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First jobs
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First jobs |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
Just curious, what was the first job you ever had? I worked at a campground - I was 15 and they didn't want to hire me because I was too young, but I was so persistant they hired me and tested my worth by giving me the job of cleaning the outhouses with the guys. We drove around in a truck blaring Guns 'n Roses and actually had fun. After two weeks I passed the test and got to work in the store. Definately a fun summer |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Well, I tried from age 15-17 to find a job where I was raised, and quickly learned about reverse discrimination. During the summer of my 18th year, I moved some 400 miles away and completed my senior year in a little pothole of a town. But it was a good school. My first job was at the local university I attended after finishing high school working in the library as a shelver. And worked there for 5 years, as well as the cafeteria and the city library. And yeah, 5 years. Moral: if you're going to change majors, do it before you finish your junior year, and strive to pick a related field.  |
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Mysteria 
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
My 1st real big money "paying" job was as a roller-skating carhop at a local food drive through called, "The Dog and Suds" in Winnipeg, Manitoba. LOL, the job didn't pay well, nor did it come with rollerskates, that was my idea, and also my added entertainment for customers was too. For a big tip I would dance, sing, tell jokes, you name it. The third day there, my boss wanted to fire me, but I told him to give me one week to prove it would bring in business, he did, and it did! It caught on, even made the paper back then. In the "olden days"you kept all your own tips not piling them together and splitting them, so I didn't have to work a long, hot summer and only worked there until I had made my tuition and dorm money, then left and had the rest of the summer off. That drive-in manager was responsible for me being sort of "discovered" as it were, and I was promised a part-time job after classes and on weekends at a local radio station, which I loved. That job lead to better things down the road for me. That summer job in 1962 was to shape whatever career I had in life. I eventually left Winnipeg, but whenever I went back I visited the guy who let me "perform" my job the way I wanted even before visiting any family at least until he died. I think of him often and am forever grateful. |
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Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
I started working when I was 10 years old in the fifth grade. I cleaned chalk boards and did other custodial work including buffing those old tile linoleum floors. I thought I was quite a man. I made fifty cents an hour and never saw a dime. It all went towards my private school tuition. I always thought it was worth it and was excellent training. If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
My first job wasn't really a job in the strictest sense. I caddied at a local golf course, for tips only, because that was about all a twelve-year-old could legally do in 1962. Since many of the bags looked like they outweighed me, I didn't exactly get rich. With due deference to Balladeer, I've pretty much hated golf ever since. I washed dishes at a dinner house the summer of 1964, the first year I could legally draw the minimum wage of $1.15 an hour. I thought I was rich. And in retrospect, I guess maybe I was. My first non-summer, real adult job was in early 1967. I lied about my age and got into the laborer's union a year early, working in construction for a whopping $3.71 an hour. Since I was now paying rent ($75 a month) and feeding not just myself, but a wife and new baby, it didn't seem quite as much as did the minimum wage job just three years earlier. Ironically, on my eighteenth birthday, when I no longer had to lie about my age any more, I had an emergency appendectomy and was told I couldn't lift anything heavy for six months. Go figure. I never did go back into construction, and my eighteenth birthday also introduced me to a new Uncle in my life. My next job started at $123.30 a month.  |
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Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
This thread is making me so darn sentimental and missing those years. They were darn good years, and Ron you are so right, we were all so much richer then than we could ever hope to be now in so many ways. The day they quit having "hang-outs" for kids like canteens to go dancing, drive-ins, corner hamburger joints, and the like was truly the end of one fantastic era. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I worked at a hardware store. My husband's story is much more interesting. He disappeared while on vacation with his parents in Las Vegas--age ten. The cops found him working the curtain for Zambora the Gorilla Lady for free cheeseburgers. I should have paid attention to that when he told me a long time ago. It explains much about him.  |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
Um... Telemarketing?? There were very few direct callers at that time.. I think I might have been 17. I had to cold-call people using the phone book as a resource - and convince them that they needed to use a "food service" - whereby they'd be buying food for three months at a time and it'd be SOOOOOO much cheaper for them... OH - and of course they'd be needing to buy a freezer to hold all those perishables.. This lasted one summer - I've had great empathy for those silly telemarketers since then - though I choose NOT to talk to them at all now, rather than become irritated. In thinking about it now though, Ron - You might consider this program for your "hunkering down" months... Go figure!!! |
