What was your first 'real' job?

[trof]

Where they took out withholding tax, S/S, Medicare, etc.
Me: Bag boy/shelf stocker/sweeper at super market at 13, but way before Medicare.

[Walleye]

1. Dairy Queen out on the highway. Making milkshakes. $1.60 per hour Gas money

[TexasBushwhacker]

22. Me too

My boss had me make the treats like Dilly Bars that were in the big freezer because I made the best "curls". I was 16. My mother said if I saved my money for something big, she would double it. I saved enough that, with her help, I went on one of those student trips to Europe in the summer of 1974.

[TexasTowelie]

2. Pizza delivery driver for Mr. Gatti's. nt

[Aristus]

36. "Mister Gatteeeeeeeeeeeeez! The best pizza in town!..."

[wcmagumba]

3. A&W Drive In...dirt lot, no inside seating...

think I was getting about 85 cents an hour...at 16...boys ran the front, ladies cooked and car hopped...I made some great root beer floats...I had a paper route before that, sold Grit newspapers door to door before that and sold greeting cards and knickknacks to neighborhood ladies before that....whoopee!

[trof]

4. I remember Grit AND A&W.

[wcmagumba]

6. Lots of "Grit" jokes over the years...I think from some movie...

don't remember in my old age...

[rsdsharp]

20. There's still an A&W about a mile from my house. It's in the same building as a Long John Silver's.

It’s a sit down restaurant, rather than a drive-in.

In little league everybody would go to A&W after a game, and somebody’s dad would pop for root beers for everybody. When I was a little older, I worked in the meat department of a small grocery store, and we made the hamburger patties for the A&W which was owned by the brother-in-law of the store owner.

[Rhiannon12866]

32. There's still an A&W in nearby Lake George, New York, too

It burned a couple of years ago, but they rebuilt and it was open when I drove by yesterday. It's been there for years, I can remember stopping there years ago with my parents, no idea where we were going.

[Arkansas Granny]

12. One of our neighbors sold Grit newspapers. It had something for everybody.

A&W root beer was the best. Always served in those ice cold mugs.

[underpants]

5. Bagging groceries at Winn-Dixie

First day someone knocked up a glass bottle of molasses

[trof]

7. I was at Western Super Market in B'ham.

[liberaltrucker]

17. I worked at the Western in Mountain Brook in the late 70s

Loved the job, but the manager was an asshole.

[trof]

49. Was his name Virciglio?

I worked for "Mister A.J" and his son, Stanley.
It was the Western on Highland Ave. in B'ham.

[lpbk2713]

54. Same here.

.75 an hour as I recall. Tips weren't bad. Manager was a first class asshole.

[underpants]

56. Turns out my manager was skimming off the top

He used to have me drive him to the bank to make deposits. No idea if that was somehow part of his scheme though. I was a stupid 16 year old kid making minimum wage.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Worked at a small, local Royal Blue grocery store at age 16.

Stocked shelves, wrapped lettuce, stamped prices on cans, and ran the checkout register. Was paid $1.25 an hour.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I worked as a typist for an insurance agent. I was straight out of high school.

Some of the policies had up to 10 carbon copies, which made it a real pain if you had to correct a typo.

Minimum wage had just been raised to $1.25, but they paid me $40.00 a week to get around that. My take home pay was $33.55 a week and I gave my mother $20.00 of that for room and board.

[madamesilverspurs]

10. Gift shop cashier

at Marineland in California (1966). It was an eye-opener on many levels.


.

[bcool]

11. At a playground equipment manufacturer's factory

From 16-18, in the summers (the income from which totally paid my tuition to the Univ of MO-St.Louis).

It was a pretty good job, but man, it was hot!!!

[zuul]

19. Sounds like fun.

[Wolf Frankula]

13. Working in a Bindery feeding junk mail into an envelope stuffer.

It was made in Occupied Germany/US Zone. I made 2.50 an hour. Most of my friends made minimum wage 1.60/hour if they made that.

Wolf

[ItsjustMe]

14. At 16 I was a dishwasher / busboy

At a nearby restaurant, the owner was a hateful ******* that made my life a living hell. I only lasted two weeks before I quit.

But then my Mother took my paycheck as punishment for quitting.

