Early Jobs - Starting out in the workforce

[RandyT]

My first paying job was when I was 13 and when I wasn't in school due to holidays or snow days, I would work the local chicken houses when they removed the old laying hens and replaced them with new pullets. We would remove the chickens from their cages and then put them into rolling cages that was loaded onto tractor trailers and then went to Campbell's Soup. So I was a 13 year old kid making $8-10 cash an hour from 1981-86. If you wanted to impress the boss and guarantee an call back for the next job, willingly without being asked to retrieve the loose birds from the black soup manure pits from under the cages. When you would pull them out they would throw that stuff all over you with their beating wings. I could grab one of those out of a pit and I would then put them into somebodies cage. Most people would make it a point to stay out of my way.

Joined the military at 18. served 4 years, and then went to college. graduated and then worked in my field of study for 4 years until I was laid off. Took that opportunity to start my own business working on lawn equipment 22 years ago.

 

[turnkey4099]

Farm hand working summerfallow mostly dawn to dusk, 6 days a week. $7 a day plus found (bed and board). Was driving 2 ton trucks during harvest at age 15.

 

[RalphVa]

I worked as a busboy/server for a sorority once. Later worked as busboy and in kitchen for James Garner's aunt who raised him (he's an OU grad); her and his names were Bumgarner.

One summer I ran a go kart track on Lake Texoma. I lived in a tent right at the track and bathed in the lake at night. Maintained the go karts as well as conducted the rides, usually hiring an assistant kid. Got to drive a racing go kart once one night (eventually full bore with the rear wheels hanging straight out, spinning away and steering wheel full lock the opposite direction to point the thing out of the curves).

Another summer, I worked as a roustabout in the oil fields. All kinds of work, including drilling and pulling of drill pipe, etc.

Finally worked as a chemical process engineer for my 31 year career in the lube oil industry (Group I solvent refined oils).

Ralph

 

[MossRoad]

If we're talking about firsts "any" jobs, my first paying job was at age 14 picking garbage at an RV show in the University of Notre Dame's parking lot in the hot summer for 2 weeks. We'd go in at 6:00am and pick up trash and empty the garbage cans. Had to be out by 10. I was so small back then that I didn't have the height to lift trash barrels over the edge of the dumpster train. So these big farm boys would grab me and lift me up over the edge so I could dump them. :laughing:

What I remember most about that was this:

RV salespeople seem to love Kentucky Fried chicken.... and so do maggots! I'd never seen that many maggots in that many trash cans for so many days!

 

[bunyip]

Before leaving school I had a paper round then was a choirboy (that brings a few laughs now) then got a job with a local licensed thief washing cars ready for the sales lot, didn't last long there then worked in a TV repair shop fixing TV's on the road with one of the techs.
I then got an apprenticeship at 15 with a manufacturing industrial electronics company that built spec equipment for anyone, at the time we were making sewearge testing machines that sampled what was going through at specific intervals, one of my early tasks was installing the action end of these because a. I was a skinny little sod who fit in a manhole easily and b. no one else wanted to do it.
I left the UK at 16 and finished off my apprenticeship in the RAAF working on radar and weapons guidance systems as well as experimental GPS in around 1968, spent some time in Vietnam and Antarctica, bit of a contrast, got a Commission and went to supply and became a friend with a Dr (same rank as me) who got me interested in Psychology.
Got out in 1970 and went and got a Psych degree then spent almost 20 years in prisons in forensic psych.

 

[/pine]

I did a lot of catching (some people call it fishing )...by the time I was 9 or 10 I could make more money selling fish and other seafood to the local market than I could mowing lawns for neighbors...

Every day before school my mom would give me lunch money and bait money (used to buy candy and caught my own bait)...She would also supply me with written missed school excuse notes with a blank space for me to fill in the date...She knew we would skip school every now and then and she did not want us to lose credit...

 

[Doofy]

1969 (a very good year too) fresh out of High School, started pumping gas and repairing truck tires @ $2.50 per hour. We were "Full Service" and boy, did I enjoy washing those windshields of those Hippy Chicks passing thru.

 

[windy acers]

Aug 21 after high school started a 40 year union printing career in the bindery. Made 2 million TV GUIDE BOOKS per week plus many other jobs tiffany p+g, many annual reports, catholic digest, the KISS BOOK, HARLEY, SHOP SMITH, car showroom books just to name a few.Made collage graduate money right out of high school! retired at 57 years old.

