(Topic ID: 278614)

What was your first real job?

By jhanley

3 years ago


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    There are 105 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.
    #1 3 years ago

    Thought it might be interesting. Mine was a parts delivery person for Findlay Oldsmobile in Las Vegas in 1975.I was 16.

    #2 3 years ago

    Delivered NY Daily News at 5 AM in 1971, in Baldwin, NY.
    I made $.10 a Week per house, plus tips.....Usually $.25.

    Around 30 houses, in the dark and cold, then off to school.
    In a Good week, I made $10, for a 7 Day Job.

    #3 3 years ago

    I worked in a root beer fast food, similar to a&w, for $1.60 an hour in 1976

    #4 3 years ago

    spent half my wages on sinbad, flash and gorgar

    #5 3 years ago

    Real money or real job? I threw newspapers at houses, but the last few deadbeats on the route never wanted to pay.

    Ya know, the title of this thread could go several ways.

    #6 3 years ago

    2002. Cahaba Heights, AL. I was 17. If you were a cool customer and had late fees, I was the doctor to see. Met girls and got free pizza for my good deeds. 20201002_203600 (resized).jpg20201002_203600 (resized).jpg

    #7 3 years ago

    Dishwasher at a mom-and-pop owned restaurant/ice-cream counter. Right when I turned 16. When they got busy, and too many people used the bathroom, the water tank used to supply water to both the bathrooms and the industrial dishwasher would run dry and no dishes could be washed for 30-40 minutes. We'd place out-of-order signs on the bathrooms so that we could get water back fast enough to catch up. Always went home wet and smelling like a mix of food-scraps and hot fudge (since they would melt it in cups for the ice-cream and the only way to get it out was to scrape it out by hand).

    $3.65 an hour. Minimum wage was $3.62. After about 6 months, I got a raise to $4 even.

    Sadly, that job taught me 1 thing: Work hard to be good at your job......but unless you want that job forever, don't work TOO hard to be good at it. In the year I was there (dishwashing the entire time), I saw every other dishwasher in the place work half as much.....and every single one of them got promoted to either a cook or server within 4 months.

    #8 3 years ago

    Dishwasher at a brand new Houlihans restaurant in south Denver at age 13.Yes it was legal then.

    #9 3 years ago

    Bus boy for a high end restaurant.I was 14 and was told by owner if anyone asked Im 16, lol.Only 1 person I remember ever asked.It was my funnest and favorite job I ever had and taught me a lot of work ethics. We had to bust ass and to go non stop and it was a blast.

    #10 3 years ago

    I earned a salary of $250 a week breaking down neon/fluorescent lights/wood boxes in storage containers back in the mid-late 90's. I was underage. It paid the utility/food/medical bills for my family.

    #11 3 years ago

    Telemarketing. Sold home insurance for a summer. It was terrible but extremely valuable learning experience. Taught me how to forge on even when I was miserable and be thankful for what I have.

    #12 3 years ago

    I put my self through high school working at the local McCartney’s grocery store in Tulsa. Was a bagger, checker, and deli boy. In 3 1/2 years I went from $3.25 to $4.25 per hour.

    #13 3 years ago

    Worked one year for the largest operator in the area.

    1/2 a year moving machines until I tore my back up the first time. Then half a year on their downtown cigarette route, largest route a cigarette salesman from a cigarette manufacturer had ever seen.

    That was enough. Swore I'd never work for anybody ever again.

    LTG : )

    #14 3 years ago

    Right out of high school I took a job doing quality control inspections on these plastic bottles.

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    #15 3 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    Swore I'd never work for anybody ever again.

    Yes, I've always gotten satisfaction when doing the job for myself.

    #16 3 years ago
    Quoted from o-din:

    Real money or real job? I threw newspapers at houses, but the last few deadbeats on the route never wanted to pay.
    Ya know, the title of this thread could go several ways.

    Actually I was a paperboy. I had to collect the money too. Sucked pretty bad. Sunday papers in Scottsdale Arizona were thick as hell.