[TlalocW]

15. Paper delivery

Dad came to me in 6th grade and said, "What would you think if I got you and you brother (2 years older) a little motorcycle?" By that he meant mo-ped. I was ambivalent as I was a nerd and didn't think much of cars and motorcycles, but he bought one, and since we lived in a small farming community on the edge of town on just under an acre of land we could ride it in the back yard. Then next year, I came home from school, and dad was putting a large chicken wire basket on the back, and there was another mo-ped. "I got you and your brother paper routes! You start in two weeks!" Well played, Dad. Well played.

But it turned out to be a good job for a middle and then high schooler. Get up at 3 am, work an hour, and then back to bed at 4. It didn't interfere with school; we could get another job during the summer, and it was better than normal money. The "W Boys" were good kids so the police turned a blind eye to our riding mo-peds - especially since we "bribed" the on-duty cop with a free paper if we saw him.

Only problem was my first semester of college, every morning, I would sit up in bed at 3 thinking I had to throw papers, would look around at my dorm room, realize where I was, and then go back to sleep.

TlalocW

[Siwsan]

16. Front desk job at our local newspaper

It was a horrible job. Management there was a chauvinistic nightmare. The only good memory I have is that we also used to print Michael Moore's underground newspaper 'The Flint Voice' so I very casually got to meet him.

[SallyHemmings]

18. McDonald's-Shift manager

I worked my way through college with this gig. Their management program served me well. I learned how to manage my peers and folks who weren’t happy reporting to a college kid.

[zuul]

21. I worked summers during high school at a little retail store.

Kind of like a mini Kmart, but mostly for clothing. I can’t even remember the name of it. I think the chain had a total of like five stores across the state.

Mostly I stocked the floor and returned clothing to the racks after customers tried them on in the dressing room. I was seriously proud when I was allowed to use the cash register.

[Binkie The Clown]

23. Pizza delivery. For two days until I backed the delivery truck into the boss' Cadillac. nt

[lpbk2713]

55. That's not the kind of impression you want to make.

[Hoyt]

24. A&P grocery store stocker, floor mopper, and bagger.

[2naSalit]

25. ...

Fuckin' Dunkin' Donuts, serving coffee and sugar coated stomach bombs for $1.18/hr, no tips allowed.

We stashed our tips in our shoes.

[LakeArenal]

26. When very young, we picked stawberries and sold them to neighbor from our red wagon.

At about 13 I volunteered at a local museum and took tours through a big Victorian paper magnets home. Dressed in time.

My first paid was at a big corporate manufacturer as the file clerk.
It was so boring and tedious. I
Loved it. I couldn’t believe I got paid to sit in a big room ( like my own office) full of file cabinets, by myself listening to a radio.
Air conditioned comfortable. Occasionally asked for a file.

I learned how to do the most tedious work which put me in good stead and evaluations always said great attention to detail. $1.65 an hour.

[Generic Brad]

27. Worked at a greenhouse

I started out at $1.30 an hour at age 15 when minimum wage was $2.75. They got an exemption because they were "agriculture".

[Lady Freedom Returns]

28. Serving up ice cream.

Last edited Thu Jun 24, 2021, 05:30 PM - Edit history (1)

Lasted 3 days because I had a wee bit of a fight with the night manager for pouring chocolate down the back of my shirt. A white shirt that I had to find and buy myself.

[DEbluedude]

29. Maintenance helper at Monkey Wards. At 14.

Helped with just about everything, except sales. Mopped floors, cleaned the bathrooms (where I learned women can be just as nasty or nastier than men), general overall help. I learned quite a bit about people in that job and I loved it. I've worked ever since and will be retiring on June 30th. 50 years! BTW, Montgomery Wards, for you youngsters.

[Skittles]

44. I loved that store

why did they go under?

[captain queeg]

30. Working at a meat market after school

I started out cleaning the place at night, $15/week. When I turned 16 they had me come in after school. Working in the freezer, waiting on counter, making hamburger. That was my first hourly job where they took out SS.

[Rhiannon12866]

31. Cinderella at an amusement park

I stood out in the sun in a long dress and took kids for rides in my pumpkin coach. Really.

