Your first job???

[AllThatJazzZ]

HAPPY LABOR DAY, Y'ALL!

(Taking the lead from Trump's Cabinet members who have shared their first jobs)

What was your first job? Age? What are some memories of that job? What did you learn from that job?

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My first job was at Shipley Do-Nuts. It was only a couple of blocks from my house, so I walked. Since it was donuts that were sold, I had to be there early in the morning, but the world was safer then, so the only issue about that was getting up early. I've never been that much of a morning person.

This was in the early 60s, so I was 15 or 16 at the time. The guy who made the donuts (Wiley) was probably about 18 or 19. At some point he started flirting with me, which scared me. Not because of him since he made no physical advances. He was the boyfriend of one of my friend's older sister and I was afraid of what she'd do if it got back to her. I pretended that I didn't catch on to his flirty remarks. I figured that was my smartest move. 

Once I learned how to do the filled donuts, I took liberties with the chocolate machine and perfected the technique of filling those puppies with so much chocolate that they ended up totally round. They were a masterpiece. Not a skill I would need later in life, but Wiley was impressed with the end product and would request a couple of made-to-order donuts for him on each shift.

P.S. to Houstonians: Shipley had its start right here in Houston. 1417 Crockett Street

[Cyber Liberty]

Disc Jockey 1973

[DB]

My first job outside of family business was fixing TV's, radios, etc. at 15.

[mountaineer]

Selling souvenirs at Six Flags over Mid-America.

[AllThatJazzZ]

Disc Jockey 1973

@Cyber Liberty

What kind of music? How long? Did this job launch you into your chosen profession?

[mystery-ak]

Carhop at the local teenage hangout...during my Jr and Sr year in High School...I made more in tips then in salary..lol

[mystery-ak]

Selling souvenirs at Six Flags over Mid-America.

Outside of St Louis?...we may have crossed paths..lol

[bigheadfred]

Boxboy when I was thirteen at the local grocery store. I had been yammering for a newfangled ten speed bike and my dad told me to get a job. So I did.

[AllThatJazzZ]

My first job outside of family business was fixing TV's, radios, etc. at 15.

@DB

Given the difference in technology, are you able work on today's TVs, radios, etc?

[AllThatJazzZ]

Carhop at the local teenage hangout...during my Jr and Sr year in High School...I made more in tips then in salary..lol

@mystery-ak

What? Teenagers tipped well?

[DB]

@mystery-ak

What? Teenagers tipped well?

Male customers, beautiful carhop...

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty

What kind of music? How long? Did this job launch you into your chosen profession?

"Middle of the Road" music, like Andy Williams and Percy Faith.  I did that and TeeVee for 15 years or so.  I left that after I got a technical degree and I got a job in R & D for a large Semiconductor company (Motorola).  I worked there for 35 years until I retired in 2018.

[mountaineer]

Outside of St Louis?...we may have crossed paths..lol

Yes, I lived in west St. Louis County at the time.

[DCPatriot]

Paper Boy  for the city's Evening News at 12yrs.

Short-Order flat top grill worker at Greek-owned "Texas Red Hots".  $1.25@hr at 16 (Just 500ft from my front door)

Stock Boy at Park Edge, a Jewish family-owned Supermarket.

[DB]

@DB

Given the difference in technology, are you able work on today's TVs, radios, etc?

Back then you could take apart a TV and make a radio, a transmitter, an audio amplifier, all kinds of things. The components were mostly generic and large with leads that you could hand solder to build new things.

Today the majority of parts are very task specific and very small. So small and densely connected, that many are nearly, if not entirely impossible, to solder by hand.

A young person today cannot experience the basics of how things work using electronic junk lying around and then apply what they learned making new things out of it like we could 30+ years ago.

[DB]

@DB

Given the difference in technology, are you able work on today's TVs, radios, etc?

