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Your first job...what job and pay.

Started by timberlinetree, November 12, 2016, 04:59:27 AM

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timberlinetree

 I was visiting with a hospice patient and we started talking about his first job. I find this old day stuff really interesting. What was your first job and how much bacon did you bring home?
  My patient who is 85 started in Holyoke, Ma at age of 16 made 85 cents hr at a thread company.
  My first paycheck job was at 14yrs old on tabbco farm making $2.86 hr.
  In the 80's an old man told me he made a penny a bale for everyone put in the barn.
I've met Vets who have lived but still lost their lives... Thank a Vet

Family man and loving it :)

Cedarman

Summer job for 2 weeks detasseling corn.  60 cents per hour, 8 hour days,  12 straight days, 2 off, then 2 more days.  Did get a bonus of 15 cents per hour for staying the season.  Nice fish sandwich and megaphone of root beer at A&W was 50 cents, no tax.  2 years later got $1.00 per hour as crew boss supervising 12 teenage girls in the cornfield riding a machine looking down on the girls.  Can you imagine a 16 year old boy in a huge cornfield with a dozen girls? One day at the far end of the field when we took a break, they suggested a kissing contest to see who I would kiss the longest.  I gave them all a chance.  I should be in jail. Thanks for bringing back those memories.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

scgargoyle

My first job was working at a marina, before I was even 'legal' age. I spent a couple summers there, starting when I was 14. IIRC, we got $1 an hour. When I turned 16 (1969), I went to work at a supermarket for minimum wage, which I think was $1.65/hr. They paid us in cash. In my early 20's, I went into my trade, machining, and was still making $1.65/hr. I gradually worked into tool and die work, and my pay went up considerably. It's sad to note that the most money I ever made in one year was some 24 years ago, in 1992. Today, I only make slightly more per hour than I did then, with 24 years of inflation making my pay pretty poor these days.
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

coxy

working for my dad for room and board  :) :)

Bert

My first job was working at my fathers sawmill off bearing for $5 an hour. Hated it. Man what a change of heart I had at about 23 years old when he made me partner.
Saw you tomorrow!

Andy White

In 1965 at the age of 14, and being very "car" oriented, I got my first job at the biggest Gulf station in town. Working every day after school, and Saturdays, at 1.25 an hour. Soon the owner asked if he and my dad could help me get my drivers license to pick up and deliver customers cars after servicing. A legal driver at 14, with my own car working at the station, gas with my employee discount of five cents a gallon was .17 cents. I could fill my tank, take Nancy to the movies, eat out, and still have money for school clothes and car insurance. Now whose were the Good Old Days.      Andy 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

Bill Gaiche

Started working with my brotherinlaw at a sawmill. 9 hrs per day and 4 on Saturday. Pay was $1.15 per hr. Thats $56.35 before taxes. Offbearing at the mill, going to the woods with a 46 chevy truck by myself lots of times, no winch, a large mare horse and a old Pioneer chainsaw. Man that was some hard work, but what an experience and am glad that I did it. Paid $900.00 for 55 chevy 2 door Belair before I could even drive it off the lot. I had enough money left from my check that day, that I bought a couple of dollars worth of gas. bg

Sixacresand

After high school, 1967, I was hired by the Kaolin plant (chalk mine) during the Summers while attending college.  My first check for working 5 days was $48.  I thought I was the richest kid on earth.  Us kids and young adults were very fortunate back then.   
"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

Magicman

I worked the Summer of 1962 as an electronics flunky for a heart surgeon at University Medical Ctr.  Amazingly I operated the recorder during heart catheterization procedures and was in the operating room during one of the very first heart valve replacements.  I was making a whopping $200 per month.  After one semester of college I had no money to return and I (foolishly) refused my bosses offer to pay for my education.  What did I know, I was 18 and bullet proof and did not realize what was being offered.

In October of that year I began my career with Southern Bell Telephone Co. for $60.50 per week and as they say; the rest is history.

