Paying for Your Keep When Younger

First job at age 14-no age limit on employment in 1955

Worked as a boy carhop*, 66 hours a week at .45 per hour, grossed $29.70. net $ 24.00. So, go home at first pay day-Mom says, 50% to household expenses,
'You need to learn what food, electricity cost, also you have to buy school clothes.
I didn't take pencil and paper to it at the time, but I knew it was less that .25
cents an hour. (actually, it was a tad less that .19 per hour)
Bitter about that...,
 

Last edited:
hollydolly said:
My wage packet had to be handed over to my father unopened. he gave me my bus fares to work, and he kept the rest. I worked for nothing basically...
Click to expand...


But thats how it was in those days holly........
5 of us ,did the same, but thats fine, as my dad kept us in food and clothes and holidays , !
 
charry said:
But thats how it was in those days holly........
5 of us ,did the same, but thats fine, as my dad kept us in food and clothes and holidays , !
Click to expand...
Ha!! very happy you had that provided for you Charry!!

My father neither bought my clothes, nor provided any holidays. What food I was given left me seriously undernourished all my childhood and into young adulthood, due to the sheer lack of it... . I often had to walk to work in snow and rain with holes in my shoes, or lined with a piece of cardboard from a cereal box, and tights which had the holes stitched because he wouldn't allow me any money to buy clothes. I had to wash my hair with the dish soap, , and use the same dish soap to have a bath, but I was only permitted one bath a week and 3 inches of water which he would measure !!

We never had a holiday, ever !!

When I did get the courage up to complain he would scream at me to go and find a hotel that would ''keep me'' for the same money I was giving him...
 

hollydolly said:
Ha!! very happy you had that provided for you Charry!!

My father neither bought my clothes, nor provided any holidays. What food I was given left me seriously undernourished all my childhood and into young adulthood, due to the sheer lack of it... . I often had to walk to work in snow and rain with holes in my shoes, or lined with a piece of cardboard from a cereal box, and tights which had the holes stitched because he wouldn't allow me any money to buy clothes. I had to wash my hair with the dish soap, , and use the same dish soap to have a bath, but I was only permitted one bath a week and 3 inches of water which he would measure !!

We never had a holiday, ever !!

When I did get the courage up to complain he would scream at me to go and find a hotel that would ''keep me'' for the same money I was giving him...
Click to expand...



well i bet your glad , you got that of your chest holly.....!!!
i was very fortunate i guess.....🥴
 
hollydolly said:
Ha!! very happy you had that provided for you Charry!!

My father neither bought my clothes, nor provided any holidays. What food I was given left me seriously undernourished all my childhood and into young adulthood, due to the sheer lack of it... . I often had to walk to work in snow and rain with holes in my shoes, or lined with a piece of cardboard from a cereal box, and tights which had the holes stitched because he wouldn't allow me any money to buy clothes. I had to wash my hair with the dish soap, , and use the same dish soap to have a bath, but I was only permitted one bath a week and 3 inches of water which he would measure !!

We never had a holiday, ever !!

When I did get the courage up to complain he would scream at me to go and find a hotel that would ''keep me'' for the same money I was giving him...
Click to expand...
Geez, sounds positively Dickensian! Glad you survived and prospered.
 
Can't really relate to some of the folks before me. Me, well, I was born on a farm. You might say I am a genuine country boy; not like those city slickers that buy torn jeans & a cheap cowboy hats & call themselves "country". I never paid a penny to my parents in terms of money but when it came to haying time or harvest time I put in 12 hours of hard work & never complained once. When it was freezing cold & the howling winds got real rough, I still would go out to the water trough, cut out the ice & pump water for the cows. Then I made sure those cows were fed baled hay. In the summer time I picked stones, picked blueberries in season & dug those potatoes in the fall. What a great life that was. It built character; it made me tough, independent & very handy when it came to building houses, travelling the world & enjoying life. Never been "politically correct" & I never will be. Guess, that's just me!
 
I never had to pay board to my parents. I stayed at home until I was 18 then went to college then met my husband and we got married. I never expected my children to pay for board. My youngest son who is 25 now still lives with us and can stay with us as long as he wants and if any of my children ever need to live with us they’re welcome to do so this will always be their home. I can’t understand how parents can just cut the kids off that’s so sad.
 
When I started working at 16, part time after school, my Mom would never take my
skimpy salary...I would help her with some of the home cleaning...But not too much!!!!
 
hollydolly said:
Cash , weekly in a regular little brown pay packet. !! If I dared open it , I would have got the beating of my life!


With my own daughter.. who I raised by myself, I didn't ask her for any help with the housekeeping until she was 22 and working in middle management , and earning a very high salary.

I'd raised her on my own after my divorce when she was 6 years old, working several jobs at a time to ensure she had the best education and didn't go without anything ..and I managed to put her through Music college, too, without a penny help from her father ...so when I asked if she could pay just a nominal amount when she was 22, she was not happy at all.. , so by the time she was 23 she'd bought her first home and moved out!!
Click to expand...
Was the man your biological father or a stepfather? He sounds like a tyrant with absolutely no parenting skills. People like him do not and should not be around kids. I have a real dislike of anyone that harms a child.