If the question was am I personally able to work on those things, yes to a degree. Power supply failures are usually the easiest to fix if they use readily available parts. Most mass produced electronic devices have vender specific custom chips that have to come from the manufacturer. Getting the part can cost more money and time than the overall device is worth. So in the trash it goes...

[corbe]

   I was a paper boy for the Houston Chronicle to middle class renters.  I learned there are deadbeats everywhere while collecting.

[Wingnut]

   I was a paper boy for the Houston Chronicle to middle class renters.  I learned there are deadbeats everywhere while collecting.

Paper Boy at age 12.  Collecting was always a chore. Had a few deadbeats on my route.  Most paid at the office so that helped.  Since I picked up my papers at the loading dock by the printing presses I alway snagged a few extra papers to sell on the side.  Picked up a couple bucks selling those a day.

Second Job at 15 was working as a soda jerk at the local dairy.  Fun job.  But your friends always wanted free stuff.

[mystery-ak]

@mystery-ak

What? Teenagers tipped well?

You betcha!...well the boys did...

[DCPatriot]

Paper Boy at age 12.  Collecting was always a chore. Had a few deadbeats on my route.  Most paid at the office so that helped.  Since I picked up my papers at the loading dock by the printing presses I alway snagged a few extra papers to sell on the side.  Picked up a couple bucks selling those a day.

Second Job at 15 was working as a soda jerk at the local dairy.  Fun job.  But your friends always wanted free stuff.

In hindsight, learning to interact with grown-ups outside the family at age 12...13...14, was worth more than a 4 year college degree.

Working the grill after our high school Friday Night Dance at 10-30PM with lines going around the block taught me to multi-task...always with a smile (this was 1962 and Kennedy was still alive)  

[escapeefromtaxachusetts]

Studding tires and pumping gas ( for father's biz) at age 9.
First outside job was hospital orderly at age 16,which I kept for 8 years thru high school, college and part of grad school, though I lasted one day as a clerk at a L'il Peach convenience store. Shift was 3-11 and I was told to clock out at 11 which I did. Then owner says, " we have to mop up and close up" off the clock. I was " nah, if I'm working I'm getting paid", handed him the smock and quit when he told me we don't clock back in and don't get paid to clean up and close up...

[DCPatriot]

Studding tires and pumping gas ( for father's biz) at age 9.
First outside job was hospital orderly at age 16,which I kept for 8 years thru high school, college and part of grad school, though I lasted one day as a clerk at a L'il Peach convenience store. Shift was 3-11 and I was told to clock out at 11 which I did. Then owner says, " we have to mop up and close up" off the clock. I was " nah, if I'm working I'm getting paid", handed him the smock and quit when he told me we don't clock back in and don't get paid to clean up and close up...

ROFL!  Thinking of what a Gen Z might say to that guy today..."RIGHT....  LOL... GTFOH!!!"

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Dishwasher at a bar in town, 1993.

[Sighlass]

I guess Paperboy was a popular starter job... I guess I was 12 or 13 at the time. I had a rough ridge to deliver and had to hike/foot it since the bike was too clumsy/clunky to peddle. Hated when the papers came in late (hold the presses)... cause you had to deliver after/during dusk. Later I was a stock/bag/clean boy at the local Pig (grocery store).

[GtHawk]

I was a busboy at the Knott’s Berry Farm Steakhouse….for two weeks, then they asked me I wanted to work in the kitchen(well it really wasn’t asking). What I learned was it’s a hell of a lot more fun working away from the customers with a boatload of good looking college age girls than bussing tables😁 It really helped that the restaurant managers rarely left their offices.

[Hoodat]

Paperboy at age 11.  Stocking a convenience store beer cooler ar age 13.

[DB]

Paperboy at age 11.  Stocking a convenience store beer cooler ar age 13.

My guess is, very few millennials and later worked at all in their early teens and it shows...

[Cyber Liberty]

My guess is, very few millennials and later worked at all in their early teens and it shows...

This is true!  In Phoenix "paperboy" (and girl) instantly stopped when a papergirl was raped and killed while collecting on her route.  Carrying is now done by adults in cars and collection is done online.

