# What was your FIRST paying job?



## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

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*Since we are on the topic of jobs, I thought it would be cool to know what your very first, legit paying job was at a young age?

When I was 15 1/2, I worked at a local Pizza Hut (Carryout only). I was the guy taking orders over the phone, folding boxes, and making pizzas (even for those lovely anchovies lover people... yuck!) 

I had the chance to continue playing high school football, but I needed the money more. I just saw $_$ at that point...not realizing that it wasn't really a high paying job  

You?*​


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## ChiKat (Jul 27, 2011)

I started babysitting when I was like 11-12, but my first REAL job was as a hostess at an upscale restaurant. I was 16 when I started and I got paid extremely well! I loved interacting with the customers and servers; it was a great first job. I also worked with friends, so it was way too much fun


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## wrmitchell22 (Jul 27, 2011)

I babysat the entire summer when I was 14 for 2 awesome and fun kids! However my first legal on paper job was as a cashier at a mom and pop grocery and butcher shop  I loved it, the owners were like my grand parents and I had known them since I was 6 ( I lived right down the road). Every Sunday the Woman would make me 2 fresh baked cinnamon buns with extra frosting! YUMMY!


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## Neal (Jul 27, 2011)

Buger King. Worked there for two weeks as a cook. I hated it, my last day there every hamburger I made I wrapped it up and squished it before putting it on the warming rack. 

After that I worked in just about every pizza restaurant there is...did that for...uh...15 years.


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## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

Neal said:


> After that I worked in just about every pizza restaurant there is...did that for...uh...15 years.



You must have loved those really picky clients!


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## dmarcus (Jul 27, 2011)

My first job was when I was 16 I worked a summer job working with the cleaning crew at the Las Vegas city hall. Most people thought I was doing community service


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## jbean7916 (Jul 27, 2011)

My first job was at 15 when I was sacking groceries. Had to wear a tie and apron everyday *Yuck*

Me and the only other girl would beg and beg and beg to get to go wrangle carts in the parking lot just to get out of the building but they rarely let us. That was reserved for the boys.


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## AshleyJones (Jul 27, 2011)

Neal said:


> Buger King. Worked there for two weeks as a cook. I hated it, my last day there every hamburger I made I wrapped it up and squished it before putting it on the warming rack.
> 
> After that I worked in just about every pizza restaurant there is...did that for...uh...15 years.



Mine was kinda the same but only McDonalds, I worked there for about a week, that was still the worst job I have ever had.
After that I worked at a Hollywood Video for about 5 years while in school.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Jul 27, 2011)

Watering plants at a small nursery/garden store.


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## Torty Mom (Jul 27, 2011)

I was a cashier at at Mann Movie Theater, I was 16, it was a great job!


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## jeffbens0n (Jul 27, 2011)

Working on a farm when I was 15.....11 years later I still work on the farm and live there with my fiance and manage the farm in my spare time.


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## dmmj (Jul 27, 2011)

Fernando are you writing as book or something?

I was about 10 or 11 when I first starting working summers with my grandpa doing gardening ( mowing lawns and such) My first job where I got a paycheck was in High School I worked in the cafeteria during lunch. So I was about 13 or 14 then.


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## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

dmmj said:


> Fernando are you writing as book or something?



Nope! I just wanted to start an interesting topic in TFO today and get some responses.


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## Angi (Jul 27, 2011)

My first real paying job was the summer I turned 16. I did janitorial work at a high school. It was through a summer youth program for low income families. I signed up late so got stuck with the only job left. I was the only girl with about 5 boys who were all a bit rough. It was pretty hard. I didn't have a car so I had to ride a bike there and back, about 5 miles. I got paid $3.35 an hour.


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## Yvonne G (Jul 27, 2011)

My first job was working behind the candy counter at a large department store. After that job I went to See's Candy. Anyone see a trend here?


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## cemmons12 (Jul 27, 2011)

I delivered news papers but my 1st legal job was at Hardee's.


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## GBtortoises (Jul 27, 2011)

I worked "for free" on the family farm until I left home at 17 to go into the military. But my first paying job was at 14 years old working as a laborer in the maintenance garage at a construction company. I was paid minimum wage which I think was around $2.30-2.40 an hour at the time. That was like being rich for a farm kid since we never actually got paid money working on the family farm. But we did get three meals a day and a warm, safe place to sleep so it wasn't as bad as I thought it was at the time!


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## wrmitchell22 (Jul 27, 2011)

wrmitchell22 said:


> I babysat the entire summer when I was 14 for 2 awesome and fun kids! However my first legal on paper job was as a cashier at a mom and pop grocery and butcher shop  I loved it, the owners were like my grand parents and I had known them since I was 6 ( I lived right down the road). Every Sunday the Woman would make me 2 fresh baked cinnamon buns with extra frosting! YUMMY!



