# What Was Your First Job & How Much Were You Paid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290 "2003-10-08T14:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/1 "2003-10-08T14:12:27Z")
I think I began working at age 12. I don’t know which job came first. I either collected MIA shopping carts from apartment complexes for $.10 a piece or I swept apartment stairwells for $1.00 an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Hellboy37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hellboy37](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellboy37)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/2 "2003-10-08T14:23:09Z")
I started young around 7 or 8 colecting soda pop and beer bottles for the 5 cent return. I would go buy comics and as many Hostess fruit pies as I could eat with the profit. Next was at 12 as a paper boy which really didn’t pay swat. I then moved on to my first real job washing dishes at 14 at the Golden Bear restaurant for minimum wage in 1979… whatever that was. Not much! ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/3 "2003-10-08T14:25:30Z")
In high school, I volunteered for the Red Cross during the summers. I didn’t get my first paid job until I was 18. I was a Help Desk Dispatcher and made about $12K a year. ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/4 "2003-10-08T14:27:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I was a Help Desk Dispatcher and made about $12K a year. Wow **Juanita Tech** that was a great income for a 18 year old I think. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/5 "2003-10-08T14:31:48Z")
Yep. Mom didn’t want us to be, as she put it, minimum wage slaves. She took advantage of all her contacts and any internship program available and made sure my brother and I had excellent first jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Kithara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8491ac/32.png) [@Kithara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kithara)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/6 "2003-10-08T14:32:17Z")
I worked as a stable girl for a summer camp at 15. I think I made $700 or $800 for the entire summer, 10 or 11 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/7 "2003-10-08T14:32:39Z")
I started babysitting when I was about 12. Made $4.50/hr which I distinctly recall was more than minimum wage at the time. A friend of my mom’s recommended me to her whole single parent’s support group, so I always had as much work as I wanted through high school. At 13 I had this sweet gig walking a neighbor kid home from school and hanging out with him while his mom saw clients in her home office. Watch GI Joe, play with Legos, get paid… plus his mom was there in case of actual emergency. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/8 "2003-10-08T14:34:05Z")
age 18. Lawson’s (sortof a Dairy Mart). I think it was 3 something an hour. I quit after one day. ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/9 "2003-10-08T14:51:16Z")
Delivered newspapers - I made 8¢ per paper per day, 28¢ on Sundays. It worked out to about $40-50/week. I also worked part-time at a baseball card shop for a couple bucks an hour, plus the envy of my fellow card-collecting friends. ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/10 "2003-10-08T15:11:26Z")
OK I think this counts. One summer my Dad signed my sisters and I up for a paper route. I was 7, my sisters were 10 and 11. We did it all summer, getting up early, lugging heavy bags all over God’s creation. Then we’d collect our $2.00 monthly subscription fee ($2.75 if they got Sundays too) out of all our customers. Well, I say “we” meaning me and one of my sisters, never all three of us at once. Sometimes just me, but still we’d always split the profit 3 ways. School started and Mom insisted we give it up. Then I baby sat when I was 12 until I got my first real commercial job at a frozen yogurt place. Slingin cones and cookies. I was 16, and I was paid $3.15 an hour, or $3.35. I can’t remember. Whatever minimum was back in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![meow\_meow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@meow\_meow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meow_meow)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/11 "2003-10-08T15:11:37Z")
Excluding baby-sitting, my first job was a telephone interviewer (surveys, not sales. like it matters. click!) at the age of 14. If I recall correctly, minimum wage then was $3.35 per hour. My favorite was when we did specialty calls. I phoned up pig and cattle farmers across the country to see what kind of antibiotics they used on their animals. Do whut now? My least favorite was asking what kind of birth control people used. No, I have not been saved. ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/12 "2003-10-08T15:14:57Z")
