What was your first job?

[Kareni]

The Word Wenches blog (run by a group of authors) had a fun post today in which they shared information about their first jobs.

Ask-A-Wench: What was your first job?

I thought it would be interesting to ask the same question here.

What was your first job?

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

As I wrote in the comments on the above post:

From age ten to 14, I babysat for the whopping amount of 25 cents/hour.  (This was in Guam in the early seventies.) Frankly, I was a pretty terrible babysitter; I'd sometimes change the clock and then say it was time for dinner and bed. I also got quite the education reading the Playboy and Oui magazines that were left around. (I thought Oui was pronounced Oy until I took French in high school!)

At about sixteen (now in Ohio), I started jobs for which I paid taxes. I worked at a country club and made sandwiches at a little snack place on the 10th Tee. The golfers sat in the enclosed space; the caddies I served through a pass through window. I lived in utter terror of the field mice.

Regards,

Kareni

[rebcoola]

At 12 I was basically a full time nanny for the summer.  2 kids I think I made $3 an hour.  I was pretty good at it I think the only incident I remember was the day the 3 yr old boy was mad at me and his sister don't remember why.  He stood at the top of the stairs and threatened to pee in us. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Teaching English from age 11 on. 

[EmseB]

Baby-sitting, but first on the books job was Taco Bell.

[mmasc]

Babysitting, but my first ‘real’ job was at age 16 in a video store. Yep...renting out VHS tapes😆

[mumto2]

I worked for pay on the family farm.  My first major job was brush picking when I was 11.  Basically my brother trimmed the trees over the winter and I got to walk thru the orchard in the spring and pile the branches in the middle of the rows.  It took me about a month after school and over spring break to get it done.  The branches eventually got hauled out of the orchard on a trailer and burned.  It was hard work.....I did it every spring until college.  I had summer jobs too!😉

[ScoutTN]

Pet sitting and plant watering as a preteen and young teen.

First "real" job was lifeguarding at 15. 

[Ottakee]

Started babysitting at 9.  At 11 started my first real pay check job....picking blueberries.  Did that for several years and continued babysitting.  Started in a nursing home at 16 in the kitchen and by 17 was cooking meals for 126 residents.

[sassenach]

Outside of babysitting, my first legit, tax-paying job was at the Nature Company. Do any of you remember that place? It eventually got bought out by National Geographic (and then later closed altogether).

Edited June 16, 2020 by sassenach

[EmilyGF]

Assembling leveling feet for cabinets for my grandfather's cabinet factory. I got paid $20/box, which probably worked out to about $1/hour. I started at 7. At first, I did them all by hand, sitting in bed. As I got older, I figured out ways to mass assemble them, using power tools and strips of wood.

I bought myself an American Girl doll by assembling leveling feet. I also paid to go to Girl Scout camp the summer after second or third grade by doing them. I never went again. It was so not worth it, having to pay for it myself!

 

[Annie G]

My first job was counter help at a family owned bakery.  Both of my older sisters had worked there and when one had a baby and decided not to return, I took her job. no application, no interview, nothing.  My sister just called me and asked if I wanted it, and I said yes. Quickly moved into decorating cakes and learning to bake.  I ended up buying the bakery about 7 years later. (And discovered I hated running my own business)

[katilac]

Babysitting from honestly too young of an age, lol, then Burger King for the first tax-paying job. 

[teachermom2834]

6 minutes ago, katilac said:

Babysitting from honestly too young of an age, lol, then Burger King for the first tax-paying job. 

This is me!

[Selkie]

Babysitting, yard work, and cleaning when I was a younger kid. At 15, I got a job working at a history museum.

[Tap]

Non-taxed....a receptionist in a tiny real estate office when everyone needed to be gone at the same time. 

Taxed....Musicland (like Sam Goody) I sold tapes/CDs.

