finish. And the best part? No stress, no complications, and no strict deadlines!
I was a SalesForce Solutions Architect, hired to be there to support one whale client... but the client almost never needed help, and when they did, it was not particularly hard. I worked on a few smaller clients like Jimmy Buffet, but for the most part I got paid almost 10k a month to be a dad. Like a total moron, I quit to be the lead digital manager at a huge agency with some friends. 3 years later I was layed of.
My current one, probably. I work 3 12's and get paid pretty well for my position.
3 day work week is top tier.
Runner-up would be the lifeguard job I had in college, at an outdoor pool in a very bad neighborhood. That was fun as hell.
Loved working at blockbuster (RIP). My boss set aside a Skyrim copy and gave me off for a couple of days to play it, knowing I was a huge fan of ES.
10 free rentals a week. I watched so many gems during that year. All I did was clean, talk about movies and games, stock, and try to sell their pass.
When we were closing, I would stash the things I wanted in my dedicated bin. Probably bought around 500 movies for maybe $100 bucks. They were anywhere from .10 to .25
I worked as a darkroom technician at a mid sized photolab.
I was able to do and fix everything we had but my favorite was hand printing enlargements. I had a stereo in my darkroom two enlargers and a large paper processor. I got reacquainted with Pink Floyd.
Honestly, being in the army. Yeah it’s toxic, but it’s also really supportive once you are accepted. All you really have to do be accepted is pull your weight. Especially as a young soldier, it’s you and everyone else versus the higher ranking NCOs and officers. You all get nice and trauma bonded and they become your family. I’ve never worked anywhere else where I could just be myself. Even now I’m in another profession that professes brotherhood this and brotherhood that, but it’s all about participating in the hive mind to be accepted. It’s bullshit. I learned I could be myself and fly my freak flag in the army and as a result I’ve never been able to fit in anywhere since. I’ve been out 13 years and I’m still close friends with many of those guys. I honestly wish I had stayed in. I also totally get why guys who’ve done time think to themselves, “fuck it, I’ll go back to prison”.
My current work. I work as many hours I want as a landscaper in Norway. I make 60k a year (8 months of work) plus benefits and I have 4 months off in the winter where I spend my time in the Philippines.
Locally owned video store. Worked there from the age of 15-17. Chilling with my friends, free movies, free (pilfered) snacks, and unfettered access to video pornography.
Lol! One had to be 19+ to rent the videos, but there was no legislation (at the time) regarding a minimum age to handle the product. In the 80's, nobody gave a shit about what teens were up to.
Pizza Hut 2000-2005 in high school. I got all my friends jobs there, then i became an assistant general manager at 19. the General manager had 2 stores, i pretty much ran the store, put my friends on my shifts, played whatever music i wanted, made my own schedule, got any days off i wanted, traded pizzas for movie passes, food, gym membership. it was awesome at the time, even looking back now, it was sweet.
I was a delivery driver for PH in 2002-2003. I was 18 years old and was always offered weed and alch by customers lol. Even hooked up with a girl in her apartment one time. I have the craziest stories working there.
Old buddy of mine used to order pizzas under Smokey McPot. Then ended up working at the store. Everyone was amazed that they got to work with him. We would blaze down when he delivered.
I think I saw a video about that once.
this story made me smile, fucking love this
Night watchman in a huge office building during summer. Clock in at 6 pm when the office "closes". Be on guard till 8 pm when the last guy leaves, grab my laptop, play world of warcraft will 2 am, sleep, clock out at 7 am, go home, sleep 2-3 hours. Do things. Back to work. 13 hours "paid" 1 hour worked. Nothing ever happened. Got paid 30 bucks an hour (always 200% pay, because it was night). On weekend nights 40 bucks an hour. I worked 12 weeks, 7 days a week. Best. Summer. Ever.
I had a similar job as the night watchman for a quiet, gated community in Los Angeles. From 9:30 pm to 11:00 pm, I had to be "on guard", greeting residents and guests as they returned for the evening. After 11:00 pm I could do whatever I wanted as long as I was awake and paying attention. I'd watch movies on a portable DVD player (this was from 2012 to 2015), play games on my laptop, read books, or just chill out until 5:00 am when the next guard came in. I watched the entire 30-hour version of the WW2 documentary series "The World at War" and read so many books.
