What was your First Job?
03-22-2011, 03:07 PM
#101
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Mid Michigan
Posts: 1,015
My first job was babysitting and then in high school (age 14) I worked in the Special Diet Kitchen at the local hospital. We prepared dinner trays for patients on special diets and then we cleaned the trays after dinner and washed dishes. What memories! Pay for 3 hour shift was $1.50.
03-22-2011, 03:12 PM
#103
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Hooker, Oklahoma
Posts: 358
I was born in 1950 & I was raised in western Oklahoma. Yes, that makes me 60 now.
anyway, our country school would let out for 2 weeks just before Christmas time so the kids could help their families get the cotton crop in. We pulled a cotton sack along the row and when we got 200 pounds in the sack we would get $2. I was knee high to a grasshopper when I started working in the cotton fields, not sure of my age. In the summer we had to hoe the cotton fields to remove the weeds. I am not sure which was worse, pulling or chopping.
When I turned 14 I got a real job as a carhop. I think I made 60 cents per hour.
anyway, our country school would let out for 2 weeks just before Christmas time so the kids could help their families get the cotton crop in. We pulled a cotton sack along the row and when we got 200 pounds in the sack we would get $2. I was knee high to a grasshopper when I started working in the cotton fields, not sure of my age. In the summer we had to hoe the cotton fields to remove the weeds. I am not sure which was worse, pulling or chopping.
When I turned 14 I got a real job as a carhop. I think I made 60 cents per hour.
03-22-2011, 03:26 PM
#105
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: So. Calif.
Posts: 286
I lit the stoves in the Sunday school rooms at my church every Sunday. Then kept them burning until the teachers arrived. During the week I would split the wood and pack it to the rooms. I had 21 stoves and the sawdust furnace to heat the sanctuary. Stoves also needed lighting for other events like prayer meetings and pot lucks. This was a great job and paid me $5.00 a week. Listing this job on job applications ended up being worth more than the pay. A good conversation starter.
03-22-2011, 04:29 PM
#106
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Waterloo, IL
Posts: 443
I worked in a dry goods store when I was 16. I worked in the back pricing the merchandise as it came in. In the summer my boss said I had to overcome my shyness so he put me to work as a sales clerk on the floor. He stood right with me to help me. He was so patient and kind. He really helped me to "blossom" that summer. I worked there until I graduated from high school.
03-22-2011, 04:38 PM
#107
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Barnesville GA
Posts: 3,181
Other than babysitting I was a shampoo girl in a salon. Back when a 10 cent tip was a big deal. I think I got paid less than minimum at the time because I get tips. I remember the first time I got a quarter tip I was so excited. LOL
03-22-2011, 05:32 PM
#108
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Posts: 13,214
Originally Posted by cherylynne
Originally Posted by np3
My mom was a phone operator and she got me a job with AT&T as a long distance operator. I was 18 at the time. Did it while I was in college. That was back in the days when you had a big board in front of you and you had these cords to pick up calls when the lights appeared. One cord to answer and one to dial out. Totally cool!!
The more calls you could get up, the faster the hours passed. We collected the money for the first three minutes, timed the call and collected the overtime. The coins were identified by the sound they made as the dropped into the telephone. We would make connections for emergency calls, announce person to person calls and ask for acceptance of collect calls. I don't think that the young adults of today even know there was such a thing as these different kinds of calls. That's OK, because I would never of dreamed of using texting, call waiting or apps.
03-22-2011, 05:58 PM
#109
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 3,955
Originally Posted by np3
My mom was a phone operator and she got me a job with AT&T as a long distance operator. I was 18 at the time. Did it while I was in college. That was back in the days when you had a big board in front of you and you had these cords to pick up calls when the lights appeared. One cord to answer and one to dial out. Totally cool!!
03-22-2011, 06:19 PM
#110
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Woodstock, GA USA
Posts: 1,250
My first job was culling peaches at a peach packing house in middle GA the summer before senior year in high school. I had worked the summer before as a volunteer (candy striper) at a hospital but I don't guess that counts...was only a couple days a week. The packing house was a regular work week and it paid (not a lot by today's standards but for a teenager with no financial responsibilities...wheeee)
Anyway the great thing about the peach culling job was that all my high school friends were there too. And you were allowed to eat all the peaches you wanted as they came by on the belt on the way to the boxes. The first day I ate six peaches.
I haven't been too fond of peaches since then ;-)
Anyway the great thing about the peach culling job was that all my high school friends were there too. And you were allowed to eat all the peaches you wanted as they came by on the belt on the way to the boxes. The first day I ate six peaches.
I haven't been too fond of peaches since then ;-)
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