    #17 3 years ago

    Was a porter at a bowling alley at 14 and a half. Started at 4.35 hour. Best part of the job is the bowling alley always got the newest pins.

    #18 3 years ago

    Dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant at age 15. Early 80s before take out got big. Would ride my Fuji 10 speed like 5 miles in the dark to get home. It was a blast. Made 3.25 an hour

    #19 3 years ago

    Worked at an engraving/sign shop. It was a stressful job for minimum wage. Had to engrave peoples' irreplaceable keepsakes without screwing up - silver cups, knives, you name it - plus keep up on all the plaques and trophies and signage from super old files that made no sense. I'd mess up a ton of stuff and hide all the mistakes from the boss. Got like 15 minutes off a day to eat lunch by the train tracks. Quit after about 6 months. It sucked. Lol.

    #20 3 years ago

    Started as a dishwasher at a local restaurant when I was 12. Worked there for 8 years, on and off during summer break, holidays etc. The owners of the restaurant became almost like family.

    This is where I learned to cook and I also lost my virginity to the owners 18 year old daughter, when I was 14 or 15ish.

    The place also had a outside schack with 8 B/Ws and a couple of arcades.

    Good and alot simpler times.

    Hey, @jhanley, cheers dude! By starting this thread you had me bring back many good memories.

    #21 3 years ago

    I was 13 years old and I delivered papers for The Denver Post. I had to collect all the money and got a dollar a month per paper. Second job I was 15 years old and I worked part time after school and made $2.30 an hour breaking down car tires at a junk yard.

    #22 3 years ago

    Six Flags Great Adventure in central NJ when I was 14. Terrible choice for a first job. Training seminars, waiver forms, multiple interviews, uniforms, lockers, ID badges, security checks... all that bullshit to make about $4/hr. taking people's photos and putting them on mugs and buttons and hats at some booth. Half the customers were awful, too. Stealing shit, breaking shit. I quit after that weekend and spent the rest of my high school years happily working in a gas station!

    #23 3 years ago

    Lot of dishwashers on here.

    Ever look back on how glorious that profession really was?

    #24 3 years ago

    I think I was sixteen and worked at a shoe store at the mall during the summer time. Got to look up a lot of pretty girls skirts.....LOL.

    John

    #25 3 years ago
    Quoted from o-din:

    Lot of dishwashers on here.
    Ever look back on how glorious that profession really was?

    Indeed it was. We used to stay after work to play the machines for free, drinking beer and smoking. (Well, no beer until I was 15, my mother was strict on that). The operator was awesome, we could play for free as long as we kept score of how many credits we added and what date. I was a very experienced (atleast to my age) sous chef when I left at 20(or 21 maybe), and I sometimes think about what could have happened had I stayed in the restaurant business.

    #26 3 years ago

    I've been steadily employed since I was 11. First job was working the prize redemption booth at Tropical Island Golf and Games Funpark in Greer South Carolina back in the late 90s. First "Real" job not working for my parents was at "Mr. Aquarium" and first real-real job was with the USMC.

    #27 3 years ago
    Quoted from Strummy:

    Dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant at age 15. Early 80s before take out got big. Would ride my Fuji 10 speed like 5 miles in the dark to get home. It was a blast. Made 3.25 an hour

    at 16 was a assisting coock at the chinese take away restaurant for 6 months.
    It was real hot and dirty there and probably a health hazzard.

    I'm no asian and didnt understand the f what they where talking about, there was a non asian dishwasher from the same age and we always thought they talked about food or about chopping us up

    But after 5 and a half months we discovered that half of them where into boys
    And were talking about us the old chinese grandpa laughed so hard when he told us.
    Specialy what hapoened with the carrots before chopping them up
    Never ate a noodle for 2 years after that.

