First Jobs

“I delivered papers on a bike for a couple of years, but my first real job was working in the Washington Wax Museum Gift Shop. It was on 5th and K NW back then. Had a hoot selling cedar boxes, coins in lucite and Hummell's. Minimun wage, $1.70 in 1971. Spring and summer, there might be 20+ school busses parked out side. I saw beautiful high school girls from all over the country there. The wax museum manager was an old Hungarian guy that would hide in the displays and move for the tourists.

Winos, punks with guns, boring nights, eating at ghetto groceries, playing with toy cannons in the storage area during slow times, furiously busy tourist months. Quit that job for $5.00/hr as a carpenters helper.
last edited: 5/03/07 8:35:07 PM”

“Picking beans for 3 cents a lb, blueberries for 50 cents a quart, various paper routes. My last job as a child was working in a grocery store. 56 hours per week for $30. What I learned in that store about work ethic has served me very well over the years.”

“I was a cook, then a waiter at a Farrell's restaurant (more well-known for ice cream, but also served burgers, sandwiches, etc.). Hard work, but we made excellent money!”

“I was the quartermaster at a Boy Scout camp one summer in high school. Sold soap and also was in charge of getting troops to clean the shower house. Got fired after I "helped" a mouthy kid back onto the floor he was supposed to be scrubbing, even in the mid-1980's it turns out you couldn't shove brats around Ithaca.”

“While still in Grammer School, I worked at at a Used Car Lot polishing cars for 10¢ per hour.”

“Farrells??? Did they have those Ice Cream Volcano things???? Or was it called a Matterhorn???
Geez... my first jobs were apt. sitting and dog walking, then babysitting then the summer I graduated 8th grade I was hired at the Snowflake DriveIn... anyone drive on Ogden Ave. through Lyons, Il. ??? ; ) Hotdogs, hamburgers and soft serve ice cream.”

“making body run....to the airport,kiddin.
fastfood.”

“My first job was when I was between 2nd and 3rd grade walking behind the harvester (where one person cropped the leaves and another tied them to a stick) picking up the leaves the picker missed. The old black farmer I worked for would come up the field behind us with a big stack of leaves under his arms telling us "look at all dis change you boys left on the ground". The picker was his money, we were his change collectors :).

Later I cropped and tied tobacco a little, but by that time most farmers had moved to the bulk barns. You just walked through the field picking the bakker and stacking it under your arm till you couldn't carry it anymore then you either dropped your load in flatbed trailer or in the tobacco box if you were stripping the plant. we were paid by the box so it paid to make sure that everyone on your team pulled their own weight. It was hard nasty work. In the morning the plants were wet and sticky, but when the sun came out the tobacco gum thickened all over your body. Snakes everywhere. Fat juicy tobacco worms being squished in your hand or spitting at you. Hot summer sun. But I was with my buds and we made it fun.

After that at 13 I washed dishes, at 14 I worked as a summer 'intern' with the town maintenance department where I got to watch a guy cut off his toes with a lawn mower, 15 and up i was a dishwasher and cook. I still occasionally worked the bakker fields off and on, but mostly off.”

“At 8 I sold the figs in our tree for a penny, I began to take of the tree and the next summer I sold them for two pennies cause the were bigger! At 9 I shined shoes at the bus stop. At 10 I walked dogs. I hit big times when I was 12 and could babysit, because I was the only girl in the neighborhood willing to do so, even at 50 cents an hour, I was able to make at least $20 a week. When I was in high school I cleaned homes at $2 an hour. My first real job was file clerk, I can't even remember how much I made. I did some telephone work for charity. I finally joined the Army Reserve and then went active in the Air Force. After that I was a graphics artist for a magazine. Then I decided to take the time to be a full-time at home mom, best decision I ever made!”

“My first job (not working for my father or neighbors) was slinging popcorn and hotdogs at the local drive in theater.

I was 16 and learned all I needed to know about life in one summer.”

“I bailed hay and helped castrate cattle on a neighbor's farm.”

“What a cool thread! Worked on the family farm, mostly unpaid! Picked beans at six cents/pound. Pulled weeds and chopped cotton in 71 for a dollar an hour. Thought I was rich. Worked at a summer camp for three bucks a day with room and board. Lots of fun! Mowed enough grass to cover Nebraska. Not bad money if you like work. Delivered appliances for years. That explains my bad back. Truck-farmed sweet potatoes, bad back again. Somewhere in between all these early and part-time occupations I fought fire for 25 years and went to a war. I hope to be soon employed by the Bradley county jail here in Tennessee. Come by and visit; I will get you on work release and we'll go raft the Ocoee.”

“My first job was to help my older brother with his "Detroit Free Press" route. He had three hundred and some customers, in two subdivisions. We had to get up at 4:30am, even in deep dark Michigan winter and ride our bikes all over the place. Kids can't get those routes anymore, grown ups do them all. We made a killing on tips, esp at Xmas time. The eighties were goodtimes.
Second job, at twelve, was cleaning up a cake decorating shop for free lessons, third, babysitting (I hated it), and then I finally landed a job at the women's' clothing store, The Limited, which I promptly had to quit because I couldn't afford to wear their clothing currently on the racks. Then I was a cashier at CVS drug store, in the mall. Christmas time was delightful...one customer actually threw a box of baby aspirin at me he was so frustrated with the lines. And then a photo retoucher (one of my favorite jobs), for two years....way before digital. Waited tables at a Hall, forty customers at once, weekends only for 16 hours straight. That job paid well, back then. Then receptionist for an eye doctor (DOM), then I learned to make the glasses and did that for three years before moving on.
I'd say I learned work ethic from my Dad. He would take me out in the yard before he left for work, point to one of his GIAGANTIC gardens and tell me to have it weeded before I played that day. I hated that. But, I knew if I didn't do well and do what he asked there'd be hell to pay. I spent so much time as a kid hauling firewood, shoveling manure into gardens, picking millions of raspberries and weeding it simply amazes me I enjoy wood fires and gardening at all.
last edited: 5/04/07 7:10:44 AM”

“I got my first job when I was 15 washing dishes and busing tables in a local restaurant for $3 an hour. It was all under the table and ended up working until the place closed at night anywhere between 12 and 2am. I worked there 2 summers before getting a summer job at an insurance company before I started college. I was the copy king that summer.