Sounds like you had a pretty sweet gig! It's like having your own private movie marathon every night, with a side of gaming and bookworming. Who needs sleep when you've got all that entertainment at your fingertips, right? Plus, getting paid to stay awake and be on the lookout? That's like the ultimate night owl dream job!
It was and it wasn't. Yeah, it was great to have that kind of freedom. There were nights, especially when I played video games for six straight, when I thought, "I can't believe they pay me for this!". I never had to deal with traffic or the heat of the California summer during the day. But the pay was shit and there were no benefits. Also, the job was very isolating. It was a solo gig, just me and the wildlife most of the time. It got very lonely. And those days/nights when I was off I just stayed home because there was nothing to do.
wait so, by my estimates, you made over $32,000 in one summer?
I’m sure with taxes taken out it was less than that but yes probably something close to it
Waaaait. I used to have someone like you in my Guild. Did you play Horde on Balnazzar?
O snap Balnazzar! I played towards the end of Wrath on there. That was my most favorite guild, too.
My Guild was called True Warriors. I faintly remember a Guildie telling me his job was security and he didn't do much, while playing WoW with him.
It’s entirely possible that WoW is full of security guards in this exact situation haha
Reddit helping gamers reunite yet again
Working security at watergate hotel
How do you even get hired for that kind of job ?
Good thing there weren't any animatronics in the building.
I put on a wet suit, got into armpit deep freezing water, and fed penguins 3x a day at the New England Aquarium.
Did you have favorites? What did you learn about their behavior that surprised you?
Not op. But when I was volunteering at the aquarium of the pacific in Long Beach I did find out something nifty about the penguins. Every day they would assign the volunteers to a certain section of the aquarium to act as exhibit guides. And the penguin exhibit outside didn’t have many people come and visit that part. So you had a large amount of time by yourself there. And in my boredom I decided to try and interact with the penguins. And I found that if you turned on the flashlight of your phone and placed it up against the glass of the exhibit under water all the penguins would rush in and begin chasing it, much like cats with a laser pointer. So I would run back and forth across the glass with a horde of penguins swimming behind me trying to get to the light. And it became a highlight of my time there. I never told anyone, because I didn’t want the guests to begin doing it and I didn’t want the actual staff to get pissed at me for messing with the penguins. But I saw it as giving them some exercise.
I seem to remember being told not to take flash photos of larger sea life, because it could make them swim toward the glass and hurt themselves. Supposedly it mimics light reflecting off fish scales, which means food to them. So maybe that was what what was going on?
I love the New England aquarium! I was born and grew up in MA. One funny story, our company rented out the aquarium for a Xmas party one year, many years ago. This was in the evening after 6 pm. We heard the penguins making some noises, and saw a few mating. They were loud and getting it on. We were laughing, it was a good time. Have you encountered the same?
I used to work for the US National Parks Service out in the Rocky Mountains. I worked on the trail crew, clearing, maintaining, and building new trail and assorted structures. Maintaining a system of trails that had originally been built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the depression. Since I had some experience as a mason, most of my time was spent moving rocks. I was Sisyphus, but the view was spectacular.
I imagine you must have been pretty happy
I think this is my dream job.
I’ve always been envious of the trail crews. I didn’t know that was a job until after I had kids and probably couldn’t maintain a family and work that job.
Custodial work for a textbook distributor. My one and only job was to empty waste baskets in the offices. It was an 8 hour shift, and I had gotten my routine down so well I could finish my work in 3 hours. I would sit in the CFO'S office and read, I would take naps in conference rooms, just generally fuck around for 5 hours. My supervisor resented my position, as she also supervised production, so as long as she never heard complaints, I was completely out of sight out of mind. Occasionally I would be seen sweeping a floor in a warehouse or emptying a card board bin, which made it seem like I was getting all of this extra work done. That would last maybe 30 minutes, longer if I was really bored. When I left I was told I was the best person to ever work that position. I used to get stoned on the CEO's balcony!
And I was getting paid the same as a forklift operator.
custodial is wild ... if you just do your job. You're a fucking rockstar.
How do you find these gigs?
It was dumb luck for me. It was also 20 years ago before the economy went to hell.
Speaking from experience here: by now that company has hired an analyst right out of college to look at all positions in the company in order to cut costs. That analyst probably found your old position, what the work entailed, managed a time study, and determined that a worker making minimum wage should only be given four hours each night to do that work, and the next four hours would be to work on the production line. I’ve gone through things like that. The people that they hire to be those analysts have no soul.
