# What was the first paying job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2000, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461 "2000-03-31T13:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/1 "2000-03-31T13:24:00Z")
Hubby, who wants to feel apart of SDMB, without actually being apart of this wonderful place ( He knows it is my sanctuary.) Asks lots of off the wall questions to be posted here. I screen most of them, but this one I thought I would put to you all. What was the first paying job? I immediately half joked and said, “Prostitution.” We then discussed it was probably a system of bartering, but I’d like the two bits of everyone here. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/2 "2000-03-31T13:31:00Z")
Dammit, Shirley, the SEARCH ENGINE!! 😉 I’d say prostitution. Either that, or Cave Man Pimp. * * * **Coldfire** _Voted **Poster Most Likely To Post Drunk** _ * * * **WallyM7** on Coldfire: _ **"Yeah, he knows a little about everything because they have a good prison library."** _ ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@Carl\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Berry)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/3 "2000-03-31T13:35:00Z")
## Delivering hand bills door to door for the neighborhood movie theater. Though tempted, I did not put them in the storm sewer! Carl ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/4 "2000-03-31T13:36:00Z")
Cleaning my neighbours motorbike when I was about 6 or 7 I think. 50 pence for about an hour’s work. That was a lot of money, I used to be terrified of dropping the big silver thing down the drain on the 20 yard dash back to my house before the robbers arrived :). ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/5 "2000-03-31T13:36:00Z")
Errrm Carl? You don’t seriously believe that Shirley was talking about herself when she said “prostitution”, do you? * * * **Coldfire** _Voted **Poster Most Likely To Post Drunk** _ * * * **WallyM7** on Coldfire: _ **"Yeah, he knows a little about everything because they have a good prison library."** _ ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/6 "2000-03-31T13:43:00Z")
LOL * * * What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. -Sigmund Freud- ---
**Author:** ![SmoothOperator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SmoothOperator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmoothOperator)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/7 "2000-03-31T14:00:00Z")
I think it was a used club salesman in a tacky plaid loincloth. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/8 "2000-03-31T14:32:00Z")
Um, let’s see… as a young lad in a small farm town (pop.1200) we used to gather soda pop bottles and turn them into the grocery store for 5 cents apiece. Janitor type work for our one and only clothing store after school. * * * New and Improved Enright3 ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/9 "2000-03-31T14:34:00Z")
Babysitting. For me and the paleolithic population. ---
**Author:** ![SmoothOperator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SmoothOperator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmoothOperator)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/10 "2000-03-31T16:10:00Z")
Maybe I’m reading this wrong. Are you asking what is the first paying job in the history of mankind or the 1st paying job that the SDMB members had? Inquiring minds want to know? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/11 "2000-03-31T16:13:00Z")
Yeah—was Shirley and Coldfire’s first paying jobs prostitution? Or was chasing neighbors’ motorbikes the first paying job in the history of mankind? C’mon, be specific—it’s Friday and my brain is tired. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/12 "2000-03-31T16:16:00Z")
Well, as y’all know I am a professional gigolo, but in this case I (and I think Shirley as well) was referring to the first paid job in the history of mankind. * * * **Coldfire** _Voted **Poster Most Likely To Post Drunk** _ * * * **WallyM7** on Coldfire: _ **"Yeah, he knows a little about everything because they have a good prison library."** _ ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/13 "2000-03-31T16:16:00Z")
Assuming that THE first paying job is meant, my WAG is that it was “shaman.” Gathering your own food doesn’t really count as a “paying” job, but being supported in return for services rendered does. * * * Live a Lush Life Da Chef ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/14 "2000-03-31T16:22:00Z")
I’d say “wife and mother,” then. Woman stayed home, got knocked up and raised the kids, while the man then went out and dragged home some woolly mammoth for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/15 "2000-03-31T16:24:00Z")
Monkey washer. I’ll leave it you guys to decide which of the two questions I’m answering. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/16 "2000-03-31T16:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Coldfire: > **Well, as y’all know I am a professional gigolo, but in this case I (and I think Shirley as well) was referring to the first paid job in the history of mankind.** ## I knew that, Coldfire. But as far as I was concerned, the universe didn’t exist until I was born. That way if I ever want to travel to the center of the universe, all I have to do is remember it’s always right where I’m standing! 🙂 New and Improved Enright3 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-paying-job/15461/17 "2000-04-03T02:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Coldfire: > \*\*Well, as y’all know I am a professional gigolo, but in this case I (and I think Shirley as well) was referring to the first paid job in the history of mankind. > \*\* You are so astute, Coldfire! I thought I made myself clear, but what was \*the \*first paying job ever. Not _your_ (the reader)first paying job. I would have responded to this sooner, but I’ve got two kids sick and I’ve got what they have. * * * That what does not kill me, postpones the inevitable.