purpleowl Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 When I was 15, people started paying me for math tutoring. I had tutored friends before that for free for at least two years. My first job with an Actual Paycheck was as a teacher's aide at a summer school program; I was 16, and some of the students were older than me. It was at the private school owned by the Baptist church we went to at the time (I went to a different private school). I was given the job and then told to fill out an application. It asked if I smoked, drank, danced. I asked my mom if I could write "not very well" on the last one. 😂 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 17 hours ago, Tiberia said: 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. omg, I blocked the traumatic memory temporarily, but I did that too 😄 It was not a great experience for me for a few reasons. It was super early in the morning, and I found it pretty scary - I was a young teen but really tiny, I was genuinely scared of being abducted, lol. I had no sense of direction, so meeting up at certain places was really stressful, the poor driver was always having to hunt me down. And I was afraid of dogs, even the yappy little pups that were usually the ones nipping at my heels. I did know the person we were delivering for, a local real estate agent, so I at least felt safe when in the van, lol. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
math teacher Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 My first job was at Wal-Mart. I was 16 years old. Back during this time, Wal-Mart closed at 9 PM and was closed on Sundays. I would leave school at noon, go to work at 1, and get off at 9:30/10 PM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 I started babysitting at age 12, including overnight for my brothers while my mom worked 2nd or 3rd shift. I also had a paper route. My first real job--around age 17--was working for The Swiss Colony, which was a cheese and sausage shop that was a common retail store in larger malls. I wore a little red Swiss dress with a white apron and clogs with wooden heels. We always had to stand out in front of the store and hand out samples to shoppers who were walking by. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 If you count babysitting then I had my first job at 12, babysitting for neighbors. If you don't count babysitting then it was my senior year in high school. I worked in the concession stand at the local movie theater. One of the perks was getting in to see movies for free. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I babysat just a bit in junior high, but did it as little as possible... I really didn't like it! Otherwise, my first "real" job was seasonal, selling programs at one of California's biggest rodeos every summer. I'd have to walk up and down the stadium stairs shouting "Get your program!" wearing my cowgirl outfit. (Which I loved! :)) Then my first consistent part-time job (throughout the school year and summer) was scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins. I really loved that job! I worked with my best friend, and got two free scoops of ice cream for every four hours worked. I'd often give my free scoops to my mother at the end of my evening shift. She'd get so excited about that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 15 hours ago, DawnM said: My first real job was working at Farrell's Ice Cream restaurant in Seattle. I worked there for 3 years during college. I wish Farrell's was still around. I work with someone who used to work there. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Babysitting at 12, then my first real job over the summers at the local water park, Water Wizz, at 14. Sounds fun, and parts were, but it gets really boring really fast. Go (pause 3 seconds), Go (pause 3 seconds), Go (pause 3 seconds), wait, okay Go, (blow whistle) feet first!, wait, wait, okay go. Stay in your tube! Don’t run! Walk, please! All day, every day. And you would not believe how many people can’t seem to use the restroom properly whilst wearing bathing suits. Apparently it causes many people to miss. And yes, we were those lucky people who got to clean it up! And pick up your trash. And look after your kids when you dropped them off for the day with no supervision. Teen boys in bathing suits, though, when you are 14 is a pretty big draw. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I was a boxer. 🙂 That's what they called the seasonal job that involved finding the right box for gift purchases. This was at Wicks and Sticks. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 6 hours ago, TrixieB said: I wish Farrell's was still around. I work with someone who used to work there. I think there are a couple left in Orange County, CA. Bob Farrell died years ago (my cousins had a beach house next to theirs in OR), and from what I am remembering, his kids didn't want to carry on the business and sold it. But don't quote me on that, it has been years since I heard the story. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashfern Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I painted & cleaned for a landlord for $0.75 an hour plus lunch. Then there is the babysitting, which I don't recall how much I was paid. My sister & I used to both do New Year's eve and you get paid a ton for that! I also helped a friend on her paper route for a little bit. My first "real" job was working at a movie theater as a "Candy Girl". I used to switch with one of the ushers. The owner wanted only girls selling food and boys as ushers. 🙄 I had a bunch of different part-time jobs in college (filing out paperwork for the clerk of courts, cleaning books in the Museum Library, Research Assistant where I was basically a gofer for the office, tutoring). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splash1 Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 From 12-15 I babysat a lot. Then when 15 1/2 for summer I started working at Safeway as a courtesy clerk bagger and bottle counter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Age 6 - Working in the family business. Stuffing and licking envelopes for 1 cent an envelope. Age 10 - once a week paper route Age 12 - daily paper route 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 I did random odd jobs for random pay. I think the first one was "tutoring" a younger boy, for which his mom gave me 25c. I was probably about 8? By 10 I had done paid babysitting for strangers. At some point around that age, I used to go to storefront shops and offer to do odd jobs for little bits of cash, like folding pizza boxes for a dime. At 13 I had regular babysitting jobs, a daily paper route, and I even did Amway for a short stint. 😛 My first W-2 job came after many informal / "under the table" ones. I think I was 19 when I got my first printed, reported-to-the-government paycheck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 14 hours ago, Melissa B said: Age 6 - Working in the family business. Stuffing and licking envelopes for 1 cent an envelope. Me too, that type thing, but I was fortunate to have a little water bottle with a sponge that wet the envelopes and stamps without having to lick them. Later childhood: tutoring, teaching swimming, dog sitting, babysitting 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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