I was 15 btw


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## DeanS (Jul 27, 2011)

We've been seeing way too many repetitive topics. Why not do a simple search before arbitrarily posting a new thread based on an old thread!?!?

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...-how-old-were-you?highlight=job#axzz1T9Us53me


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## gmayor (Jul 27, 2011)

im not sure which one was my first Job either Working at a Youth Summer Camp or UPS either way its one of those and i actually loved both i should of never left UPS


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## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

DeanS said:


> We've been seeing way too many repetitive topics. Why not do a simple search before arbitrarily posting a new thread based on an old thread!?!?
> 
> http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...-how-old-were-you?highlight=job#axzz1T9Us53me



LOL! Sorry it bothers you so much Dean. It looks like it doesn't bother too many people here to see the same thread and even give their answers again. I didn't think to look in the search engine for this topic, since I generally only use it for tortoise topics. 

All in good fun Dean. If the mods feel it necessary, they can combine it with the other


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## Edna (Jul 27, 2011)

I babysat for a cocktail waitress when I was 14-15. She worked until 3 AM even on school nights and that was OK with my mom for whatever reason. I earned enough to pay my way on a Jr. high trip to Mexico City. My first legal job, at 16, was waitress at the Swedish Crown restaurant in Lindsborg, KS. I worked there for a while. When I turned 18 I started working at a 3.2 beer bar and that might have been my most fun job ever. I also worked as a model for figure drawing classes, draped or nude whichever was called for. Wouldn't do that one now!!


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## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

Edna said:


> I babysat for a cocktail waitress when I was 14-15. She worked until 3 AM even on school nights and that was OK with my mom for whatever reason.



Wow! I'd totally would have failed school had I been out that late! lol I barely made it through high school with 8 hours of sleep


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## bikerchicspain (Jul 27, 2011)

I started a newspaper round when I was about 10, then I went worked at a hosiery factory at 15, been working ever since, never been out of work.


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## Tom (Jul 27, 2011)

Local pet shop when I was 14. I lied and said I was 16. I think they knew, but since I did all the "dirty" jobs that they didn't want to do, they just let it slide.


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## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

Tom said:


> Local pet shop when I was 14. I lied and said I was 16. I think they knew, but since I did all the "dirty" jobs that they didn't want to do, they just let it slide.



I had an opportunity to lie about my age when I was 14 too. It was to work at a Car wash here in So Cal. Then my mom made me tell them the truth because she said I was going to get caught and go to Jail. LOL


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## Turtle Guru (Jul 27, 2011)

i weed eated and mowed and did odd jobs for anybody that needs help 

I was 13 when i started (but have worked my whole life though)


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## RV's mom (Jul 27, 2011)

worked a summer or two for my uncle in his print shop. Hard work on hard floors. Smell of printing inks, the sounds of the presses and the HUGE paper cutter. I collected paper sheets, one by one - collated paper, around and around the table... The first night when I got into the car and closed my eyes, all I could 'see' were my hands reaching out for sheets of paper with numbers on them (it was for a calendar). I freaked. Mom and dad laughed.. funny what gets ingrained into the brain.


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## Fernando (Jul 27, 2011)

sharkstar said:


> worked a summer or two for my uncle in his print shop. Hard work on hard floors. Smell of printing inks, the sounds of the presses and the HUGE paper cutter. I collected paper sheets, one by one - collated paper, around and around the table... The first night when I got into the car and closed my eyes, all I could 'see' were my hands reaching out for sheets of paper with numbers on them (it was for a calendar). I freaked. Mom and dad laughed.. funny what gets ingrained into the brain.



That's funny. When I used to fork lift, during the first week of employment, I worked a 12 hour shift almost every day. 

One day while I was leaving...I got into my car, turned it on...I flipped the TURN SIGNAL up, stepped on the gas, and looked back to reverse..........I was like "Why aren't I going?!"....then I realized I hadn't even put the car in reverse yet.

On some Caterpillars, the shift looks like a turn signal handle on an automobile.


