What was your first paying "real" job growing up...

[John Christian]

First job was as a paper boy, my dad co signed a loan for an 18 dollar second hand bike. Then when i had a 'connection' I got a morning route, so i could still play afterschool sports. Then bag boy at grocery store. In high school, again you needed a connection, i got on the middle of the night chicken /turkey catching crews. That was really good money and it left you free for sports.

[Rich Engelhardt]

1958 - First day of first grade.
Three of us were standing outside the school waiting for the bell to ring.
The principal approached and asked for one of us to step forward and come with him.
My two friends stepped back.... LOL!

I was taken to the cafetria and introduced to the milk man.
Every day, he dropped off 4 cases of milk cartons that had to be stacked in the cooler.
He would pay someone $.25 a day to stack the cartons.

Considering my brother (7 years older) was only making $1.75 a week on his paper route, I was doing better than ok.

I miss working/the paycheck.
(I have a feeling it's going to be a long, long, long ~ three years....)

[Jason Roehl]

My first job was in 1992 at McDonald's, making $3.35/hr (min. wage at the time). I started the day before my 18th birthday, actually flipping burgers, but the day after my birthday (didn't work that day), they had installed the clamshell grills, so there was no more flipping burgers. I also got 50% off my food there during my break, so I ate a fair amount of McD's over the next few months. I don't eat there much anymore...

[Chris Damm]

In high school I took care of a neighbor family's 4 yards. Father, 2 sons, and daughter. 7 hours a day spent doing whatever they wanted done. On Fridays I would motor their 42' sailboat over to the old sanddock and scrub it down. $1 @ hour and I liked Fridays the best! The next summer was spent shoveling sand in a foundry for $1.50 @ hour. It made me workk harder when I went away to college in the fall.

[Joe Pelonio]

I also started off doing yard work and a paper route, but then at age 14 got my first real job - peeling potatoes at a fish & chips shop. Eventually worked my way up to head fry cook, making $1.75/hour and stayed until I went off to college.

[David Weaver]

Dishwasher at shoneys - in a tourist town, age 16. Awful job, you could never quite keep up with the crowd in the summer, and you always had little cuts all over your hands (from silverware sorting) and smelled like burnt out grease, but it paid better than minimum wage. If you were closing and knew the cook, they would "make a mistake" right before close and you could munch free dinner while closing.

Waitresses there could make $200 (people on vacation are more generous and less demanding) in less time than it took me to make $35, but they would not allow boys to be on the waitstaff at that time.

[Belinda Barfield]

I got my first paying job at 14. I was the assistant to the director of the high school FFA program. I worked an hour to two per day typing and filing, etc. and got paid $3.00 an hour. I was also the secretary for our church (small church) and typed the weekly bulletin, counted the collections on Sunday, etc., - no pay for that - all through high school. I also sang in the youth choir and they dang sure should have paid me for that.

My next job was at 16 working half days for a visiting nurses association as a receptionist/file clerk making $4.50 an hour. That was my junior year of high school. I worked full time over the summer. The first quarter of my senior year of high school I went back to half days. I finished high school after that first quarter and went to work full time. At that point I was promoted to insurance clerk responsible for filing all Medicare/Medicaid claims and collections, and all bookkeeping. Filing insurance claims also meant that I was responsible for making sure that what was done was what was billed, and vice versa. When I left there after six years I was making $6.25 an hour.

[Rod Sheridan]

My first job that was official (not paid for mowing lawns etc with no paper trail) was working at a department store called Zellers. I was 16 years old, the pay was $1.65 per hour which was minimum wage at that time. I worked in the stockroom and as a clerk in the hardware department.

My big break came when I wound up assembling and repairing bicycles in the sporting goods section. I was fast, and had no customer call backs for sloppy work so I negotiated a flat rate of $2 per bicycle from the general manager. I could assemble/test 3 per hour so I was making more than my supervisor, who complained to the general manager.

I continued on that track for all the time I was in high school...................Rod.

[Eric DeSilva]

I was really lucky and held some jobs early that taught me some really great skills--I started as a machinist in a metal shop at 15, worked for an home renovator at 16, and then started work as a systems programmer for the gov't at 17. I'm actually only on my fourth job...

[Doug Morgan]

I worked at Jack's Mobil gas station to earn money to pay for my car. On the weekends and evening I would pump gas, change tires and oil, and easy regular service items. Back then gas was 27.9 cents a gallon (ok I just dated myself) Raising gas prices was by 1 cent increments. Gas wars would occur on our 4 corner intersection about 3 times a year. With the money I saved I bought a 1957 Chevy!

[Joe Angrisani]

My first real job was as a DMO at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in Lake George, NY. For those of you not in the know, that's Dish Machine Operator. I made about $3.50 an hour, and was happy to pile it on 50 hours a week. And free meals to boot! Thought I was rolling in dough. Ha!

Turns out the "Miss Ray" that ran the HoJo's, and who I answered to, was none other than Rachael Ray's mom. Saw her on TV with Rachael a few years ago, recognized her, and a light came on. Working for her, I sorta assumed it was Miss Rae, as in Theresa. But no. It was Rachael's mom, meaning Rachael was that little girl who played with coloring books and such at Miss Ray's desk.

[John Pratt]

11 years old, I had the morning paper route for the Des Moines Register. I had 52 papers on my route (95 on Sunday) and can still remember reading the headline that Elvis Presley had died. I can't even imagine today's society letting my 11 year-old deliver papers in the darkness by themselves.

[Mike Cutler]

The first job I got a W2 from was McDonalds. $2.05/hr.
Worked at the McDonalds on N. Garey Ave. in Pomona California.

I make a lot more $$$ now, but that job was fun. A bunch of High School Kids from Pomona and Claremont. It was ariot at times.

[Scott T Smith]

My first paying job was at 11 years old in the summer 1971, running wiring in new apartment and home construction in Phoenix, AZ. Had to get a social security number for it. Can't remember exactly what I was paid, but think that it was $1.50 per hour.

I did not attach the wires to the boxes or breakers; only drilled the studs, pulled the romex and cut it to length.

Sure made me pround to be doing "grown-up work".

[Jim Tobias]

First job was at 12 working with my granddad and uncle as an "gopher/apprentice" on construction/renovation. A few bucks per job, depending on what they were being paid.
Then a dress/clothing factory... $1.25/hour but a lot of overtime in busy season. Then a State Tree Nursery with the Forestry Dept.
Pay was around $2/hour and we earned every penny in the HOT sun(pine seedlings/no shade).
IN college, I worked part time at the State Correctional Institute for 14-17 yr olds as a "counselor". Don't remember the pay, but it was a great, interesting part time job.
All in all, I earned a lot more in experience than I did in dollars, but it was invaluable to me.
Retired now and only doing woodworking...... the pay for that is about where it all started! But, I enjoy every minute!

Jim