What was the first job that you ever had?

Rollerman

Mowing grass, shoveling snow and filling in on a paper route when I was a kid. In high school, my first real "paying FICA" job was working in a super market. Started as a bagger, but stocked and worked produce also.
Pete

NewParadigm

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. Malibu, CA

Position: Host. Age 14. Too bad others did not share me same work ethic in my town.

I bet one person on this forum has been there before. It is a pretty popular place.

mrearlygold

Just an innocent teenager I was forced into brutal and unfair underpaid child labor sanding cars down in the body shop in the back of a chevy dealer in linden nj for $1.50/hr I was taught old school lacquer by a perfectionist. I also helped degrease and then paint the same dealerships service departments floor..........the same week the 1st brand new never been seen before Yenko Nova's were delivered. If I remember correctly the sticker was less than 5K. ( They were locked in the newly painted service department that weekend! )

Yup, that weekend my Dad took a few friends of mine and I to Englishtown. We didn't just drive to raceway park we went down the track in a brand spanking new Dark Green Yenko Duece

mozin

When I turned 15 I was able to take my first job in a men's clothing store. I swept floors, kept the merchandise in order, and sometimes sold items. Made 35 cents an hour to start. Kept that job all through high school, even worked my way up to do some tailoring.

Halfsense

Aside from working my way through high school doing magic at children's birthday parties, my first "real job" where I actually got a year-end tax statement was during my freshman year in high school moving furniture over the Christmas-New Year's holiday in 1960-61 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. At the time, the huge building was owned by a well-known Massachusetts family, and my year-end tax statement indicated I was employed by "Rose F. & Joseph P. Kennedy." I used to joke that "during the early 1960's I worked for the Kennedys."

-donn-

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Justlooking

Detassling corn. I lasted two days.

Barberian

My first job was working for a circus.

lasvegasteddy

i was 16 in 78'...
i think min wage was $1.65

ricko

Selling papers (small town)... eight years old.... Then, at sixteen, worked in a bakery. Now, after several years of retirement.. pulled out and back in harness for a while. Cheers, RickO

2ndCharter

Summer of 1960 - I was ten years old and, on Saturday nights, I worked the stands at Rhinebeck Speedway on the Dutchess County Fairgrounds outside Poughkeepsie, NY selling Race programs and copies of Speedway News. For every 25-cent program or copy of Speedway News I sold, I received a commission of a nickel. On an average Saturday night, I usually made about 5 dollars - not bad for a 10-year-old in 1960!

The numismatic connection is that I used part of my earnings to buy some coins at a local shop in Poughkeepsie. My first ever purchase (and I still have the coin) was a circ. 1955-S cent for 10 cents to complete my 1941 to Date Whitman folder.

Later on, I did the usual paper route on my bicycle and then, at 16, worked after school and on weekends at the local hospital mopping floors and running the dishwasher in the kitchen.

telephoto1

From 7th grade all through high school a friend of mine and I had our own lawn care biz with about 15 regular customers. Lawns, hedges, snow removal.
I also helped out occasionally at the local coin shop, first unpaid then for a few bucks here and there, promptly spending it there once paid, natch.
First job I ever had that earned me a paycheck from a company was asst. managing a gas station. Couldn't wait to leave that gig! I was in college at the time and didn't have enough hours in the day to cover school (8 am-4 pm), work (6pm-12am, but was usually there until 1 doing inventory and cleaning up)...and in between and afterward, things like homework...oh, and sleep.
Ended up doing a part time gig at the coin store through the balance of college... that led to running it fulltime for about 5 years-the beginnings of what I've done now for nearly three decades.

nwcoast

<< <i>Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. Malibu, CA

Position: Host. Age 14. Too bad others did not share me same work ethic in my town.

I bet one person on this forum has been there before. It is a pretty popular place. >>



I've been there... Not on the up and up though.
Used to sneak in there by boat to surf a hollow little right on south swells.
LONG time ago......

nwcoast

First job was either the busboy gig or stripping and sanding furniture at a refinishing joint.
Staining and varnish work too. Used to come home sneezing cherry or walnut.
Good times in 74

baddogss

I guess U.S. Navy, early enlistment while in HS.

First job after the Navy, was making microfilm/fiche from 9 track computer tapes, using a Dec PDP-11.

Harry779

Worked in a bakery washing pots and bake pans and I made all the rye bread.

Geoman

McDonald's. I was 16 years old and made $2.85/hour back in 1985.

BaseballAbs

Bagging groceries, I liked it being only 16.

mgoodm3

Worked in the summer during college at a Silicon Valley memory chip company doing whatever needed to get done at about $3.50/hr.

Manorcourtman

Picking blueberries at age 10. Made 20c a quart, about $2 an hour in 1977.

cmerlo1

Cook at Dairy Queen in LaVernia, TX. $3.35/hr.

curly

Working in a junk yard when I was around 13. I loved it because the owner would let me drive the junkers around the yard. He would also let me go thru the seats looking for change.

mrearlygold

Curly done do the do. He knows Brother, he knows.

Cameonut

Busboy at the Racine Country Club (Wisconsin) in 1970.
Made minimum wage ( I think it was $1.75/hr), no tips, but was fed every night.
Typical paycheck about $30 a week.

Got to rub elbows with such illuminaries like Mr. Johnson from Johnson's was, execs from Whitman Publishing, Don Hutson (Green Bay Packer hall of famer), Mr. Young from Young Radiator, JI Case execs, to name a few.