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Tom the Sawyer

Started as a busboy for .50 p/hr when 14 (big for my age).  Shortly made waiter - .50 + tips.  Got a better job at 15, working at a drive-in theatre (remember those) for .65 (hey, that was a 30% raise).  This was 1965/66, when minimum wage was 1.65 but there were 'student exemptions'.
07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

WDH

In 1969, $1.25 per hour working at a peach packing shed.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

pineywoods

Fresh out of high school, 1954, got a job in the brand new local tv and appliance shop for $30 a six day week. Bonus, the owner taught me basic electronics. Bought my first car, 1941 ford for $95, financed by the local bank. Left that job to join the army, that changed my life completely.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Ron Wenrich

I did quite a few odd jobs.  My very first was helping my aunt at an amusement park by manning the concession stand.  We sold hot dogs for 5 cents.  I was 7 and could make change.  We rarely saw a bill over $1.  It was weekend work and pay was 50 cents/hr.

I also helped my dad with auctions.   Did jobs as a runner, again making change.  I started that at about 10.  When I was big enough, I hauled furniture for a local auction house.  We got paid on commission.  Did that all through high school, a couple of nights a week. 

First regular job was working as a stock boy in a local department store.  Pay was probably about $1.25/hr.  Went to college after that.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Bruno of NH

At 13 started helping my Pepere he had a swimming pool service and repair business.
In the winter helped him renovate his rental units.
He was hard to work with and didn't pay much $2.00 per hour .
But he taught me how to work hard and how not to treat people .
Bruno
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

Dakota

1964, working on the farm, $1/hr.  Quickly found out that the tractor I was cultivating corn with, would steer it self all the way to the end of the row, bump over the first row going the opposite direction, and wake me up from a very needed nap.  Welp...., you know what happened.
Dave Rinker

WV Sawmiller

   My first job was helping my dad with the family business putting up monuments and chain link fences. I did that till I left home. As a teenager Dad sometimes had to hire an older helper who could drive till I turned 16. I could do and manage the work but I was not old enough to drive. There was no pay.

    When I was 17 and graduated from HS I got my first paying summer job working at a Boise Cascade Plywood plant working midnight to 8:30 nightly. I worked as the core layer/feeder on the crew actually making plywood. (Half the night I would stand on a raised platform feeding sheets of kiln dried 1/4" core wood - the horizontal pieces of the plywood sheets - through a glue spreader. The rest of the night I worked down below wearing rubber gloves catching the glue coated strips and laying them side by side till I had a whole sheet laid then I'd bend over while 2 other team members picked up thin sheets of veneer over me and covered the glue covered centers - the vertical sections and face sheets of the finished plywood.) This was one of the better jobs at the plant and I was paid $2.35/hour (My older brother was working on a road construction crew making $1.70/hr but they would not hire me because I was not 18 yet.)

    On weekends I'd work overtime making $3.01/hr on clean up chipping the dried glue off the spreader machines, shoveling out glue ditches (think of a sewer ditch with 3" sheets of laytex like dried glue that had accumulated since the last cleanout), and finally I became the designated press pit clean out guy - I'd find a submersible pump, hook it to a fire hose, drain up to 4' of oil mixed water out of the pit to a glue ditch and when drained I'd pick up and remove all the scraps of wood and sometimes whole sheets of water logged plywood that had been soaking in the pit all week lifting them 8' with a sawdust fork or my hand. All this time the big platform above was slowing easing down towards me as the hydraulic piston leaked down.)

   The company usually hired a new crew of 7-8 people a week and very seldom did they retain more than 1, if any, the entire summer. I stayed the whole summer and continued to come in part time 2 nights a week on weekends to clean up for another 6 months or so after college started.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

ESFted

Loblaws grocery store in 1958 stocking shelves and bagging groceries for $0.75 an hour.  Eventually became a cashier there and worked that job on and off until I graduated from college in 1965.  Think I was up to $1.75 an hour.  I remember keeping my family's freezer stocked with cheap day old bread and other on sale goodies the manager conveniently marked down just before closing on Saturday night.  Good times.
S.U.N.Y. College of Environmental Science and Forestry '65
Stihl MS661CRM, Stihl MS460,  Stihl MSE 220, Solo 64S, Granberg Alaskan MK-IV CSM
Dreams of a Wm LT70 w/all the accessories

VictorH

My first job was a newspaper route.  Soon I had three, I was 13.  Bought a good used moped when I was 14 for $300 - paid cash.  At that time you bought the papers from the newspaper and resold them to subscribers.  I had to go around and collect the money due from my customers every month.  Some of them I ended up mowing their yards in the summer and shoveling their walks in the winter.  Collecting in December was great as the "tips" added up nicely.  My first "real" job was a bag-boy for A&P Grocery.  After a year or so I was promoted to cashier with a raise, don't remember how much I made but I do remember realizing that I made more money as a bag-boy with tips.

