Was Your First Job at Minimum Wage?

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dibbons

dibbons

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When I graduated in California from high school in June 1973 I went to work (for the next 20 months) at a Chevron station while attending Community College (Auto Technology classes mostly). I was always paid minimum wages which were $1.65 hour during 1973 and then $2.00 after that. Oh, I worked six days a week so maybe I was paid time and a half on Saturdays (can't remember for sure).

Chevron 1973.jpeg
 
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The start of my Junior year in high school, in 1973, I went to work for Ingles Supermarkets for $1.65 an hour. worked there until June of 1978 and was making $3.85 an hour when I quit and went to work for Carolina Power & Light in the line crew. My starting pay at the power company was a dollar more an hour and I absolutely loved it. I thought I was King Kong with bloomers on getting that much of a raise, and having so much fun to boot! :)
 
The last 2 years of high school were in an Atlantic gas station, pumping gas and helping the mechanic owner. Went to a vocational school and working made my school work in shop a breeze. $1.25 an hour OFF the books. First real job was for a Buick dealer. The minimum wage was $2.50 an hour $74 take home, still have a receipt. 1969.
 
Pumpin gas and changin oil in 1974 at $2 an hour. I thought I was gonna be a millionaire.
 
Actually $10/hr in 1973 on a silver mining claim in the desert. I fergit what they called it, but they had to spend so much $$ on the claim per year to keep it. 10 hours $100 cash and done. Then came the Chevron station @ $1.65 :lol:
 
First job in 1976 was washing dishes in a restaurant making $2.30/hr. In 1979, I started pumping gas and helping the owner on repairs. He paid me in cash, $5/hr.

Stayed there after school until I graduated from high school and Vo-tech (machine shop) in 1981. Started work at Landis Tool Company as a turret lathe operator at a whooping $8/hr. That was Huge money for then.
 
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minimum wage was 3.35, but i got paid 3.65 mowing Cemetaries. I also upkept the equipment. It was my first job that was an actual paycheck with taxes taken out. :D
 
Picking up trash at the drive-in movie theatre at 13. It didn't pay minimum wage though.
 
Worked at McDonalds in 1979 for around $2.75 (Cdn). That lasted 9 months and then I got a job at the service station for double that. I then went fixing tanker trailers and a yard operator for double that around 1982. Outdoor work was too cold for me so I went to tech school.
 
Good a job with my Dad in 1978 at Fruehauf Trailer. started @ $9 after six months made union scale of $12.12 . At 21 years old life was good !
 
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Working on the farm. Baling hay, pitchin' s*it, painting buildings, walking beans, cutting thistles, doing chores. Most was or free but that's what you do when you live on a farm. Detasseling corn paid $20 an acre. An acre back then was around 20,000 plants. My first real job was at the Phillips 66 station working Saturday's and Sundays. Just a few dollars an hour. Pumping gas, changing tires and changing oil.
 
toolmanmike said:
Working on the farm. Baling hay, pitchin' s*it, painting buildings, walking beans, cutting thistles, doing chores. Most was or free but that's what you do when you live on a farm. Detasseling corn paid $20 an acre. An acre back then was around 20,000 plants. My first real job was at the Phillips 66 station working Saturday's and Sundays. Just a few dollars an hour. Pumping gas, changing tires and changing oil.
Click to expand...
Now you've come full circle. The time you spend here is much appreciated.
 
toolmanmike said:
Do you still like chicken?
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I put this in a post the other other day. I loved Kentucky Fried Chicken but when I worked there for six months I never ate a piece. We were crazy busy as it was a one person kitchen. By time I got down a system that I had enough time for a break I was tired of smelling chicken all day. I never ate one single piece.
 
My grandfather’s plumbing company down in Hazelwood Pa. I got every **** job, literally. It’s why I’m not a plumber and left for the Navy when I graduated high school.
 
My first job, that wasn't on the farm, was at a Bob Evans Restaurant as a bus boy making $3.35 an hour.
I got a promotion to dishwasher (yeah, sarcasm) and got another .10¢ an hour for that. Asked to be a grill cook, and that did come with a decent raise, a whole .35¢ an hour.
I think I was at a whopping $4.15 when I joined the Army. If we break that down by the hour, it was less than minimum wage.
Outside of that, I worked hay, and tobacco. The guy who I worked tobacco for stiffed me and my brother on what he owed us. My Grandpa got involved and in the end, he struck a deal where we both got a new pair of Nikes. To this day I though that was a bunch of bullshit.
 
Removing and installing Automatic transmissions at my friends Uncles Transmission shop after school and Saturdays in 1964. $2 per removal and re-install.
 
Delivering pizza at 16 in 1979 for $2.70/hr plus tips, $3.50/hr plus gas and tips if I had to use my own car. Got a second part time at a gas station/carwash for $3.35/hr. After about 8 months of that I got a job at another service station where I also did oil changes, tire repairs, and other small repair jobs, 34 hrs a week at $3.25/hr, worked Thursday and Friday nights 3:30pm to 10pm, all day Saturday 8 am to 9 pm, and Sundays 11am to 7pm, and still full time in school. Somehow I still found time to party.
 
1969; I don't remember exactly, I want to say 90cents per hour pumping gas after school til 8PM, and IIRC; time and a half on Sundays(which was IIRC 13 hours). I was getting something like 30 hours a week, and by the math, I was rich! That was enough to buy me a set of tires every summer, atta time when gas was around 37cents per 160ounce-Canadian gallon, and since I was too young to smoke or drink, I had plenty of spending money. By fall of 1970, I had $1200 saved up to buy 50% of a nearly new 1970 Swinger340/4-speed. The bank was happy to lend me the rest.
Homework?
If I had any, I did that during spares.
Girls?
No time. Well by 16, I had had my heart broke twice so, not much interest.
 
Yep. Worked at the City swimming pool for a 1.65 '75-'77. Grocery store for 3.15 in'80-'81 Then fast food for 3.15 -3.35. And a few grass cutting jobs.
 
1984 sweeping the floors in a body shop at Chic Miller Chevrolet in Bristol, CT. It's now closed. $3.50 an hr.
 
In 1969, working at a Shell station pumping gas, cleaning windshields and checking oil, $1.35 an hour working 36 hours a week.
 
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