As an adult just two: Automotive technician and laboratory equipment repair.

Through school:

Shelf stocking at the gas station in town
Kitchen work at a pizza place
McDonald's cook
Circuit City clerk in movies/games
About a month as the height checker for the log ride at Six Flags in Mass
A bit more Circuit City
Same type of gig at a small chain of media stores
Then off to the "adult" jobs above.

Surprised how many have had such a number/variety.

Just two for me:
Attorney
1811

Gas Station attendant/janitor
College Student
Gas Station attendant/wrecker driver/janitor/tire changer/manager (all in one)
Public Defender
Real Estate Attorney

Gofer on family farm
Odd jobs in college
Scientific Programmer
IT Administrator
Graduate Assistant
It Administrator

Various retail and service jobs through high school and into my mid 20's.

Construction related environmental work for two companies for 12 years.
Took a union job in facility operations/stationary engineering. I'll ride this until retirement, or I find something better.

I accidentally became a career Soldier along the way. USA, USAR, ARNG, Army all the way! Majored in military police, with a minor in infantry.

Not counting jobs I held as a kid (mostly in the restaurant business):

Commercial banking - credit analysis and lending
Lawyer

Skipping the high school and temporary jobs:

- grocery store clerk (end of high school and through college)
- title searcher (incredibly boring, lasted 5 months)
- litigation paralegal
- corporate lawyer

-Machinist
-USMC (1964-1968 MOS:0300-0811&0846
-Drafter - Designer & Engineer (Underground and Surface Mining equipment, Industrial food service equipment, Telecommunication enclosures, Waste haulage systems, Radio Frequency gluing equipment, and Mobile Marketing displays. Patents issued South Africa and United States.
-Retired

1) Chick-Fil-A (started when I turned 14 and didn't quit until I was in college)

2) Lifeguard (part-time in college)

3) IT Support (part-time in college)

4) Used car sales (exactly 1 month)

5) Insurance sales (a little over a year)

6) Paralegal/Law Clerk (through law school)

7) Attorney

I figure 4, 5, and 7 must be the trifecta of every bad joke and "most hated" list.

-Rob

(High School and University)
Radio DJ
USCGR Radioman
various restaurant/manual labor gigs

(Post-University)
Int'l Aerospace Institute publications (editorial clerk, typesetter, production editor, editor)

Sailboat crew (early mid-life crisis at 28)

Start-up Home Renovation/Home Inspection Consulting Company (everything)

Litigation Paralegal (DC/Phoenix/NOLA)

Law School (NOLA)

(carpenter's helper to fill in the between-times after early mid-life crisis, DC/NOLA)

Family Law Clinic (Katrina refugee/diaspora job)

Legal Education/Training/Publications (CO/LA)

Actually quite a few:

High School
Life guard and BSA Summer Camp Staff
Hay bale pitcher
Worked in the lab at an Orthodontics office
Worked as a stripper in a furniture refinishing shop

college
Technician/gofer for a company in the mobile phone/cell phone/pager business
Fire Fighter/Medic

After college
Inside Sales Engineer
System Engineer/PM
Manager of Business Development
Application/System Engineer
Program/Account Manager

Junior High
Clay pigeon Loader at Skeet Range
Lifeguard at BSA camp
Lifeguard at military base


College
Past Control grunt - was the guy that crawled around substructures digging trenches with a hand trowel
Moving Company grunt
Lifeguard at Wildlife Refuge

After college
Newspaper reporter
Communications specialist
Communications director
Dir., Public Relations
Marketing director, furniture company
Dir., Communications & member services

I've had many jobs, mostly in the same industry, that all have a logical flow, even if they seem disjointed.

Starting as I finished college:
Retail Loss Prevention - Retail Chain A
Retail Loss Prevention - Retail Chain B (Supervisor Position)
Retail Loss Prevention - Bigger Retail Chain C
Promotion to Asst. LP Manager, Bigger Store, Still Chain C
Fraud Investigator - Bank A
Fraud Sup. - Bank B
Fraud Investigator, Manager, Marketing Manager - Bank B (after Fraud was moved to Ohio)
Credit Card Merchant Services - Processor A
Fraud Manager - Retail Chain D
Credit Card Merchant Services - Processor B
State Employee - Over Card Programs
Supplier Manager (Various Roles) - Bank C

I've usually been recommended for or hired into new positions by previous managers.

Burger flipper
Steelworker (summer job)
Road construction (summer job)
Video store clerk
Video store manager
Financial Analyst
Lawyer

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

< snip >

5) Insurance sales (a little over a year)

6) Paralegal/Law Clerk (through law school)

7) Attorney

I figure 4, 5, and 7 must be the trifecta of every bad joke and "most hated" list.

-Rob

I knew a lawyer who drove an ambulance (volunteer firefighter/EMT).

It took six months for the wiseacres to run out of jokes.

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
Burger flipper
Steelworker (summer job)
Road construction (summer job)
Video store clerk
Video store manager
Financial Analyst
Lawyer

That's a respectable career path if it's in reverse chronological order.

One occupation-pharmacist. Jobs before that-started out doing yard work (mowing yards, raking leaves, trimming hedges, etc., lifeguard, water safety instructor, taught swimming,delivery boy at drug store, general flunky, survey helper (cut right away, ran tape, held range pole. Worked on a shrimp boat. Drove ambulance, worked the potato shed.

First "job" ever: stocking shelves/dusting/mopping floors at my step-father's 7-11.

Delivering circulars with my mother after she divorced my step-father.

Painting fences for one summer at the co-op we moved into a couple years after the divorce.

Worked as a dishwasher/bus boy/waiter/bartender through high school and summers home from college at a local catering hall, they gave me a great deal on my wedding reception years later.

Worked in the philosophy library, and then the graduate library, while attending University of Michigan.

Worked at a "Hop-In" convenience store in a backwater town south of Ann Arbor after graduating, because a degree in Comparative Literature and Creative Writing is so marketable.

Worked briefly for the "Engraver's Journal" (industry trade publication) as a writer; sucked at it, got fired; hated it anyway.

Went to Korea and taught English as a second language for almost two years. Met my wife there -- who is also from Michigan.

Got back from Korea, answered a help wanted ad for a local gunshop, looking for sales help. Thought it would be an interesting short-term job. That was in '97; currently manager/buyer for said gunshop, going on 20 years next month. I keep showing up, they keep paying me.

A lot of jobs, but only one occupation.