I was a sub minor in '72, so I only rated $1.15/hr. working as a grunt at a local fish& chips place. Walked to work every day and enjoyed every minute of it. Allowed me a reason to be out of the house, and gave me enough money to buy my own clothes, etc. When I got the raise to the $1.65 min. wage, I thought I was a millionaire. Haven't stopped working since. Sadly, the millionaire thing never happened...but I bought a lot of cool cars!
Was Your First Job at Minimum Wage?
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Minimum wage was $3.35 when I started working.
My first job was at goodyear tire shop.
It was a terrible experience due to a green manager that replaced a good 'ol boy that was actually pretty cool.
Next job was one of the last full serve gas stations. Also $3.35.
I believe I got a five cent raise while working there. Wooo, hooo.
Didn't get a noticeable bump until I went to night stocking a local chain grocery for IIRC about 4 bucks with the shift differential.
My first job was at goodyear tire shop.
It was a terrible experience due to a green manager that replaced a good 'ol boy that was actually pretty cool.
Next job was one of the last full serve gas stations. Also $3.35.
I believe I got a five cent raise while working there. Wooo, hooo.
Didn't get a noticeable bump until I went to night stocking a local chain grocery for IIRC about 4 bucks with the shift differential.
This is almost like askin "how'd you lose your virginity?"
Picking tobacco leaves for I think $3.14 an hour. That was in 1979.
14 years old in 1979 worked at Western Tire stocking shelves and putting bikes together. I would race through my work so I could work with the parts guy. Friday nights were the best......A bottle or rye in the back for the adults, and me working the parts counter by myself. $2.15 per hour. Those were the days.
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Besides a paper route and selling "garden fertilizer" (horse ****) as a kid, my first "real job" was working for my uncle who owned a Dairy Queen, and in '78, at the age 13, I was given a key to the place and was responsible for opening it up during the summer (I had to start and fill all of the machines each morning), all for a whopping $2.13/hour.
ir3333
Well-Known Member
Pumpin' gas around 1965 part time as a teenager and can't remember what i was paid?
First 40 hour week job was in the summer of 1969. 80 cents an hour / $32.00 per week in the Bata Shoe Factory.
First 40 hour week job was in the summer of 1969. 80 cents an hour / $32.00 per week in the Bata Shoe Factory.
68gtxman
I used to reMember
$1 per hour scrubbing pots and pans in a children’s home in 1972 at age 15. Then moved on to be an usher in a movie theater at $1.10 for about a year. Then three years as a gas station attendant - started at $1.65 and ended at $2 when the minimum wage finally caught up with me. In college, 1978, I babysat the new computer that was the second expansion of DARPANET for $4.65. That was the prototype for email. That was a very boring job, but with great pay and I got to do my homework on a computer and play non-graphic Star Trek on a green screen computer.
3forty
"Raw Power"
Interesting,you starting working at a very,very young age.
Cutting grass in the early 70's. Made $3 for one old gal's lawn each time I cut it and got it done in about 50 min. Pushed my mower down city blocks to cut others. Had one that was a big payday - $10 - but it took like 2-1/2 hrs to mow. 20" push mower on about a 2 acre field with ruts and bumps and generally got beat up.
In about '75, worked in a little clothing store for $2.18/hr. BORING!! Would go eat lunch at a diner and spend a couple hours work each day.
Then in 1979, started work at the GM Lordstown assembly plant as a student intern. $48/day made me filthy rich! Or so I thought. 1st paycheck was for 2 days work so $96. Netted about $80. Used that to fill the tank in my 69 Charger for the FIRST time! (It had only ever gotten $5 or less before that.) Still have that paystub!!
In about '75, worked in a little clothing store for $2.18/hr. BORING!! Would go eat lunch at a diner and spend a couple hours work each day.
Then in 1979, started work at the GM Lordstown assembly plant as a student intern. $48/day made me filthy rich! Or so I thought. 1st paycheck was for 2 days work so $96. Netted about $80. Used that to fill the tank in my 69 Charger for the FIRST time! (It had only ever gotten $5 or less before that.) Still have that paystub!!
Walking beans @ $1.25 an hour, my friend's sister would sometimes walk with us. That alone was worth it, made the time go by faster, always a kink in my neck by the end of
day although. lol
day although. lol
3forty
"Raw Power"
A buddy and I worked weekends at a winery when we were 15 years old for a $1.10 an hour cleaning vats. We were still going to high school at that time.
I turned 16 Feb. 1964, sofomore in HS,. The day after I turned 16 I started work at A & P Supermarket ( supermarket was a stretch) in Dawson, Ga. I forget the wage but seems like $1.10 rings a bell? Or was it .$90??? Every after noon after school except Mon. (stock day) and 12 1/2 hrs Sat. It paid for my gas in my old 49 Chevy, horse feed and shoeing. What the heck else did I spend all that on!!?????? Oh yea, an occasional quarter horse!!
About the fall of '63 there was a good pecan crop. I was about 14 or 15. Out thru the country, old abandoned tenant house sites alot of time had a few seedling pecan trees. The but was about the size of a marble! Little! Well I would ride out on my horse and carry a couple of burlap sacks and help; myself. I guess it could be called stealing or I figured there in Terrell Co., Ga. anyone that wanted good nuts did not fool with seedlings! I had a horse lady family friend that they could get dealer price on new saddles. I paid $400 for a new roping saddle with nut money.
About the fall of '63 there was a good pecan crop. I was about 14 or 15. Out thru the country, old abandoned tenant house sites alot of time had a few seedling pecan trees. The but was about the size of a marble! Little! Well I would ride out on my horse and carry a couple of burlap sacks and help; myself. I guess it could be called stealing or I figured there in Terrell Co., Ga. anyone that wanted good nuts did not fool with seedlings! I had a horse lady family friend that they could get dealer price on new saddles. I paid $400 for a new roping saddle with nut money.
