# What Was Your First Real Job?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-real-job/685319>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 4, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-real-job/685319 "2014-04-04T05:03:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-real-job/685319/81 "2014-04-06T04:14:54Z")

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Radio announcer/disk jockey at 15. Earned the minimum wage for 1973: $1.65 per hour.

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-real-job/685319/82 "2014-04-06T04:21:31Z")

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Shortly after I turned 16, I was hired to work behind the counter in a news-stand/smoke shop. Imagine a 16-year old selling cigars and cigarettes. It was a small shop, when I was scheduled I was there all by myself, opening up weekend mornings, closing up at night, and most days after school. Fifty cents an hour.

Before that, I was a pinsetter at a bowling alley (which was still done manually), ten cents a line, but that was casual after school, assigned to an alley as needed with a bunch of other kids, so not a “real job”.

First full-time job was at a canning factory, loading cases of peas and corn onto pallettes, $1.04 an hour, during summer vacation from college.  
  
Like Mr. Downtown above, the next summer I was a radio announcer and disc jockey.

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