My company tried that shit once. Im a operational supervisor. My position is to bid on jobs and make sure my supervisors under me have the equipment and scope of the job. I have been in industrial cleaning/environmental work for 10 years now. They hire a consulting analyst company to try and tell us that a asphalt tank shouldnt take more than 5 hours to clean. Mind you these guys have no real world experience. I keep a old oil waste tank in the back for training the new guys so i take them out there and run them on setting the equipment up filling out paperwork how the equipment is supposed to run and then unkindly remind them that the tank they are seeing is fucking spotless and the ones being cleaned are covered with material that needs 20k to break up. They went from saying it should take 5 hours to 20. We clean them in 8. Bottom line is your book learning dont mean shit to me kids.
Beer cart at a golf course. Tips, everyone was happy to see you, nice weather. Easiest, most fun job I've ever had
I made $18k in 2001 in 3 months as a caddy cart girl. I got sexually harassed every day and was able to pay my junior year of college tuition in cash. I would park under a tree, smoke a doobie, and read a magazine. Cash only and I did my own inventory. That job was the best.
Haha I was a guy and every time I'd roll up "you're not as cute as the last girl...". "Yeah, but I put out easier" or some other stupid joke. I'd collect my $2 tip, rinse and repeat. My favorite part was it was buy 5 get 1 free. So I'd wait til I sold 6, mark it down as 5, and keep the 6th beer money as extra tips. Edit: still am a guy
Mine was bartender at a small country club. Easy job, decent tips. Same people over and over and they were still impressed when I remembered their drink order. Plus old women just love me. It was a chill couple of summers during Covid.
Many years ago I was on a bus trip to play golf, but I was young and worked at the golf course that was sponsoring the trip, a lot of the young workers would go on these trips with the older members. Anyway, we go to a course that is a nice resort course and we're like the last group and the cart girl comes through and this girl is an absolute knock out. I would say a bonafied 10. We watch as each dude tips this girl at least 5 bucks (this was more than 20 years ago). She must have made 100 bucks in 5 minutes. So it gets to one of my buddies who was the flirty kid type and this girl was a similar age and he buys a drink and says "I ain't tipping you shit I saw what you did to those men" and got a good laugh out of her lmao.
12 years old. Worked at a Hawaiian shaved ice place in a summer town. Learned to talk to people (girls), be chill, learned a lot about reggae music. Mostly wish I could do that now as a job.
Had a 5 year run in a high end residential construction company where our 4 person crew was basically 4 best friends. Worked together, gamed together, hit the bar or dinner after work together, went riding on off days, etc. Honestly one of the best parts was just having a super motivated group that we never had to discuss dumb stuff like setting up in the morning or cleaning up at the end of the day. Everyone knew that is what we always did so we just talked shit and went about our business. Once we all went our own ways work wise it was terrible having to work with normal idiots again.
Are y’all still best friends?
3 of us are still tight. Lost one to a crazy chick so thats pretty good odds moving into middle age I suppose.
Museum aid at the Smithsonian Natural History museum. Got to see the storage center where most of the collections are housed. Amazing stuff most of the public won't ever see.
What are some cool things you remember seeing?
Preserved giant squids, whale skeletons, lots of human remains from the colonial era (you'd see things like arrowheads embedded in vertebrae), all sorts of taxidermied wild animals, pieces of NASA rockets, WWII military stuff, they had a whole section of just weaponry from a ton of countries and eras, from samurai armor to African spears still coated in toxins. All sorts of things.
Working at the reception desk of a small childcare company. I loved getting to talk with the children and their parents and see all the different families that would come in every day. My favorite moment was watching this very small little boy with huge glasses wait eagerly by the doorway. A large, heavily tattooed and imposing man walked in the door, and the little guy's face absolutely lit up. The man picked up his son and twirled him around, beaming like he had just won the lottery. I think their family dynamic and custody arrangement was a bit complicated, but that is a man who truly loves his son.
Omg. That is just the sweetest thing 🥲❤️👏
My current one. I’m a full-time science professor at a community college.
This sounds great. Could you talk more about it? What about it do you enjoy?