 

[MossRoad]

Aug 21 after high school started a 40 year union printing career in the bindery. Made 2 million TV GUIDE BOOKS per week plus many other jobs tiffany p+g, many annual reports, catholic digest, the KISS BOOK, HARLEY, SHOP SMITH, car showroom books just to name a few.Made collage graduate money right out of high school! retired at 57 years old.

Which printing company? I worked at a newspaper for 30 years. We'd get ads from all over the country trucked in. Always found it amazing what other printed items were on the trucks besides our ads. Magazines, catalogs, etc...

 

[hawkeye08]

Grew up on irrigated farm, ~600 acres. Lots of changing irrigation pipes (handlines), later some wheel lines. Mainly grew wheat and alfalfa, but when young, we had sugar beets, we had to thin and weed them, never did do as good a job as the hired man and his family.

When attending college in Arizona, First job outside of farming was at Sears manning the gas station (6 islands, full service, one attendant most of the time, pumped gas, cleaned windshields, checked oil, even air pressure if asked). Also worked as busboy at restaurant (ate main meal at work free)..

It seemed like being on vacation (going to school full time, working two jobs) compared to farming. I didn't have to get up until 6am and was usually done by 10pm.

 

[RalphVa]

1969 (a very good year too) fresh out of High School, started pumping gas and repairing truck tires @ $2.50 per hour. We were "Full Service" and boy, did I enjoy washing those windshields of those Hippy Chicks passing thru.

Yeah, I worked for my father in his service station through HS. Enjoyed washing some of those windshields, too, but cleaning the women's (the worst) restrooms was not pleasant. On Sundays, Dad would let me open up and take all the profits. Fixed a lot of flats Sunday afternoons.

Ralph

 

[lman]

When I was 14 years old, I started helping farmers baling hay. I did that for about 3 summers. They began paying me $2/hr. One farmer was not happy when I was not available because of helping a different farmer. He then started paying me $5/hr. I didn't need football practice to get in shape after handling about 10,000 bales in hot, humid weather. It didn't upset me much when they started going to round bales, since I was ready to move on to something else.

 

[mapper]

First job was strawberry picking about 9 years old, made $12.40 that first year, probably ate another 10-25% of that! Did that adding beans and raspberries to my resume until I built a small customer base of lawnmowing jobs in my early teens. Went to work for a greenhouse farm when I got my driver's license. After high school graduation I worked summers at a pulp mill while in college. Graduated with an AA in forestry, spent several years in temporary jobs in and out of forestry. Went to work on a survey crew for Wash. DNR. Later transferred to photogrammetry office. Moved from DNR to WSDOT photogammetry after 10 years. Retired as photogrammetry manager 4 years ago.
You asked....

 

[ArlyA]

You guys who worked on farms reminded me that that's where I came from. I earlier only listed my jobs after HS. About 1/2 my family is in the AG business today and I can not recall when I started operated machinery on our farm. In Junior high, I was operating combines but we should note, this is not usual for the AG industry. In high school I owned and ran a New Holland round baler for $$.

 

[Cub 7274]

My uncles farm for 3 yrs 73-76 then the RR for 36 yrs now pension

 

[windy acers]

Which printing company? I worked at a newspaper for 30 years. We'd get ads from all over the country trucked in. Always found it amazing what other printed items were on the trucks besides our ads. Magazines, catalogs, etc...

I WORKED WITH THE SAME UNION PEOPLE AS THE CINCINNATI ENQUERIER AT ROSENTHAL IN BLUE ASH OHIO. TV GUIDE WAS PRODUCED BY AS MANY AS 15 COMMERCIAL PRINTING COMPANIES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY WITH ALL DATA FOR THE NEWSPRINT SECTION BEING TRANSMITTED START PRINTING ON THURSDAY. THE REST OF THE COLOR AND INSERTS BEING SHIPPED IN DURING THE WEEK MOSTLY FROM RANDAR PENNSYLVANIA. TV GUIDE HAD AS MANY AS 22 SEPARATE PEACES BEING GATHERED INTO A PERFECT BINDER(GLUE BACKBONE) IN STRIPS OF TWO BOOKS AT 12,000 PER HOUR X2. WITH INLINE INKJET MAILING STACKING AND SHRINK WRAPED.WE WOULD FINISH UP ON MONDAYS. IT WAS A 6 DAY WEEK PLUS ALL THE OVERTIME YOU COULD STAND. MANY MANY SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS. 2.2 MILION A WEEK!!!! MOST COWORKERS HAD A FARMING BACKGROUND.