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jos51700
Green Bearing thread connoisseur
Pizza Hut, 1996-1999ish.
At one point, they denied me a raise, everyone else quit, and I was training my supervisors who had been hired at 50% more than I was making. I only got raises when the minimum wage was increased.
My store manager quit at the same time I did and they found out she was stealing cash. What a *****.
At one point, they denied me a raise, everyone else quit, and I was training my supervisors who had been hired at 50% more than I was making. I only got raises when the minimum wage was increased.
My store manager quit at the same time I did and they found out she was stealing cash. What a *****.
Baling hay….10c a bale, we worked for every farmer in our area, and for a scrawny kid of 14, we made a lot of money.
We also earned a $1/hr for a local school teacher who brought used tires home from the city. He rented out my friends horse barn, dumped the tires in the barn, and we cleaned them, separated them into sets, and put them in stalls for him to sell. Problem was, he never even bothered to try to sell the car tires, he only wanted the semi tires to turn in to the recapping plant for big $$. So, it was up to my buddy and I to sell them to our friends to make money and “keep the inventory down”, which we gladly did. We had a friend who graduated and was working in a factory who would trade us an ounce of weed for a nice set of tires. He sold em to his buddies at work, and we rolled the ounce into joints and sold em at school. We had money and weed coming out of our ears. We could use the money to buy even more weed at $75 for 4 ounces and roll about 200 joints. And of course we were the life of the party, because we always had weed, lots of weed!
Good times!!
We also earned a $1/hr for a local school teacher who brought used tires home from the city. He rented out my friends horse barn, dumped the tires in the barn, and we cleaned them, separated them into sets, and put them in stalls for him to sell. Problem was, he never even bothered to try to sell the car tires, he only wanted the semi tires to turn in to the recapping plant for big $$. So, it was up to my buddy and I to sell them to our friends to make money and “keep the inventory down”, which we gladly did. We had a friend who graduated and was working in a factory who would trade us an ounce of weed for a nice set of tires. He sold em to his buddies at work, and we rolled the ounce into joints and sold em at school. We had money and weed coming out of our ears. We could use the money to buy even more weed at $75 for 4 ounces and roll about 200 joints. And of course we were the life of the party, because we always had weed, lots of weed!
Good times!!
Infiniti Dave
Member
Still remember it well. Jack's Sohio in Bedford , Ohio. $1.50 per hour in 1973. Auto technical in High School during the day.
Library Page putting away books and assisting patrons $3.40 hr in 1986 Jan thru April.
In April My HS had work experience classes and the teacher got me a job as an entry level machinist as $6.50/hr. Ran lathes, Bridgeports, bandsaw, and Many hours on the burr bench and belt sander! Loved that job and worked full time in the summer. Was there 3 years until the placed closed and I got let go.
They made wheelchair lifts for vans and converted the van so that disabled people could be mobile.
In April My HS had work experience classes and the teacher got me a job as an entry level machinist as $6.50/hr. Ran lathes, Bridgeports, bandsaw, and Many hours on the burr bench and belt sander! Loved that job and worked full time in the summer. Was there 3 years until the placed closed and I got let go.
They made wheelchair lifts for vans and converted the van so that disabled people could be mobile.
I bussed Tables for $2.01/hr plus Tips when I was Fifteen. (1985)
I mowed grass and did dishes for a couple of years until my 1st Real Job at 18 yrs old.
I got Hired on at Associated Equipment Co. in Saint Louis where we made Associated and Snap-On Battery Chargers. (1988)
I think the Min Wage was $3.85/hr then but I was makin' about $7.50 and Driving a '79 Lebaron with a 360/727 355 Rear
that would Eat rear tires as fast as I could get them!
I mowed grass and did dishes for a couple of years until my 1st Real Job at 18 yrs old.
I got Hired on at Associated Equipment Co. in Saint Louis where we made Associated and Snap-On Battery Chargers. (1988)
I think the Min Wage was $3.85/hr then but I was makin' about $7.50 and Driving a '79 Lebaron with a 360/727 355 Rear
that would Eat rear tires as fast as I could get them!
StreetSleeper
Well-Known Member
1989. Summer working the cornfields and soy bean fields.$4.XX, but as high as $15 an hour or more Sundays.
Parents were foreword thinking and made me save 75% of my earnings for later.
They never saw the cash payouts though.
This doesn’t include mowing lawns previously at younger ages.
Parents were foreword thinking and made me save 75% of my earnings for later.
They never saw the cash payouts though.
This doesn’t include mowing lawns previously at younger ages.
Worked at a commercial chicken farm every day after school and summer for 2 years, got paid $3.65 an hour in 1977 to feed them, collect and candle eggs.
The farm had 4 large buildings with raised cages, got paid $50 flat rate per building on the weekend to clean the **** up, usually took about 3hrs per building.
I made pretty good money for a 15 year old kid that smelled like chicken ****. lol
The farm had 4 large buildings with raised cages, got paid $50 flat rate per building on the weekend to clean the **** up, usually took about 3hrs per building.
I made pretty good money for a 15 year old kid that smelled like chicken ****. lol
Unconventional
Well-Known Member
Only thing I remember about my brief time living on a chicken ranch, I was younger than kindergarten. I got attacked by the turkeys and Dad left his paint brush in the paint thinner to clean, so I painted myself a faded barn red 
I can relate, good news is it keeps you from biting your nails.
A paper route in ‘58 don’t remember the pay, then sacking groceries for tips, cutting grass from 13 to 16yo, then a hardware store assembling product and stocking finally for a paycheck at $1.15 an hour, at 16.
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