I barely babysat as a teen. I didn't like watching kids. I only did it as a favor  for a few people. I wasn't good at it. As a parent, I would have hated me as a sitter. That is probably why I have only hired a sitter a few times in my kid's lives. They went to day cares, but not many personal sitters.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Tap

[Arcadia]

First temp job was reshelving library books when I was 18 and just graduated high school, but I was too short for the top two shelves and books kept falling on me. 

Second temp job was stocking the stationary dept of a large supermarket chain while waiting for college to start. Stationary items are low shelves and light so easy for me to manage. It was a $2.50/hr job back in 1991.
 

First perm job was with HP’s printer division. Didn’t earn enough to need to pay tax. First job that I needed to pay income tax on was with Silicon Graphics. 

[mom2scouts]

I worked in the fields at a local farm one summer picking weeds and vegetables. I worked in the top, un-air conditioned floor of an old downtown store one summer cleaning a pile of huge, filthy display boards until my hands bled. I also babysit.

[TrixieB]

Paper route starting at age 11.  My parents had to sign an approval for me to get the route because the minimum age was 12.  Then babysitting starting a couple years later.  Full-time nannying in the summer at 15 (for a 6 month old and a 4 year old... I cannot imagine that happening nowadays). First 18+ job was dishwasher.

Edited June 16, 2020 by TrixieB

[Garga]

I babysat after school starting at 14 for 2 years and in one summer.  My first real job, though, was at NSA at 16. I can make that job sound sooooo exciting. I mean, like super-seriously exciting! 

But IRL it was the most boring job in the world.  We were overstaffed (grossly) and I was lucky if I had a full 30 minutes of work to spread out over 7.5 hours of time. Some days I literally had only 10 minutes of actual work to do and would sit there trying not to fall asleep for the other 7 hours and 20 minutes. That was doable when I worked the day shift, but the 11:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.shift with only 10 minutes of work was just brutal.  You can only read so many magazines and books in a week before you feel like you’re going to go stir crazy. 

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Garga

[Tiberia]

Montgomery Ward catalog department at 16 was first "real" job. 

My first paying job was delivering handbills door to door in jr. high. I got $5.00 for half a day, or $10.00 for a full day. They picked us up and paid us cash from a van in the jr. high parking lot. It probably looked real suspicious, in hindsight. A parent reported it, and shut it down. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Teaching English from age 11 on. 

Quoting myself to say that I was very fortunate to be paid $15 an hour even back then (over 40 years ago). 

[Harriet Vane]

Washing dishes at camp. I hated the dishes, but I loved living at camp all summer.

Then on to babysitting when I could get it ($4 per hour) and two summers at Dairy Queen. I really hated the DQ job, but it was all I could find. When I went to college as a freshman, I impressed all my new friends with my unerring skill with the soft-serve ice cream dispenser in the cafeteria.

And then, after the DQ purgatory, thank God with my whole heart, I was hired by the kindest, sweetest, old couple on the planet, and I worked for five years at a religious bookstore. It was absolutely the most affirming, supportive environment, and I have fond memories of that dear couple.

Another favorite was night security guard in the dorm. At the time I was tiny and skinny, no threat to anyone except through the power of my commanding voice and Look of Death. (Superpowers I honed to razor sharpness later as a wife and mommy😜.) I loved that job because I was paid to sit at a desk and do my own homework. Every 90 minutes I walked rounds and wrote up students for noise or alcohol violations.

[Spryte]

I taught horseback riding to little kids in exchange for my own lessons when I was 13 - 15.  Before I was set loose actually teaching riding, I did a lot of teaching how to clean tack.  I still remember the little girl we all dreaded having in our lesson.  Her name was Angel, and she was a terror.

At 16 and 17, I worked at a Limited Express, then a party supply store, where I planned kid parties.  Still love planning kid parties!

Edited June 16, 2020 by Spryte

[LucyStoner]

I started babysitting when I was 11.  $2/hr + 50c extra per kid.  The summer I turned 12, I was watching 4 kids across the street all day every day all summer.  That fall, I was hired to work at a daycare for like $5.50/hr.  It was a sketchy work permit.  The owner of the daycare sought me out and knew I was 12.   I have social security credits dating back to 1992 because of that.  

