What was your very first job?

[Chute]

My first job was delivering ice at age 12. I was paid a penny a bag my first year. We’d load up a truck with 2000 bags and It would take the whole day to clear $20. Biggest day was the 4th of July when we delivered 4300 bags. I did this from Memorial Day to Labor Day (late May to early September for those outside the USA) 7 days a week all summer. It was probably the hardest I’ve ever worked. I did this several summers until I got to college.
My first car at 17 cost me 45,000 bags of ice.

During the school year I sacked groceries for minimum wage ($3-4/hr) I took that job soon after leaving my worst job (frying chicken at KFC). I only lasted two weeks at KFC.
I still have tremendous respect for those who work fast food.

[Rebel]

Mowed lawns until I was 15. At 15, began sacking groceries at one of our local grocery stores. My favorite aunt worked there and got me the job. Stayed there til I shipped off for boot camp (for Army Reserves) at 18 during the summer before college.

[Yobber76]

At 11 years old, circa 1965, i cleaned the offices of a small company that made mustard on Saturdays, and had a local newspaper route on Wednesdays. The paper route paid nothing, unless you could sell tickets for a cash raffle that the paper sponsored. Winning numbers were in the paper every week. Made you hustle, taught you about customer service and treating people well. Between the 2 jobs I made over $1000 cash per year. From that time on if I wanted something, I planned and bought it myself. You should have seen me in my nehru jacket, paisley pants and Beatle boots at 12. What a dork, but the experiences lasted a lifetime.

[Porscheconvert]

Mowed grass in the trailer park at age 10. $4 mow only, corner lot was $7. I had 1 employee named James, who I paid $3 and $6. At 45, we are still friends...and he's still mad I paid him slave labor wages. I remind him this was capitalism at its finest...no one put a gun to his head and made him mow. :)

No surprise that I chose sales and he chose operations as career path.

[jatco]

Originally Posted by thomlad54

Newspaper delivery. NY Daily News in the morning, Long Island Press (now defunct) in the afternoon after school

.
Lived in the neighborhood..??Those were the papers on my route. Did the LI Press 6 days a week. We had to go around and collect the dues back then too...Ugh. Was always a challenge on Saturdays...

[rezky100]

22, selling server hardware.. Oh god, been looked down so many times. Luckily managed to get out of it.

[Kyle3130]

Originally Posted by Spartacus

Lawn mowing age ~12-13. Neighbor was a Fire Chief and didn’t have time to mow his large lawn. Took about 2 hours and he loaned me the ride-on mower. I pretended I was driving a race car so it was a win-win.

Similar story here.

At 13, a family friend of ours owned a few undeveloped commercial lots. My dad would drop me off on Saturday morning and he would meet me there with his Ford tractor that had a 6’ deck on the back. He would tell me what speed to run the tractor at based on the height of the grass and paid me $12 an hour to cruise along until I was done and to avoid any obstacles.

[mailman]

Originally Posted by jatco

.
Lived in the neighborhood..??Those were the papers on my route. Did the LI Press 6 days a week. We had to go around and collect the dues back then too...Ugh. Was always a challenge on Saturdays...

I used to collect the paper dues on a Sunday afternoon. Most were home watching football so I knew I'd get my money

[MrEleven]

I was around 10 and my older cousin talked me into doing a Saturday shift at the local driving range. We picked up baskets of golf balls for i want to say around 6 am until 9am got payed £1 and a milky way chocolate bar lol i did one shift and that was me.

[mrscuderia]

Local go kart track at the age of 14.. By far still the most dangerous job I ever did LOL

[teqp]

My first 'job' was sweeping up old ladies hair off the floor of my mother and her friend's salon during the summer months. As a side job, some of the old ladies wanted cigarettes, so they would pay me to go across the street to pick up some smokes from the liquor store. The first time they asked me to do it, they gave me a note to give to the cashier. After that, he knew me and I had no problem getting smokes and the occasional tall boy for one old lady who wanted her beer.

[Jona]

I worked at a day camp at age 14 for 8 weeks. I got $1/day = $40 which I put toward a 10 speed bike, a Schwinn Varsity. It was $50. My Dad put a crowbar to his wallet and kicked in the extra $10.

[bbecl]

McDonald’s at age 15 1/2 (with a work permit) in the mid-90’s. Made $5.50/hr, which was enough to keep me in music gear, Freestyle digital surf watches, and spending money. I now own my own electrical contracting company that specializes in renewable energy and am in law school (never stop learning). The guitars and watches have gotten exponentially more expensive.

[dddrees]

Donut Fryer at the age of 13. I've had a job of one kind or another ever since.

[BNA/LION]

Silversmith in our family business.

First job out of college, Account Executive for an Ad Agency.

[THC]

1970 ...Woolworths, in New Orleans. Mopped floors, swept aisles, etc. Upstairs (away from the store), was stored stock, and I saw the biggest rat, I have ever seen..never went back.

[blassy]

Made the mistake of telling my Dad I was bored up at the cottage when I turned 13. Wanted to stay home with my friends.
He let me know the good news. Hey - you're not gonna be bored! I talked to Jim (neighbor who owned a commercial fishing boat on lake Erie), and he said he could use some help this summer!
So 6 days/week, I got picked up at 3am and dropped off for dinner. Spent my days pulling, picking a laying gill nets on Lake Erie fishing for perch.
Grated I spent no money ( I slept all day Sundays), so after 3 summers, I had enough money to buy my first car!
In retrospect it was an amazing gig....at the time it was just a lot of stinky work.

[alphadweller]

Operations analyst at JPMorgan. It sucked, I quit after less than 2 years.

[joeychitwood]

My first job at age 15 was cleaning up construction sites and hauling materials to the dump. $2 an hour, which was pretty good, since the minimum wage was $1.60. The next two summers, I worked as an orderly in a psychiatric ward and ER.

[patrickjb]

Caddy at a local golf course, I think I was about 11 or 12. Best job I ever had.

[brandrea]

I grew up on a farm so my first “job” was chores at a very young age ...

It taught me that hard work was a way of life and I’m very thankful my parents raised me a country boy

[1st amg]

At 11yrs old, my father owned a beauty salon for women. I swept hair for the first little while, then graduated to removing the hair rollers and handing over rollers to the hairdressers for perms. Started to wash hair for the women, shortly after that I cried to my mom to never send me back, the stench of stinky hair and greasy oily hair stuck between my fingers freaked me out.

At 13yrs old, I wanted a Miele bike which cost $600.....my dad said, sure I will buy it, but you have to work for it in the summer, he had a job, 320 windows and frames to paint on ladders. Worked almost the entire 2 months of summer.

15yrs old, worked at a local lumber yard and loaded peoples cars and delivery trucks

16yrs old, pumped gas at a gas station....lasted one shift. Hated it as it was -30C and froze my hands and face off.

[Toony]

Very first job I worked at autobody place 2 days a week after school. I was 12. My hours were from 3-5pm. Made $20 a week. I was rich.
14 I started working at an Italian restaurant. 4 days a week. I made a lot of money there. A lot of wise guys hung out there. They were big tippers.