Victor

Ljohnsaw

I worked a "regular" job over two summers with a buddy painting concrete statues and cast iron outdoor furniture for $1.25 first year and $1.50/hr. the second year.  I also scrounged broken lawnmowers from trash day to fix and sell as well as fixing/tuning lawnmowers for about $15 to $25 each.  Once I was out of high school, on to college, I got a job in a print shop delivering printed material.  That one was about $2.50/hr + mileage in 1978/79.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

pine

12 years of age
$.05 per bale for moving hay from field to barn and stacking.  Bloody bales were as big as I was, but I did make a little money

16 years of age
$1.25 per hour
Pumping gas and doing oil changes and tires at a gas station.
Had never changed oil or done a tire before that job.  Owner taught me how on the first day.

Several weeks later the owner's wife told me that they were making over a $800-1000 more a day than before they hired me.  It seemed that their previous employees skimmed a lot off the till.

My mother had a near heart attack when she found out that after closing at midnight, I would drive the days receipts across town and meet the owner's wife in a parking lot and transfer the money from the day's receipt till.  It would vary from $4-5K on some good days.  While that is a lot of money today it was even more back in the day.

Ox

11 years old.  $1 per hay wagon to put bales on the hay elevator.
14 years old.  $4 per hour stacking hay bales in the mow and running wagons back and forth.
16 years old.  $1.07 per hour ($100 per week, many many hours).
All different farms.
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

sawguy21

Some interesting stories here, many of us started with menial jobs but that was a valuable part of our education. I had a paper route at 11 then at 16 bucked bales for the local farmers. My buddy had a pick up so we traveled to the farms and split the truck expenses. Still, we did alright although there was no late night partying. :D At 17 I was driving a grain truck to the mill for $1.25/hr, learned to shift a crash box and keep my thumbs out of the steering wheel in the fields.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Roxie

From 13 until I graduated high school at 17, I worked the 3pm to 11pm shift in a restaurant that specialized in pork or beef barbecues. Had a corner booth where I did my homework between customers. 

During summers, I served Curb Service in the parking lot on roller skates.  I was always fiscally conservative and had plenty to buy my own clothes and a car when I was 16. 
Say when

21incher

50 cents a hour to mow around Christmas trees with a push mower.
Then I moved up to $1.00 a hour to unload, paint, refill, & reload 100 pound lp gas tanks on big rack trucks when I turned 14. That summer I had the biggest muscles of my life.  :D
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

POSTON WIDEHEAD

14 years old....cleaning brick from a torn down mill. 3 cents a brick.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

tree-farmer

In 1969 at age 15 I got  a job with Gus pick up, our local garbage man. Paid a 1 dollar a hour and  all you could eat.... :D
Hated the pick up at local taxadermy place, maggot city.  :-X
Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

luvmexfood

Course grew up working on the farm. Dad was extremely tight with money. Many times we would get new plow points for the plows and he would not buy new bolts. Had to wrestle the old ones off and reuse.

First paying job taught me an important lesson. Find out what you are getting paid before taking the job. Around 1973 a buddy and I took a job grubbing brush and mowing a yard that hadn't been mowed in probably a year. Real old woman with a decent amount of money. We were expecting at least a dollar an hour. At the end when we got paid it was about 20 cents an hour that we got paid.

Saw a posting on the state employment commission website the other day. Some company was wanting chainsaw operators to clear a gas pipeline. Pay rate was $8.50 and hour with no benefits. With the slowdown in the coal business around here companies are really taking advantage of workers. Fast food jobs still only pay minimum wage. I think it's $7,25 an hour.
Give me a new saw chain and I can find you a rock in a heartbeat.

