What Was Your First Job?

[GoDucks349]

We have a cleaning lady at work, and I've felt bad for her because of the men's restroom many times. I told her one morning how I hated that grown men made such a mess that she had to clean. She told me it was nothing compared to the ladies room, I was shocked.

I had a similar experience, I had a job cleaning one floor of a department store and the bathrooms were the worst part of it. And the women's was always the worst!! Not even close.

 

[Dudleys87]

We have a cleaning lady at work, and I've felt bad for her because of the men's restroom many times. I told her one morning how I hated that grown men made such a mess that she had to clean. She told me it was nothing compared to the ladies room, I was shocked.

I’ve heard stories along the same lines. Some women when they don’t have to care take it to extreme. Use your imagine gentlemen.

 

[BigOrangeGirl]

Kmart in Oak Ridge. When I was hired I was SO excited because my parents said they would help me get a car once I got a job. After a few months I wished I had just stuck to the bus .

 

[MAD]

Kmart in Oak Ridge. When I was hired I was SO excited because my parents said they would help me get a car once I got a job. After a few months I wished I had just stuck to the bus .

It was that bad, huh?

 

[Smokey X]

What was your first job?

hauling hay
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Some question ideas below
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How old were you?
11 or 12

How did you get it?
dads talking to dads

How much did you make?
beats me but it couldn't have been enough

Was it a good or bad experience?
you wouldn't ask that if you had ever done it

What life lessons did you get out of it?
motivation to not ever have to do that again

Any funny stories?

only the newby's who had never did it before wearing short sleeve T-shirts because it was summer and too hot for long sleeves

 

[OldandStillaVol]

For the moms and dads who have teenagers working tough jobs now, make sure you tell them you are proud of them for sticking with it.

I worked a menial job one summer busing dishes at a restaurant. My dad was a research scientist at Oak Ridge and I assumed he was embarrassed that I was doing that. Fast forward 30+ years and we were talking about that job. I asked him if he was disappointed in me. He said no, he was proud I was working, living away from home, and learning the value of hard work. My oldest daughter is in her first W4 job now and I am telling her that so she knows now.

 

[allen phillips]

What was your first job?

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Some question ideas below
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How old were you?
How did you get it?
How much did you make?
Was it a good or bad experience?
What life lessons did you get out of it?
Any funny stories?

In 1949, I was 8 years old and my old man had split. I had 5 brothers and one sister and we all had to work after school and Saturdays and Sundays. We lived in South Memphis which was a pretty rough area. I got my first paying job by selling donuts door to door. The owner would make up a cardboard box and put a strap on it to carry the donuts around your neck. In the summertime, I would work Fridays, Saturdays, and
Sundays selling those donuts. When you sold all you had, you had to walk back to the donut shop and reload and take off again. There were about 8 or 9 kids selling so the competition was tough. The older boys would run us, little guys, off from the nearest apartment buildings and make us take the ones further off. We made pretty good money for young kids. On a good day we could make up to 10 bucks. One Friday afternoon I was mooching along and not having a good day when I walked past a bank and noticed many customers coming out of the bank with cold hard cash in their hands. They were cashing their weekly paychecks. I stood outside the bank with my donuts and tripled my sales. It was a gold mine. All of the kids tried to get me to tell how I did it but I would not tell them. The owner of the store told me I was one of his top producers. I did that until I was big enough to caddy at the golf course. Can you imagine a parent letting a little kid my age selling anything door to door in this day and age?

 

[MAD]

In 1949, I was 8 years old and my old man had split. I had 5 brothers and one sister and we all had to work after school and Saturdays and Sundays. We lived in South Memphis which was a pretty rough area. I got my first paying job by selling donuts door to door. The owner would make up a cardboard box and put a strap on it to carry the donuts around your neck. In the summertime, I would work Fridays, Saturdays, and
Sundays selling those donuts. When you sold all you had, you had to walk back to the donut shop and reload and take off again. There were about 8 or 9 kids selling so the competition was tough. The older boys would run us, little guys, off from the nearest apartment buildings and make us take the ones further off. We made pretty good money for young kids. On a good day we could make up to 10 bucks. One Friday afternoon I was mooching along and not having a good day when I walked past a bank and noticed many customers coming out of the bank with cold hard cash in their hands. They were cashing their weekly paychecks. I stood outside the bank with my donuts and tripled my sales. It was a gold mine. All of the kids tried to get me to tell how I did it but I would not tell them. The owner of the store told me I was one of his top producers. I did that until I was big enough to caddy at the golf course. Can you imagine a parent letting a little kid my age selling anything door to door in this day and age?

This was my favorite story of the thread.

 

[ptclaus98]

They must have been loaded

They had a gator and a zero turn, and horse stalls with land to let them roam free. I'd say I'd agree with you there, haha.