I have intervened when I saw little children being slapped by their parent in a public place and the child didn't do anything that deserved it.

I am sorry that you had to tolerate such treatment.
 
hollydolly said:
My wage packet had to be handed over to my father unopened. he gave me my bus fares to work, and he kept the rest. I worked for nothing basically...
Click to expand...
Wow! My parents were abusive, but yours were unbelievable.
Did you have anything to do with them after you became an adult and left home?
 
911 said:
Was the man your biological father or a stepfather? He sounds like a tyrant with absolutely no parenting skills. People like him do not and should not be around kids. I have a real dislike of anyone that harms a child.

I have intervened when I saw little children being slapped by their parent in a public place and the child didn't do anything that deserved it.

I am sorry that you had to tolerate such treatment.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, he was my biological father!...I always hoped and prayed that someday I'd discover he wasn't..
 
Pecos said:
Wow! My parents were abusive, but yours were unbelievable.
Did you have anything to do with them after you became an adult and left home?
Click to expand...
My mother took her own life to escape my father when I was 18 years old. I was left to raise my siblings, the youngest who was just 10. The father remarried, and I left home soon after and never had another thing to do with him... and as each sibling became of age they did the same thing.
 
hollydolly said:
Unfortunately, he was my biological father!...I always hoped and prayed that someday I'd discover he wasn't..
Click to expand...
Well, I did learn that I was adopted when I was 16, and I was overjoyed!

I located and visited my natural father's family after I graduated from High School. My natural father was deceased, but his two sisters and their families were wonderful to me. I also learned that I had a half-sister who was 13 years older than I was. One of the great joys in my life was getting to know her and developing a strong relationship. She passed a couple of years ago, but I am still pretty close to her four children.

I joined the Navy when I was 17, and my two younger half-brothers came to live with me when I was 22 and stationed near Oakland, CA. My parents gave me a Power of Attorney and paid me child support (as little as possible) but at least I had them out of that turmoil. They did not go with me when I transferred to Hawaii, but a year later I was formally awarded custody of my younger half-sister. She lived with me in Hawaii until my parents finally divorced and my mother finally started getting her act together. After a year I wrote to the Judge and he agreed with me that custody could be moved back to my mother.

I am pretty close to the two half-brothers that I grew up with, but not my half-sister who has become impossible. I avoid her like the plague.
 
I was very fortunate, I wasn't expected to pay room and board.

I did do chores and take care of my own expenses after I graduated from high school.

My parents told me that I could stay as long as I saved my money but when I left I had to leave for good.

By the time I left home, I had saved enough for the downpayment on my first house and was earning enough to live independently.
 
hollydolly said:
My mother took her own life to escape my father when I was 18 years old. I was left to raise my siblings, the youngest who was just 10. The father remarried, and I left home soon after and never had another thing to do with him... and as each sibling became of age they did the same thing.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I called your father an asshole. That term isn't nearly bad enough to describe him.
 
hollydolly said:
Unfortunately, he was my biological father!...I always hoped and prayed that someday I'd discover he wasn't..
Click to expand...
Did your father abuse any substance? Did you ever figure out why he was so angry? What type of childhood did he have?

A lot of questions, I know, but it goes with part of who I am.

I was part of an investigation team that was called to the scene of a dead woman. The 42 y/o was fully clothed, nothing stolen, no signs of forced entry. After 8 months of investigating, it was finally determined that the daughter and bf had killed her mother. The daughter was a 15 y/o white girl that was hooked up with a 20 y/o Puerto Rican. She (mom) was beat to death with a softball bat and a fireplace poker. Mom had threatened to have her bf arrested for statutory rape. No father in the home. He had been killed a few years earlier in a private plane accident.

The Prosecutor was leaning towards putting the girl into the juvenile system, but she had a few priors for drugs and shoplifting. So, he assigned the case to state court. The woman’s family (believe it or not) pleaded for mercy for her, but she had the wrong judge. He gave her 18-35 for conspiracy to commit murder and accessory to commit murder. The young man was given life n/p. Sad ending.
 
Last edited:
hollydolly said:
no I don't feel happy to have ''got it off my chest'' as you so succinctly put it...re-living an abusive childhood isn't pleasant in any way shape or form!!
Click to expand...
No it isn’t.
Sorry Holly. I wasn’t following the thread when I posted. We share similar childhoods. Reliving an abusive childhood is horrible.
I know for myself certain topics trigger bad memories and I think it does the same with you.
❤️
 
911...that's was the weirdest part of it, we always said he had ''no excuse'' for the violence and the evil deeds.. he wasn't a drinker or substance abuser at all.. he was just a very violent man who in essence was a coward who used violence to control his wife and children..

I could sit here for hours telling you all what he was, what he did, and all of his evil deeds, but I'm not going to do that on an open forum...it's not the place.

I didn't survive my childhood unscathed, who could?.. I have had my own problems caused by the abuse.. but this isn't the place to discuss them.. thanks tho' for all your support folks..
 
I’m sorry. I made a mistake in post 45. The daughter and boyfriend killed the girl’s mom.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top