thecfarm

Can't remember what age and sure can't remember how much I made an hour.
Started spring clean up at a boys summer camp. Rake and I do mean rake. I hate raking now.  ;D  Had to paint too. They thought I did a great job.  ::)  I would just slob it on. But all the cravings of names,initials would be gone. Someone else might only use a gallon per camp,I would use 2. But the boss was happy. Did that for 3 springs. Than my last year of high school I started to work at a grocery store. I would sort bottles through the week,work bagging grocery,Thursday,Friday and Saturday. Those was the busy days. That was when you had to know how to bag. All paper,kinda of an act to fill each bag,nice and even. Than a bottle redemption place opened up and the store wanted me to work over there,the grocery store did not want the bottles in the store. I started there and put in about 40 hours a week, I thought I was rich. I only had one class in school,I was suppose to have 2,but lied about the other one. I had my credits,just need one more year of English to graduate. Than out of high school I started to work at a shoe shop.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

sawguy21

$8.50/hr for a saw operator ??? I hope they are not expected to provide the saw. Nobody that knows how to run one would get out of bed for that here.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

brysonfarmer

40 bucks a week when I was 13 - 1973 - 6 days a week and 10 hours a day. Working for a local farmer. Funny how life goes full circle. I bought his farm 4 years ago

plowboyswr

Quote from: coxy on November 12, 2016, 06:26:07 AM
working for my dad for room and board  :) :)
X2. First off the farm job was working on trash trucks topping of the fluids and changing u-joints and tires. Wasn't too bad until the one that had shelled out the main drive on the front of the rear end got towed in still fully loaded. I think it had picked up Tree-farmers favorite place, and all that goo dripping all over. steve_smiley
Just an ole farm boy takin one day at a time.
Steve

Brucer

1966, 16 years old, worked spring break and summer pulling lumber on the greenchain at a sawmill. Roof? What's that?

It was a union shop and I got $2.13 per hour. Got the same rate the next summer (except when we were drafted to fight a forest fire -- pay was $1.25 per hour but we were working 16 hour days). Third summer pay went up to $2.18 per hour. By that time I decided I was never going to work in a sawmill again :D ::).
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

gspren

While still in school, mowing, snow shoveling, and pumping gas at the local 66 station. First "real" job at 17 years old was as a machinist. From then on it was always metal work of some sort even during a stint in the Navy. After a few different civilian shops in 1985 I got in with the Army at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in the Ballistic Research Lab which later became Army Research Lab always doing experimental machining. When I retired in 2011 I was the boss but still in the same building for 26 years, add 4 from the Navy and gave the 30 needed. During much of that time I also raised goats, pigs, and sold some firewood. No wonder I'm tired.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

barbender

Hmmm. Started out cutting balsam boughs in the fall for Christmas wreaths, at around 12 years old. I can't remember what I made at it, $40 a day I suppose. Mowed some lawns in the summer. When I was 14 I started working for my dad in the summer, paving driveways at $5/hr. I would also work at local wild rice processing plants in late summer, for $5/hr as well. You could get a lot of hours in though. That was a hot, sweaty, itchy job. In the fall, back out cutting boughs. I preferred that over the rest- I was out in the woods and made the best money out there.
Too many irons in the fire

sawguy21

Brucer, I worked on a green chain for a few months until the union threatened to go on strike over a frivolous issue. The pay was good but I figured I could make better use of my time :D
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

timberlinetree

These are some neat stories,and a true part of history!
I've met Vets who have lived but still lost their lives... Thank a Vet

Family man and loving it :)

sandsawmill14

started out hauling hay for neighbors for $10 bucks a day i was 10 and my brother was 8 he got to drive the truck and i stacked on the flat bed we hauled hay everyday it wasnt raining from may until school started back then on most saturdays until oct :D firt job i was ever really proud of i was 13 and one of the guys we hauled hay for hired me to build 3/4 mile of net fence with 2 strand barb wire price was 2.25 an hour and i thought i was getting rich :D the thing made me so proud was when i finished in less than 2 weeks the guy told me how good of a job i had done and paid me 3.50 an hour  :o and said " if you work like a man you get paid like a man on this place"  ;D not many people left who feel that way now  :( most want something for nothing ::) 
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

dgdrls

Cutting a few lawns for the neighbors ($5) and did a little interior painting.  turned 16 and found out I had a malformed kidney so my High school soccer days were done.  Afternoons after school i started washing dishes and busing tables at the local York steak house, for $2.90 then 3.10/hr.  Did more lawns
and finished my HS days at a local garage pumping gas, mounting and balancing tires and minor repairs. 

