'When You Work For Someone, You're Basically Their Slave' – Kevin O'Leary Says In Life, There Are 2 Types Of People

Kevin O'Leary is known for his sharp business insights and brutal honesty on Shark Tank, but his journey to success had an unlikely start: getting fired from his first job. While most would see that as a setback, for O'Leary, it was the moment everything changed – especially his views on employment. 

In a February Facebook post, O'Leary reflected on that pivotal experience. "The day I got fired from my first job for refusing to scrape gum off the floor was the day I decided I'd rather own the store than clean it," he wrote. "It wasn't about the gum; it was about understanding my worth and where I saw my future."

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That lesson came during his high school years in Ottawa, where he worked at an ice cream shop. He took the job for one reason: the girl he liked worked at the shoe store across the way. On his third day, the store owner ordered him to scrape gum off the Mexican tile floor before leaving. O'Leary wasn't having it. Not only was the task physically awkward, but it also risked embarrassing him in front of the girl he was trying to impress.

"I said, ‘No, I'm not going to do that. You hired me to be an ice cream scooper,'" O'Leary recalled in a 2015 Business Insider interview. The owner didn't back down. "‘I hired you for whatever I want. You work for me. Scrape the gum or you're fired.' And I said, ‘I'm not doing it,' and so she fired me."

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While most teens would've felt humiliated or defeated, O'Leary saw it differently. Reflecting on the moment, he realized: "When you work for somebody else, you're basically their slave. From that day on, I swore I'd never work for anyone else. That was the beginning of my journey."

To O'Leary, it wasn't about thinking any job was beneath him. It was about recognizing his potential and refusing to settle for a role that didn't align with his future aspirations. That seemingly minor incident planted the seed for his entrepreneurial mindset and his desire to take control of his destiny.

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Years later, O'Leary still values hard work but emphasizes the importance of intentionality. "In life, there are people who own the store and people who scrape the gum off the floor," he explained. "You have to decide which one you want to be."

The experience was more than a teenage embarrassment – it became the foundation of his philosophy. O'Leary's story reminds us that even the smallest moments can carry big lessons and that setbacks often plant the seeds for future success. As he demonstrated, the key is deciding what role you want to play in your own story and sticking to it, no matter how sticky the gum might seem.

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