# How much did you make at your first job? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2008, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443 "2008-06-02T06:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/81 "2008-06-04T13:38:45Z")
First job was at the age of 15, which would have been 1984, minimum wage ($3.35?) waiting tables at a Bed & Breakfast in a tourist destination area in Montana. The B&B was run by the original, often copied never duplicated, Crazy Old Bat. I worked there all summer and lived at my parents’ lake house, mostly thrillingly ALONE. (The rest of the family came up on the weekends.) I made friends with the other waitresses and we spent all our off hours at the lake, flirting with the local boys. Despite the COB yelling at me, that was a sweet summer. [QUOTE=Kayeby] $6 an hour selling fairy floss. [/QUOTE] What is “fairy floss”? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/82 "2008-06-04T15:20:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] What is “fairy floss”? [/QUOTE] I think it’s the same as cotton candy. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/83 "2008-06-04T15:37:41Z")
I pictured Tinkerbell in a thong. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/84 "2008-06-04T15:40:37Z")
$4.35/hr, minimum wage. Bagging groceries, 1994. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/85 "2008-06-04T15:43:41Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I pictured Tinkerbell in a thong. [/QUOTE] I do that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/86 "2008-06-04T17:58:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by control-z > I pictured Tinkerbell in a thong. [QUOTE=tdn] I do that all the time. [/QUOTE] Are we out of baby oil? ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/87 "2008-06-04T18:03:30Z")
My first job was in 1985 … I was 15 and made $6/hr working part-time at K-Mart. The minimum wage in my province at the time was around $4/hr, so I felt quite fortunate. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/88 "2008-06-05T01:23:00Z")
Buck an hour at 11 years old mowing grass at our family owned mobile home park. (open space and empty lots). That was 1971, and a lot better than doing it for free. Pretty good money for an 11 year old. But I worked my butt off. Then I would mow the 5 acres we had at home. Didn’t expect to be paid for that. What I learned in those years was worth much more than any $ amount. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/89 "2008-06-05T06:46:31Z")
In 1967, in rural SW Kansas, farmers hired 13-yr-old-&-older students to “rogue” their fields. We walked through their wheat or corn fields watching the straight line of wheat/corn/other crops their planting machines (sorry, I don’t remember the machine name) had laid into the furrow. Any plants that came up that were outside those straight lines were “rogues”…stray seeds, not what had been planted. We furrowed (that is pulled, or, if we had hoes, hoed) these unwanted plants, so the species of seed planted could remain pure. We started at daybreak and worked until about 4:30 pm or so. I remember we broke for lunch. I don’t remember breaking for anything else. In retrospect, we must have brought our own sunscreens/suntan lotions (this was the 1960’s – who knew about skin cancer?). We ended the summer with a killer tan. We got $1.35/hr…min. wage in those days. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/90 "2008-06-05T09:52:01Z")
$3.35 in 1985 working at a Dairy Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/91 "2008-06-05T11:09:55Z")
$3.75/hr in 1987, at the local pharmacy. 10 cents over minimum wage. Within about a year, I was up to $4.75, and they raised the minimum wage by a dollar. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/92 "2008-06-05T11:20:40Z")
I made about a dollar an hour in what was then a high paying job for my age (relatively) in 1971. My Mum made 5 shillings (50 cents) a WEEK for working six half days doing domestic duties circa 1935. Out of that she had to pay her board. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/93 "2008-06-05T12:31:43Z")
Summer of 1974, working as a computer lab proctor at the local junior college. I helped people with their programming questions and dealt with malfunctions of the key punches and card readers. And rode my bike to work since I wasn’t quite old enough to drive. Minimum wage then was $2.10/hr, but as a gov’t agency the college didn’t have to pay that, so I got $2.00/hr. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443/94 "2008-06-05T12:40:35Z")
My first job (whilst still a student) was for Friday nights and Saturday mornings in a pharmacy as a retail schlepper. For eight hours, I was paid $12 (AUD) which I thought was brilliant, but was in actuality a really appalling wage, even in those times in 1975. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-did-you-make-at-your-first-job/451443.md?page=4)