What was your first real job?

[RE2Boys]

1. As a paperboy peddling my bike from house to house. Made about $30 a month in mid-1960s.

2. Independent?........as a too young 2nd Lt. in the Air Force immediately out of college in 1971 (Vietnam era). Think I got $450 a month plus about $150 housing/subsistence allowance.

RE2Boys

 

[Koolau]

First paid gig was transplanting flower seedlings from flats to pots and trays. Got $.25/hour in 1956 - age 9. Not bad money in dose days.

Parlayed that job all the way up to delivery driver at age 16 for $1.00/hour.

Gave up that gig to drive for another "firm" delivering body shop equipment $65/week - that's a 44 hour week - when I was 20 and in college.

First "professional" gig was at megacorp (for 36 years) starting at $775/month ca. 1969.

Last paying gig - back to delivering flowers albeit at $10/hour and strictly to help out original "firm", in fact.

All in all, it's been a good ride!

 

[Gumby]

1. First job - paper boy -- we were independent contractors who bought the papers from the publisher at a discount. I think I netted 7 cents a paper. I had 55-60 customers, so it came to about $80 per month. First actual paycheck job -- McDonalds -- $2 per hour in 1975

2. First self supporting job -- Ensign, USN -- about $12k per year in 1981.

 

[Mickslick]

1) First real job, running a merry go round and twirly cars at a kiddie park for $1 an hour, I was 11. Different times

2) First real independent support job - Trainee at an Insurance co. for 18k a year, my first paycheck paid my first months rent, and it went on from there.

 

[mickeyd]

I guess it was as a 2LT in the Army @ Ft. Bliss, TX. Pay was about $400/month or so, but I always had money left over to save. LBYM established? Yea, probably so.

 

[Finance Dave]

Interesting. If you do what I think you do, I'd guess that the least respect you'd ever got would be posting here.

As an auto mechanic, I worked in a shop with no heat and no A/C. We had a nice heated and air conditioned office, but that was for customers. So we ate our lunch sitting on concrete steps out in the shop...freezing in the winter and steaming in summer.

I had $12,000 worth of tools, and I had to buy my own insurance rider to cover those tools that were required as a condition of employment.

I had to work on the boss' cars for free all the time.

When a car was fixed, the customer would tell the manager how great it ran/drove, but the manager never thanked me for the work.

When the shop did well, my boss got a bonus and I got nothing.

I finally went back to college and got two degrees, one in Engineering and an MBA in Finance. I've never looked back.

I loved the work, but the conditions were awful.

I must say that I save a TON of money for my family by knowing how to fix cars. And the skills learned transfer over to other parts of my life. Being mechanically inclined, I've been able to fix faucets, water heaters, garage door openers, ceiling fans, washing machines, and I could go on and on. I don't know how the average person can afford to hire all those professionals to fix issues around the house. I've only had to hire a technician twice in 12 years for our house...things I just didn't know how to do.

P.S. Just this week I fixed our ice maker. I'm sure that would have cost $200 if I needed a technician.