Low income jobs might be looked down on for their perceived position in society. However, only the uninformed think there's nothing to be gained from this level of work. In fact, these jobs can teach you valuable lessons for life, as demonstrated by these people's experiences.
Reddit user, u/KSacc1210, wanted to hear what you learned from low pay jobs when they asked:
What is the best low income job you ever had?
When It Feels Like Play Instead Of Work
sushi GIFGiphyI've waitressed in way too many restaurants and I hated all of them, except for one sushi spot. It was in a hipster part of town so my co-workers and the customer base were cool as hell. It truly never felt like "work" because I was essentially just socializing my entire shift.
Enough time has passed where we all moved on or literally moved out of the city but they felt like family and I really f-cking miss it.
Oddly relevant, my old manager texted me yesterday (haven't talked to him since I left in 2016) just to say he was thinking about me and wished me well. Feelsgoodman.
Paid To Pee
I was a lab tech on the 7pm-11pm shift a couple days a week a year in college. Very few people made use of the labs at these hours, and the few that did most of them already knew what they were doing. For the most part, I was paid to do homework and browse the internet. Also took a bathroom break whenever I wanted because no one was really around to complain otherwise.
Grabbing The Best Of The Worst
I worked at a computer store. It was great I got to fix computers all day, talked to customers about computers. When things were slow they would have us build a custom system to showcase and sell. Sometimes it was the best low end budget PC or a PC for a college kid. The best were the top tier gaming rigs. Of course we had to test them out and make sure they worked.
Also every return had to be thrown out. So they put a box up and all returns went into the box. If you wanted an item you signed the sheet. At the end of the shift they went down the sheet and you got to pick out one item until everything was gone or no one wanted anything. No one would sign the sheet until something good was put in the box. I just signed the sheet everyday when I started my shift.
I got a $400 video card for free. Just needed a new fan.
Do You Even Gym, Brah?
Sales/front desk associate for a gym (specifically Planet Fitness). I love all of my coworkers, my manager is easily my favorite person I have ever worked for, and they are super understanding and willing to work with my University schedule.
After coming from some pretty high-stress work environments in the food service industry, it is amazing to have a job that is incredibly relaxed, and non-stressful. They pay isn't that great, and I could easily get a job that pays better, but having amazing coworkers and a stress-free work environment is more than enough to keep me around while I finish off my degree.
Dealing with dumb gym members who don't understand Covid rules can be pretty frustrating, but otherwise this is probably my fav minimum wage job I've ever had
Zen Work
Probably working for the city. I mowed all the baseball fields and city owned lots. It was pretty nice, just working alone and listening to music. I also got to drive around in a loader when I needed to clean up the dump spots. It wasn't glorious work, but it was almost zen like and I got to drive some seriously heavy machinery
Backbreaking Work
Landscaping for a small local business. It was my first job after walking out of Toys R Us in the middle of a shift 2 weeks before Christmas because of how wretched it was.
Boss was just a regular guy, all he cared about was that you worked hard. It was hard work, but felt good being outside and active. And very rewarding working your a-- off for 10 hours and then being able to step back and admire what you created, be it a fish pond, stone patio, a nice shrub garden, ect, as opposed to unending lines of pissed off customers and cleaning up toy shelves that would be wrecked again in 15 minutes anyway.
And pay was actually pretty great, $10 an hour for 50 hours a week. At 17 when your boss hands you $500 cash every Friday afternoon you're basically rich. All in all the job was no bullsh-t. Boss gives you instruction and you do it. No dumb sh-t about tricking old people into buying insurance they don't need, no guilt trips if you request a day off, no 19 year old middle management c*nts with bad skin on a power trip, and if someone came in with an attitude demanding stuff, the boss would tell them to f-ck off, simple as that.
An Orientation For The Ages
Worked for a firework stand one summer. Pretty much explains itself. Oh and at the beginning of the season they had an orientation, which was just them naming and showing each firework and then lighting it off.
A Job To Show You The Coolest The World Has To Offer
Up until the pandemic, I had been working as a cameraman. Loved it despite the pay. I was onstage with great bands, behind the net in the AHL, in the pits at Motocross, and so much more.
I've used this time to earn IT certs but I may try and keep my side gig if I land a "real" job.
Leading You To Your Romantic Destiny
the simpsons hearts GIFGiphyI worked in a record store off and on again for nearly eight years when I was young. Met the woman that became my Wife, and two of my longest/closest friends while there.
