What was your first job ever?

[commoncentsmike]

Just posted my most recent youtube video about getting a job while in school and really establishing your financial discipline & foundation. I was asking those who've been working for years/decades what their advice would be to those just starting out, and to share what their first job & pay rate was. Back in high school I was a pizza driver earning $7/hr + tips....ahh, the good ol' days.

EDIT: If anyone feels like sharing on the video itself, feel free. https://youtu.be/ud04-oNRiFQ

[disneysteve]

My first job was as a junior counselor at summer camp. I went to the same camp for 17 years, 5 as a camper and 12 as staff. We made next to nothing, a few hundred for the season, but I wouldn't have changed it for anything. Those were some of the best times of my life.

[AJ444]

Working on my grandpas farm, I think it started when I was about 8 and he would pay me for small jobs and the responsibility grew from there until I hit 17 and moved away. The pay was whatever he felt like giving me but he was generous. I've had people ask me if I am serious when I say 8, absolutely, on the farm you were contributing as soon as you were able.

My first W-2 job was making/delivering pizzas at 4.25 an hour plus tips. I did that from 15-17.

[97guns]

Counter clerk for a little mom and pop auto parts shop, I think it was $5.75/hr in 1988, I remember asking for a raise and got a nickel

[Fishindude77]

Did a lot of off jobs, cut grass, cleaning, bale hay, wash cars etc. for cash in early years. First job with a paycheck was summer labor at my dads business, mostly cleaning and lawn care, paid $3.50 per hour. First full time job 1977 construction labor paid $5.50 per hour.

Was only making $9.00 per hour when we got married in 1983, I think wife was making $6.00. We were able to pay rent & utilities, pay for automobiles and save up enough for first house down payment.

[corn18]

Working on my grandpas farm, I think it started when I was about 8 and he would pay me for small jobs and the responsibility grew from there until I hit 17 and moved away. The pay was whatever he felt like giving me but he was generous. I've had people ask me if I am serious when I say 8, absolutely, on the farm you were contributing as soon as you were able.

My first W-2 job was making/delivering pizzas at 4.25 an hour plus tips. I did that from 15-17.

Similar story with me. Starting working for the family dog boarding business around 10. Every morning before and after school I had to walk the dogs we we boarding, clean their cages and feed and water them. We swapped off between the 4 kids. Also, in the winter, we had a trap line I ran with my dad. Every morning and afternoon I would drive the jeep along the trap line while my dad checked all the traps in the creek. 3 miles of trekking through the woods in the snow. We also heated our house solely with wood. So every weekend in the fall and winter we were out cutting wood and hauling it home. Then had to split it all. Didn't get paid for any of that stuff.

First W-2 job was in 1984 when I officially joined the Navy. I went to the Naval Academy and they paid me $30 / month. Not bad considering I was getting a free education.

First job I would consider a real job was when I graduated in 1988 and joined the real Navy. Pay was $18k / year. And they were paying me to learn to fly. Great gig.

I did the math once on the hourly pay I received in the Navy and it came out to be about $0.35 an hour. When you are deployed, you work a lot.

[97guns]

Did a lot of off jobs, cut grass, cleaning, bale hay, wash cars etc. for cash in early years. First job with a paycheck was summer labor at my dads business, mostly cleaning and lawn care, paid $3.50 per hour. First full time job 1977 construction labor paid $5.50 per hour.

Was only making $9.00 per hour when we got married in 1983, I think wife was making $6.00. We were able to pay rent & utilities, pay for automobiles and save up enough for first house down payment.

Fun thread, it would be fun to see people's working/career timelines, maybe it needs a thread of its own?

[Jluke]

concession stand at a minor league ballpark.

custodian for 4 summers during the college years

[creditcardfree]

Babysitting. And then cashier at a movie theatre...free movies! Minimum wage was $3.35 an hour in 1989.

[bjl584]

Pushing carts off a parking lot for Kmart. $4.75/hour back in 1994.

[kork13]

As a kid, I never had a proper, regular job. I did odd jobs like lawn mowing, babysitting, vacuuming my neighbors' homes (I enjoyed vacuuming as a kid), and such like that. Typically paid by the job, like $20 for the job, however long that took. I tried getting a job working in a photo lab/studio in high school, but my parents wouldn't let me. So my first real "job" (at least W-2 job) was with the Air Force, going to school at the Air Force Academy. As with corn18, it was just a peanuts amount ($100/mo in 2004), but I was going to school for free & they provided for all my needs, so it worked out. When I graduated, I finally got a proper income, and was in training for the next 1.5 years. Looking back, that was a rather fun period.

[msomnipotent]

My first real job where I was on a payroll was when I was 11 and working in a gas station. I made a flat $10 per shift. By the time I quit when I was 17, I was making $12 an hour, which was an absurd amount for a gas station attendant in that day, but the owners loved me. I was shoveling snow, mowing grass, and babysitting before that, though.

[commoncentsmike]

Working on my grandpas farm, I think it started when I was about 8 and he would pay me for small jobs and the responsibility grew from there until I hit 17 and moved away. The pay was whatever he felt like giving me but he was generous. I've had people ask me if I am serious when I say 8, absolutely, on the farm you were contributing as soon as you were able.

My first W-2 job was making/delivering pizzas at 4.25 an hour plus tips. I did that from 15-17.

Yeah, I helped out at the family radio station when I was like 13. I laugh when people haven't worked a day until they're out of college.

[commoncentsmike]

Babysitting. And then cashier at a movie theatre...free movies! Minimum wage was $3.35 an hour in 1989.

I would have ABUSED that privilege back in high school. Haha. I try to be frugal in many areas, but my girlfriend and I LOVE going to the movies.

[Petunia 100]

My first job was a 6 week stint for the local school district the summer I was 14. I worked 6 hours per day, 5 days per week and made minimum wage ($3.35 per hour).

The first week I worked in the high school library, cleaning and dusting books. Every book on every shelf had to be pulled out and wiped down.

Weeks 2 through 5 I was a teacher's assistant in a summer school class for primary grades (kiddos entering grades 1 through 3). This was back when summer school offered fun activities like art and music.

The last week I spent doing janitorial type stuff in the junior high campus.