[Harker]

35. You aren't still doing that?

[Rhiannon12866]

42. Not for awhile, LOL

Fortunately my boss liked me and after a couple of summers riding around in that pumpkin, he assigned me to my favorite job at the park, running the purple train that ran through the "jungle." I loved that train and used to come in early to polish the engine and wax the inside of the tracks so it wouldn't squeal on the curves. I ran that train for the next four summers, probably my favorite job ever!

And I became good friends with the girl who succeeded me as Cinderella. She'd ask the boss if I still couldn't still be Cinderella some of the time and he'd respond "She's done her time!"

[Harker]

48. Psychedelic resume.

Yeah, I was Cinderella for a while, riding around in a pumpkin, then I drove the purple train through the jungle...

Hendrixian!

[Rhiannon12866]

63. Well, my part of the park was called "Fantasyland!" LOL

As opposed to Ghost Town (old West town where they had "cowboys," a mining disaster ride and a "shootout" with a guy who thought he was a real sheriff) - and "Jungleland," where wild animals appeared out of the woods and the swamp - and you could buy a "shrunken head!"

[Solly Mack]

33. 16/food service.

But then I had been working in a restaurant where I had to stand on a milk crate to reach the grill since I was nine. Didn't get paid, per se, but it did help out the family. Also did prep clean-up and had to draw drinks and call orders.

Also fetched and served beer at another family place at a young age. Took orders, delivered orders, got the beers, did prep.

[mnhtnbb]

34. Nursing unit clerk in a community hospital

First summer out of high school. I had been a teen volunteer there through my last two years of high school. Hired to float to all the nursing units, including ER, to provide vacation replacement for the permanent clerks. Some weekends I covered two units and would run up/down the back stairs between floors.

It was a terrific summer job and I ended up doing it for two more summers between years at college. Great background for doing my Master's in hospital administration and then working as an administrator.

[cksmithy]

37. what was your first job?

Pacific Bell long distance operator Salinas, California. Union member, 1970

[Skittles]

45. wow

I was just telling a coworker yesterday that it was strange for me seeing people so upset because they hadn't seen loved ones in a year (Covid) - I grew up as a GI brat and moved back and forth overseas - I wouldn't see my relatives for three or four years at a time and there was no phone calling them, it was so expensive back then!

[gopiscrap]

61. welcome to DU

[OriginalGeek]

38. Snow cone stand

I was 14 and it was a summer job (duh lol) that I could ride my bike to. Got 2 bucks an hour and a raise to 2.10 when minimum wage went up. I skipped working during school until I was 16 and then worked at a shoe store in the mall. I had dozens of jobs after that until the one I am currently in which I have been at for 21 years and plan to retire from.


The sooner the better.

[ProfessorGAC]

39. Janitor's Helper

14 y/o on Sunday mornings.
It was the building of a fraternal organization that functioned as a bar & banquet hall.
At 15, I worked Saturday's too.
When I was 16, I worked both weekends & on Tuesday (janitor's day off) in the summer. Plus, "special projects" like stripping and waxing floors, painting the bathroom stalls, etc.
I graduated from HS at 16, and the janitor got a better job in May. So, I worked full time that summer, giving them 3 months to find a new guy.
Then, next summer the new guy got fired for drinking from the bar and sleeping in a small lounge room. So, I went back that year too.
My last summer (I only went to undergrad 3 years), I started my internship at a national lab in the Chicago area.
They hired me full time the next summer, but the pay was dreadful. After 3 months I left for industry (I was in grad school at the time) for around 70% more $.
I basically spent 4&1/2 years as a janitor or helper.

[Wounded Bear]

40. Age 14. Page at the city library...

[NNadir]

41. Hoagy's Heros.

I sliced the rolls, added the tomato and the lettuce, and sometimes took the orders.

My boss, a wonderful man, was a holocaust survivor, number tattooed on his arm and all.

I was not, he made sure I knew, ever to work the slicer. That was his.

I went back to see him in my twenties, and he asked what I'd become, and I said, "A chemist," and he asked, in his Yiddish accent, "For good or for bad?"

Often, when doing my job, I think of that.

