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.
1973. Mowed the lawns of four elders in the neighborhood.
1974. Worked tobacco farms in northern Ct.
From 1973 through 2013, I never woke up in the morning without a job,
My first W-2 job was making pre-stressed concrete at an open air factory in Maryland. That summer we had over 90 days of temps I the 90’s The curing beds were steam heated. Got in shape for sports and motivated to get through college!
Okay well, since I got paid it would qualify as a first job- I danced (ballet) as an extra with American Ballet Theatre for a couple years when they were in town. It was a real treat performing at the Kennedy Center. I know I was paid what union rules required, but I never saw the money, my parents put it in the bank and likely spent it on dance supplies lol
I moved to NYC in 1976 at 17 years old (ostensibly to continue my ballet training and enter a professional company), and got my first “real” job waiting tables when I turned 18. At this time I quit ballet and went to art school, and starting doing freelance art jobs.
My most memorable moment at my first waitressing job was bringing Cleavon Little a ginger ale for which he tipped me $20.
I have quite a few “interesting” NYC waitressing stories lol
I sure miss full service stations.
The last one I know of was in Charleston, SC. The year I moved away (1996) they still had a full service pump for a few cents more on your gas. Nice fellows and a real good trustworthy mechanic.
lol!
I worked in a Greek restaurant and one day the cook was in the back with a giant pot. He was making something for the boss and I asked what - big mistake. He opens the lid and floating in there was an entire sheep’s head for some soup from hell....
wow how could I forget babysitting? yes did many a babysitting gig starting at about 12 or 13 years old.
LOL...”Patience” is something for which I have received excellent training! :-)
My Dad had a dairy farm and he started me out very early. I shoveled cow manure, milked cows, put up hay, processed and bottled the milk, and delivered it to his customers.
OK Mr. Soetoro
We sometimes used an old flat bed truck to pick up hay, and around age 9 I started driving it. The truck was left in first gear and I was told to use the clutch only. To go, let the clutch out slowly, to stop just push the clutch in. On level ground it would come to a stop in a couple feet.
All went well until the day we were in a hilly field. Someone yelled 'stop', and I dutifully pushed the clutch in... and the truck went faster. Someone finally ran up, reached in and turned the wheel. All the loaded hay fell off but at least I didn't kill anyone. /s
Man, that would have been an opportunity for some science, fun and mischeif.
Yep. East St. Louis had its issues even then, but it was nothing like the disaster area it is now. I never felt unsafe going there. People from neighboring towns had no qualms about shopping or working there or going through there on the way to someplace else. Now, the downtown area is one of the most dangerous violent crime areas in the country, and the building I worked in is half-collapsed from neglect.
There used to be a great website about ESL history. It’s almost hard to believe what the place once was like. Although ESL always had something of a roughneck industrial town/river town reputation, and the local mob operated from there, it was at one time a prosperous place and a decent place to live.
I have a certain level of affection for the old place, as it was connected with my childhood and youth. It’s sad how it has turned out.
Yep. It was self-propelled, but a walk-behind.
There was this one field that we called the ‘z piece’, because of it’s shape. It was rough, and not the place to train a baler driver. I was short handed, and chose to have my 16 yr old step sister drive. I told her not to stop unless we were in a flat area. Baler stops tying knots, drive to a flat area. Hay rack full, drive to a flat area.
Well, I lost a bale off the rack on a steep down hill, and she panicked, hitting the brakes. Jacknifed the whole setup. I jumped off to the side, and watched over 60 bales almost bury the baler. The front and back hitches on the baler got bent, as well as the hayrack tongue. That was one day that I regretted not just baling them onto the ground, and picking them up later.
Dishwasher for 1.25/hr part time in High School.
1969 - worked on crew setting up bandshell and play-sets at the Midland Center for the Arts ... paid $2.00 per hour. Eventually made crew foreman, 1971-1972, and was paid the amazing amount of $4.25 per hour.
That was decent money back then, IIRC.
Ride Operator at Geauga Lake Amusement Park, Ohio
Made $2.35 per hour, you got an extra 0.25 cents per hour if you stayed the whole season. I worked there 3 summers in a row and it was one of the best jobs I ever had!
That was 40 years ago and to this very day the smell of hot tarmac still makes me smile.
Carrousel, Double Loop, Music Machine, Big Dipper, Tilt-a-Whirl, Log Ride, Corkscrew...
5.56mm
LOL I imagine. (I should have clarified that it probably was because of the genre of music. The classical, studio, & most of the jazz musicians I’ve known were pretty cool people)
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