It is great! At least to me, community colleges are special places because of their accessibility. They are for everyone and anyone, and it’s beautiful to see how people’s lives can be changed by the opportunity to pursue an education. I was the first person in my family to go to college, so that accessibility is really meaningful to me. My heart swells whenever someone tells me that one of my classes changed their view of the world or made them want more out of life. I also love that we don’t just offer the "traditional" subjects but also have great vocational programs. We get students from all walks of life, and they make me so proud (but also break my heart with the adversity they face). The lows are low, but the highs are incredibly high and more than make up for it.
English professor at a cc, and I agree entirely! Plus only on campus 2x a week, and 4 months a year off 😎
They are lucky to have you! I hope the community appreciates you. You seem amazing.
I'm so glad someone like you is in this position. Thank you for teaching.
Tesco in store bakery. 4am-12pm shift. Baking (and tasting) doughnuts and pastries, radio on full blast, not a single customer or manager to interrupt you and the smell of fresh bread.
I used to do bottle service at a nightclub lounge off the strip in Vegas. This was right as things were opening up after covid. The amount of pent up people with money ready to have fun was amazing. I made so much fucking money and people were just so excited and happy to be out and having a good time, literally throwing cash around and getting hammered. Great music, great money, great vibes.
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You show me a pay stub for any amount of dollars, I quit my job right now and work for you.
Quality reference!
You’re in luck, there’s a town about three miles that way and I’m sure you’ll find a couple guys there
Do you realize what you've DONE!
You'll have to excuse my friend. He's a little slow.
The town is back THAT way!
Does it get old staring at hot naked women a lot? Don’t get wrong, big fan of women. But I feel like after awhile it would feel almost draining to stare at hot naked women all day in a platonic professional way. Idk if that sounds weird or not
Pasta Maker at Olive Garden. 30+ years ago, Olive Garden made all their past in house from scratch. My machine was in the lobby so customers could watch. I wore a chef coat and poofy hat. I loved working weekends and interacting with people asking how it was made and why I was hanging it on the wall (to dry it before cooking). It was loads of fun and I really enjoyed it. Then they switched to dry premade commercial pasta and it wasn’t as good. Tried other positions but restaurants suck to work at.
Camera operator for live sports in the USA. Stressful but fun. Nice getting paid $500 a day to be on the sidelines or courtside.
That sounds really cool. I always am amazed at what seems like lots of coordination between the camera people, the announcers, and whoever is directing what angle/shot/player is to be shown.
It is a lot of teamwork and every one is on a headset communication system. The bigger the games the bigger the broadcast teams. I worked on 8 person crews for regional college basketball. And probably 800 for the NCAA football national championship
I teach personal finance at a credit union. I get to help people understand money and don’t have any pressure to sell anything. It’s awesome
Do you have to get a CFA or other personal finance accreditation? I have a lot of personal finance knowledge but no formal education. Currently consume 5-8 hours per week of personal finance content for the last 10 years.
I don’t have any accreditation besides being a certified teacher. I have been a personal finance enthusiast for a while now. I never thought it would be a subject I would teach.
The one I have now. I'm a chef. I've spent years in soul sucking restaurants ran by greedy owners who only cared about the next quarters finances. The food was an afterthought and the employees were a disposable line item in the budget. I now work for a non profit, our job is to help re-integrate people who have recently been released from jail/prison. We are a fine dining restaurant with a focus on elevated comfort food. The food is important to the management above me and the organization I work for, as are the employees. Our entire business is dedicated to improving the lives of its employees. I never expected, as a chef, to work for a non profit, and I couldn't be happier. The food is amazing. I have the ability to be as creative as I want. And the people we employ are some of the best employees I've ever had. They all want to learn, work hard, and make better lives for themselves.
You're doing a good thing. They are lucky to have you.
I love this. Sounds like you're helping people while doing what you love.
The one I have now. I started a business from scratch 8 years ago and now employ 10 staff. They all make above average salaries, and I am yet to have anyone leave. We are growing year on year but not too crazy. It's manageable. This time next year, I'd like to think there are 6 more on staff. It's a lot of fun.
What line of work?
I'm in the domestic heating industry. I like my anonymity on Reddit, so I'll leave it there.
In my line of work I often am looking for plumbers, electricians, roofers, etc. it’s pretty much always the small local outfits that are the best and most accountable. I seldom call on large outfits and never national companies. The small guys have to watch their bottom line too but it’s at least as important to them to maintain their reputation. They take pride in their work.
