What's Your First Job?

NSXAMG996TT

NSXAMG996TT

Experienced Member
Joined
21 February 2008
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1,465
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Nor Cal
Can't believe just twenty years ago (age 15) I was making $3.05/hr at Taco Bell. Worked in a warehouse for $25/day, Great America theme park @ $5/hr, and even volunteered in a morgue. The most I've ever made was $6/hr selling bed linens while taking public transportation (because some stole my bike).

If you weren't born rich (like me), then the value of hard work and a solid education (or the state lottery) are your only chance for financial freedom.
 
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8 years ago making 5.15/hr at a CiCi's pizza.
Wow, it's weird to think that since then I've done a hitch in the Army and helped found a business that with any luck (or maybe the 60+ hour weeks I've been putting in) will bring me in a decent salary by the end of the year.
 
In 1978 I took a job at Orange Julius at the mall. Minimum wage was $2.65 an hour back then. I was only 15 and had a work permit for up to 20 hours a week. Had to ride the bus or get a ride to work. Saved up enough money to buy a car for my 16th birthday... A 77 dodge colt.
 
A ship's helper on boats carrying bags of goods from Colombia to Miami. It was a bit weird as we always threw the bags of goods overboard when we got close to the coast. Fun job though as those boats were fast and we usually cruised in at night without any lights on.
 
Sweeping floors, cleaning shelves, etc in a pawn shop that belonged to a friend of my dad. That would have been ~1969 or so and I'm pretty sure I was paid 50 cents a hour.

It was the best job ever.
 
quack said:
A ship's helper on boats carrying bags of goods from Colombia to Miami. It was a bit weird as we always threw the bags of goods overboard when we got close to the coast. Fun job though as those boats were fast and we usually cruised in at night without any lights on.
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i bet that paid good:biggrin:
 
3.35 an hr in 1984 .....................MC Donalds...............15 hrs a week at age 14........to buy my first 1981 rx7 3 years later--cash
 
quack said:
A ship's helper on boats carrying bags of goods from Colombia to Miami. It was a bit weird as we always threw the bags of goods overboard when we got close to the coast. Fun job though as those boats were fast and we usually cruised in at night without any lights on.
Click to expand...

So you are the one the narcotics task force has been looking for all of these years:eek:
 
1985 for $3.35/hr working as a petroleum transfer engineer at Haffner's.

GasStation06.jpg
 
4.85/h working as a clerk in the kroger video store back in 1995. Paid for the gas in my moped.
 
I got a paper route when I was 8. I don't remember exactly what it paid but it was enough to pay for half of my first motorcycle after a year. Its too bad you only see adults delivering papers these days. That was a really good learning experience. Of course, most parents today would probably be too afraid of their kids being abducted to let them out before first light unsupervised.:rolleyes:
 
I wondered how adults afford it, I see them driving around in their car delivering papers every day. I can't imagine that after the cost of fuel, they're making much of anything. With a kid delivering, if they get $10 or $20 at the end of a week, that's great... as an adult I can't imagine trying to survive on 100x that around here.
 
Theatre Usher.... took trash out, cleaned the windows, tore off ticket stubs.... the greatest job I have ever had.... in terms of pure hillarity and fun...
 
Working for my Dad in the family buisness when I was 12. I was paid $1.00 and hour to stain the inside of cabinets with a stain-soaked-rag. (hated it - but I didnt have to work hard on tanning my lower arms and hands) :rolleyes:
 
9 cents an hour weeding the hillside of the orphanage i lived in.

man, what was i going to do with all that money! :)
 
Paper route when I was in grade school. I forget the exact numbers, but it was a base rate, plus a few cents per paper. I think it came down to about $20 or so per month.
 
at 15 i was doing data entry for NaviStar, $8 an hour if i remember correctly
 
Minimum wage at Carl's Jr. I don't even remember how much it was in California back in 1986.
 
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1977, canvassing houses for newspaper subscriptions. Worked a full weekend, sun up to sun down, got more doors slammed in my face than I could count, and as I was paid on commission, my check for the weekend totaled $13.25, or about 50c/hour.

I didn't go back for a second weekend.
 
16 year old ~$2 hr. small Video store with an Adult section. Best job I ever had. Learned how to talk to EVERY kind of person from prostitute to physician.

Worked a few years than college.
Got laid more at that job too with one line "what's a girl as pretty as you doing getting a video on a Fri-Saturday night" :biggrin:
 
Made about 50 bucks helping to paint a house. God, it was hot.
It seems like all my jobs until I got out of college were uninspiring and punitive. Loading bricks/shingles at a lumberyard in the Houston heat, dishwasher at Mr. Gatti’s (worst boss ever. Seriously), McDonald’s, electrical helper … by comparison my current job seems like heaven.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot that I delivered newspapers also...the Council Bluffs Nonparrel and the San Diego Union. I think adults have routes with over 200 subscribers. I only had routes with 50-75. Anymore than that, and you have to make a second trip. Especially on Sunday.
 
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