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PhaerieChild Senior Member
since 1999-08-30
Posts 1787Aloha, Oregon |
My very first job was when I was 11 and I needed a place to board my horse for the summer. My grandparents decided to move to town and sell the farm they had. So I had to muck stalls and feed horses for the local race track everyday so I could board my horse there. After summer I could board him on a friend's pasture because they had sold off a few head of horses. It all worked out, but it was hard. |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
My first job [we're not counting babysitting right? One of my New Year's Eve babysitting jobs had me farming out my entire family...only Mom stayed home, and she took time to rearrange the living room furniture, seeing as how no one was sitting on anything...  ]But my first job was to get straight A's in typing so I could help out in our family-owned lettershop. I typed resumes and worked the Address-O-graph machine [a dull job until we began to have contests as to who could pass flyers under the metal plates and bar that clanged loudly to address the flyer or newsletter...the only other louder part of the job was typing metal to metal to make the address plates...] We were a full service shop in several ways, and sometimes we would be the "additional number" for some of our clients when they ran small offices and needed a vacation - our home number became their secondary "answering service." Later many business owners talked Mom into opening a second answering service in town. I believe all of that started in 1964 for me... prior to that I was mom's other pair of helping hands in raising my brother and sister. |
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Dark Angel Member Patricius
since 1999-08-04
Posts 10095 |
My first job? I was 16 1/2 and a watchmakers assistant. Used to pull watches apart...overhaul them, put em back together give em a grease and oil change and hope the mainspring didn't fling out and hit me in the face.Then... voila lol, keeping time again. oh and I'd change the batteries in quartz watches and replace the glass and the crown/stem (winder)and adjust the band. Was fun, I really miss doing that. and I am haunted |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
This is the third time I've tried to respond to this thread - I hope it works this time! Alicat - 5 years is a loong time to get to know all the books on the shelf - I bet you had alot of good reads those years Mysteria - I love your story. YOu just never know where one thing will take you in life Larry - those grunt tasks are good for us aren't they? Teaches a person how to work. Kind of like those outhouses - if you can have fun doing them; you can make fun out of anything |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
Ron - wow. You were a young family. Good for you, alot of young guys won't take on that kind of responsibility now Mysteria, hang outs for us were malls, bush parties and whichever store sold slushes as well as sneaking into the bars underage. I think thats alot harder to do these days - I got ID'd a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't believe it - I'm over 30 -I was so proud |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
Serenity - that's great! Is he still in the entertainment business You know what Nan, we considered buying one of those freezers - but changed our mind lol, I wonder if those companies still exist Phaerie Child - Sounds like a great summer. My horse experience consists of getting bucked off twice and moving on - I kind of envy you "horse people" Sunshine - kids seemed to do alot more than they do now. I bet you remember those times clear as day Dark Angel - that's cool. That must have been fun |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Sure do remember them...very clearly. Our family worked together as our business was in our home - until the neighborhood was rezoned [the week of my wedding to my first husband] and Mom and Dad had to scurry to find a vacant shop... all in the middle of preparing for a wedding... the money I had saved while working for my folks, babysitting, and working for the Buyers Guide went to help my folks pay for the wedding. I had sewn my own gown; we cut corners in several ways, but the some 250 people that showed up [when we were expecting about 125] truly enjoyed themselves from the 11 a.m. wedding past midnight. I know, because my husband and I returned the next day onto the next leg of our honeymoon, and witnessed several hungover family members and friends... I think they had a better time than I did...  |
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Susan Caldwell Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348Florida |
First job was when I was 14 yrs old at a place called, Grassy Creek Restaurant. I was a waitress. I worked my butt off because back then I was scared of everyone and the bosses wife knew her hubby had a roaming eye...(he was so creepy). One day an elderly man pinched my 14 yr old buns and I got a ten dollar tip!! In the 70's that was a lot of money!! I decided I hated foodservice that summer but when I joined the navy in '82 guess what I ended up doing for the first 5 yrs? It's all good though...because now I sit at work responding here....  "cast me gently into the morning, for the night has been unkind" |
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littlewing Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655New York |
hmm . . . mine is boring. I worked summer youth when I was 15, for the city - cleaning up parks and stuff and all my friends had cool jobs playin' basketball and hackeysack, doing nothing and getting paid and I get picked to work at a CONVENT! It turned out to be cool, though, gardening, which I love now and I took care of the sisters' rose gardens. I used to hide behind this huge Mother Mary statue hidden in pine trees to smoke. My boss nun ended up breaking her ankle so we didnt really have a supervisor (I had NOTHING to do with that)  |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
