Your First Job

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by JP10

Cleanup in a local butcher shop at 13. Just imagine blood tons of blood on everything, especially the kill room. The blood was the easy stuff to get off, lard was much more time consuming. Only place I could get hired that early. Then a gas station at 15 or 16 with landscaping on the side. Farm at 17 driving an hour each way to work 12+ hrs a day. Fun stuff..

Similar to my career progression. Butcher shop to gas station. My butcher shop wasn't a full slaughterhouse. We got in huge sides of beef and the meatcutters would take it from there. Still had to clean the bandsaws, knifes, floor, etc. We had a huge freezer where the frozen turkeys were stored. Those sucked. They were in boxes, but the boxes would deform and then the stacked frozen turkeys would come tumbling down. Got a few bruises from those. My hands were always nicked from the saw blades, so I hated having to retrieve the corned beef from the brine barrels. Simple rubber gloves would have helped, but using those never occurred to me back then.

[Mason Hatcher]

Paper Route. I was a teenaged (14) entrepreneur. I had to pay my route manager for the papers. He would drop them off daily at my house, and when I got home from school I would roll them. My dad made a device for my 10-speed bicycle that went over the luggage rack and down both sides of the rear wheel that would keep the canvas bag from pushing into the spokes and gears.

On Sunday the papers were too big and would have taken me two or three trips, so I would dump them into the back of our Ford Pinto and sit in the hatch to throw them while my dad drive around the neighborhood. Luckily I didn't have to pay him, so I didn't have to manage HR, Hiring, Payroll, etc.

The rest of the week I would load up the canvas bag, ride the route and throw the papers. Then monthly I had to go around and collect payment.

I also went around at least one evening a week and would ask non-subscribers if they wanted to subscribe, so that I could increase my income.

So I handled Sales, Distribution, Sourcing, Accounts Payable and Billable.

I learned a lot about business from my little paper route, and I am glad I did it.

Second job once I had a license and car (68 Mustang coupe, 289, three speed auto) I worked at the local movie theater. The indoor theaters had one screen. I worked as a ticket taker, usher, and the candy case.

[King_Leonard]

It involved my right hand.
Sorry, I'll see myself out.

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by Watching The World Burn

Glorified busser at 14 or so I believe at a nearby resort, set up conferences in the table format they wanted, A/V equip in the room, set up the snack / coffee stations and then broke everything down again for them when they left (which sometimes was 11pm or so which I hated because I never knew how long I'd be working at night).

But I thought the cash tips were the bomb, get a little packet of cash as tips the next day. Plus, occasionally the conference would leave some good promo gear behind and I'd scoop it up - as a kid I thought it was pretty good.

Plus as a bonus, since I was an employee of the resort I got free golfing and skiing, so that was a win.

That definitely works!

__________

I used to sweep the warehouse at my Dad's business when I was like 7 , but didn't think that counted since I wasn't payed.

[wtwo3]

I was a sophomore in college. The university I went to decided they needed to raise tuition. A classmate of mine, Brenda, in an effort to raise money and stay in school, came up with a nifty plan. She thought she'd date guys and charge them money..... I could make a schedule, provide transportation services. She said she needed my help to make sure that the dates went ok. The guys paid her, she said she'd give me a percentage. I was just trying to help a friend. We started making a lot of money. And wouldn't you know it, some of Brenda's girlfriends decided they wanted to be a part of it. Pretty soon, there were about 14 ladies that I was protecting while they gave me money.

We decided I shouldn't use my real name. So we came up with the name "Gator". Anyway, one day I wake up and I look in the mirror, and I don't like what I see. I mean, I had gotten out of control and I didn't even realize it.

One night, two of my favorite girls, Candy and Jolene, said, "we gotta take you in". They dropped me off at the emergency room. That's where I met Sheila, I was a mess. I made a promise to myself and to her that I would never get out of control again. So as soon as I graduated from college, I became an accountant for the police department. The most stable job I could think of. An accountant for law and order.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

How old were you and what work did you do?

13; throwing a paper route after school let out.

Originally Posted by Mason Hatcher

Paper Route. I was a teenaged (14) entrepreneur.

Then monthly I had to go around and collect payment.

How did your route manager's bosses handle who paid for the papers delivered to deadbeats?

My paper made me pay for the cost of those papers. I stopped throwing after having too many of those "customers".

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

I was a sophomore in college. The university I went to decided they needed to raise tuition. A classmate of mine, Brenda, in an effort to raise money and stay in school, came up with a nifty plan. She thought she'd date guys and charge them money..... I could make a schedule, provide transportation services. She said she needed my help to make sure that the dates went ok. The guys paid her, she said she'd give me a percentage. I was just trying to help a friend. We started making a lot of money. And wouldn't you know it, some of Brenda's girlfriends decided they wanted to be a part of it. Pretty soon, there were about 14 ladies that I was protecting while they gave me money.