    #28 3 years ago
    Quoted from OLDPINGUY:

    Delivered NY Daily News at 5 AM in 1971, in Baldwin, NY.
    I made $.10 a Week per house, plus tips.....Usually $.25.
    Around 30 houses, in the dark and cold, then off to school.
    In a Good week, I made $10, for a 7 Day Job.

    I delivered newspapers also...
    I had 2 routes, 120 drops on one and 180 on another.
    Don't recall how much money I made, because I never counted it.
    I just remember getting up at 4:30AM every morning.

    #29 3 years ago

    Used to sub for my friends paper route when I was in grade school. Hated the days that had double inserts..papers got thick
    But worked for 3.25 at a baseball card shop as a teen. Seeing that was my big hobby back then it was pretty cool. One of the highlights was the search people had for the billy Ripken f*ckface card. Those whom collected cards will remember that “error” card.

    #30 3 years ago

    Bobs Car Wash in Greensboro NC, soon to be bought out by Autobell.
    800-1000 cars a day when the ACC or a Concert was at the Coliseum. Manager dealt drugs, his wife run the register and drank mixed drinks all day.
    Everybody that worked there was a freak and stayed high all day. Vacuum "Techs" stole out of cars, steamers OD'd and taken away.

    #31 3 years ago

    Paper route starting in middle school and then I moved on to bigger and better things in high school, such as Arby’s and the BP Gas Station. The gas station was awesome. I used to hang out with my friends, eat all of the food and listen to baseball games on the radio in the summer. Not a bad job for what it was.

    #32 3 years ago

    Worked at a swim club in 1974 at $1.50 an hour. Duties were fishing dead squirrels out of the pools, putting up umbrellas, PH test the water and clean up the snack bar. Snack bar had several pins which I cleaned and removed the coins. But swimming every day and playing pinball for free for a summer was great.

    #33 3 years ago

    Busboy at the big boys on 9 and gratiot in east detriot.
    For one week then I got promoted to cook. Stayed for about a year. Waitresses and hostesses.

    #34 3 years ago

    The Florida Man game helps folks learn your birthday.
    This one happens to be a security question for a lot of banks and credit cards.
    Folks with tens of thousands of dollars of pinball machines would be good targets, just saying.

    I worked at a gym/recreation center. No, you can't have the real name (or the name of my first pet and elementary school).

    #35 3 years ago

    It was 1970. I had a paper route in the morning and worked part time for a small mom and pop grocery store in town. Made a whole $1 an hour at the store. No idea what I made with the route.

    #36 3 years ago
    Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:

    I had a paper route in the morning

    Paper routes are unfortunately a lost art and that occurred before actual paper papers fell by the wayside. It’s really too bad. They were a great first job for many. However, I don’t miss getting up at the crack of dawn to deliver the Sunday papers.

    #37 3 years ago

    Delivered newspapers in New Mexico. Made $0.04 for each paper I delivered. I had a morning route and afternoon route for 2 different papers. Later I got a job at a swimming pool making $3.35/hr which seemed like easy money.

    #38 3 years ago
    Quoted from twenty84:

    Delivered newspapers in New Mexico. Made $0.04 for each paper I delivered. I had a morning route and afternoon route for 2 different papers. Later I got a job at a swimming pool making $3.35/hr which seemed like easy money.

    Hah. I did the same thing. Worked at the local pool for 4 years. Most boring f'ing job I've ever had!

    #39 3 years ago

    First job as a teen was working at the local full service car wash. Absolute blast.
    Then i spent he summer renting umbrellas on the beach. Also fun as he'll, although I mad horrible money

    #40 3 years ago

    Wong's Kitchen, Corner of E and Highland. San Bernardino, CA. Take out only. Fong Wong was a nice lady. I learned how to say that giant ass menu in Chinese.

    #41 3 years ago

    Bus boy at a large BBQ restaurant making $2.30/hour plus tips.

    They sent me to another restaurant to pick up a bag of cabbage for cole slaw. As I walked through the restaurant, a customer stopped me and said there was a tooth in his bread. I figured he lost his tooth or something, but there was an entire molar in his bread, roots and all.