job? huh. didn't know i was supposed to have one! |
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eor Senior Member
since 2002-09-26
Posts 959blues & greys |
my first job was being an umpire for little league..i was fourteen, and some of the 'adult' coaches were not so nice...but my first real job was as baskin robbins...i still think i could name all the flavors...maybe Awake through motion with curiosity to curtain your first move |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
Sunshine - Susan - sounds like a creepy diner I worked at when I was sixteen. The owner would sneak off with her man in the basement and we all knew what they were doing...she ended up losing the business. Oh the stories I could tell about this place... Littlewing - Sounds relaxing - except for trying to hide from the sisters... I'm envisioning you peeking around the side of that statue sucking on that cigarette Christopher - but don't you have a little guy now - now you have a real job Eor - lol, some of the coaches out there are so driven, I can just imagine how they responded to an unfavorable call. The true test of a good eating place is if you can still eat there after you've worked there. The stories I could tell... |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Actually, my first job was a pretty good one (sometimes wish I still had one like it). I was 12 and on top of doing general clean-up for an old guy (he was probably mid-thirties, lol) on his ranch, I got to help him cut out and use the silkscreens he designed for holiday ornaments he was selling wholesale. I remember that being a lot of fun... and I was making a whopping $1.75/hr. Somehow, I felt rich at the time.  |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
I remember doing that in a high school class. It is pretty fun - messy. I still have my silk screens somewhere. I remember counting 30 one dollar bills and feeling so rich. Doesn't it seem odd how we felt that way as kids? I suppose its all a matter of perspective. When you have everything you need and only have to ask if you need something, 30 bucks to spend on whatever you want must feel pretty darn good. |
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Tequilia_Sunrise Senior Member
since 2003-02-19
Posts 612Lochalsh, Ontario, Canada |
My first job, well i worked in the same pizza joint from the time i was 15 all the way through college, was a great experince. |
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Tequilia_Sunrise Senior Member
since 2003-02-19
Posts 612Lochalsh, Ontario, Canada |
wow i was just reading rons reply and i could not imagine making $120-$130 a month thats crazy i make more than that in a day now. |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Amazing how inflation and the rise of cost of living, not to mention standard of living, and make more seem like less today, eh? |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
no kidding |
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Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
You know I feel darn good about knowing I was at least smarter than that walking encyclopedia Ron one summer in my life. Hey Ron, I made more than that in tips in a week on roller skates. However something tells me it is quality not quatity that gets the golden goose egg or something like that. But if you want my old roller skates Ron, there yours. The picture of a roller-skating computer geek is just too funny this time of night.  |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
quote: More than you might think, Sharon. The new uncle to which I alluded was Uncle Sam and the job for $123.30 a month was the U.S. Marine Corps. Overlay your roller skates on that image for a minute or two. |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Roller skating Marines. Ok, I'll have that image to keep me warm throughout the day.  |
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Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
Now there ya go sending me to a corner again you! I always forget about that "uncle" darn it, I am a dumb Canadian eh? My one moment in time as being smart and I poofed it. When you think of it though, roller skates might have come in handy on the ship ya think? Well, they would have been good until you hit sand anyway. There is quite a famous martial arts quotaton goes like this: It should be easy to spot a black belt in a crowd. S/he could walk like a marine on roller skates - Frederick Lovret |
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LoveBug
Moderator
Member Elite
since 2000-01-08
Posts 4697 |
When I was 16 I was a lovely member of the McDonalds team. School and music started pressing down hard, so I prioritized and left there. This summer I was a member of the Hardees team, worked a lot harder and made less money at 19 than I did at 16. This year I'm doing telemarketing or something. It sucks, but you make 8 bucks an hour, as oppsed to 5.15 an hour. Slavery, I say!!! Oh, make me Thine forever |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
Sometimes those first jobs, those low paying jobs have the best memories - somehow cleaning outhouse got high on my list of the things I remember - not that the outhouses themselves were fun - |
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eor Senior Member
since 2002-09-26
Posts 959blues & greys |
copperbell-so true, if you can eat at a place after woring there either you know somebody or you know it is a clean place.........very few food places i have worked at i can still eat at...luckly i have not worked at that many! Awake through motion with curiosity to curtain your first move |
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Copperbell Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956 |
me too eor. me too - it is a scary thing |
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