We decided I shouldn't use my real name. So we came up with the name "Gator". Anyway, one day I wake up and I look in the mirror, and I don't like what I see. I mean, I had gotten out of control and I didn't even realize it.

One night, two of my favorite girls, Candy and Jolene, said, "we gotta take you in". They dropped me off at the emergency room. That's where I met Sheila, I was a mess. I made a promise to myself and to her that I would never get out of control again. So as soon as I graduated from college, I became an accountant for the police department. The most stable job I could think of. An accountant for law and order.

You can't have a conscious in the pimp game

[UncleWede]

I started helping mom do janitor work for "mad money" at my dad's office, around 9 or 10 probably.
Then I got a paper route. Anyone else black out on Thanksgiving papers with all the black Friday ads? Biggest paper I ever had to deliver.
Collecting was a pain, but lead to some extra, lucrative $$ when I started taking my book and knocking on the doors of people who needed to be process served by my dad. He'd give me a cut of the service fee.
Next came dishes at the yacht club, and painting during the summers.

All the manual labor lead me to stay in school and get an ejimkashun, so I could sit around inside and play with computers.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by dradernh

13; throwing a paper route after school let out.


How did your route manager's bosses handle who paid for the papers delivered to deadbeats?

My paper made me pay for the cost of those papers. I stopped throwing after having too many of those "customers".

I stood in front of a supermarket at a shopping center after school and sold newspapers. Was my last year in elementary school.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by Esteban

I stood in front of a supermarket at a shopping center after school and sold newspapers. Was my last year in elementary school.

Smart move getting paid at the time of delivery!

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Smart move getting paid at the time of delivery!

TBH, it was so long ago I don’t remember how I got paid. The most important part of the job and I can’t remember. lol

PS - you know you’re old when…

[OtoPA]

Summer jobs during HS were, auto paint shop - remove trim, sand and wet sand; gas and tire shop. Helped calabash uncle and auntie on occasional weekends in Waimanalo at Mel's Market. Joined AF at 17 with parents sig.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Esteban

I stood in front of a supermarket at a shopping center after school and sold newspapers. Was my last year in elementary school.

Me too, super market. It had wood floors. During Christmas, they played the same Christmas music over and over and over and over. I think I experienced my first music worm. I couldn't that music out of my head for years!

[Germanauto]

In undergrad I worked at Abercrombie

Judge me however you see fit loll

[2008M36MT]

Bagging groceries at the local market. $5.75 per hour.

[cpt]

In college, designed and maintained girlfriend's (now wife) Dad's small business website. Back then, Flash was still a thing (yikes)

[Mason Hatcher]

Originally Posted by dradernh

13; throwing a paper route after school let out.


How did your route manager's bosses handle who paid for the papers delivered to deadbeats?

My paper made me pay for the cost of those papers. I stopped throwing after having too many of those "customers".

I was basically an independent contractor. Collection was my problem. My dad went with me to a couple of deadbeats. No threats, just an empassioned, "why would you cheat a kid"? I remember most paid then. The few who didn't, I stopped delivering.

My route manager got into the habit of shorting me on the quantity of papers I needed for the size of my route. I learned that he stocked the local machines too, so when he would short me I'd go to a machine, pay for one and take the number I needed. I tried the official channels, calling his boss at the newspaper, but that seldom worked.

[Jbrown7403]

Age 16 was my first job at Burger King in 1982. Could never get the burger grease smell out of those damn polyester uniforms. I lasted the summer at that job and didn’t eat at Burger King again for about 10 years.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Jbrown7403

Age 16 was my first job at Burger King in 1982. Could never get the burger grease smell out of those damn polyester uniforms. I lasted the summer at that job and didn’t eat at Burger King again for about 10 years.

I had a live-in girlfriend who worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was young (16-18) and she’d come home in that cute little uniform smelling like chicken. She worked at night and we didn’t have much money at the time and she would bring KFC home and we had it for dinner more times than I want to admit. I got sick of it and it would be many years before I could eat it again.

[UncleWede]

Esteban playing the field !!! For KFC!!!!

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Esteban playing the field !!! For KFC!!!!

I like me some thighs and breasts.

Finger licking good!

[mthused]

When I was 16, my first real job was delivering prescriptions for a local independent pharmacy along with other misc shop-related jobs (register sales, restocking, etc).

Fun fact- that's where I first learned how to drive with a manual transmission in the Volkswagen bug that belonged to the boss. This was in an area with LOTS of steep hills, so I learned fast on the first day! Managed not to kill the clutch...

There were always lots of deliveries- this was an area that had quite a few older people that liked the (free) service.