# What was your first paid employment? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054 "2008-11-17T00:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/41 "2008-11-17T13:39:52Z")
At 12 I started picking berries in the local berry farms. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. Lots of work for little pay, would make about $30 on a good week. I now make more than that an hour working for a big company that builds airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/42 "2008-11-17T15:22:11Z")
My first job was self-employment. I taught flute to elementary school students when I was 14. I charged $7/half hour, had 6 students per week. This was in 1983. My first paycheck type employment was at the local Tom Thumb convenience store when I was 16. I was a cashier, stock person, and worked in the deli. I believe I made $3.25/hour working 20 hours per week. Now I’m a child support officer. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/43 "2008-11-17T15:28:28Z")
Do you count babysitting? I babysat a ton from, say, 15 on up - the hilarious thing to people who know me now is that I was everybody’s favorite babysitter. I got a summer job at my dad’s office whe I was 16. It SUCKED. Not the job itself, but being the boss’ daughter. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/44 "2008-11-17T15:33:05Z")
When I was in the third grade I was walking home from school one afternoon. As I passed the barber shop, the barber knocked on the window and motioned me inside. He gave me an envelope, and told me if I would take the envelope down the street to the pool hall and give it to the guy behind the counter, he would give me a quarter. In 1961, a quarter was a fortune! You could buy a couple of comic books and enough penny candy to spoil your dinner for a week. I stopped by the barber shop every day for the envelope, and for the few weeks this lasted I was the richest kid in the neighborhood. The barber never did tell me why he no longer needed the envelope delivered, but it was great while it lasted. Looking back with adult eyes, I was an eight year old numbers runner, probably for the mob. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/45 "2008-11-17T15:37:00Z")
Stuffing envelopes for a quarterly newsletter my mom’s office put out along with sorting the run by zip code for bulk mail. This was back in 1978 when I was 15 and it paid $25.00 every three months. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/46 "2008-11-17T16:04:38Z")
Geologist on a gold mine/barman in a goldmine hostel (started at the same time). Now, I’m a web developer. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/47 "2008-11-17T16:19:49Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > Corn detassling at 15 or so. Holy crap, was that miserable. Many people would get off the bus at day’s end and puke in the courthouse lawn. It was brutal! I’ve been unemployed for four months and it’s sounding better and better… 🆒 That was my first job, too. I was 12. Did you get the bloody arms? I had been babysitting since I was 10 or so and started detassling because I somehow stupidly thought it’d be better. What a dumbass. I finished out the summer and went back to babysitting as soon as I could. It paid better, I got free snacks and carrying those heavy kids around on my back during a game of piggyback was heaven after that summer in the field. I’m now a product manager. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/48 "2008-11-17T16:29:23Z")
Kinda surprised I’m the first caddy checking in. Sometime around 5th-6th grade. Quit/fired in 2d year after a player I caddied for in a tournament made a baseless complaint about me. The day after the tourn, the caddymaster started yelling at me, **“If I’m in a sandtrap do you hand me the rake and tell me to rake it myself?”** After I said _“Of course not”_ he said, **"Then why did you do it for your walk yesterday on #10."** The fucker - a visiting pro from another club - wasn’t even in a trap on 10. No idea why he accused me, other than that he had a kinda crappy round. Hell, my tip depended on making my walk happy - I would’ve done just about anything short of a BJ. I remember thinking I could keep my job if I kissed my caddymaster’s ass, but instead chose to tell him to fuck off. So I’m not sure if I really quit my first job or got fired. Good to know I still have such a fine work attitude and respect for my superiors 30 years later! After that just mowed lawns and shovelled snow until junior year in HS when I got a janitorial job in a printing company. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/49 "2008-11-17T19:07:53Z")
