Twitter’s best answers to the question ‘What were your first 7 jobs?’

What were your first seven jobs? A simple question, but it dominated Twitter over the weekend. Turns out people love talking about themselves, cracking jokes, and discussing the current state of labor under capitalism. Who knew?

The #First7Jobs meme started with this earnest tweet from singer Marian Call:

What were your first 7 jobs?

Babysitting, janitorial, slinging coffee, yard work, writing radio news, voice-overs, data entry/secretarial

— Marian Call & the Guttersnipes (@mariancall) August 5, 2016

And quickly picked up enough momentum to turn into a full-fledged hashtag game. As you might expect, jokers had a field day with it:

#first7jobs

Steve Jobs
Noah Wyle
Michael McDonald
Fred Armisen
Ashton Kutcher
Justin Long
Michael Fassbender

— nictate 📼 (@nictate) August 7, 2016

1. Orphan
2. Student
3. Secret
4. Secret
5. Secret
6. CEO Wayne Enterprises
7. Batman, wait, dammit
#first7jobs

— Andrew Tumilty (@AndrewTumilty) August 7, 2016

My #first7jobs were all hand 😞

— Christian Zamora (@Christian_Zamo) August 7, 2016

#first7jobs

Paperboy
Greeter
Cashier
Clerk
Renegade apprentice
Renegade journeyman
Renegade master, back once again with the ill behaviour

— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) August 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/don_macdonald/status/762090916836364288

1 racist landlord
2 bankrupt
3 creepy pageant owner
4 bankrupt
5 fire people on tv
6 bankrupt
7 failed presidential nominee#firstsevenjobs

— the supreme court will destroy everything we want (@SeanMcElwee) August 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/bubblyphil/status/761876895013015552

https://twitter.com/Ben_O_723/status/762125906597076992

Coxswain
Coxswain
Coxswain
Coxswain
Coxswain
Coxswain
Coxswain second class#First7Jobs

— Moltz (@Moltz) August 7, 2016

This seven jobs meme is the first time I've ever felt jealous of Jack Horkheimer, the Star Hustler.

— Paul Ford (@ftrain) August 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/bafeldman/status/762449105440215042

7Jobs7Furious

— Jim Ray (@jimray) August 7, 2016

Most people answered seriously, though, and the results were revealing on a couple of levels.

Successful people’s answers reminded us that every once in a while, someone goes from washing dishes to being an astronaut. Or that a kid running a slushee machine can one day be Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

#firstsevenjobs
Dish washer
Camp counselor
Fighter pilot
Astronaut
Commandant
Speaker
Author

Now Global Space Statesman!

— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) August 7, 2016

#first7jobs
Slushee machine at my aunt's store
Intern for WNET
McD's…register
Data entry
Drawing 1 model
Community paper writer
Teacher

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) August 7, 2016

But that’s a rare career trajectory, especially for younger people. 

The other revealing thing about #First7Jobs is that very few people—even those relatively new to the workforce—reported having fewer than seven. Getting and keeping a job for life, then collecting a pension and retiring, is a thing of the past. If young people want pay increases, they have to change jobs.

So #First7Jobs turned out to be more than just another chain-letter survey —the kind that used to get passed around LiveJournal, but now get passed around Facebook. It’s simultaneously a reminder that success is still (kind of) possible (in rare cases), a commentary on the economic struggle most people are going through, and a new joke format to play with.