Get a job

[Ltlabner]

A comment by Roy Tucker in a different thread got me to thinking.

When did you get your first job?

I started mowing yards regulalry for money at 13, but the first "real" job was at 16 working at a Hardees. From there it was 7 years at a ribs resturant as a cook (from mid highschool through college) and then into jobs related to my carear post college.

I know the older folks will laugh, but I remember distinctly when I hit $4.00/hour and thinking it was the most money I'd ever make.

[camisadelgolf]

My first job was making minimum wage at Thriftway in Blue Ash at the age of 16.

[westofyou]

Lawns don't count, that was walking around the suburb money.

First job - Mariemont Theater age 16

At age 20, I quit school and worked for a year, made $4.00 an hour worked 48 hours a week and shared an apartment.

I went back to school, pumped gas for $4.50 an hour when not at school or my apartment.

Washed Dishes, made Hot Dogs, made Hamburgers, prepped kitchen, sold t-shirts and did anything to finish school... so I would never get another 25 cent raise from an arrogant boss again.

[Ltlabner]

Washed Dishes, made Hot Dogs, made Hamburgers, prepped kitchen, sold t-shirts and did anything to finish school... so I would never get another 25 cent raise from an arrogant boss again.

:thumbup:

I also did some farm work towards the end of my yard mowing carear. That made it pretty clear to me that I did not want to work with my back my entire life. I'm not knocking that line of work, but it is most certinally not for me. From then on I knew I'd get through college come hell or high water.

[Razor Shines]

16 years old. I worked at Mail Boxes Etc. (UPS Store, now) and made $6.15 an hour. I worked there until I graduated high school. I actually really liked working there, they were great at working around all the sports that I played.

[Roy Tucker]

I was 15 and worked in a car wash (Far Hills and Whipp Rd., its still there). Made $1.15/hr. After taxes, it was <$1.

Plus, it was in the winter time, I dried off the cars with wet towels, I worked from 8-6 Sat. and Sun., we only got a break if the cars stopped coming, which sometimes they didn't, so I'd eat a PB+J with one hand and dry with the other.

That job stunk and still ranks as my #1 worst job.

I very quickly got my second job at a donut shop which was more reasonable.

[pedro]

When I was 15 I got a job washing dishes and serving food at the Tamarack Manor nursing home in Danville, California.

It was not a very nice place.

[nate]

Let's see. I think at 18, I worked at the movie theatre in beautiful El Toro, CA. Then I moved up to selling sunglasses at the mall.

In college, I worked at a music store.

That was the last time I was actually "employed."

[IslandRed]

I think I was ten when I started earning money doing farm jobs for family. Tobacco crop work, mostly. The first real traditional job -- involving working for someone other than family, with a check that involved tax deductions -- was on a construction crew during college summer break.

[Johnny Footstool]

I got a job helping a friend mark the local baseball fields when I was 13, and I got the whole job to myself the next year. We placed the bases and marked the lines, which was thankless work because the foul poles, bases, and home plate didn't line up properly, so our lines were always crooked. I think it paid $50 for the whole summer, which wasn't much money in the mid-80's. Luckily, we had the key to the concession stand, so we got some "free" candy and pop.

[SunDeck]

Age 15- worked in my dad's machine shop. Got about $12/day.
Age 16- washed dishes Fri/Sat from 12-6am at a restaurant on Westbourne Ave. for $3.35/hour.
Summer before my junior year I worked in another machine shop owned by my dad's business partner. $4.50/hour. I thought I was peeing in tall cotton.
Summer before my senior year I worked as a landscape laborer for about the same wage. I gained about about 15 pounds in muscle from the hard work.

[RFS62]

Age 15 summer job cutting weeds on the side of the road for the State Road Commission was my first job with a regular paycheck. Swinging that big scythe in the hot sun got me in pretty good shape by the time two-a-day football practice came around.

[Cyclone792]

I started working as a golf caddy when I was 13, and I actually worked that job for five summers. Most kids tended to last around a year or two, but I developed into an outstanding caddy so I would typically make pretty good money per round, or enough money for me to stick around into high school.

By my third summer (age 15), there were about four or five golfers who would request me regularly, and they'd always pay me very well. Tournaments were huge, and there'd be tournaments where a golfer would request/reserve me two or three weeks in advance of the tournament.

Plus, I think another reason I actually hung around into high school was that the club allowed the caddies to play two free rounds of golf each week on either Monday or Friday. I probably played around 25 free rounds of golf each summer while working there.

The summer between my junior and senior years in high school was my last summer working as a caddy, and then when school started my senior year I finally went out and got my first job with an actual paycheck in a factory warehouse.

[TeamSelig]

Ughhh... McDonalds (i'm guessing we aren't counting farming jobs, etc.)


Didn't last there very long. Got yelled at once for putting ketchup on a sandwich before mustard. I said "..... huh? what is the difference?" I got a reply of, "THAT'S NOT HOW WE DO IT HERE AT MCDONALDS"

Guess I couldn't cut it in the hamburger business.

[guttle11]

Like Cyclone I was a caddy. Made some good money carrying doubles. Usually between $60-80 per round, sometimes more. Played many a free round on Mondays as well. It's great work and money for teens.

Got a "real" job my senior year of high school as well.

[pedro]

actually now that I think about it, delivering the Post was my first job.

