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Question of the Week: What Was Your First Job?

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By Velvet Roper staff 6/29/12 2:00pm

An Informal Survey on the Amazing Spider-Man Red Carpet: "Who Is Your Favorite Superhero?"

  • Burger King
    Start The Slideshow

    It’s a telling piece of information, the first way a person earned money. That starter job undoubtedly shapes attitudes about work from then on, and how one describes their first paying gig reflects their level of respect for a hard day’s labor.

    What does it mean, then, that so many celebs we talked to this week have been fired, or quit after just a few days on the job? Hugh Jackman, Judah Friedlander and Chaske Spencer—all of them offer excuses of varying degrees of credibility for being canned in their early days.

    Cory Booker on the other hand, rather unsurprisingly, was a self-starter and young businessman. Both Tavi Gevinson and Miss Universe surmise that they currently occupy their first jobs (respectively, editor and… Miss Universe). And can you guess which two stars worked at Burger King and quit almost immediately?

    Click through for more enlightening answers.

  • Back Forward Burger King

    Burger King

    Can you guess which two celebrities quit their jobs at Burger King within a month of being hired? (Scott Olson/Getty)

  • Back Forward Jennifer Hudson

    Jennifer Hudson

    "My first job ever was, believe it or not, at Burger King! I was 16 and after a couple of months I quit and decided to pursue my dreams."

  • Back Forward Jaime Cepero

    Jaime Cepero

    "My first job was at Burger King in junior year of high school. I quit after three weeks."

  • Back Forward Elizabeth Banks

    Elizabeth Banks

    "It was selling popcorn at the 'Pop Corner' in the town square of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It was not even minimum wage."

  • Back Forward Leila Lopes (Miss Universe)

    Leila Lopes (Miss Universe)

    “My first job ever is being Miss Universe.”

  • Back Forward Hugh Jackman

    Hugh Jackman

    "My first job was at a 7/11 and I got fired after a week and a half. Apparently I talked to the costumers too much."

  • Back Forward Savannah Wise

    Savannah Wise

    "My first job was at this little boutique in New Orleans called Inbeteens. My friend and I use to work there together and we would close the store early and take pictures of each other in all the cool outfits. I don’t know if we should have been trusted as fifteen-year-olds in a clothing store!”

  • Back Forward Chaske Spencer

    Chaske Spencer

    “I worked at Schlotzsky’s! It is a sandwich shop down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I got fired. I was a horrible, horrible sandwich maker. I was horrible at everything—that is why I became an actor.”

  • Back Forward Mayor Cory Booker

    Mayor Cory Booker

    “My first job was mowing lawns in Harrington Park, New Jersey. I started my own landscaping business.”

  • Back Forward Rebecca Mead, New Yorker staff writer

    Rebecca Mead, New Yorker staff writer

    "My first job was at the fact desk at New York magazine."
    (We ask if she enjoyed it.)
    "No. I mean, it was a great job, it taught me a lot about how to report a story, and I was newly arrived in this country so it taught me a lot about everything. I learned a lot but I was happy to graduate."

  • Back Forward Tavi Gevinson

    Tavi Gevinson

    "I have babysat and stuff but I guess my first real job is at Rookie."

  • Back Forward Kenley Collins

    Kenley Collins

    "I bagged groceries when I was 14 at Public [in Florida]. Actually had two jobs. The other was Dairy Queen, where I served ice cream."

  • Back Forward Brady Corbet

    Brady Corbet

    “I grew up working in a bookstore. I alphabetized the entire bookstore in Glenwood Springs in Colorado.”

  • Back Forward Judah Friedlander

    Judah Friedlander

    "I sold a joke to Playboy about eight years ago when I was in high school, but before that I was a busboy at Bob's Big Boys. No, wait! Actually I was delivering USA Today newspapers door to door, but I got fired because I didn't know they were supposed to be delivered at 7 in the morning—I was delivering them at 4 in the afternoon."

  • Back Alex Karpovsky

    Alex Karpovsky

    "I used to teach neighborhood kids tennis. I used to be good at a lot of things. This was around the time I was delivering for Boston Chicken."

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