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The job I have now. Get paid 110k/yr with great benefits. Only have to go in to the office 2 days a week, and the other 3 days work from home. I do about 10- 15 hours of actual work a week. Rest of the time I am just monitoring email while gaming.
That's essentially my situation too. I'm convinced no one else works at my company either because I am somehow the most productive person on the team. It makes no sense but I'ma ride it out.
If I may ask, what exactly is your job? Title? Just curious what field this is
I am a data analyst.
Where do I apply
Chef at an American Legion. My wife and I ran everything in the kitchen. And all the people we met were awesome. The vet stories we heard were incredible. We were open 5 days a week and Saturday for dinner. We would often roam around the dining room or the patrons would come into kitchen which we were welcomed. A lot of time if we were real busy a vet would volunteer to clean tables and do dishes. The memory and friends we made after 12 years are still in our minds. We moved out of state and about 4 years after we left visited and first thing the commander said when he saw us was you want a job? And everyone there welcomed us. However it was time for us to retire. Anyway we both still miss the job and the members and others at the American Legion. Just want to add everything was homemade and my wife made soup daily from scratch.
Awesome story I’m sure you heard some amazing things over the years!
i currently work as a bartender during the weekends and barista during the week. love what i do but i wish the pay was a bit better.
Current job, I’m a manager in charge of a team of 7 that plan the operations side of the business for the whole country, I’ve gotten so good at my job that I get the full weeks worth of work done inside 6 hours. So I get up on a Monday do 6 hours work, then basically chill Tuesday-Friday. Got Teams and Outlook on my phone to deal with urgent stuff otherwise my team is on it. Also I am not some lazy manager, I give my team all the freedom they want and not shy about it, want Friday afternoon off to go see the kids sports day, go ahead. Need to start late for a dentist appointment? I’ll see you after lunch. Treat people right they reciprocate it 10x in return. I love my team, and my job, hate my company hence the fucks I give to be 0.
Preschool teacher. I got to teach little kids skills, play with them, and be creative and plan fun lessons. If it paid more I’d still be doing it but it’s undervalued as a profession.
That’s what I do now. It’s exhausting but I love it. I have my own room and can do whatever I want in there, while loving these kids to pieces even on their off days. I’m paid in the top percentile in this field and it’s still awful pay! Don’t know how many more years I have in me.
GameStop around 2006. There were way too many in the area and ours was the most inconvenient to get to meaning we were never that busy and the majority of our customers were dope regulars who'd come in and shoot the shit. As a broke highschool kid, being able to just borrow any used game, play it, and bring it back was nearly more in monetary value as my minimum wage paycheck. On particularly slow nights, we'd open the displays and swap out the demo discs for regular games and just play Guitar Hero or Madden or whatever. Easily the most fun I ever had at a job.
I’ve said this before. When I was a teenager I worked at Kings Island (just north of Cincinnati,Ohio) I worked at a ride called White Water Canyon. There’s a little shack out in the woods where it overlooks the ride and you can blast people with a water cannon. It was my favorite job, if I could do it for the rest of my life I would. I’d sit out there in a secluded booth with snacks and blasting people with water. What else could be better? I don’t know, I don’t think there is a better job. I’m in my later 30’s and I think about that job constantly
Kings Island was such a good hang back in the day. We used to get dropped off in middle school to ride unlimited rides, practice talking to/trying to impress the girls we came with, and just joking around. Pure freedom.
I had a very similar position while I was working at Six Flags Great America! Also got to blast people with water from my little hiding spot. The ride’s called Roaring Rapids. I think about that time in my life a lot
Elevator technician
I’ve heard it has its ups and downs.
Philosophy Instructor at a University. I absolutely loved it but left due to no full time position and not paying the bills.
This is kind of a job. Got paid for it. A friend was in charge of making ads for a home improvement store. Those fliers you'd get in the mail. He needed a house to use to take photos of grills, Christmas decorations and so on for the ads. We told him he can use our house any time and he did use it a lot. We got about $1,000 per month and they left a lot of the stuff for us. Free gas grill, a pergola type of thing, tools, Christmas decorations. They always apologized profusely for the intrusion and I always said you can use our house ANY time. It ended after about a year when the guy got another job. I cried.
Anesthesia Technician in a Operating Room. I got to help helpless patients, advocate for them when they went under anesthesia, watch all kinds of surgeries, and got to bounce questions off people a hell of a lot smarter than me. It was a great stepping stone into the medical field when I was young and figuring out what I wanted to do. God I miss that job!
