[e90335e36m3]

Kroger at $5.85/hr back in 2003. The next summer was the YMCA. I had a few screw ups there and I learned I was going to be canned the next day. So, the day before I wrote a "Determination of Resignation" and gave it to my boss and walked out. In my defense I was 17.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by Nuckle

Bagging groceries @ $3.85 an hour. Those were the days!

I was a bagger for a while at a large supermarket. Don't remember which one right now. Ralph's?

Got fired before I could join the union. Refused to cut my hair. Think I was 17. It's about principles. lol

[Kowalski2011]

In HSchool I trimmed Christmas trees in the summer and flipped burgers in the winter. Then after that I worked in a fabrication shop where I painted and loaded structural steel for bridges and buildings. It was a union job and damn if we didn't go on strike! Picket lines and busloads of scabs, the whole nine yards.

Well shortly after that fiasco I joined the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. After 20 years and a wake up, I transitioned to a civilian job where today I manage an imaging department at a rural critical access hospital.

[sygazelle]

Shell station pumping gas and working on cars. Oil changes, fixing tires. $1.25 per hour plus commission on oil and parts sales.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

Shell station pumping gas and working on cars. Oil changes, fixing tires. $1.25 per hour plus commission on oil and parts sales.

Wow, you're old. lol

Minimum wage when I started working was $1.65.

Maybe this should be in the "you know you're old" thread.

[Tommy-G]

My best friend and I worked at Pier One Imports in the stock room during highschool.
We used to climb to the top of the storage racks and hang out on the papason chairs (separately) then we might unpack some candles that mysteriously had chipped edges on them. File claims for damaged stock and for some reason our girlfriends loved collecting these damaged goods

[ElectroThermal]

At 16, started as a cashier at Happy Harry's, a small Del-Mar-Va based pharmacy chain. A few months in, Walgreens came in and bought the chain out - bumping my pay from $6.15/hour to $7.50. With my only expenses being gas and parts for my '94 Accord, I felt like I was living large back then..!

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

Shell station pumping gas and working on cars. Oil changes, fixing tires. $1.25 per hour plus commission on oil and parts sales.

Yeah buddy, Sohio service station @ $2.00/hour.

Full service, pumped gas, checked fluids under the hood, cleaned the windshield all iin between doing oil change and grease jobs, fixing flats and rotating tires.

Did this my senior year of high school and freshman year at college, did this until 10:00pm week nights and midnight on Friday and Saturdays

Wonder if there is any such thing as a full service gas station anymore?

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by SpeedBuggy

Wonder if there is any such thing as a full service gas station anymore?

Every single one of them in the state of New Jersey, where self-serve is still illegal.

At least Oregon finally came to their senses and went self-serve a few years ago.....

[T0RM3NT]

$3.35/hr working for McDonald's in Hawaii back in 1985.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Wow, you're old. lol

Minimum wage when I started working was $1.65.

Maybe this should be in the "you know you're old" thread.

You make a good point. I would have posted it there sooner but I forgot about that job because I am.................old!

[Darth One]

Worked in the back office for this firm that served subpoenas for lawyers. Someone up the chain would receive all the records from the subpoenas, pack them into boxes and dump them off at our door. We would take all the documents (all paper) and organize them into binders, and make as many copies as the attorney requested. Classic trained-monkey work.

We amused ourselves by looking through the files as we were preparing them. The most interesting ones were the traffic fatality cases and the divorce cases (the latter especially if photos from a PI were included)

[3.0L]

I started at the bottom and went downhill from there.

My first "real" job after a paper route was a janitor position at my dad's mom-and-pop TV store. It included some apprentice electronic technician time if I really hustled with my cleaning chores.

Three years into that after school job I was drafted into the US Army. In terms of pay, this was the low point for me. In terms of living conditions, it also the low point (sandbag bunkers, fox holes, etc.).

I returned to my previous job after separation from the Army, except now I was a full-time electronics technician while going to night school. I stuck with this job for a total of 23 years, ending up as half-owner and general manager of the store.

My job peak was the 21 years I spent at our local university as an Equipment Technician. I ended up with multiple (and sometime unrelated) responsibilities, but the overall run was good, plus it set me up for a well-funded retirement.

[jmack]

My first was a paid high school internship at Kodak doing printer testing. If that doesn't count, Walmart in the hardware/paint dept.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by jmack

My first was a paid high school internship at Kodak doing printer testing. If that doesn't count, Walmart in the hardware/paint dept.

If you got paid it counts.

[leopard print]

Goldstein's Bagels in Old Town Pasadena in the mid-90s. So many hot women who came in for a bagel with low fat cream cheese and a coffee.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

... I was drafted into the US Army. In terms of pay, this was the low point for me..

I remember my 1st paycheck in boot-camp. It was a whopping $140!! I thought something was wrong and went to the company commander. He said, nope, that was right for E1 pay. I almost had a heart attack! My car payment was $75!

Even looking at the pay I would have been had I stayed in (probably at least warrant), it would still be a fraction of what I earned as an ATC.

[TJ@AUTOcouture]

Lots of throwbacks in this thread! My first job on the books was with Champ Sports in Willowbrook Mall in NJ. I did that for a year a half selling shoes and helping other locations fix their inventory issues. The best part about this job was the discount, it was 30% all the time and 50% once a month! Seeing what sneakers are reselling for these days makes me wish I had stocked up on all those Jordans back then....

[p0p]

1999 CVS - I still have a philli blunt box from there (its used for my matches and lighter collection)

PartOwner of a Medical IT company

[floridaorange]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I worked on a pig farm for 12 hrs a day on a Saturday from age 12. Part of the gig was shooting rats, which i enjoyed, dodging the massive fucking snakes was always an issue though.

I also worked at Winn Dixie - frozen foods stocking
Chik Fil A - making fries and nuggets
YMCA - 2 of them
Gottschalks - Dept Store selling suits and dress clothes.
Just For Feet - selling shoes
Cafe - washed dishes
GUESS - retail
Abercrombie - retail
Starbucks/Albertsons

I know I'm missing some...

[Maynard]

Aside from paper route, lawnmowing, and an occasional oil change, my first paid job was working telephone soliciting for this fly-by-night group that ran travelling carnivals. Not the cool kind with circus people, but the mobile whirl'n'hurl machines you see at church picnics. The hook was 'for every ticket you buy, a handicapped child gets a free ticket'. We quickly realized it was a scam (there weren't that many handicapped kids in all of upstate NY), and would make our quota by just sending out tickets to people dumb enough to put their mailing address in the phone book (remember phone books?). It did teach me how to deal with unpronounceable weirdly-spelled names without offending the person, which still comes in handy.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by Maynard

It did teach me how to deal with unpronounceable weirdly-spelled names without offending the person, which still comes in handy.

I grew up in San Francisco, so this rang more than a few bells!

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

What was your first [real] job?

Stock Boy & Shipping Clerk, White Duck Clothing Mfg. Co, 15 Minna St, San Francisco, 94103

I started while still a senior in high school. I went to school in the morning and worked in the afternoon. At 4:00 PM, I took the bus across the City to the Polo Fields to get my daily training notes from the track coach and then did my workouts on my own in the freezing fog. Those were the days.