    I went to the kitchen and said, “I need a bag of cabbage. Also, there’s a guy with a tooth in his bread.”

    Left as fast as I could.

    #42 3 years ago

    First real job was working at Kmart in Mechanicsburg PA back when they still had the blue light specials. I was a stock boy and they made us wear khacki pants, button shirts, and a tie. Most fun I ever had at a job.

    I was only there about 3 months before leaving for US Army basic training.

    #43 3 years ago

    In 1986 I worked at a Swiss Pretzel Shops in the local mall as soon as I turned 16. Best time of my young life working in that mall... I learned a lot.

    #44 3 years ago
    Quoted from groffdaddy:

    First real job was working at Kmart in Mechanicsburg PA back when they still had the blue light specials. I was a stock boy and they made us wear khacki pants, button shirts, and a tie. Most fun I ever had at a job.
    I was only there about 3 months before leaving for US Army basic training.

    I had forgotten those revolving blue lights they would wheel out in the store when they had a sale. They didn’t have a lot of name brand stuff like now. Really cheap shit mostly.

    #45 3 years ago

    My friend got promoted from stocking the refrigerated beer at the liquor store to being clerk. I got his job. Stocked the cooler once and was promoted. Manager knows me for 20 minutes and gives an 18 year old keys to a liquor store. So two 18 year old friends now have the keys to a liquor store and are in charge. What could go wrong?

    #46 3 years ago
    Quoted from Krupps4:

    Paper routes are unfortunately a lost art and that occurred before actual paper papers fell by the wayside. It’s really too bad. They were a great first job for many. However, I don’t miss getting up at the crack of dawn to deliver the Sunday papers.

    It was fun delivering papers in the dark.I do remember on my route there was a Coke machine that cost a dime.

    #47 3 years ago
    Quoted from OLDPINGUY:

    Delivered NY Daily News at 5 AM in 1971, in Baldwin, NY.
    I made $.10 a Week per house, plus tips.....Usually $.25.
    Around 30 houses, in the dark and cold, then off to school.
    In a Good week, I made $10, for a 7 Day Job.

    That's great! My first real job was slinging newspapers as well!

    #48 3 years ago

    Pumped gas as an Esso. Hated it. Boring. Second job I was 16 and worked in an ice house grinding ice and bagging it at a beer distributor. It was nice in the summer when everyone was roasting in the heat. Later worked part time in the beer warehouse while going to Penn State.

    Last job before retiring was 37 years as an explosives engineer. Blasting in PA, NJ, NY and MD. Not boring. Largest blast I did used over 200,000 pounds of explosives. That was in Mount Hope, NJ.

    #49 3 years ago

    Worked for the city where we lived on a paint crew that repainted schools in the summer. My Dad got me this job to teach me about hard work.
    First day I’m painting away and one of the other painters comes up and tells me the supervisor wants to talk to me. I walk over worried I’m doing something wrong and he says” man you’ve got to slow down because if we finish early we will have to start another job today.” Went home that night and told my Dad that the job had already taught me a lesson, not about working hard but rather pacing yourself.
    This was 1984 and I spent the entirety of my earnings that summer on a yamaha CD player.
    Because CD players were so expensive back then I could initially only afford one CD . I listened to Ghost in the Machine (The Police) a billion times!

    #50 3 years ago

    Cape Cod summer job - Worked on the back of a garbage truck in the morning and pumped cesspools in the afternoon. That was the first real paycheck. I was 15.

    Before that (13-15), I was getting paid under the table working at a Driving Range / Mini-Golf. They had a small arcade. Three pins and a Pitch and Bat. Can't remember one of the pins, but the others were Top Card and Royal Flush. When there weren't any customers, I used to tap the coin door of the Royal Flush with a 3 wood to ring up some credits.

    I have the Pitch and Bat and the Top Card. Still trying to find a Royal Flush. Anyone in the Northeast want to sell one?

    There are 105 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.

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