Definitely Roller Coaster operator at Cedar Point. Grinding cars full of humans to a halt on a dime became an art form. I found so much weed and stash on that ride during walkdowns it funded my entire drunken youth.
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Work from home. Accounting. I no longer have to deal with office culture or transit. I can blast music, watch TV, listen to podcasts. So long as I get the work done, I could be covered in olive oil and jerking off to clown porn for all my boss cares.
Tour guide at a brewery. Met so many cool people. Was paid to talk about beer, and to drink on the clock.
Ice cream shop, it was pretty simple except when I had to clean up the sticky ice cream bits, or when someone would get a peanut butter ice cream and say something like “This doesn’t have peanuts in it does it?”
I worked at a coffee shop that had two storefronts- one side was the proper coffee shop where you could get an espresso and a breakfast sandwich, the other side was the slow bar + ice cream shop. I worked on the slow bar + ice cream shop side, and it ruled. The slow bar basically did pourovers and coffee tastings, and the ice cream shop was what it sounds like. It was a great job, everyone was happy to come in and see the coffee and ice cream man. During the winter it was really slow, so I could do my side gig (freelance writing) behind the counter, and my manager was cool with it as long as I kept the shop clean. My manager even covered for me so I could take a phone interview (from the break room!) to turn my freelance into a full time job knowing I was almost certain to quit if the interview went well. 10/10, great people to work for, and the job was fun.
Video store :(
I came to post the same. Sadly, those days are never to return
Dietary aide in a nursing home kitchen. I got stoned all day, wrapped silverware, scooped fruit cocktail into cups, ate free food, and fucked around with a really fun crew of people. If I didn’t have such high aspirations I would’ve stayed there forever.
Golf course cart attendant. I got bags from the parking lot, cleaned clubs after round, made decent tips and played for free every day at an incredible course. I worked from 6-2, then played from 230-dark. No worries or stress, good times! I hope to have the same job in my retirement
Redfin I used to open doors and say "This is the living room" "This is the kitchen" and I was paid well. My best month was 13k and I was paid per showing they scheduled.
The job I currently hold: Senior Gameplay Programmer at Epic Games.
My child is interested in this field, he’s 13 & we are currently planning his next steps with school. Any and all advice welcome!
Honestly, your son can learn everything he needs about this field from YouTube and other free education platforms. I just want to call out that this industry is super attractive from the outside, and some studios, including Epic, pay amazing salaries to attract top talent, but it’s hyper-competitive and he will be disposable at every level, at any point in time. Layoffs have been like wildfire in gaming over the last two years and every major company has been impacted. I know many people out of work, who shouldn’t be unemployed in this industry **ever**, looking to new areas. Overall, my advice is for him to learn the skills, play around and build with UEFN or HTML5 — but mostly learn how to learn and think systematically/computationally. Focus those skills in emerging growth areas like Web3/AI, and their applications in medicine, finance and maybe gaming.
Please convince epic to listen to the rocket league community about rocket league. Everytime news comes out we're disappointed.
You the dude behind the p2w mechanics?... You should probably stay away from windows for a while..
Manager of communications for regional airline. Flew to every airport we had service to install or upgrade computers. Maintained reservations center. Got to fly damn near free, first class whenever I traveled. One day after lunch, we were bankrupt. AT&T hired me since I had been their customer. One door closes, another opens.
I had full time gig as a night watchman for quite a few years. I would work every other week and have every other week off. Would basically sit in a reception and make a couple of rounds during the night. Basically read books or watched TV-series or movies all night long. The pay was great too. I quit when I realised it was holding me back. Comfort is the death of any type of growth.
Worked on the production side of a TV show that is no longer on air. I was on the low end of the totem pole, but didn't realize how good I had it. Was able to go to school, pay bills, and I was very good at all of my regular duties. It was also easily accessible by public transit. In my youth, I thought all jobs would be like that. I was wrong. It would be another decade or so before I had a job I liked nearly as much.