[Kali]

46. wow

kinda catches in the throat

[Totally Tunsie]

43. At 15, worked as a collator for a very small copying/print shop.

Every day after school, eight of us would arrive at this little shop and station ourselves four to a side alongside a long table loaded with stacks of printed material. "Add a page; pass the pages...", down one side of the table and then the other. Sometimes we were responsible for one stack, but usually for several. Perfectly simple, perfectly boring work that a trained monkey could handle. Still amazing to me that they didn't have automation of some sort.

[Kali]

47. waitress in Anchorage Alaska

being from Arizona, the pay was wild. living with parents, made it a super good couple of months! bought a stereo and 100 records.

[trof]

58. What restaurant?

I was an airline pilot and had many layovers in Anchorage in the 90s.

[Kali]

60. Danny's Pepper Tree out by Elmendorf area

Danny made the news towards the end of the deal. he was using the restaurant as a front for selling drugs. LOL

[trof]

65. Thanks. Never got out that way.

[Kali]

66. yeah it was just ostensibly a local family diner type place

mostly breakfast and lunch crowds. it was strange how the few-and-far-between, almost-at-closing time, odd behaving customers that ordered the most expensive items on the menu never ate any of it.

[Dial H For Hero]

50. Cashier at Target, 1981.

[DFW]

51. The official title was "laborer."

I was about 18, and got a job working in the map warehouse of the U.S. Geological Survey in Alexandria, Virginia. This involved carrying around and placing in their proper storage slots extremely heavy packs of 500 large, freshly printed, detailed topological maps of all parts of the USA. The chemicals were fresh and nauseating. I'm sure that anyone working longer than a few months in that place had a bigger cancer risk than someone who attended above-ground atom bomb testing.

[Brother Buzz]

52. LOL, my first job was with maps, too

I worked in Mail, Shipping and Storage at the California State Automobile Association (AAA) in San Francisco, and my assignment was maps.

We received maps from all the other states, but we printed all the Northern California and Nevada maps in-house. The smell from our freshly printed road maps was no worse than what you would encounter in your average Mom and Pop print shop, although the solvents were wickedly seductive (flashes of the old Ditto machine). We had one really, really cool machine your glorious topo maps were never exposed to, a map folding machine. I never, ever, got tired of watching it, "wap, wap, wap, wap, wap, wap...".

[marble falls]

53. Stoop labor on a "muck" farm in Akron, Ohio. Cutting lettuce, spinach, pulling onions, radishes.

$0.34/hr in '64.

[Ron Obvious]

57. Pizza Delivery

For minimum wage plus tips. Got mugged once at knife-point, but it wasn't the worst job I ever had. At least I was out and about in my own car, and interactions with the public were fairly minimal and mostly reasonably positive.

[onethatcares]

59. busboy

in department store restaurant. 1969

[smirkymonkey]

62. Executive assistant for a Trust/Foundation fund manager.

It was like working for Scrooge. His son was really nice and normal, but the father was a miserable human being. There was one other guy (IT) who worked there besides me and we both thought the owner was bat shit crazy.

It was such a great day when I finally quit and got hired at another company (their rival, which was a huge firm - long story - long rivalry). I asked for a raise and he wouldn't give me one, so I looked for another job and found one. He was not very happy. I was very happy. It was a great move for me.

[GregariousGroundhog]

64. My first 'real' job was as a cashier in a retail store

I started three months before finishing high school and worked there for a little over five years. I started at $7.00 an hour (minimum wage was $5.25) and ended at $9.40. It was enough to finish college without taking out loans, though I lived with my parents rent free. I'm extremely proud of that accomplishment, but I sometimes wonder if I would have grown up faster had I went out somewhere at 18 instead of waiting until I was 24 to move out.

[3catwoman3]

67. Sales person in the women's department at a JC Penney's.

16 years old. $1.60 an hour. Got one raise in the time I worked there - to $1.65, after a year, and only because I asked.

The store manager liked everyone to "look busy," even if there were no customers and the stock was all straight. Seeing as we tidied everything at the end of an evening shift, and there were often no customers right when the store opened, if you worked first thing in the morning, it was rather hard to "look busy," because there was nothing to actually do. We'd walk thru the racks of clothing pretending to organize things

The manager used his initials rather than his first name, D.W. XXX, and we all laughed to ourselves when we found out his name - Doris. I would have gone by my initials, too. We lowly clerks, of course, called him "Mr. XXX" to his face.