I worked there until I was 14 and then worked a lot of places in high school. mostly babysitting and at a church as the nursery room attendant for weeknight meetings.  I scooped ice cream for awhile.  I did retail inventory.  I typed up wills and legal documents from attorney's dictations.  In college, I worked as a legal assistant and then at an opera company in the front office and selling tickets.  

[Junie]

My first babysitting job was getting paid a quarter to sit in the neighbor's house and play on their Atari (they had different games than we did!) while the two-year old took her nap.  The older kids had swim practice, and the mom just had to take 15-20 minutes to go pick them up and didn't want to interrupt the little one's nap.  I did not realize until I had kids of my own what a huge help I was to her.

My first real job was at a Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was 15 or 16.  I liked the job, but I quit after a year because the management was a mess.  One manager stole $40 out of my drawer and tried to pin it on me.  Another manager said that he would fix a problem with some paperwork if I went to the beach with him.

 

[Shoeless]

Carvel ice cream. 

I also babysat, but I hated it. I had no idea what to do with the kids, and it was super awkward, because the kids were the niece and nephew of my 9th grade French teacher. The baby did nothing but scream the entire time (separation anxiety), and the 4 year old was really fascinated with my boobs and kept trying to find a way to grab them. It was the worst. 

[HSmomof2]

3 hours ago, sassenach said:

Outside of babysitting, my first legit, tax-paying job was at the Nature Company. Do any of you remember that place? It eventually got bought out by National Geographic (and then later closed altogether).

I remember that store...I loved looking around in there. 
I babysat a lot, but first ‘real’ job was at Orange Julius. 

[Carrie12345]

A lot of babysitting, but my first paycheck was from Pizza Hut as a dishwasher and then a cook.  I still sort of like to have Pizza Hut... once a year or two, lol. I mostly got my lifetime allotment back then. Walking into a Pizza Hut store is a whole sensory memory thing that hits like a brick.

And, back then, the only crust that came frozen was the small sized pan crust, mostly because it was rarely ever ordered enough to keep fresh. My local store is all frozen, and it makes a difference.

I once dropped a “Bigfoot” pie on the ground on Super Bowl Sunday and the customer saw through the window. He wanted it anyway.

[Laura Corin]

I worked as a 'Saturday girl' in a bakery in 1979.  People would come in and buy big boxes of 'fancies' (little cakes).  All calculation of prices was done in your head or, if necessary, on the back of a paper bag.  Then you just rang up the total on the cash register.  It wasn't that long after decimalisation, so some older people liked to translate back and forth into pounds, shillings and pence. 

The other staff were middle-aged ladies who were both motherly and demanding.  I found the whole thing rather frightening but I certainly learned a lot.  I earned £5 a day.  I think I did it for about a year.

[RootAnn]

I remember babysitting five boys at the age of 11 because the oldest kid was 12. Since we didn't go to the same school, he didn't know I was younger than him. It wasn't the only time I babysat for kids older than myself. Not sure what those parents were thinking, but maybe they thought they were getting my older sister?

That wasn't my first job as I'd been delivering newspapers since I was about 5. I didn't officially have my own route until I was about 11. I know I paid taxes,, opened up my first IRA, & had my own checking account by age 12.

I have no idea how old I was when my mom started getting me up at 4 or 5 am on the weekends to go with her when she dropped off the papers at other newspaper carriers' apartments --  maybe 11 but could have been younger. She let my older sister sleep in because I didn't make as much of a fuss, supposedly.

I had a lot of jobs as a teen- still babysitting & delivering newspapers  (until age 16), working in the physics lab at school, doing desktop publishing work / transcribing for an educational tv series, and working Saturday mornings at a counselling center checking clients in & out. We kids paid for our own clothes & school supplies. Looking back, I don't know how I made it through without more mental illness because I think it was probably too much for such a young kid. I was the 4th kid though so I guess my mom just pushed me into whatever she needed to so that our family wasn't on the streets. 

