Back then, Florida labor law wouldn’t allow minors to work a full 40 hours, so it was part time only. We weren’t allowed to work past 10pm on any school nights.
Plus, restaurants were generally exempt from minimum wage law. Our wait staff made way above minimum wage with their tips............
That’s right. Part time employment only allowed for teens.
Part of the condition of my employment at the department store was from my Dad’s insistence. I was only to work two days a week, and it was in the later part of the evening, say from 5 to 9, so that I didn’t impact the family business very much, or on the weekend.
I am lucky that Dad hired one elderly gentleman, a former Fuller brush man, who became Dad’s right hand man that same year. He was probably the only person that could influence my Dad in any way. My own grandparents had died by then, so this man and his wife became my de facto grandparents. We were fortunate to have them become so much a part of our lives.