The store is closed, and it was torn down to build a Chick Fil A a few years ago. I'll always cherish the years I spent there.
Working Out In The Wilderness
I worked a year in Finnland as a builder. Mostly building log cabins with only handtools like axes, big handsaws and chisels, and as i'm an electrician by trade doing all the elctrics in them. Pay wasn't much, but i didn't need much, as i had a car with gas paid for by the company, a nice VW Amarok, and our building sites were almost ever in the backcountry. Often Lapland.
As i only had to work 4 days of the week, I often went fishing, hiking, a colleague took me hunting. I built the furniture for those cabins we sold, and it made for a nice extra income, also. I have never felt this free again. I loved it and if live didn't intervene, i probably would still be working there.
Other Like Minded, Caring Individuals
Volunteering at a charity shop. So low income it didn't even pay. Had it have paid I'd have never left and got a 'proper' job.
Met so many nice people there whom I'm still Friends with and everyday was different. You really did not know what people would donate and what would come through that door. It was fascinating at times the stuff that people donated.
Showing How To Take Care Of Your Staff
I worked in a ranch every spring, summer and christmas break from middle school to highschool. The ranch would cook us breakfast and lunch. I learned a lot there, including how do drive manual shift at 13, tractor at 14 and 5 ton truck at 15. If you worked hard, arrived on time and didn't drink, the owner would co-sign any reasonable line of credit and a lot of my coworkers bought a house like that. In my case, the owner paid for everything that I needed, from supplies to uniforms to glasses to a bike, so that I had everything I needed to finish school.
Running Karaoke...For Profit!
I worked at an ice cream shop / eatery and the owners were wonderful people. The whole thing was a part time job where I would fill in and do just about everything / anything they needed when one of them had to be somewhere else during their busy hours so at most I probably did 20 hours a week making slightly more than minimum wage.
The real kicker (besides them being great people and close to home), was they ran Karaoke on Saturday nights for 4 hours and needed someone to run it. I love to sing, I love doing Karaoke to being with so once a week they were paying me to do nothing but that for 4 hours which I probably would have done for free.
They appreciated it too because I was enthusiastic, got people into it and like clockwork there were some families who became regulars and would pretty much stop by every Saturday for months. The job lasted about 2 years while paying for college and it was great fun while it lasted.
Providing An Actual Service To People
Selling comfort shoes. Nothing like seeing a customer walk in practically in tears because their feet hurt so much and leave with a huge smile on their face because their feet have stopped hurting.
The Empire Records Of Video Rental Stores
Shift Manager at Hollywood video, making $7.25/hr. For some reason, we were the only story in the area where corporate allowed us to order whatever movies we wanted for the store. A lot of the employees were film students at the local university so we ordered a lot of crazy sh!t. We had a great indie, foreign, anime collection. We had the entire Twin Peaks series on VHS. Because Hollywood Video didn't make you pay your late fees to rent new movies, our clientele were mostly customers who couldn't rent from blockbuster b/c of high late fees.
We hated the Blockbuster people and would crank call them all the time. We'd dial them up and ask sh-t like, "Do you have Private Parts...? Can I touch them?" or "Do you have Lorenzo's Oil?... Can I rub it all over my body?" Our store manager was the coolest guy who would let us play whatever movies we wanted (as long as they weren't rated R) in the store. We were such a motley-crew, it felt like working at Empire Records.
I miss that job and those people so much.
Sometimes, A Good Boss Makes All The Difference
Cook at a breakfast restaurant. No doubleshifts. The owner was really nice and would bus dishes when we were super busy. Most of the cooks and some servers were friends so we regularly hung out. To top it off we had windows/a lot of natural light.
The atmosphere really made all the difference.
Then the owner sold the place and the new owner was fully incompetent and we all left.
The Most Excitement You Can Have Taking Pictures Of Bugs
bart simpson model GIFGiphyCapturing live bees in little plastic bottles, gently chilling them until they were docile, and gluing tiny colored plastic tags with numbers onto their backs. Then sitting outside in a flowerbed with a notepad and trying to spot any of the tagged bees that returned to that site.
Other highlights of that job were: Sheltering in a grad student's car during a sudden intense thunderstorm and having the tree we were parked under get literally exploded by a lightning strike. Police arresting a student worker for sitting in the bushes next to a public pool full of kids with a big camera and macro lens (he was photographing insects). Getting shot at in the woods by people playing paintball. Almost falling out of a tree while trying to get a wide overhead shot of a survey site.
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Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.