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## Turtulas-Len (Jul 27, 2011)

I did a lot of different things when I was young, The first I remember was pulling a wagon up and down roads collecting soda(pop) bottles for 2 cent each, everyone threw them out the car windows back then and very few broke.you have to remember that a 12 oz soda cost 10 cents at the time so it only took 5 bottles to get one, 4 bottles if you drank it there and gave that bottle back.cut grass at 50 cents a yard,each yard was about a 1/4 acre, go to Andrews Air Force Base golf course and look for golf balls that people lost in the woods or in the pond and sell them to the people playing golf at that time, This really paid good,The first job where I got a W2 at the end of the year, was working for a flooring company unloading box cars of wood and tile flooring and stocking the job sites,You don't know how big a box car is until you have to empty one.I got $1.50 an hour and later I got a raise to $2 an hour. after high school at the age of 17 I joined the union as a 1st year apprentice for $2.80 an hour.Worked 2 weeks and bought my first new car, a 1968 Mustang,that kept me in trouble with the Law,I'd love to have that car now.I won M stock for the state of Maryland 1968 in that car, at the drag strip. I am still with the union just retired, can't wait til I'm old enough to collect SS... Haven't had a raise in 9 years. Len


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## Laura (Jul 27, 2011)

Dog walker, babysitting.. but the first REAL.. was a gift wrapper at out local Dept store are xmas. Then some Temp jobs.. Redcross phone caller for blood donors, mailroom,.. then Florist, Clothing Distributer, Vet, .....


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## mctlong (Jul 27, 2011)

My first paid gig was babysitting my neighbor's pet rats while they were on vacation. I was around 8ish years old.


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## laramie (Jul 27, 2011)

My first paying job was when I was 16, that summer I had an internship at Motorola. I did intern there for the next three summers. My first job out of college was as a human resource assistant at Paradise Valley Hospital.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jul 27, 2011)

My first paying job was as a babysitter, but my first career job was as a laboratory technician.


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## DesertGrandma (Jul 27, 2011)

??Len?? said:


> I did a lot of different things when I was young, The first I remember was pulling a wagon up and down roads collecting soda(pop) bottles for 2 cent each, everyone threw them out the car windows back then and very few broke.you have to remember that a 12 oz soda cost 10 cents at the time so it only took 5 bottles to get one, 4 bottles if you drank it there and gave that bottle back.cut grass at 50 cents a yard,each yard was about a 1/4 acre, go to Andrews Air Force Base golf course and look for golf balls that people lost in the woods or in the pond and sell them to the people playing golf at that time, This really paid good,The first job where I got a W2 at the end of the year, was working for a flooring company unloading box cars of wood and tile flooring and stocking the job sites,You don't know how big a box car is until you have to empty one.I got $1.50 an hour and later I got a raise to $2 an hour. after high school at the age of 17 I joined the union as a 1st year apprentice for $2.80 an hour.Worked 2 weeks and bought my first new car, a 1968 Mustang,that kept me in trouble with the Law,I'd love to have that car now.I won M stock for the state of Maryland 1968 in that car, at the drag strip. I am still with the union just retired, can't wait til I'm old enough to collect SS... Haven't had a raise in 9 years. Len



My very favorite car I ever owned was a new 1965 Mustang, rootbeer color. Sure wish I still had it too.


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## 81SHOVELHEAD (Jul 27, 2011)

Pumping Gas at a Gas station in Morgan City Louisiana at the age of 15 yrs old.
Mike D.


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## FranklinAndTara (Jul 27, 2011)

"Toast Girl" my first job was making toast on sunday mornings at Gilligans Cove. I would get yelled at by the cooks "I NEED MUFFINS FOR THE BENNYS!" 
I had never eaten eggs benedict.. and there was no one there named Benny either.. had no idea what they were talking about.


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## N2TORTS (Jul 27, 2011)

Well .... heck memory lane here we come ..... At 16, I was a diver who dove for water~lilies for a man who sold them world wide. Creepy thing .... is he had contracts with different parks, public ponds, even MORGUES" and in exchange for cleaning the ponds and up keep around the properties ponds, weeds ect... he got to use them as propagating grounds for his water lilly business. Anyhow , we would free dive , no mask, tanks , snorkle ......nadda' .. due to the first touch of the bottom...silt everywhere aka "brown out". Water lillys as most view them ....
" on top " of the water , actually have a long strand 
( sorta like a root/branch) that connects down to a "tuber" under the mud ....sort of like a patato. This tuber is what we dug up ....aka " our black gold" There awaiting was an innertube we had floating above with a gunny sack wrapped around it, we would throw these tubers into the sack ..... and " One More Dive " ....
Ahhhhhhh " The Good Ol" Days " 
we were paid by count" ... I think it was about .75 each
JD~
PS . Yes I do remember when minimum wage was $1.35 an hour!


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## Terry Allan Hall (Jul 27, 2011)

While living at home, I planted trees for Weyerhauser from 13 to 15 (they assumed I was older, and I never thought it important to correct their misunderstanding.

Ran away from home at 15.

From 15 to 18, I worked night shift at a warehouse, primarily driving a forklift (have been able to grow a full beard since 14, so, again, it was assumed that I was older... ) and went to High School during the day.

After graduation, I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Peace Corps, where I fell in with evil companions...


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## Estefani (Jul 28, 2011)

I was a hostess in a restaurant when I was about 16 years old, these were my first money and that was my first working position ever Great memories!


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