Worked as a soda jerk in a drugstore in 1952, when I was 15. (I haven’t seen a soda fountain in a drugstore in 50 years.) Was fired when someone swiped the piggy bank that we collected sales tax in. Sales tax was 1% and new and registers were mechanical and not set up to record it, so when a customer bought something for, say, $1, we dropped a penny in the bank. First he asked me if I knew anything about it (a euphemism for, did I do it) and then fired me. I was making $3/week for a couple hour a day. It would have been a lot easier to lift a buck from the till occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/50 "2008-11-17T19:57:24Z")
I worked as a car washer at a Shell filling station when I was 16 . After the first week I was “promoted” to pump jockey. I think I made 55 cents an hour. There were fringe benefits though. It was summer 1966 and the mini-skirt fad was in full swing. I LOVED washing windshields! I would set the pump on auto and wash the windshield glass untill it gleamed! I am a retired truck driver now but those days still hold a special place in my heart. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/51 "2008-11-17T20:07:00Z")
I worked as a bank teller starting at about 16. I worked full time in the summers–subbing around at different branches where they were short-staffed. During the school year I filled in at the drive-through window on Saturdays. It ended when I went off to college. I did do it again the first summer, then my family moved from Indiana to California and I found a couple of work-study gigs at UCSD for the summers. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/52 "2008-11-17T20:11:02Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > That was my first job, too. I was 12. Did you get the bloody arms? I had been babysitting since I was 10 or so and started detassling because I somehow stupidly thought it’d be better. What a dumbass. I finished out the summer and went back to babysitting as soon as I could. It paid better, I got free snacks and carrying those heavy kids around on my back during a game of piggyback was heaven after that summer in the field. > > I’m now a product manager. I didn’t get bloody arms, only because my Mom made me wear stupid long sleeves…thanks mom, for sure! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/53 "2008-11-17T21:10:49Z")
Sunday paper route. I was 14. First “real” job, ie. not under the table was as a drug clerk in a pharmacy. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/54 "2008-11-17T21:16:42Z")
My first regular paycheck came from working at my high school library – initially just as a book restocker, and later as the head librarian’s assistant. My first legal (read: paid minimum wage or better) job was at an “upscale” McDonald’s in downtown LA. I’m currently a senior paralegal at a downtown law firm. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/55 "2008-11-17T21:22:55Z")
In the cash office at Montgomery Wards. I really wanted to be out on the sales floor, but the wise folks in Personnel (back in the pre-HR days) determined that I could add but not sell. Probably helped me become an accountant, damn them. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/56 "2008-11-17T21:45:12Z")
First job was mowing yards. I started in fourth grade; I had four yards I mowed, as I recall. Moved in fifth grade and added yards - ended up mowing about a dozen before getting tired of sweating to death. First “regular” job was working at Dairy Queen, starting at age 15. (and surprisingly, I still like eating there from time to time). Now I work as an addictionologist/psychiatrist. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/57 "2008-11-17T22:15:32Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > I didn’t get bloody arms, only because my Mom made me wear stupid long sleeves…thanks mom, for sure! Hmmm… Bloody arms vs. horking it up at the court house. That’s actually a tough call. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/58 "2008-11-17T22:42:06Z")
“Got paid for doing work” regardless of payer: washing my parents cars. “Got paid for doing work” outside of family members: mowing lawns. “Got paid for doing work” outside of friends of the family and neighbors: acting (I was an extra in some educational films). ---
**Author:** ![Jelly\_Roll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Jelly\_Roll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelly_Roll)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/59 "2008-11-17T23:16:43Z")
JC Penney catalog department at 16 in 1993. Best job in the entire store. Our starting pay was the highest in the store and most of the year we didn’t do much of anything but sit around, flirt with each other, make prank phone calls to other departments and order pizza. Christmas was hell though. I’m now a paralegal. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054/60 "2008-11-18T03:49:37Z")
> [@Shot\_Clock](#): > > My first job was to make sure a local politician didn’t win re-election to the County Council. > > She didn’t. 😃 Karl Rove is a Doper? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-paid-employment/473054.md?page=4)