[bigheadfred]

I had to rethink this. I was a paperboy in the summer between fourth and fifth grade up until the heavy snow came and it kinda turned into my mother's job and that was that.

[Bigun]

Went to work for my neighbor (Bill Golden) in 1963 (age14) at his Phillips 66 service station. Got the Social Security records to prove it. Worked there until I got my First Phone license and a job with KILT (610 on your dial) on Lovett Blvd in Houston. I stayed there until my Uncle Sam required my services elsewhere. @AllThatJazzZ 

[Bigun]

Back then you could take apart a TV and make a radio, a transmitter, an audio amplifier, all kinds of things. The components were mostly generic and large with leads that you could hand solder to build new things.

Today the majority of parts are very task specific and very small. So small and densely connected, that many are nearly, if not entirely impossible, to solder by hand.

A young person today cannot experience the basics of how things work using electronic junk lying around and then apply what they learned making new things out of it like we could 30+ years ago.

AMEN! @DB back then you could actually read the color bands on resisters and values on capacitors. Now you can't tell one from the other without high magnification. When I was a kid there were Radio/TV shops everywhere. Those are like buggy whips now.

[Bigun]

In hindsight, learning to interact with grown-ups outside the family at age 12...13...14, was worth more than a 4 year college degree.

Working the grill after our high school Friday Night Dance at 10-30PM with lines going around the block taught me to multi-task...always with a smile (this was 1962 and Kennedy was still alive)  

My HS electronics teacher (Marion Taliaferro Hill) clandestinely taught us from "How to Win Friends and Influence People". That training has proven to be the most valuable I ever received anywhere. @DCPatriot 

[IsailedawayfromFR]

In hindsight, learning to interact with grown-ups outside the family at age 12...13...14, was worth more than a 4 year college degree.

Paperboy at age 10 along South Congress in Austin throwing the Austin American.  Collected wearing this.
Excellent job to begin learning about life as it taught you about money(both costs and revenue), interaction with adults, and everyday to get up at 4:30 am. 

To save costs, I never used rubberbands(except Sundays) as I learned how to fold and throw without them.

[Cyber Liberty]

Went to work for my neighbor (Bill Golden) in 1963 (age14) at his Phillips 66 service station. Got the Social Security records to prove it. Worked there until I got my First Phone license and a job with KILT (610 on your dial) on Lovett Blvd in Houston. I stayed there until my Uncle Sam required my services elsewhere. @AllThatJazzZ 

I had a First Phone too...got it in 1976.

[DCPatriot]

Paperboy at age 10 along South Congress in Austin throwing the Austin American.  Collected wearing this.
Excellent job to begin learning about life as it taught you about money(both costs and revenue), interaction with adults, and everyday to get up at 4:30 am. 

To save costs, I never used rubberbands(except Sundays) as I learned how to fold and throw without them.

Yep!  Wore the same one on my belt!

My route was for the Buffalo Evening News, which arrived at my pickup location between 4:15PM to 5PM.

If I had a 2PM league baseball game, delivered the papers in my uniform.

Collecting was a joy.  Certain customers tipped me to place their paper inside the vestibule and just outside their interior door.

Half the year I was working after sundown.  I was twelve..thirteen.

Today, my parents would be arrested! 

Passed the route on to my younger brother when I took on the other jobs.

[Bigun]

I had a First Phone too...got it in 1976.

That and two $$ will get you a cup of coffee now @Cyber Liberty

[cato potatoe]

I didn't work until college, but took a part time job (full time summer and holidays) as one of the guys on the ramp for a major airline.  It wasn't easy but allowed me to fly all over the planet for free, first class if a seat was open ... and there actually were some open seats back then. 

[mountaineer]

I didn't work for money till age 16, but Mr. M started caddying at the country club at 9 and kept doing it till age 23 - through college and the first year of grad school.

[DCPatriot]

 @AllThatJazzZ   @ all

Is it fair to inject a conversation on how primitive we appear to those young people born into the world of high-speed internet and smartphones.

