What was your very first job with a non-family member (even extended family) ?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

27. Paper route... age 7 or 8.

It was only a weekly newspaper, but I delivered to hundreds of houses.

The man who hired me looked at me admiringly, like I was a real go-getter at such a young age, but I didn't want to do it at all! My mother, who was a child during the Great Depression, was simply a nut about "working" and she made me do it.

I recall my mother getting upset because:
(1) She insisted one day that I try to get more customers. (I later discovered that wasn't my responsibility.)
(2) She was upset at me because, after I tried to obey those orders, I revealed to her that I asked potential customers if they'd like to "buy" the newspaper. She yelled, "You don't ask if they'd like to buy the newspaper! That implies buying the company! You ask if they'd like a subscription to the newspaper!"

She was upset another time because I didn't know how to fill out a bank check around that age. "What are they teaching you at that school?!"