D

WV Sawmiller

    At my plywood plant job I doubled over one morning to help on the green end. That was the hardest work I ever did. You guys who worked these jobs have my utmost respect and admiration!
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Paul_H

In 1978 I left school to go to work full time at 16.years old.
I made $2.50 per hour at my after school and weekend job that I had since I was 13,and that was sweeping parking lots,picking up garbage as well as lawn maintenance around the store and condos.

Later the same year I earned $3.00/hr at the saw shop full time work and then $7.45/hr as a chokerman on a highlead side
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Brucer

When I first started on the green chain, I met Archie. He was 55 years old and had spent 40 years working the green chain in one sawmill or another. Three summers was too much for me -- I decided I was going to get into something that would earn me a little more money and wasn't quite so mind-numbing.

When I went back to school after that first summer, no one recognized me. Lean, muscled, brown, and that was the year I started to lose my hair.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Papa1stuff

My first job  (Wow that was a long time ago) about 1950 ,I worked on a market garden in Bristol NH ,for $1.00 per day and room and meals.
We worked from daylight to dark with several breaks and 3 great meals a day.
Most days ,in the afternoon we went swimming for an hour or so.
This by the way was a summer job as I was in High School at that time!
I better quit as I could write a book about those years !!
1987 PB Grader with forks added to bucket
2--2008 455 Rancher Husky
WM CBN Sharpener & Setter

pigman

Worked  for my father on the farm for room and board. A few times worked for other farmers when my father told me to. I don't remember what  I got paid since my father got the money. The first real job was working for our Uncle Sam starting at $ 80 a month plus room and board. That only lasted for 19 months before I was gladly laid off. I have never had a job since. ;D
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

LittleJohn

Besides the summer lawn mowing job.

My first actually "paycheck" job, was when I was 16yo (1997), operating a Grapple Skidder; think I made $7/hr, but i am pretty sure I would have paid for that job (what 16yo would not want to drive basically a MONSTER TRUCK). :o :o  The logger I was working for was one of my mom's daycare parents and I had know for a long time.  I got to forward skids from the woods to the slasher, I was also responsible for knocking off the limbs and keeping the yard clean.  Hating working in August thou, cause you had to leave the cab heater on all year long to help keep Hydro's cool, but winter break was the best, -20f out and the cab door open!!!

brianb88

My first paying job was cutting grass when I was 13 or 14 years old. Me and a friend (who was 15 with a DL and access to a truck) went into business together cutting lawns and the Dixie Youth baseball fields in the summer of '85. If I remember correctly we had 4 yards and the 2 baseball fields per week. We also had to chalk the batters box and foul ball lines on Tuesdays and Thursdays before the games. I think we made $50/week on the lawns and $60/week on the ball fields. So $55 each per week was big $$ for a 14 year old.

Before we started that summer my grandpa offered to buy my push mower with conditions. He wrote up an agreement that I had to sign before he purchased the lawn mower. Basically the deal was I had to keep a log book of all the $$ I made for each job and show how much I spent and on what. I also had to pay him a certain amount each week to repay the full cost of the mower. At the end of the summer if I had not paid back the $ for the cost of the mower and kept an accurate log book of finances with proof of $ in hand I had to give him back the lawnmower plus a penalty. 

I'm not sure where that log book is now and my grandpa has been gone for many years but I learned some valuable lessons that year about managing $, physical labor and the value of a job well done.
Measure twice, cut once

clearcut

Caddy at 14. $1.50 per 9 holes plus tips! Still hate golf to this day.

First paycheck job same year, sorting cooler apples at the end of summer, getting ready for the new crop (rots, sauce, juice) - $1.25 per hour. 
Carbon sequestered upon request.

auctoinc

My first job was delivering newspapers in Ottawa. Had this weird guy come by my house and ask my parents if they wanted me to work. I don’t quite remember how old I was at the time, but I do strangely remember that I was eating chicken at the time he walked in our house. Funny the things you remember as a kid.

I don’t even remember what I made, but it was sure below minimum wage. Plus, I think my parents got the money. My first introduction to our tax system.The job wasn’t too bad. They would drop off a bunch of different piles of paper on Sunday. I had to assemble them, then deliver them to houses around the block. I didn’t want to do it, but I had my friends help me. Got chased by some dogs a couple times, too. Accidentally missed a house once, and had a lady call the paper company. I never knew that people were so passionate about the classifieds. Then I moved cities and worked at a grocery store. Not the greatest job, as I worked in the fish department. Went home smelling like fish every day, for $7.50 an hour.

