First "Paying" job.

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thavoice
Posts: 14,376
Jan 18, 2012 9:33am
How old were you when you got your first paying job?
I am not really talking about mowing the lawn for you or grandparents and such where you could just do it within a window of a few days, but like a job where you got paid by someone that wasnt family and such.


I was in 5th and 6th grade when the AD of our school asked me and 2 buddies to be the chain gang at the jr hi, frosh and jV games. Had to put the yard markers out before the game, take them down, and do the chains during the game. So I guess I was around 11-12 maybe?
$3 a game plus season tix to the varsity season.

So..kind of a job where you had to be there on certain times an d days.

Just wondering because trying to instill a value of working and earning your own money to my stepdaughter who just doesnt see the value in doing any work because she feels her grandpa will just keep giving her money.
ernest_t_bass's avatar
ernest_t_bass
Posts: 24,984
Jan 18, 2012 9:37am
Construction on the 7th grade. Mowed a few lawns in the 5th grade. Paper route in the 4th/5th/6th grade. Pizza delivery in HS. Do those count?
justincredible's avatar
justincredible
Posts: 32,056
Jan 18, 2012 9:39am
I worked a couple days a week one summer for my uncle's father-in-law. He was a farmer. Mainly I just helped bale hay and sometimes have sex with his sheep. The pay was bad but the sheep made up for it.

I worked with my grandpa, as well, but that was unpaid. He was also a farmer and worked in the oil fields. I loved spending summers working with him.
T
thavoice
Posts: 14,376
Jan 18, 2012 9:41am
Yeah. Those count. I guess I am just ruling out like mowing parents/grandparents/elderly neighbors lawn because I think most of us have mowed lawns for $$ at a pretty young age, and was ruling those out because those typically a 'chore' that many of us have done and it really isnt a job you have to do at a certain time. You can do that, for the most part, at your leisure when you have the time.



The rest sounds legit.
T
thavoice
Posts: 14,376
Jan 18, 2012 9:43am
justincredible;1056906 wrote:I worked a couple days a week one summer for my uncle's father-in-law. He was a farmer. Mainly I just helped bale hay and sometimes have sex with his sheep. The pay was bad but the sheep made up for it.

I worked with my grandpa, as well, but that was unpaid. He was also a farmer and worked in the oil fields. I loved spending summers working with him.
I bailed once. We were out there for over 10 hours in the intense heat and we got 30 bucks......for the 3 of us so we pretty much thought a buck an hour wasnt worth it.
said_aouita's avatar
said_aouita
Posts: 8,532
Jan 18, 2012 9:45am
First I remember was working for a farm in Champaign county around Junior High, Freshman year of HS. Everything from baling hay, picking up rocks, shooting ground hogs, feeding and or loading hogs, calves.....normal no-frills farm stuff.
Commander of Awesome's avatar
Commander of Awesome
Posts: 23,151
Jan 18, 2012 9:49am
In the fourth grade I worked at a haunted house for a friend's parents. got a job delivering door stores once a month in 5th grade or so for about a yr. Then got my first legit job when I was 15 to save for a car.
OneBuckeye's avatar
OneBuckeye
Posts: 5,888
Jan 18, 2012 9:50am
Dad stopped paying me under the table and put me on the farm payroll in JR high so he could do better on his taxes.
j_crazy's avatar
j_crazy
Posts: 8,372
Jan 18, 2012 9:51am
Worked on a tomatoes farm every summer from 11-15.
F
fan_from_texas
Posts: 2,693
Jan 18, 2012 9:53am
When I was 12, I baled hay for $2/hr. That was terrible.
Belly35's avatar
Belly35
Posts: 9,716
Jan 18, 2012 9:53am
I was 9 years old we where poor. In the summer I pick berries at Miller Berry Farm strawberries was 7 cent a quart and blackberries was 10 cent a quart. Berry picking started at 5:30 in the morning till noon.
I was premoted to driving tractor, plowing, planting, baling hay, corn picking and cutting. Hard work but the pay was better I think it was $1.20 per hour work 10-12 per day.

When school started I would go to school 2 or 3 day a week and then work the other days up till winter then just go to school.
Little Danny's avatar
Little Danny
Posts: 4,288
Jan 18, 2012 9:54am
I worked in a 5 star restaurant/hotel washing dishes, scrubbing pots and pans and mopping the floor. All of the chefs were European and were total d-bags (especially the French). It was very tough work and I really did not enjoy it very much.
M
MontyBrunswick
Jan 18, 2012 9:56am
I am going to go against the grain and say I was 18 or 19 before I got my first "big boy" job.
F
Fred Flintstone
Posts: 366
Jan 18, 2012 10:00am
My first "job" started in 8th grade and lasted througout HS, I delivered the Columbus Dispatch. Great job for a kid in HS that played sports.
J
jmog
Posts: 6,567
Jan 18, 2012 10:01am
Junior high, ran the scoreboard and kept score for the boys and girls basketball games. I think it was $5/gm. I got $10/gm in HS for basketball games.
se-alum's avatar
se-alum
Posts: 13,948
Jan 18, 2012 10:01am
I was 16. Worked at a local gas station the summer between Junior and Senior year of highschool. My parents didn't make me work as long as I kept good grades in school. I only worked at the gas station because my buddy worked there and the owner liked his alcohol, so we pretty much got free reign of the place.
LJ's avatar
LJ
Posts: 16,351
Jan 18, 2012 10:09am
Like 13. Was a trap boy at the local gun club.
J
justcompete
Posts: 263
Jan 18, 2012 10:37am
When I was 9 yrs old, I was the shower boy at Penn St. for coach Sandusky.
FatHobbit's avatar
FatHobbit
Posts: 8,651
Jan 18, 2012 10:41am
I was a dish washer. Didn't get paid a lot, but had a lot of fun.
Fab4Runner's avatar
Fab4Runner
Posts: 6,196
Jan 18, 2012 10:42am
Aside from babysitting, I worked at a book factory the summer after I graduated HS. I was 18.
hasbeen's avatar
hasbeen
Posts: 6,504
Jan 18, 2012 11:59am
I was 16 when I became a bus boy at outback steakhouse.

I had just driven home from my girlfriends and my mom ran out as soon as I got home. My sister (she served at outback) had called saying they needed somebody.

I got forced into a job. I like being the spoiled baby of the family.
sleeper's avatar
sleeper
Posts: 27,879
Jan 18, 2012 12:03pm
I got my first job on my 16th birthday. I worked at a restaurant cleaning tables.

$6/hr + about $20 a night in cash tips. I made really good money working only 2 nights per week. I then would go after work and win $20-30 a night playing poker.
martyirish's avatar
martyirish
Posts: 490
Jan 18, 2012 12:11pm
paper route in the 6th grade, had that for three years. Gave it up once I started high school.
Should of kept it until I finished. $50.00 a month in the late 70's early 80's was good money for a pre teen and teen. plus at Christmas tips were over $100
McFly1955's avatar
McFly1955
Posts: 1,441
Jan 18, 2012 12:12pm
13 or 14 for me --- working at a bowling lane coaching/supervising the after school elementary kids...paid $10 an hour for 6 hours a week
End of Line's avatar
End of Line
Posts: 6,867
Jan 18, 2012 12:19pm
From the ages of 12-17 I would bale hay in the summer. I got paid $10 and hour but it sucked.