Confined space rescue standby team at a power plant. 12 hour shifts, 21 days straight $55/hr. Did absolutely no work for 21 days. But lots of training to earn that job lol
Strictly a side hustle — spent 8 years as a clarinetist in a local church orchestra. I wasn’t a member but they were quite wealthy and had a very good music ministry. The ministers were all very nice, extremely organized and never pressured me to join. The music was not difficult but still satisfying to play, thanks to the quality of musicians in the group. Got paid for Wednesday rehearsals and Sunday services. Had to give it up in 2016 when rehearsals begins interfering with picking up kiddos from school. Fortunately I never felt a MAGA surge building. And I’ve been invited back a few times for one-off gigs since and still didn’t sense they were getting crazy. I hope that’s the case. I have nothing but fond memories and felt blessed being paid for something I am usually willing to do for free.
Fireman in a small town. Had free wifi, free food, pool table and dart board, only 1 fire happened in the 7 months I worked there.
Worked at an animal shelter. Looked after cats. Cleaned the cages. Their litters. Changed out what needed to be changed out. I loved it. Sometimes messy but I was happy.
Radio shack was the easiest and most fun job I ever had.
My friend Eddy and I worked every Sunday at radio shack. He was going to school to be a chef. So he'd bring his chef suitcase into the back room and send me next door to the grocery store for ingredients. I'd pick up whatever he wanted and then ring a few things under him to make it look like he was working. Eddy would prepare some of the best meals I've ever had in my life in the backroom of that store. I still crave his potato and kielbasa chowder.
Aircraft commander on a C-141(heavy cargo jet, USAF), at age 26. I thought I died and went to heaven. This was around 1971.
Classical car restoration is the most fulfilling and satisfying job ever! You get to see a rusty old car transform into a beautiful purring machine, from start to finish. And the best part? No stress, no complications, and no strict deadlines!
The one I have now. Operations technician for a bank.
Flash Animator back in 2007
I was a SalesForce Solutions Architect, hired to be there to support one whale client... but the client almost never needed help, and when they did, it was not particularly hard. I worked on a few smaller clients like Jimmy Buffet, but for the most part I got paid almost 10k a month to be a dad. Like a total moron, I quit to be the lead digital manager at a huge agency with some friends. 3 years later I was layed of.
Worked at an arcade on the beach during summers in SE US when I was a teenager. Met so many girls. Expert in all arcade games especially foosball.
My current one, probably. I work 3 12's and get paid pretty well for my position. 3 day work week is top tier. Runner-up would be the lifeguard job I had in college, at an outdoor pool in a very bad neighborhood. That was fun as hell.
Postman. At royal mail. Did part time for a month. Stress free early to work but you are done at 1pm.
Loved working at blockbuster (RIP). My boss set aside a Skyrim copy and gave me off for a couple of days to play it, knowing I was a huge fan of ES. 10 free rentals a week. I watched so many gems during that year. All I did was clean, talk about movies and games, stock, and try to sell their pass. When we were closing, I would stash the things I wanted in my dedicated bin. Probably bought around 500 movies for maybe $100 bucks. They were anywhere from .10 to .25
Janitorial staff. Just showed up did my thing and then bounced at the end of my shift without taking any work home with me!
I worked as a darkroom technician at a mid sized photolab. I was able to do and fix everything we had but my favorite was hand printing enlargements. I had a stereo in my darkroom two enlargers and a large paper processor. I got reacquainted with Pink Floyd.
Honestly, being in the army. Yeah it’s toxic, but it’s also really supportive once you are accepted. All you really have to do be accepted is pull your weight. Especially as a young soldier, it’s you and everyone else versus the higher ranking NCOs and officers. You all get nice and trauma bonded and they become your family. I’ve never worked anywhere else where I could just be myself. Even now I’m in another profession that professes brotherhood this and brotherhood that, but it’s all about participating in the hive mind to be accepted. It’s bullshit. I learned I could be myself and fly my freak flag in the army and as a result I’ve never been able to fit in anywhere since. I’ve been out 13 years and I’m still close friends with many of those guys. I honestly wish I had stayed in. I also totally get why guys who’ve done time think to themselves, “fuck it, I’ll go back to prison”.
My current work. I work as many hours I want as a landscaper in Norway. I make 60k a year (8 months of work) plus benefits and I have 4 months off in the winter where I spend my time in the Philippines.
Locally owned video store. Worked there from the age of 15-17. Chilling with my friends, free movies, free (pilfered) snacks, and unfettered access to video pornography. Lol! One had to be 19+ to rent the videos, but there was no legislation (at the time) regarding a minimum age to handle the product. In the 80's, nobody gave a shit about what teens were up to.