2026-06-11: Throwback Thursday: name pins from old jobs #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

My parents had a business long before I was born. All of us sibling would work there. It was my first work and I worked there for all my Easter, Christmas, and summer breaks while at school. 

My first job outside of the family business was at Hard Rock Café, Reykjavík, Iceland. I worked there as a bus boy while attending trade school. Last year, when I was in Iceland, I was going through my things and found my name badge. As well as the official HRC Reykjavík pin:

Sooooo, do you have photos of some of your old work badges or pins? Where was your first real job at?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!

KGM

[Barbara Szczesniak]

I don't count babysitting (started when I was 11; who would let an 11-year-old stay home alone these days, let alone watch their small children?) or even tutoring calculus my first semester of college.

My first "real job" was working in a Ponderosa Steakhouse restaurant later in college. I had a little name badge to pin to my (lovely and stylish) uniform, but I'm sure I had to give it back when I left so that they could scrape off my name and use it for someone else.

After that, I think all of my work IDs were badges that I had to give back. No one even let me keep one of the name bars that they stuck on the outside of my cubicle. 

[Amanda Barber]

LOL, @Barbara Szczesniak - I had the same thought until I had an 11 year old. She took the babysitting class and I did have the same thought about other people letter her watch their kids - I do let her "watch" herself now! 

I must have had a name tag when I worked my second job which was at a shoe store, but don't recall having one at the restaurant I was a "busser" at.

[Danno]

Nice bit of Flair there @Kristján Geir Mathiesen

[Anne Saunders]

I LOVED my Hard Rock cafe swag back in the 90s - I had pins from a few of the locations and a "No Drugs or Nuclear Weapons Allowed Inside" sweatshirt!

I babysat, worked as a carhop, and did a stint as a barista in a mall shop, but my first REAL job was as a Customer Service Rep at that bastion of 90s glory - Glamour Shots. 

[Kris Klima _K15t_]

Pins weren't really the thing in my neck of the woods... but I kept a bunch of PRESS ACCESS badges from my days of journalism. 

A couple of White House passes, credentials for the Bush & Putin summit in Slovenia, a badge for Obama's first trip to Canada... 

The trouble is... I don't know where I stored them and just don't have time/energy to start looking :D 

But they did get me places :) 

I took that photo 25 years ago using an actual film camera.

OMG, almost to a day 25 years ago (it was June 16, 2001). 

[Dan Breyen]

I was given a name badge for my first 'real job' for the one time a year that we had our company customer conference.  It was only good for about 3 years, before we got bought out and had a different company name.  

I had that badge sitting in a drawer for about 30 years, and sadly, a month or two ago, when I saw it, it ended up in the trash.

It was thrown along with the box of business cards where I think I used 5 from.

So, no flair for me...

[Tomislav Tobijas]

My first actual job (student one, though) was in a startup company not so long ago. Plus, we didn't have those work badges or pins...

But my sister is currently working in some kind of family entertainment center as her student job, and I think she does have something like this.
Although the cool part of that is that she occasionally brings free swag such as T-shirts and some other props, so you can sometimes find our whole family wearing clothes saying "Staff" on the back (at the same time) 👕😄

[Martin Runge]

Hi everybody,

My first job was at around 14 or 15, working at a relative's fish farm. I helped out with the daily operations, which was definitely a unique experience! Later on, I also worked at various events and bars. No name badges saved from back then, but definitely a lot of good memories! 🐟🍻

[Natalie Beiler]

I worked in my grandmother's food stand at the local county fair, babysat and cleaned for neighbors and relatives beginning around 10-11. The first "real" career job that I had a name badge for was when I began my nursing journey.

This post yesterday sparked my interest in going back to a box of treasured memories that I hadn't opened for some time. So below is my first nursing badge, actually second, along with my first stethoscope that I always loved.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Takk everyone for sharing :)