Technically my first job was an internship through the American Chemical Society when I was in high school. I worked as a assistant to a professor and his graduate students at George Mason University. I helped the grad students collect samples of plants and soil and then helped to process them. I also helped with data entry and stuff like that. I sorta wish I had gotten it later, as a lot of the stuff I was doing kinda over my head.
My first real job was at a Home Depot. I worked out in the garden section. It involved a lot of heavy lifting and getting blasted by the sun. You got used to it eventually. I also worked a lot in the outdoor power equipment section, selling and helping repair peoples mowers, weedwhackers, and chainsaws. Over time I became the guy who drove the forklifts and lift trucks most often. This meant I would often be out back with no customers just moving pallets around and bring them inside the store.
I sort of became the guy the other guys would listen to, because our boss was a bit of a hardass if well-meaning. He didn't talk a lot, but when he did it generally yelling at other people to do something. But he worked harder than anybody else and did things right. He eventually got let go, and I sort of became the default boss when I was there on the weekends. It was really weird because I was like 20 and almost everyone else was significantly older than me. Like mid-30s and 60s older in some cases.
It was kind of a fun job. I mean dealing with people is just the worst, but the guys I worked with were cool for the most part and there's a weird peace that comes with driving trucks and lifting heavy stuff all day.