 

[MossRoad]

I WORKED WITH THE SAME UNION PEOPLE AS THE CINCINNATI ENQUERIER AT ROSENTHAL IN BLUE ASH OHIO. TV GUIDE WAS PRODUCED BY AS MANY AS 15 COMMERCIAL PRINTING COMPANIES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY WITH ALL DATA FOR THE NEWSPRINT SECTION BEING TRANSMITTED START PRINTING ON THURSDAY. THE REST OF THE COLOR AND INSERTS BEING SHIPPED IN DURING THE WEEK MOSTLY FROM RANDAR PENNSYLVANIA. TV GUIDE HAD AS MANY AS 22 SEPARATE PEACES BEING GATHERED INTO A PERFECT BINDER(GLUE BACKBONE) IN STRIPS OF TWO BOOKS AT 12,000 PER HOUR X2. WITH INLINE INKJET MAILING STACKING AND SHRINK WRAPED.WE WOULD FINISH UP ON MONDAYS. IT WAS A 6 DAY WEEK PLUS ALL THE OVERTIME YOU COULD STAND. MANY MANY SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS. 2.2 MILION A WEEK!!!! MOST COWORKERS HAD A FARMING BACKGROUND.

Ha! I toured the Cincinnati Enquirer printing plant in Cincinnati looking at packaging equipment and conveyor systems back in the early 90's.

I have family in Sharonville.

Small world.

 

[mark02tj]

First job was a paper route from ages 11-15. Forty years later I still say it was the hardest job I ever had. Seven days a week in ALL weather. The first day I had my route was April 3, 1974 - a day that had tornadoes throughout the Midwest. One of the worst was the "Xenia Tornado" that hit around 4:30 in the afternoon - right as I was getting started. Xenia was just a few miles west of us and all I could hear while I was on my route was the sound of sirens heading over that way. I also delivered during the blizzard of '78.

If we went on a family vacation, I had to hire a sub to carry the papers. That came out of my pocket. And if the sub messed up, you caught heck from your customers. If you were sick, oh well - people still wanted their afternoon paper.

Went from there to learning to repair lawn mowers (a guy on my route repaired them out of his garage) and then on to a sandpaper factor and into a tool & die shop. Went back to college in '83 and got an accounting degree. Worked for a few years after graduation with one of the international accounting firms (PriceWaterhouse-Coopers) and then started my own firm with a friend. Transitioned out of traditional accounting and tax work into accounting systems consulting which is what I'm still doing today (when I'm not on TBN or GTT :laughing.

 

[bunyip]

First job was a paper route from ages 11-15. Forty years later I still say it was the hardest job I ever had. Seven days a week in ALL weather.

That's why I joined the church choir, it paid more than a paper round and you got to stay inside, if you got lucky you could get two weddings on a Saturday and that was like a lotto win for us, normal routine wasmorning and afternoon service on Sunday and a midweek choir practice which went for about two hours, for this we got about $2 a week and a wedding was another $1, big money back then, when I started my apprenticeship I got about $10 a week full time.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

First job? Paper route as a kid then I was in a magnet porogram where we learned how to remodel houses. That turned into a pile of life skills. After an early graduation, I went into Army aviation for AH1s but mostly worked on UH1s.
Then I went to Dunwoody for a two-year associates degree working as an auto-tech while going through business school.
Did that until I broke my back motorcycling (but could still feel my toes) and fell into business to business selling computers and networks and it was a great way for a younger person to earn a living!
Eventually, I became a sales manager, but then Y2K came along and broke that business model, so I went back to school majoring in pastoral studies.
Realized I don't suffer fools and so I didn't become a pastor, but kept that kind of thing as a hobby.
Taught myself investing, day trading, options, and basically how markets work and then I fell into real estate and eventually got my broker license.
Roll forward, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up but I continue to dabble in real estate and enjoy making YouTube videos.