How old were you, and what was your first job?

[tjwash]

Just curious.I was 16, and worked in an ice cream parlor quite a few years ago, and minimum wage was around a buck fifty.

[takumi]

1. '16' at the local purlic library

[MissMillie]

2. I was 16

and I set up dinner trays and washed dishes at a nursing home.

[tjwash]

16. I worked at a nursing home/convalescent hospital...

...but couldn't handle it emotionally, so only lasted a couple of months.

[Worst Username Ever]

3. 16, Target. Behind the food counter. Horrible.

[redqueen]

4. 16, fish and chips place

It was owned by a couple from England, and a bunch of ex pats who played rugby would come in every weekend. I LOVED that job!

[Lavender Brown]

5. 16, drug store

I was a cashier. Very boring job.

[gpandas]

6. 10, newsboy

[AIJ Alom]

7. oh crap ! you mean that kinda job !!!

16, uncle's store. made about 250% more than you per hour.

[tjwash]

27. I know, amazing the amount the cost of living has gone up over the years.

Of course my second "job" was the US Navy. I know, it's actually an adventure.

[AIJ Alom]

29. nice dude. thanks for serving our nation.

[KurtNYC]

8. Local print and television commercials

I was 4 or 5

Then paperboy at 13.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. besides a paper route?

Not till college - worked at Bojangles... (18 yrs old)

[DemWitch]

10. 15 and worked as a dishwasher

at a Mom and Pop diner... worked my way up to cook after a year. I really liked it. The owner was a really nice guy. His wife was a major bitch.

[Nite Owl]

11. 16, I was amessenger for a

Wall St. firm. Long time ago and don't remember which one it was, not a biggie. It was fun running all over the city.

[jdots]

12. 14 at a ice cream place lasted 2 hours

salary 1.25 $ an hour i spent the 2.50$ on ice cream somewhere else

[Union Thug]

13. 17 - janitor in my granny's apartment building.

[Drifter]

14. Hard to say ...

When your dad is a farmer, and you worked for as long as you can remember, it is hard to say how old you were.

Most kids came home from school and played. I had to go to work for a couple of hours.

I was probably 9 years old when I was working regularly for a paycheck.

One advantage of working this young is the ability to drive stuff when you are quite young. I learned to drive a standard pickup truck (1964 GMC w/ 3 on the tree), when I was about 10 years old. I was driving Tractors on the road at age 14.

Cheers
Drifter

[tjwash]

20. Damn, that pretty cool...

nt

[WilliamPitt]

15. 8, sweeping floors in a bakery and working the snack counter

at a public golf course. Both affiliated with family friends, but they were real jobs. I wound up working every job at that course - snack bar, pro shop, maintenance crew - for the next 10 years.

[disgruntled_goat]

24. alright. common ground with The Pittster

i worked at my college's golf course for 4 years.

got to fetch a cart for willie nelson and kris kristofferson once. :)

good times, good times.

[WilliamPitt]

45. The golf carts were the best part

We used to get under the hood and cut the governor cable, which was there to inhibit the speed of the cart. We hauled tremendous amounts of ass all across the course. Tried for 10 years to flip one over on purpose. A week before I left for college, I finally did it. :)

[disgruntled_goat]

51. thats awesome

12+ years later, i still have a scar on the back of my hand from a hi-speed cart roll.

in my defense, I wasnt driving.

[disgruntled_goat]

17. 13, busboy

my grandparents pressed me into service at their country club as a busboy.

I had expressed neither interest in work or a need for $.

I was fired the 1st night, because: big surprise, a 13-yr old gets a little loopy around midnight.

im pushing 40 now and it still rankles.

[helnwhls]

18. waitress at 15

[eyesroll]

19. 14, junior counselor at camp

I made less than minimum wage -- they called it a "stipend" for an apprenticeship, rather than a salary.

My first hourly job was when I was 16, at Kids R Us, as a sales clerk.

[CO Liberal]

21. 16 - Stock Boy in Men's Clothing Store

"Allan's Mens & Boys Wear" in Morristown, NJ. Allan was an old-time Jewish merchant, who could look at a person and know what size they wore. He also knew where everything was in his store; I remember him telling me to get on a ladder and go to a certain box - I would and the exact item he was looking for was there!!

And the doors both had hand-written signs on them that said "YES, WE HAVE BELL-BOTTOMS".

In the Early '80s, Allan and his wife retired due to poor health, and they had a huge going out of business sale - the only sale Allan ever had. (He believed in keeping the prices as low as he could.) I learned a lot about dealing with people from Allan.

[TX-RAT]

22. Paper boy at 9

Usher at a theater at 14, .50cts an hour, BIG MONEY

[djeseru]

23. 14, selling cookies.