OK I think this sort of counts. One summer my Dad signed my sisters and I up for a paper route. I was 7, my sisters were 10 and 11. We did it all summer, getting up early, lugging heavy bags all over God’s creation. Then we’d collect our $2.00 monthly subscription fee ($2.75 if they got Sundays too) out of all our customers. Well, I say “we” meaning me and one of my sisters, never all three of us at once. Sometimes just me. Dad kept the money and put it in a “savings account” for us. Ahem. Wish I had that account number, it’s probably really grown with all those years of interest, eh? sigh. Then I baby sat when I was 12 up until I got my first real commercial job at a frozen yogurt place. Slingin cones and cookies. I was 16, and I was paid $3.15 an hour, or $3.35. I can’t remember. Whatever minimum was back in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/13 "2003-10-08T15:15:29Z")
In year 10 I worked at a popcorn and fairy floss stall at a busy shopping centre and made $6.60 an hour which was around minimum wage. On the plus side I got all the free buttered popcorn, caramel popcorn and fairy floss I wanted, plus leftovers to take to my family. ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/14 "2003-10-08T15:16:48Z")
sorry for the doubel post i hadnt thought of that job in a LONG while We DIDNT get the money three ways I swear ::shuffles off red-faced:: ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/15 "2003-10-08T15:16:48Z")
Excluding babysitting here too, and au-pairing. My first “proper” job was working in a really small fast-food restaurant (1x3 yards space in the kitchen/serving area). Worked 6pm to 6am for IE£2 an hour. That was about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/16 "2003-10-08T15:47:39Z")
I babysat - fifty cents per hour. And the rule in our house was that half of whatever we earned or were given had to go into savings. I was mercenary - I put most of my money into the bank. First “real” job - I worked at my dad’s company (where he worked, not one he owned) on Saturdays opening and sorting mail and operating the PBX board (this was 1970-73) I started at $2/hour which was above minimum wage, and I eventually got a raise to $2.25/hour. I worked there during the summers doing grunt jobs - filing, billing, boxing old files for warehouse storage, running errands. I managed to bank several thousand dollars. I talked to my dad about getting on there full time. Bear in mind that while I didn’t know everything about the business, I had been there part time for over 3 years. Even with that background, he said I’d have to start at the pay that all new hires got: $95/week. I wanted $100. I joined the Navy instead. Thanks, Dad, for being cheap - it led to the best thing I could have done! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/17 "2003-10-08T15:55:34Z")
Mowed lawns and shoveled snow for a couple of neighbors back in the 60s. Think I got about $2-3 per lawn. Around 13 years old started caddying. An average decent loop was $10. Starting in high school, my dad got me a number of jobs in printshops - either working on the presses or janitor work. Some were close to minimum wage - maybe $3.50/hr. I remember $5/hr in subsequent years being big money! ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/18 "2003-10-08T16:09:01Z")
I worked at a cub scout camp, 60 bucks a week. That was a fun first job. ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/19 "2003-10-08T16:13:48Z")
First job was mowing lawns for two dallars. Then I did the newspaper thing when I was 13-14 for about $80.00 a month. When I was 15, I worked on a chicken ranch. I started at $0.95 per hour. At the time min wage was $1.10. I worked a lot of hours and took home about $30.00 a week. At 16, I went to work as a waiter in a ski resort for $1.10 + tips. I worked Friday nights, Saturday, and Sunday. Again, I worked a lot of hours, sometimes 16-20 on Saturday, but I usually took home between $75-$100.00 a weekend. Damn good for a kid in 1963-64. When I turned 18, I went to work for General Electric and started at $2.48 an hr. In the beginning I actually made more money as a waiter, but after a year I was making almost $3.00. Also I could work all the overtime I wanted at time-and-a half, and double time for Sundays, so that was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290/20 "2003-10-08T16:13:48Z")
Worked at a lumber mill starting at age 11. I stacked and toted lumber all summer. I can’t recall how much I got paid, but it probably wasn’t much. Did manage to get a nice physique for an 11 year old though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job-how-much-were-you-paid/206290.md?page=2)