First jobs
On directive from Tracie, I am going to enlighten you about my first job. Sure, I babysat from time to time, but the first true job I had was as a busboy, erm, girl, at a Japanese restaurant. I started working there because my two closest friends worked there, and because I needed some extra cash. This was when I was about 16 or 17.

I don't really have a cool story about it, but I did have to clean the sushi bar every night, which was ghastly. I loathe fish, let alone raw fish, and the smell alone almost did me in. Every time I cleaned the sushi bar, the sushi chef (or whatever you call him) would watch me disapprovingly before he would finally step in and say, "No good!" and then take over cleaning duty. Not that I complained. I tried to do "no good!" so I would get to leave.

We also could eat as much white rice and ice cream as we wanted.

I think my pay was at minimum wage, maybe a little higher, who knows. That was about 12 years ago, I think the minimum wage was about $4.75. I remember getting a $200 check and thinking, "WOW!"

My next job was something I snagged from the woman whom I regularly babysat for. She worked at the Dillard's department store as a buyer (I think.) They were having a Father's Day promotion wherein you could pay $10 or $20 and you could shoot a video with a Father's Day message. I landed the job as the camera operator. This job entailed sitting around the men's department all day, waiting for customers who had paid for the video (there weren't many). But I did happen to see a shoplifter try and stuff a ton of Tommy Hilfiger sweaters under his shirt and run for the door. He just grabbed a ton of folded sweaters and ran with them. So I had to go get someone and the police came and got a description from me. It was quite exciting.

So there you go. My first jobs.