# What was your first job? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165 "2016-07-05T22:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hbk4894](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e68b1a/32.png) [@Hbk4894](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbk4894)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/1 "2016-07-05T22:25:11Z")
Helping my mate deliver papers when I was 13 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/2 "2016-07-05T22:34:07Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/3 "2016-07-05T22:34:13Z")
My first job was reporting posts for a forum change when posted in the wrong forum. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/4 "2016-07-05T23:15:09Z")
Awfully nosey, aren’t you? Just joined, and you ask 3 personal questions of the board in less than 3 minutes. Why don’t you take awhile and respond to other threads before you start demanding information from others. Especially personal information. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/5 "2016-07-05T23:36:25Z")
I worked on a farm, starting when I was thirteen. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/6 "2016-07-05T23:37:49Z")
**Moderator Action** > [@John\_Mace](#): > > My first job was reporting posts for a forum change when posted in the wrong forum. Does it pay well? Since this is basically a poll, let’s move it to IMHO. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/7 "2016-07-05T23:43:36Z")
As a kid, I delivered the _TV Guide_ to area subscribers, and once or twice in junior high school I’d hawk soft drinks at local college football games. But the first real job I had, actually hired with a regular paycheck and taxes and SS taken out, was as a dishwasher while in high school. I soon was doubling as a busboy and eventually made it to cook, although “cook” just meant slapping burgers together. It was in a local hamburger-restaurant chain, a step up from the fast-food joints and not a bad place. The gimmick was each table had a phone. You phoned your order in, then got buzzed to go pick it up. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/8 "2016-07-05T23:55:28Z")
Pulling weeds @ 14 … son-of-a-bitch that’s what I did today … ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/9 "2016-07-06T00:12:24Z")
Sold lemonade on the golf course across from my house for a couple summers when I was 7 and 8. Charged a dime. Sat under a tree and read, waited for the golfers to come around. Pretty good gig. My mom bought the Wylers. Charged a dime. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/10 "2016-07-06T00:21:11Z")
Picking and cutting cots. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/11 "2016-07-06T00:24:28Z")
Cleaning fish in Alaska, I was 16 and made pretty good money. First (temporary) own apartment too. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/12 "2016-07-06T00:25:30Z")
Painting the interior of a church. I was 14. I got the job because the minister’s daughter was my GF. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/13 "2016-07-06T00:57:21Z")
Delivering the morning newspaper for about $7 a week. The Hartford Courant, America’s oldest continuously published newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/14 "2016-07-06T01:35:38Z")
I started as a bus boy in an Italian restaurant at 14 A couple of months later I moved into the kitchen and at 15 I was a line cook ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/15 "2016-07-06T01:43:38Z")
While in High School, on Saturdays, I helped a TV repairman with jobs that required two men, like installing rooftop antennas or carrying TV consoles to/from the truck for repair at the shop. $5 for all day. I guess child labor laws didn’t apply. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/16 "2016-07-06T01:50:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > As a kid, I delivered the _TV Guide_ to area subscribers, and once or twice in junior high school I’d hawk soft drinks at local college football games. But the first real job I had, actually hired with a regular paycheck and taxes and SS taken out, was as a dishwasher while in high school. I soon was doubling as a busboy and eventually made it to cook, although “cook” just meant slapping burgers together. It was in a local hamburger-restaurant chain, a step up from the fast-food joints and not a bad place. The gimmick was each table had a phone. You phoned your order in, then got buzzed to go pick it up. Was the place called King’s Food Host? We had one of those in my town when I was a kid. Our family didn’t eat out much but we occasionally went there. I thought it was cool, the phone ordering system. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/17 "2016-07-06T02:36:51Z")
Working on the family farm, followed by working for an uncle fixing beer trucks (say age 10). My first job outside the family was at a Harley shop putting together new bikes and doing scut work like tires and things at age 15. That one got me to the factory mechanics school and taught me a lot that I still use today. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/18 "2016-07-06T03:23:52Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Was the place called King’s Food Host? We had one of those in my town when I was a kid. Our family didn’t eat out much but we occasionally went there. I thought it was cool, the phone ordering system. No, it was the Brittany Restaurant. No longer around and local only to our area. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/19 "2016-07-06T03:30:47Z")
I think my first job was during high school, making blueprints for a local HVAC firm. I think I got the job because my friend needed someone to cover his shifts. It was easy enough, they needed someone to feed blueprints thru the blueprint machine. Do they even do that, anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165/20 "2016-07-06T03:55:18Z")
I did some babysitting from around age 13 but my first real job at age 15 was at Wendy’s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-job/759165.md?page=2)