My first job, I worked for FREE. Seriously. Dad had started a small business, and it was all hands on deck. I learned how to answer business telephones politely and take orders or redirect calls to my Dad. I was in HS. I hated it, but I tried not to let it show. We needed customers. I (and my mom and another sister) answered phones, Dad made the agreements, my brothers and Dad did the installations.
For my first paid job, I think I made $2.25 an hour. One of my HS teachers that taught business classes asked my dad for me, if he would let me work after school for a few hours a week, at the local department store for the Christmas season. He grumbled, but relented. Every penny I earned went in to a savings account, and I used it for expenses when I went to college (on scholarship).
$2.25 an hour! That was a pipe dream for me in ‘71!
I left that first job after about a month for another fast food job that paid 65 cents an hour! I was in tall cotton!..............