It's definitely interesting to read all the stories here.

Engineer

Working as a custodian and general labor/gofer at the construction company my Dad worked at.  Sometimes he'd take me out in the field (he was a land surveyor) and have me help with the field work, flagging or painting lines, or just carrying stuff.  Minimum wage in 1985, whatever that was, age 15. The following three years I was a construction laborer for the same company, still at minimum wage. 

VictorH


Al_Smith

I was bailing hay at 12 years old,1960 for 60 cents an hour .At 14 I went to work for a sheep shearer .During the summer he ran a portable sheep dipper in 4 or 5 states .I remember many a week earning over 200 dollars .Later I learned to shear and by the time I was 18 I could do about 70 lambs a day at 70 cents per . The other shearers could do about 100 .

David Freed

I made $1.50 - $2.00/ hr putting up hay for several farmers when I was 11 or 12. I got my first steady job working for a farmer for $1.50/hr at 15.

Kbeitz

First job was in 1968 and I started work at Magee Carpet Co.
chasing the girls around... At least that what I remember doing
most of the time... I think my pay was $1.65 hr.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Den Socling

My dad had a business making wrought iron railings. When I was small, I would help him on installations on weekends. Later my parents had a kitchen and bath business. Same thing doing installations on Saturdays. When I got my drivers license, I got a job pumping gas for around $1.50 per hour. The station also housed the area ambulance. One of my jobs was keeping it clean which was sometimes an ugly job after a traffic accident. When I was in college, I got a job at a sports car shop pulling and replacing engines and transmissions. My specialty was British cars. I moved to Phoenix and started pumping gas again. I think I got around $1.90 per hour even if I worked 90 hours per week. I went back to PA and got a temporary job in manufacturing. After 6 weeks, the production department offered me a job as a supervisor but the engineering department offered a job as an engineering technician. I took the job with engineering. After a couple years, a guy who was president of a manufacturing company that built scientific instruments offered me a job. I took it and was their production manager for 10 years. Feeling restless, I decided to start my own company. That led me to vacuum kilns that I have been working with for about 30+ years.

glassman_48

My uncle had a large construction business in Plymouth Michigan.  When I was 10 he paid me $1.00 per hour to come and pull weeds out of their garden.  I was so excited, I couldn't sleep the night before, skipped breakfast rode my bike over to their house and got there early.  It was about 95 degrees that day and just before noon I almost passed out.  Years later I found out about being hypoglycemic, I hadn't had any sleep, no food and don't remember drinking any water.  My cousin threw my bike in the back of his pickup and took me home.  I was devastated, never thought anyone would ever ask me to work for them again. I went back the next day after a good breakfast and finished the job.  I will never forget the look on my cousins face when he had to take me home.  My other uncle had a greenhouse business also in Plymouth, all my older brothers worked there during junior high helping him.  I started there when I was 11 and got paid 2 dollars an hour.  My aunt and uncle always made me a good lunch and made me drink plenty of water it easily got over 100 in the greenhouses during the summer. I worked there until I was 18 every summer.

terrifictimbersllc

Mid 60's, paper route don't remember maybe $2 per day. Painting in the summer, $1.50/hr.  First job punching clock at 17 unloading lumber by hand from boxcars, $1.65/hr
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

sawguy21

That brings some painful memories. At 17 I was a skinny kid, a good wind would have blown me away. The first day on the job was spent with old Ed unloading a rail car of bagged cement with hand trucks onto a 1 ton flat deck. We then had to hand bomb into the warehouse because they didn't have a fork lift. I could hardly lift a fork to eat my supper. :D Last day on the job same thing, I was happy to go back to school.
I spent most of that summer hauling grain with an overloaded under powered 1946 Maple Leaf (Canadian GMC) with a four speed 'crash box' and vacuum two speed. That thing was a real education.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

timberlinetree

It is so neat to hear all the different jobs and what they paid and the experience and life time learning lessons. One thing for sure , lot of hard working kids back then! Thanks for sharing your stories!
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