[sweet2ndchance]

Babysitting from the age of 11, then a grocery store cashier at  Winn-Dixie at 16. I made $4-$5 an hour at each job in the early 90s. I also tutored, mostly English at the time then math and computer science later on. I also tried waitressing but didn't care for it.

Edited June 16, 2020 by sweet2ndchance

[Pawz4me]

I helped a family friend out at a flea market. He sold used books. Or maybe they were "seconds"--many of them had their covers torn off. I think I was 14 and that would have been 1977, and he paid me $25, which was very good money way back then. My first real job (as in getting paid by a check instead of cash) was the only real job I ever had--a legal assistant/paralegal.

[DawnM]

My first real job was working at Farrell's Ice Cream restaurant in Seattle.  I worked there for 3 years during college.

[medawyn]

Like many, my first job was babysitting at age 11.  I babysat into my 20s; I made great money, had wonderful clients, and scored some really awesome summer nanny jobs. My first real job was as a teacher at 21; I’m still not sure who in the world would hire me as a head teacher straight out of college with no obviously applicable degree, but it turns out I was good at it.

[73349]

I had to babysit my siblings all the time for free, so I couldn't get a paid job until the college dining hall.

[tori@thehomefront]

I only babysat once, and I hated it because I had to watch my own brothers after school all the time already, and I hated little kids.
 

First (and only) paid job was a DJ at the local radio station when I was 15.  It was an awesome job, lol.

[Annie G]

12 minutes ago, whitehawk said:

I had to babysit my siblings all the time for free, so I couldn't get a paid job until the college dining hall.

 

7 minutes ago, tori@thehomefront said:

I only babysat once, and I hated it because I had to watch my own brothers after school all the time already, and I hated little kids.
 

First (and only) paid job was a DJ at the local radio station when I was 15.  It was an awesome job, lol.

Same here- I picked my brother up on my way home from school and watched him until my folks got home from work. I had a list of chores and started dinner, then cleaned the kitchen after dinner. I had NO desire to babysit anyone. My brother was an awful child and it was a miserable 6 years doing that until I graduated. I felt such freedom getting a real job. 

[hjffkj]

Aside from babysitting, my first legit job was at 16 working as a server for the local University's catering department.

[Wheres Toto]

Delivering newspapers and babysitting.  Including one "real" babysitting job with on-the-books taxes where I babysat a families kids at their ice cream shop and took them to the movies and playgrounds. 

First job after 16 was less than a week working for Burger King (they insisted I come to work when I was really sick).  Then I worked Kmart through the rest of high school, summers in college, and for about a year when I came home from being away at college.  

[lmrich]

Like so many others - babysitting from the age of 11 - I even babysat preemie twins on their actual due date and their older brother who was 18 months. THAT was crazy!

My first real job was taking pictures of people and putting it on a magazine cover at an amusement park. It was awfully complicated then, using a real, giant camera that was housed in an old time housing where the images were upside down and we actually had to insert the template of the magazine cover and center the people between the words. We had to develop the pictures as well in a dark room. Clean chemical spill, etc..My how things have changed - all digital. I worked with my best friend, and we loved it! 

[Hannah]

Mine was babysitting as well.  The neighbour kids when I was about 12.

My first 'proper' job was as a cashier at a local supermarket when I was 16 (the minimum age).  I worked on a Friday afternoon to 2-6pm and Saturday morning 9am to 1pm.  Back then the stores were closed on a Saturday afternoon and on Sundays.  I still have the brown envelope in which I received my first wages tucked in a photo album and I've just looked it up.  R20.40 in Nov 1984,  which at the current exchange rate is about US$ 1.50!  And I thought is was a fortune!

My student job was waitressing.  When I travelled in Europe for a year,  I worked as a waitress, laboratory assistant, shop assistant, cleaning holiday homes and picking apples.