At Shakespere in the Park...then working counters at a French Bakery owned by Persians.

[Merrick]

25. 15 - worked in an ice cream shop making ice cream

I worked the counter sometimes, but it was mutually agreeable that I didn't deal with the customers so much.

[joeybee12]

26. 16--bag boy at local market, no not a chain, but a real local market...

...which is now out of business. I think minimum wage was $2.00 or $2 and a few cents over....oner was an asshole, cheap SOB.

[notadmblnd]

28. I was 16 and a junior in HS

went to work as a co-op student at a bank. Was hired full time after graduation. In 1981 a major computer services company starts with an E based out of Plano Texas was hired do to the banks data processing. We were told if we wanted jobs we now work for them. Stayed with them till this past August when my position was eliminated. Am now un-employed after 28 years. I'm not going to look for another job until after the little chimp is out of office, until then I'm going to be one of those lazy poor people living off the government dole. With my husband dieing last October, seems I now qualify for Social Security suvivors benefits. Guess I'm lucky I have a minor child.

on edit: I'm now 45

[texastoast]

30. At the pool

Selling candy, chips and soft drinks, oooo, and snowcones. $.50 an hour, 7 hours a day in the summer. I was 14. I moved up the ladder to lifeguard a couple of years later. They let us handle the chemicals.

[tjwash]

33. Not to mention the free scenery...

nt

[texastoast]

39. Dang, was there scenery?

There WAS scenery! At 16, we all were scenery. I used to care about that.

[ScreamingMeemie]

31. 16-McDonald's...My mom was the store manager....

:puke:

[johnnie]

32. Besides paper route

At 14 I was washing dishes at a place called Maurice McGuffys. I got paid $2.13 an hour, I think the minimum wage was $2.20. It was all illegal, but I made some cash. It was one of my very few jobs like that. Right out of high school I went to work in a scaffold manufacturing company and joined a union.

[Ripley]

34. 13, babysitter and strawberry picker.

Both incredibly hard work and underpaid!

[Mr. McD]

35. I was 11

Drove a tractor raking hay, $5.00 a day plus room and board. Did it for 3 summers.

[flamingyouth]

36. I was 11, and no, I'm not a character in a Dickens novel

I worked in my family's salmon cannery, doing any number of things. I made minimum wage, which was $3/hour back then. Then I got a raise about a year later to $3.25.

I worked side by side with everyone there. By the time I was in high school, I worked on the line, which is very hard work. We often worked 16-hour days at the height of the season. The money was great - sure beat the hell out of babysitting.

The whole experience gave me a real respect for people who bust their asses working for a living. You'll never see me cross a picket line, and I am known as a good tipper. ;)

I've worked in retail for 20 years, and I'm proud to say that this is my last Christmas in retail. :D

[flvegan]

37. I was 13, and had not 1, but 2 paperroutes

Then, when I was 15, I moved up to dishwasher at a local pub. Then pizza cook...

[tridim]

38. 10, Teaching neighborhood kids gymnastics

25 cents per student. :)

[HEyHEY]

40. 9 - I worked in a coal mine

No seriously, if you aren't counting my paper route. When I was 16 I got a job as a dishwasher

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

41. 17 - da Army (nt)

[tjwash]

43. Joined the Navy three days out of HS...

...joined up because I was sick of my parents telling me what to do. Smooth move huh?

[donco6]

42. I was 12 - helped my dad install insulation.

What a godawful job. Held that for 2 years until I got a diff job at a grocery store.

[Rochambeau]

44. 16 in a garden stuff factory. Not cool, not well paid ! lol n/t

[Amaya]

46. 16

I worked as a waitress in a family owned Italian restaurant. My bosses taught me what wine goes with what dish. I also learned to make the best Italian food...ever.

Oh yeah, my first bf was the son of the owers.
:)

[catmandu57]

47. 11 I kept a country club snack bar clean

.50 an hour.

[Alenne]

48. I am 28

and will be starting my first job in the dog kennel at an animal shelter.

[the Princess]

49. I was 12 - yes 12

My family owned their own Hardware store and I had to work there in teh summer for nothing. It was my obligation.

[Carson]

50. 17--Deliquent Property Tax Collector...

and people just *loved* to hear from me. I never had so much venom directed at me since, well, since I posted a dissenting opinion in the GD forum. ;-)

[DrZeeLit]

52. 16 - Sears, Customer Service...

... in a very small town, so at CS we did everything from wrap presents to take complaints to order parts and schdule deliveries. It was fun! When the store operator took a break at night, I relieved her. It was a switchboard with cords and all that -- very cool.

Oops, I'm old, huh?

[Anaxamander]

53. 18 and at a Dollar Tree

I was hired basically because I'm tall and could reach things on high shelves for old ladies. A year later I was manager.:p