 

[bigorangewildcat]

Started mowing other peoples lawns at 10, worked at RED Food when I turned 16

 

[volsknx]

Ha! I've got all y'all candies beat!

I was 14 and started hauling square bales of hay for $.05 cents a bale!!!

Really though, my first "real" job was working for the county highway department for one summer when I was 15 years old. I made $4.25 an
hour and thought I was rich!

 

[walkenvol]

Ha! I've got all y'all candies beat!

I was 14 and started hauling square bales of hay for $.05 cents a bale!!!

Really though, my first "real" job was working for the county highway department for one summer when I was 15 years old. I made $4.25 an
hour and thought I was rich!

were you the one guy working or one of the 5 guys holding a shovel watching?

 

[LouderVol]

I’ve heard stories along the same lines. Some women when they don’t have to care take it to extreme. Use your imagine gentlemen.

One of the summer camp I volunteered at had the kids clean up after. Guys and girls decided to clean each others bathroom as a fair trade.

Not even close how disgusting the girls was.

Bathrooms werent enclosed, so it got wet and stayed that way. Their feminine products every where. Layers deep in places, they just pushed it aside and had little aisles going everywhere with mounds of unmentionables in between.

The dead mouse we found didnt even illicit a comment after what those boys went thru.

 

[JoAllan]

My first “real” job, I was the chicken for Dwane Lux Chevrolet.

$3.35 an hour

 

[Dudleys87]

One of the summer camp I volunteered at had the kids clean up after. Guys and girls decided to clean each others bathroom as a fair trade.

Not even close how disgusting the girls was.

Bathrooms werent enclosed, so it got wet and stayed that way. Their feminine products every where. Layers deep in places, they just pushed it aside and had little aisles going everywhere with mounds of unmentionables in between.

The dead mouse we found didnt even illicit a comment after what those boys went thru.

Exactly, I have a buddy that does it for the school systems main office and experiences the same. Including human waste. You’d think that grown adults would be more clean at work but nope.

 

[mr.checkerboards]

Ha! I've got all y'all candies beat!

I was 14 and started hauling square bales of hay for $.05 cents a bale!!!

Really though, my first "real" job was working for the county highway department for one summer when I was 15 years old. I made $4.25 an
hour and thought I was rich!

Hauling hay sucks, I have mad respect for anyone who has spent time doing that.

 

[volsknx]

Hauling hay sucks, I have mad respect for anyone who has spent time doing that.

And, many many summers doing tobacco!

 

[BigOrangeGirl]

It was that bad, huh?

It did suck, but mostly I had no idea at 16 what having a job would really be like.

 

[hog88]

Hauling hay sucks, I have mad respect for anyone who has spent time doing that.

I'd rather haul a thousand bales of hay than harvest 1 acre of tobacco. I'd have to be starving to go back into a tobacco field.

 

[StarRaider]

Cutting the grass at St. Therese Catholic Church

 

[KoachKrab127]

What was your first job?

—————————————
Some question ideas below
—————————————

How old were you?
How did you get it?
How much did you make?
Was it a good or bad experience?
What life lessons did you get out of it?
Any funny stories?

Summer job as a lifeguard at a public pool.
I was 16 years old.
I took the training course in the Spring.
I made $5.50 an hour in the year 2000.
It was a great experience.
I learned that adults are worse about spreading rumors than kids (pool managers constantly fighting with each other).
I also learned about the importance of sunscreen very quickly. I got a hilarious sunburn on my back with a handprint, from lazily applying the lotion.

 

[MAD]

Summer job as a lifeguard at a public pool.
I was 16 years old.
I took the training course in the Spring.
I made $5.50 an hour in the year 2000.
It was a great experience.
I learned that adults are worse about spreading rumors than kids (pool managers constantly fighting with each other).
I also learned about the importance of sunscreen very quickly. I got a hilarious sunburn on my back with a handprint, from lazily applying the lotion.

Lifeguard seemed like the coolest job was I was younger.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Started mowing lawns for $ when I was 14. Straight cash homie! Most lawns were about 25 bucks a cut. Life lesson/funny story? Don't mow over a yellow jacket nest.

My father-in-law mowed over a yellow jacket nest last week. He was fortunate to only get stung 7-8 times.

 

[Tin Man]

My father-in-law mowed over a yellow jacket nest last week. He was fortunate to only get stung 7-8 times.

Sympathies. I’ve done that. Got stung so much on my left forearm, it was unrecognizable for days.

 

[C/O]

My father-in-law mowed over a yellow jacket nest last week. He was fortunate to only get stung 7-8 times.

Had that happen more times than I can count. Was a yearly rite of passage growing up. Go back after dark, retrieve the mower, pour gas down the hole and call it good.