What was your very first job?

Cutting grass. Came home from school one day in the spring of 6th grade and my father showed me how to cut the grass using the old electric Black & Decker push mower. The next week he showed me how to repair a cut extension cord. The next spring he bought a brand new self propelled Toro 2-stroke mower and matching string trimmer. "Here you go, now go get some customers." I passed out flyers all over the neighborhood. My favorites were the town houses. Getting the whole row was great.Cut 7 houses in 30 minutes and pocket $39.00. By the time I quit, I was cutting about 75 houses a week. I was making about $500 a week. Wore out the Toro over 5 years. Dad bought a Lawn Boy when I went away to college.
 

MADPEBS1

Man, I'm still here !!!
First job that started towards my SS pension Haha, was a busboy at bridgewaye inn, humarock, mass. Would also go out with owner to catch BIG bluefin tuna, fun times..... Got a small cut of the money he got, but was the experience that made it worth it.
 

LtownTaxpayer

Active Member
At 12 years old, I babysat gas pumps for my dad's gas station - 75 cents per hour. At 13 years old, I started babysitting children.
 

Homer J

Power Chord
Worked on my family dairy farm until I was 13. Didn't get paid for it though. When I was 13, we moved to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Got a job the next summer at the Skee Ball arcade handing out prize tickets.
 

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
My brother & I used to pick oranges & avocados from an orchard the city owned and then sell them on the side of the road next to a circle K by our house. Did it every summer and made quite the pretty penny!
 

PsyOps

Pixelated
Paper route at 12, then tobacco fields at 14, which was the hardest job ever!

That! I had a route when I was around 11 or 12. Getting up at 3am, stuffing papers in a bag, going house-to-house on my bike. Get home, eat breakfast, then get ready for school. Winter was brutal. If it snowed too much or ice on the ground, I had to walk it. Then I had to get up about 2am to get it done in time. Kids don't deliver newspapers anymore. Today, adults ride around in cars and shove them in boxes at the street. I'm kind of sad kids are deprived the opportunity to earn money and get that work ethic at a young age.

Also mowed lawns in the summer.
 
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migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
I hung tobacco, and then some, but that was just "chores". Even worked as a mud boy, but I didn't get paid for that either. My first paying gig was cleaning bricks. $0.25 a brick. Worst job ever. I started babysitting for money shortly after that. Then one of the couples I babysat for ran a bed and breakfast and I worked there doing dishes, weeding gardens, scraping paint off the house, cleaning rooms, and even cooking until I was "legal". Then I still worked for them but took a job at McDonald's and another one at Revco (like CVS) as a pharmacy assistant.
 

bilbur

New Member
That! I had a route when I was around 11 or 12. Getting up at 3am, stuffing papers in a bag, going house-to-house on my bike. Get home, eat breakfast, then get ready for school. Winter was brutal. If it snowed too much or ice on the ground, I had to walk it. Then I had to get up about 2am to get it done in time. Kids don't deliver newspapers anymore. Today, adults ride around in cars and shove them in boxes at the street. I'm kind of sad kids are deprived the opportunity to earn money and get that work ethic at a young age.
Also mowed lawns in the summer.

This, my parents made sure I never wanted for something I needed but the stuff I wanted was purchased by me starting at the age of 12. This made me appreciate money and when you spend 8 hours in the hay and tobacco fields in 90 degree weather and bring home $40 you think twice about blowing that money on something stupid. I went to school with a hand full of kids that were handed everything they wanted by their parents and I know a couple of them who have declared bankruptcy, one of them twice. Another one of them still lives off his parents money and is a douche who has a false sense of entitlement. It is my opinion that people don't do their kids any favors by shielding them from a hard days labor.
 

belvak

Happy Camper
First "official" on-the-books job was at a landscape nursery. The owner pulled me from outside work to become a 12-14 hour a day babysitter for their 5 kids! :yikes: I made some really good money that year!
 

getbent

Thats how them b*tch's R
I helped my Aunt after her back surgery for a couple weeks when I was 13, otherwise at 17 I worked at People's Drug Store in Leonardtown.
 

bilbur

New Member
Not to get off topic but I am curious about something, will there be any jobs for 16 to 22 year olds in the future. With the push to raise the minimum wage and people trying to turn what used to be jobs for kids into careers where will the kids work? I am seeing less and less young people working fast food and retail jobs but I know there are a lot of young people in the county, so where are they working?
 

migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
Not to get off topic but I am curious about something, will there be any jobs for 16 to 22 year olds in the future. With the push to raise the minimum wage and people trying to turn what used to be jobs for kids into careers where will the kids work? I am seeing less and less young people working fast food and retail jobs but I know there are a lot of young people in the county, so where are they working?

That's a great question. But I see many of my friends who have teenagers not even encouraging their kids to get jobs, saying they'll have plenty of time for that later. :shrug:

I also know some recent college graduates that are B&M about not getting jobs immediately after graduation. IMHO, they should have already had entry level jobs in their career field. However, these young adults have never held a job in their life and are now expecting a career position that someone needs years of experience to have, to just be handed over to them, because they graduated. :ohwell:
 

bilbur

New Member
That's a great question. But I see many of my friends who have teenagers not even encouraging their kids to get jobs, saying they'll have plenty of time for that later. :shrug:

I also know some recent college graduates that are B&M about not getting jobs immediately after graduation. IMHO, they should have already had entry level jobs in their career field. However, these young adults have never held a job in their life and are now expecting a career position that someone needs years of experience to have, to just be handed over to them, because they graduated. :ohwell:

I do see that as a problem, the young adults think they should start making what their parents took years to make. They are trying to pass over the times of struggle that almost everyone went through to get where they are today. I am just glad I am not in my early 20's trying to figure it all out the way things are now. I do fear for my niece and nephews and what they will have available to them in 10 to 15 years.
 

Agee

Well-Known Member
Besides the usual (grass-cutting-delivering papers) bag boy in the local grocery store (1.75/hr), back then you could walk the groceries out to the customers car or load curbside. Moved through the ranks, stocking shelves, produce, dairy, loading dock, etc. moved-up to "front-end manager", the manager wanted me to quit college and work for the store full-time. No-brainer choice.

Man, had some good times in that place, some juicy stories indeed...
 
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