"You see that place that says 'Rib Tips'"?
"Do you think these guys know The Commodores?"
Posted on 09/06/2015 6:35:43 PM PDT by blueunicorn6
In honor of Labor Day, tell us a little bit about your first job.
Had a lot of jobs before I graduated college and started my career.
Whenever a coworker talked about how bad a job was I'd think, “At least I'm not up to my elbows in opossum fat”.
OK. In the summer of 1964, right out of high school; I got a summer job at MSFC typing work orders with a lot of strange symbols on an IBM typewriter. It was for the
Saturn V project, working in the Valve Unit. - The engineers in that unit just took it for granted that MANY men would lose their lives trying to get to the moon. - I stood on the balcony overlooking the area where they were constructing the rocket with blow torches ablaze. Von Braun would ride through in his golf cart type of vehicle and inspect what the workers were doing. - I typed symbols I’d never seen before and tried to get it right. . but I doubt I did. - When the astronauts took off for the moon a few years later, I was nervous that I had surely done something that would cause them to miss the moon completely and be lost in space or worse.
Sales clerk in an upscale clothing store in 1956 - $.76 an hour. Monday and Thursday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 5:30. Not allowed to sit down and had to tell customers they looked wonderful in everything they tried on even though they didn’t.
At 14 I worked after school at the local cotton gin.
I picked up pop bottles by the side of the road and washed little red wagon loads for the deposits starting at six years old.
I got a job loading trucks for North American Van Lines when I was fourteen.
Everyone on here had more fun jobs than I did..
dBase II programmer for an apple orchard.
I was the quintessential high school geek.
First job: Newspaper route in 7th grade. Then Taco Bell in 10th grade.
Car hop at drive in restaurant paid 15 cents an hour.
Started at age 13. Selling popcorn, peanuts, and cokes at Tiger Stadium for LSU football games. Made a penny off each item sold. Had to climb over bleachers with a full tray, on a strap around my neck. The trick was to make change, stay balanced, and not spill.
The catch was, we had to arrive hours before the game, set up the stand, fill the ice chests, hook up soda machines, make and box the popcorn. For which we were paid nothing. Zilch. One penny each sale, plus tips.
Back at the concession stand, we had to aggressively push the customers aside, to get our trays refilled. Time was money.
One night a drunk in the bleachers yanked my hair to get attention, causing me to fall and spill my tray. I had to pay the concession boss $20 for the loss. Went home with 35 cents after 10 hours’ work.
Next job, age 15, I was a roller skating waitress at Hopper’s Drive In, an outdoor hamburger and malt joint.
When I was about 8, I sold bunches of holly from my red wagon at Christmastime. At 13 (when I could get my SS card), I rode my bike across town to cut apricots on Shannon Road for $1/tray. Babysitting for 50 cents/hour and then 75 cents/hr. When I was 16 I got a real job at Baskin Robbins and then Jack in the Box and then a local retirement home (working in the kitchen), next a banquet waitress at a hotel to get me through college and finally working for a large Aerospace company for the last 33 years. Start at the bottom kids and work your way up.....
Had a 200 paper daily news route when In was 8.
went to work plastering for my fathers company when I was 14 so I would have the money to build my 40 Ford coupe street racing car for the day I turned 16.
Depending on the time of year I worked my way through school doing construction and landscaping, or bagging groceries, stocking shelves, and pumping gas. Always had at least two jobs going.
East St. Louis, eh?
I got lost there once. Scary place.
"You see that place that says 'Rib Tips'"?
"Do you think these guys know The Commodores?"
I asked him one day when I was going to get paid. He said "I saw you eat breakfast and you're probably going to get supper." The next year I got $1 an hour.
I was a “Community Organizer”, then (my handlers) blackmailed my way into the US Senate.
I spend my days on vacation paid for by people who grew up mowing lawns, shoveling snow, painting fences and pulling weeds. Chumps!
15 years old - lied about my age to work at a Shakey’s on Friday Nights and weekends.
The Brotherhood of Thieves, Nantucket 1974. 630am - 1230pm morning cleanup, day prep, supply stocking, etc. Free breakfast and sometimes lunch. One of the best parts was I could take the ends of the Colony meats they used in their sandwiches home. About a pound was left after slicing. My dog ate roast beef, pastrami, etc. I was 11 years old, cuz back then nobody nit-picked.
The old Brotherhood was fantastic. Arty Kraus had an excellent sense for period music that really made the place. Trivia: the “1840s whaling bar” was literal. The place had always been just a basement. The bar was made out of 1840s wood. Whaling was the theme with harpoons on the wall. It was meant to look like a whaling ship galley -and it did.
1973. Mowed the lawns of four elders.
1974. Worked tobacco farms in northern Ct.
From 1973 through 2013, I never woke up in the morning without a job,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.