Early Jobs - Starting out in the workforce

[Steppenwolfe]

Farm hand; harvesting sweet potatoes, hauling hay, running combine, driving truck, fixing fence, etc. Construction; laying sanitary sewer, laying asphalt, building demolition, moving and filling RR cars with sand; Grocery clerk/asst. manager: checking, stocking, night manager. House Painter. Then; COLLEGE GRAD.!

WOW... How did you find time to court Sharn Jean ???

 

[shooterdon]

First real job was stocking grocery shelves and stuffing bags at a Loblaws store in Toronto. Made $1/hr. That was 53 years ago. Remember taking breaks at the Woolworth store next to it. Both are long gone.

 

[ArlyA]

My earlier job was a marine mechanic. RR carman (welder), energy patch repairs (welder), built digger/derrick booms for a company then called Telelect and welded there.. Nothing very exciting.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

WOW... How did you find time to court Sharn Jean ???

:laughing::laughing::laughing: She had the money, and she came after me! She was only 12, but what could I do? Fifty seven years later, I'm kinda glad she did. Thanks Wolfman, for my laugh of the day!

 

[Gunny]

I started out as a bus boy at the local Greyhound stopover, did that for a few months then sat down one day and thought about what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I couldn't come up with anything that remotely sounded what I wanted to do, so I thought I'd join the Army for 4 years to give me more time to think about it.
Wound up spending a total of 24 years in service, then on to a police dispatcher, later on to deputy sheriff.

My only real regret is that I should have done 30 years in the Army, I loved that life and especially enjoyed the soldiers I worked with and for.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I started at 10 years old, pulling weeds in the seed rice fields. Did that and all farm work for about 10 years until I graduated college. After college, my first job was working for LSU at the Rice Research station, doing research on rice fertilization. Then I was farm manager at the University of Louisiana research and demonstration farm.

At about age 27, I went to work for a large farm supply company dispatching trucks for about 5 years, then as manager of one of their locations for about another 10 years.

At age 43, (I'm 59 now) I started my own business mowing lawns and doing small landscape jobs. That business has now evolved into construction and maintenance of athletic fields and a little work on golf courses, and we also now sell 3 lines of highly specialized equipment for athletic and golf turf.

 

[oosik]

Summers between my Junior/Senior years in High School. Worked for the Forrest Service. Actually got to fight fires A FEW TIMES. Mostly bucking up firewood for forest service lookouts and camp sites. Summers while in college - biologist for Alaska Dept of Fish & Game. After graduation from college - Regional Biologist for the Alaska Dept of Fish & Game & then, Director of Environmental Health in Anchorage.

 

[shovelmike]

Restaurant busboy during high school. A few Summers doing light mechanic work and new equipment setup for Ford Tractor dealer. After graduation, Ford Tractor parts warehouse as Summer job to finance college, turned into a 32 year career with transfer to Ford truck assembly as Ford got out of the tractor business.

 

[desertdog71]

First job with a paycheck instead of under the table. I cleaned ashtrays, picked up beer cans, and cleaned up around a bowling alley. Later learned to work on pinsetters, worked the desk etc. Moved on to restaurant jobs, eventually manager. Drove truck for 13 years over the road, now I fly cargo planes full of rubber dog **** out of Hong Kong. It's been a journey for sure, and I don't regret a thing.

 

[s219]

I worked in my dad's construction business from about age 10 through age 21. Started doing the dirty jobs, stuff you wouldn't dream of sending a kid to do nowadays, like going up into a hot attic to lay down fiberglass insulation. My dad gave me a pair of his old army fatigues, goggles, and a cotton face mask, which I suppose was better protective gear than typical for the time. I still feel itchy when I think of doing those jobs.

At some point I graduated to trim work and finish work, and one of my favorite jobs was installing trim, doors, fixtures, and hardware in a finished home (I was a whiz at hinges and door knobs around age 12, and thought it was fun). Eventually I learned every aspect of building a home and commercial construction, and years later it would serve me well. I took a mostly hands-off approach when my wife and I used a general contractor to build two homes decades later, but being able to double-check stuff, take on certain jobs, correct minor issues, and know how to talk/interact with the subcontractors as equals was great. I made great friends with those guys instead of the typical "customer" interactions you see all the time when building a home.

In retrospect, one interesting thing is that I learned how to *do* all that stuff back then when I was a kid, but didn't necessarily *understand* why we did it that way or think about if there was a different or better way. As I age and tackle many new building projects on our property, now I spend more time understanding things and it really is illuminating. For instance, when I cut roof rafters now, I think about the bearing area of the birds mouth on the header, how the rafter attaches to the ridge, how different species of lumber affect load and deflection, how to properly attach rafters to handle wind loads (no more toe-nailing like the old days), etc..., and there is a lot more to it than I ever grasped as a kid.

The other important job was from age 17-21, while I was at college. My work study job was in the engineering school machine shop. Started out cleaning off the machines at night, mopping the floor, and general maintenance. By junior year I was fabricating stuff and the head machinist took me under his wing and trained me. At one point he told me I should be a machinist instead of an engineer, which I thought was silly at the time, but realize now it was high praise from a machinist. I loved that job, especially the feeling that I could make anything out of metal and fix anything. For years after I left college, I lamented that I no longer had ready access to a lathe and Bridgeport, and felt crippled without them. Occasionally I would get a chance to get on a machine and was in heaven. I don't really have a need for those machines anymore, but one of my goals when I retire is to have a lathe and Bridgeport so I can tinker.