{{{just kidding}}}

[Cyber Liberty]

That and two $$ will get you a cup of coffee now @Cyber Liberty

It expired years ago after it became a "General Phone."  I had left that business for good.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Yep!  Wore the same one on my belt!

My route was for the Buffalo Evening News, which arrived at my pickup location between 4:15PM to 5PM.

If I had a 2PM league baseball game, delivered the papers in my uniform.

Collecting was a joy.  Certain customers tipped me to place their paper inside the vestibule and just outside their interior door.

Half the year I was working after sundown.  I was twelve..thirteen.

Today, my parents would be arrested! 

Passed the route on to my younger brother when I took on the other jobs.

I passed my route onto my younger brother and then on and on for each of my 5 younger brothers.

Then I later made my son have a route while living in Connecticut at age 10 and he prospered greatly from it.

[Lando Lincoln]

First job?  My brother and I worked in a summer help program at a county park. Spent a lot of our time cleaning and arranging picnic tables.  Rode our Schwinn bicycles a couple miles back and forth. It was good work.

[DB]

It expired years ago after it became a "General Phone."  I had left that business for good.

I thought they were for life?

[Bigun]

It expired years ago after it became a "General Phone."  I had left that business for good.

I'm pretty sure it no longer exists in the FCC.

[Cyber Liberty]

I thought they were for life?

When I was first issued the First Class Radiotelephone License they were for five years and then could be renewed.  I think when they changed to to General Radiotelephone they became in perpetuity, but as @Bigun mentioned, that may no longer exist.   

[Kamaji]

Does delivering newspapers count?

[berdie]

I started babysitting when I was 9 or 10 for neighbors (mom close by). But I had been sitting my baby brothers since they were born. That would certainly not pass muster in today's world. I made 25 cents an hour. In addition to keeping the kids, it included light cleaning, feeding the kids, bathing them and putting them to bed. I would save up that $$ and invariably we would have a family crisis and it would be gone.

So as soon as I could get a SS card I went to work at the Barrel O' Chicken and made in the range of $1.90 an hour. Really big bucks as far as I was concerned.  I learned how to cut up a chicken and not cut off a finger, make a really good breading and excellent fried bread...all deep fried, of course, and cooked from scratched. And most importantly...I learned how to not blow a gasket at rude, stupid customers.  Then on to Kip's Big Boy and made some really big bucks!!

[DCPatriot]

Does delivering newspapers count?

Of course.  Age of 12, you're an Independent Contract with major newspaper.

You get charged X $$ for your weekly drop off.

The advertised cost/rate for daily home delivery is Y   Routes typically were 200-225 single family detached homes with front doors 30ft from the sidewalk easement.

To have an opportunity to run a set of books, cover the responsibility of delivering the newspaper whether rain, shine or in the middle of a too-familiar Buffalo Blizzard. 

To learn those lessons at such an age...priceless!!

[Fishrrman]

Working at a Daitch-Shopwell supermarket just south of the Wilton CT line, summer 1966. Age 16.

Main job was collecting carts in the parking lot. Also "cleanups in aisle xx".

$1.25 an hour. I had cajoled my parents into buying a Vega Pete Seeger model banjo, and needed earn some money to pay them back.

I lasted two months or so.
But I still have the banjo, 59 years later.

[Kamaji]

Of course.  Age of 12, you're an Independent Contract with major newspaper.

You get charged X $$ for your weekly drop off.

The advertised cost/rate for daily home delivery is Y   Routes typically were 200-225 single family detached homes with front doors 30ft from the sidewalk easement.

To have an opportunity to run a set of books, cover the responsibility of delivering the newspaper whether rain, shine or in the middle of a too-familiar Buffalo Blizzard. 

To learn those lessons at such an age...priceless!!

That was me.  Newspapers paid for my first car, a 1971 Plymouth Scamp, green with a green vinyl top, and the 225 slant six.