Another "fun" one was the summer I worked at a paper mill loading 5-10 ton rolls of paper onto a winder machine, which cut the rolls to length. Once those rolls were cut I had to push them onto a conveyer to be sent to the shipping room. It was always hot and humid (100 - 120*F and 90+% humidity) and I had to work a rotating shift, but the pay was good ($13 an hour) and I could drink all the Gatorade I wanted.”

“helping my best friend bury the body!






ok maybe not.

I helped my sister (she was a nurse) at an old age home. my first job was collecting the old peeps false teeth. so they could be cleaned. well no one told me (at ten years old) that i needed to put them in the little boxes that had there names on it. so here i am with about 20 pairs of false teeth in a bucket. not sure how they handled that. i was asked to go home :(


god life has not been any easier since then!”

“I posted earlier that I was making $30 a week for 56 hours in a grocery store. Imediately following this gig, I enlisted in the service for a whopping $78.00 a month. but I got all the powdered scrambled eggs I could eat. There was some actual joy in being able to eat all I wanted, because before this all food was shared with 5 brothers:)”

“I picked eggs in a chicken barn for this German man who used to give us a ride home in his Mercedes after we'd been in the chicken crap. Got fired for pelting eggs at each other.”

“umm twiggy he might have REALLY LIKED the chickens *wink wink*”

“So you could say you had egg on your face.”

“the grandfather of my best friend in high school owned a lawn care service...he had a stroke and had to quit doing it...he sold ALL his equipment, 1980's something van, 2 push mowers, 1 riding mower, 2 trimmers and various other tools to my friend for $1000!...man that was a fun summer, you've never lived till you've had a rusted out 80's something ford van flying down a country road at 90 mph with lawn equipment flying out the back”

“Cool! I like reading everyone's earliest work experiences. Aside from the raking leaves for a dollah gig, my first paid job with hours was when I was 10 walking a sandwich board sign up and down Woodstock St. in Portland, OR for a Fish & Chips joint for $20 a week. Man, that seemed like big money back then. When I would walk past the dive bar that was next to Burger Country (remember those?), sometimes a drunk would come out and give me a dollar. That job had some serious tedium. Sometimes I would just stand at the pay phone and listen to the free recording of the time. Now that's desperate!”

“hauling hay for a nickel a bale on my uncle's farm.

First 'real' job at 16 was as a dishwasher at Pizza Hut where I scratched clawed my way up to cook! Then I jumped ship to Dominoes to drive for a little mo money. Did that all thru high school. I college I pumped gas for a while until the bartending gig opened up at the local dive. THAT was a lot of fun (always knew where the good parties on campus were!) Chicks dig bartenders too..... ;)”

“Besides the joys of growing up on a farm, chickens to feed, eggs to gather ( a real chore when you 50,000 hens), cattle to work, hauling hay etc. My first paid job was picking strawberries for 25 cents a quart. First non farm job was on the local Navy base, working in a maintainence shop doing paper work, over a couple of summers I got promoted to delivery driver, minimum wage those days was $1.65 and hour.”

“Summer jobs in high school:

Detasseling corn, ugh... followed by working for a different company that canned sweet corn. Man, that was a big, ole three-story old building.

Youth Conservation Corps, 30 hrs a week at minimum wage, with 10 hours unpaid.

I also worked summers in factories.”

“My first work experience was de-heading shrimp by hand down at the docks for $.35 a pound one summer when I was 14. One summer was enough and I don't really consider it my first real job as it was more like day labor. Folks would just show up in the morning and wait for the shrimpers to bring in the catch. Head them, weigh in, get your weight cards, cash in at the window and go home. No time cards, no boss, no problems.

I could clean shrimp pretty darn quick though.

My next job was at 18 as a screenprinter, running a press and cleaning screens. Mostly cleaning screens that first year. To this day the smell of mineral spirits seems kinda homey to me. I spent the next 9 years in print.”

“Um Construction...started out as a Painter's Helper...moved to Carpenter then an Assistant Foreman (I could read, write and speak english ...kinda unique in Texas at that time (LOL)).

Worked my way up over the years to Job Superintendent of a pretty big firm......

I also pumped gas for Exxon, popped popcorn for a movie theather...and then there was the killer summer job, Security/maintenance/Cook Bartenter for a beach club in Charleston!!!!!. It was the only job you could get paid and leave with a +0.1 BA!!”

“I almost forgot my paper route, 173 customers, how could I forget that? I got hit by a car and had a sweet bruise from it! Bone deep, it ran from the top of my thigh down to my knee, I had it for 6 months, I looked great in shorts!”

“what no LOL at my first job?”

“LOL!”

“thank you :)

carry on”

“I thought there would be markings etched in when they were made. How did they get that sorted out? And by the way, ewwwwwwwwwwwwe for a first job!”

“I can't believe Crash, nor JimmySan, hasn't posted on here with a comment about when they got their first job.”