[Soror]

Before I could drive I cleaned offices with a friend, the cleaning company took us to the place in a van after school. After my license, I worked at Pizza Hut for 2 weeks, then quit after getting into a wreck and decided to get another job in a restaurant closer to home. No babysitting where I lived, we were in the middle of nowhere and my parents would have had to drive me and they were busy enough.

Edited June 16, 2020 by soror

[historically accurate]

I babysat off an on throughout my pre-teen/teen years. I went to a boarding school for 3 years in high school, and we had to work 3-5 hours a week for the school. I did cafeteria 1 year & front door check-ins 1 year & office support 1 year.

My first tax-paying job was as a mortgage processor by day/receptionist by evening at age 17 depending on where they needed me. The mortgage company was one of those "everyone can get a mortgage" places common in the 90s. I worked there every summer all the way through college doing processing, answering phones, and eventually doing the bookkeeping. 

[Donna]

Babysitting as a teen was my first job. Data-processing and working intake for the X-ray department at a hospital was my first job where I got a weekly paycheck during my senior year in high school and when home during college. 

[klmama]

File clerk, back in the days before offices used computers.  I alphabetized well. 

[Arcadia]

5 hours ago, whitehawk said:

I had to babysit my siblings all the time for free, so I couldn't get a paid job until the college dining hall.

I babysat my cousins’ kids for free when I am bored. My aunts would be busy in the kitchen with food prep and cooking. So never had a paid babysitting job.

5 hours ago, Annie G said:

 

Same here- I picked my brother up on my way home from school and watched him until my folks got home from work. I had a list of chores and started dinner, then cleaned the kitchen after dinner. I had NO desire to babysit anyone. My brother was an awful child and it was a miserable 6 years doing that until I graduated. I felt such freedom getting a real job. 

I brought my brother home from school but both of us were basically latchkey children. He is 8.5 years younger and not street smart which is why someone has to walk him home from the neighborhood elementary school (crosswalks and major roads, with cars habitually beating red lights). Once he is home he can take care of himself while I get myself to extracurricular activities (walking or public transport).

[Familia]

First real employment was at a small neighborhood movie theater - did everything from sell refreshments to run the films (films on reels).  Began at 18 as soon as I graduated high school, as my mother didn't want me to have a job interfere with my high school studies.

Beginning at eleven, I babysat a lot and ran errands for a sweet old lady on our street.  I was a strict babysitter, known for getting children to bed successfully.  One couple would take a long walk on Friday nights, while I stayed at their house just to put the children to bed.  Many couples, of course, were out the whole evening.  I was still fast and successful at putting children to sleep.  I was motivated by wanting time alone to talk on phone, drink pop and eat Doritos!  I never paid attention to what I was paid.  As long as there were snacks, I was happy!

Edited June 16, 2020 by Familia

[umsami]

Around 11, I started babysitting for a family that lived a few houses down.  They had two small kids, who were one and four when I started. I would babsit them until 2 or 3 a.m.  Starting at 9 or 10 a.m.  during the summer.  Paid $1/hour.  I thought I was getting a great deal. Ha!

Then at 14, I worked at Swensen's, which was an ice cream shop/restaurant. 

 

[Annie G]

38 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I babysat my cousins’ kids for free when I am bored. My aunts would be busy in the kitchen with food prep and cooking. So never had a paid babysitting job.

I brought my brother home from school but both of us were basically latchkey children. He is 8.5 years younger and not street smart which is why someone has to walk him home from the neighborhood elementary school (crosswalks and major roads, with cars habitually beating red lights). Once he is home he can take care of himself while I get myself to extracurricular activities (walking or public transport).

My brother was 9 years younger than me,  but I was in charge of him after school from the time he was 4 until 9. Maybe other kids could take care of themselves at that age but my brother was...a brat. And my job was to keep him out of trouble.  I don’t fault my parents since they were doing the best they could do. But I did miss out on a lot of extracurricular stuff and the ability to have a job in high school. 
You Are a nice sister and cousin!