My first 'telescope' was a pair of opera glasses in 1983. I think I still have them somewhere.
My first 'real' scope was, drum roll please, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, a Tasco 50mm refractor!
, which I got in 1984.
I guess the first thing I saw was the moon, but what really did it for me was stumbling upon Saturn while tracking Mars way back in 1984. Blew my socks off. At first I too thought there was something wrong with the scope & checked the objective lens & eyepiece for dirt!