[Heath]

Age 15 summer job cutting weeds on the side of the road for the State Road Commission was my first job with a regular paycheck. Swinging that big scythe in the hot sun got me in pretty good shape by the time two-a-day football practice came around.

In fact, here's a helmet of what RFS had when he paid for it in Morgan Dollars.
http://davidlewis.hypermart.net/leather_helmet.jpg*

*note - this is an actor portrayal, not the original RFS.

besides flipping burgers, I coached middle school football and worked in sporting goods.

[BoydsOfSummer]

Started out mowing yards and flopping hay. Also umpired younger kid's games.

First actual paycheck job was at Land O' Goshen grocery store in Goshen (natch) for the impressive sum of $3.35/hr.

[SunDeck]

Here, you can see how old we are by the wages we say we made. I think I need to revise mine back to $2.90/hr. Now that I think about it, I remember getting a raise to $3.10 right after I started washing dishes.

Federal minimum wage history. (http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/chart.htm)

[RichRed]

First job was stocking and bagging groceries at the Food Lion for $3.65/hour when the minimum was $3.35. Made $4.10 an hour on Sundays though!

[Rojo]

Movie theater in Fairfax, VA $3.35/hr. I've also assembled chlamydia tests and small greenhouses advertised in High Times.

[Yachtzee]

Burger King at $3.35/hour. Left because I got tired of the tyrant manager calling us names and swearing at us all day.

[gonelong]

My father was a mason, self-employed. If he had a job near our house, I'd help him out a bit in the summer from the ages of 8-12 or so. At 13 I worked on the neighbor's dairy farm about 50 hours a week in the summer and 25 during the school year. At 16 I began working in a factory during summers and after school ... and did that type of work until I graduated college.

I have pretty much always had a job of some sort.

My father told me I shouldn't work so much, but I always liked having money in my pocket, even at a very early age.

GL

[sonny]

12 bucks a game batboy-ing for my Hometown Heroes, the Columbus Clippers.

Ring your Bell!

[Highlifeman21]

Age 15 summer job cutting weeds on the side of the road for the State Road Commission was my first job with a regular paycheck. Swinging that big scythe in the hot sun got me in pretty good shape by the time two-a-day football practice came around.

You were in a prison chain gang @ age 15?

Yikes.

I can definitely picture you as Cool Hand Luke.

[oneupper]

I delivered newspapers when I was 10-11 (The San Juan STAR). Paper cost 10 cents. We'd have to collect from clients and pay the newspaper 7 cents. (I think it was more on Sunday).

I'd square away like 35-40 bucks every two weeks. Big money for a kid back then when allowances were like a quarter.

[redsmetz]

I'm feel fairly long in the tooth. My first paying jobs were really chores for neighbors. My first regular job was making ten cents a week bringing in Mrs. Nolan's garbage cans for her. Did the paper route thing (Northeast Suburban Life in Deer Park and Amberley Village). My first paycheck job was during high school working after school at a box company down in Over The Rhine - $1.75 an hour, more than the minimum wage!). I've only really had one "outside" job. I left college to work for my dad and then took a tiny hiatus and worked as an OS&D clerk for a trucking company before coming back to work for my dad. In 1979, when I was 24, I took over a portion of his business and have been doing that ever since. I wouldn't know what to do having to answer to a boss at work.

[NJReds]

Baskin Robbins...$3.15/hour when I was 16.

[CrackerJack]

Delivery boy for the infamous "free paper," The Hilltop News.

I want my two dollars. I delivered one paper to a Nazi war criminal living on a quiet cul de sac street - he would come out of his house and yell at me if I left a paper on his front porch, and shut the door in my face if I asked for my $2 monthly fee. Big, scary man.

Eventually he was convicted and sent to prison.

I'm suprised I wasn't robbed, kidnapped or molested by one of the many societal freaks on that route. I wouldn't run that route again today without a gun, neighborhood's really gone downhill.

[15fan]

Sweeping floors in a warehouse at age 16. Started at $4.25 / hour.

Worked that job for 6 summers and 6 Christmas breaks. It was great. M-F work. Didn't have to deal with customers. No nights. Occasionally worked on Saturdays, but it was overtime when I did. It was also very conducive to working off the weight that I inevitably put on when I went to college.

Had a nice boss who quickly saw that I could be trusted to do more important jobs. Think one summer at age 19 or 20 I pretty much ran Receiving. Drove forklifts, loaded & unloaded trucks, got sent on the occasional delivery. By the time I left, I was making about $6.50 an hour.

One summer, they were slammed with work. Spent most of the summer working 5am - 3 pm M-F, plus about 5 or 6 hours on a Saturday. I was so whipped by the end of the day that I'd go home, shower, and be in bed asleep by about 8pm. Didn't have a lot of fun that summer, but I had some decent $$$ when I went back to school in the fall.

[Strikes Out Looking]

I cut grass and delivered the free weekly in Hamilton, I can't even remember it's name, it went out of business about 1979.

My first real job lasted a month at the Hen Hut at International Markets near Tri-County Mall. Let's just say fast food and I didn't work out.

My next real job (that lasted longer than a month) was as a lotboy at Tri-Towne Datsun (then Nissan) in Fairfield. It was definitely an interesting experience, and I got plenty of advice from the salesman--I took the advice that said don't go into car sales and never looked back!

[AccordinglyReds]

At 14-15 years old, I started working at Winn-Dixie making $6.25 bagging groceries and bringing in carts. It was a fun job. :)