Who remembers their very first job?

The summer that I turned 17; it was in a pineapple cannery; I operated a manual machine that made pineapple tidbits.....I fed it pineapple slices off of a conveyor belt that supplied a line of women who packed cans of sliced pineapple.....what I didn't make into tidbits was crushed into juice. The decibel level of the place was too loud; the temperature was in the upper 80* range (Fahrenheit) and the humidity was 100%.

We worked a 10 hour shift and I earned U.S. $1.65 an hour. The cost of our protective gloves and apron was deducted from our wages and we had to buy our lunch from the cannery cafeteria......it wasn't allowed to bring our own lunch from home. The acidity of the pineapple burned red lesions on my skin where the protective gloves ended. This was 1970 in the city of Honolulu, Hawaii.
It's true, one never forgets one's first job.
 

I'll never forget it. Twas the summer of '63. They hired a whole bunch of us to work baggin groceries at the grand opening of a new Publix in Clearwater Florida. Buck an hour. The first day they just told us to show up in the morning and they had us work 13 hours straight baggin groceies from open to close (9am to 9pm) followed by an hour of clean up. Being a grand opening it was crazy busy the entire time. Then at 10pm all they said was "be back here in the morning". I went home and tried to sleep but when I closed my eyes all I could see were groceries coming down the conveyor belt that I had to bag.

The next day was a repeat of day one. And at 10pm all they said was "see you in the morning" Not a word about a schedule. I began to think that this was going to be my entire summer. Working 13 hours every day. I whined to my mother "what if they have me working 13 hours every day all summer long!? All she said was "think of all the money you'll make."

So back I went. Day 3 was on a Saturday and it was another 13 hour ordeal. But at least I knew that I'd have the next day off because that was Sunday and the store closed on Sunday back in those days. Then when clean up was over the store manager, Irby Long was his name, called us into the office and showed us where he had posted next weeks schedule on the wall. Relief swept over me like a warm ocean wave when I saw I was only scheduled for 20 hours next week.

I kept working there the rest of the summer, but my heart wasn't in it and it showed. By the last week before school started back in the fall I think I had been cut down to one 4 hour shift for the whole week. Then I quit using going back to school as an excuse although truth be known I probably would have been "let go" soon anyway.

Post script. I found old Irby's obituary! Dude lived to be 89. Born in 1927. That would have made him 36 that summer. But to a 16 year old kid, that seemed like an old man to me.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/tampabaytimes/name/irby-long-obituary?id=11684664
 

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Yes I can remember my real first job. It was at pet shop . I sold aquariums and assorted tropical fish and I worked there while I put myself through high school which was 3 years. It was a great job and I really liked it. I left home at 16 so I really needed it to pay my apartment rent. The people I worked with were great. I especially liked the guy I worked with who taught me a lot but he had a crush on me so it was a bit difficult at times.

Later I put myself through college to get a nutritionist diploma.
 
My first job was a paper route delivering the morning news paper. I was 11 or 12 years old when I started. I had to crawl out of bed each morning at 5 AM seven days a week, 365 days a year. It wasn't too bad a job except in the very cold and snowy days of winter.

Back then I also had to go door to door each week to "collect" payment from every customer. That was a real pain as a lot of people were never around to collect from them, or they didn't have the money so I would have to carry them for a week or two till they could finally pay me. Yeah, I sometimes got stiffed where someone owed a couple weeks and then suddenly moved away. Not uncommon with renters.

After all that work I doubt if I averaged more than a buck an hour. Minimum wage back then was only $1.25.

My second job at age 16 was working in a glove factory after school and on Saturdays. My job was to take sewn up leather gloves that are inside out and turn them right side out. That was a difficult job but my co-workers were 90% young unmarried ladies more worldly than I was. So I have fond memories.
 
Repondering said:
The summer that I turned 17; it was in a pineapple cannery; I operated a manual machine that made pineapple tidbits.....I fed it pineapple slices off of a conveyor belt that supplied a line of women who packed cans of sliced pineapple.....what I didn't make into tidbits was crushed into juice. The decibel level of the place was too loud; the temperature was in the upper 80* range (Fahrenheit) and the humidity was 100%.

We worked a 10 hour shift and I earned U.S. $1.65 an hour. The cost of our protective gloves and apron was deducted from our wages and we had to buy our lunch from the cannery cafeteria......it wasn't allowed to bring our own lunch from home. The acidity of the pineapple burned red lesions on my skin where the protective gloves ended. This was 1970 in the city of Honolulu, Hawaii.
It's true, one never forgets one's first job.
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That sounds like slavery to me. Plus extortion in making employees buy from their cafeteria.
Did you stay there long?
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Yes I can remember my real first job. It was at pet shop . I sold aquariums and assorted tropical fish and I worked there while I put myself through high school which was 3 years. It was a great job and I really liked it. I left home at 16 so I really needed it to pay my apartment rent. The people I worked with were great. I especially liked the guy I worked with who taught me a lot but he had a crush on me so it was a bit difficult at times.

Later I put myself through college to get a nutritionist diploma.
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Sounds like a great place to work, shame about the awkwardness with your work mate.
Were there other pets? Not just an aquarium selling fish?
 
I turned 15 in December, and I got a job in the January at an Encyclopaedia warehouse. We worked on the 6th floor but weren't allowed to take the elevator, had to climb 90 steps every morning. I worked in the filing department for a couple of years and then I was promoted to the legal department sending letters to people saying they would be prosecuted if they missed any repayment on their book orders. No air-conditioning and on very hot days we used to wet tea towels and attach them to the grates on the large fans so we could get a cool breeze. I'm still friends with the girls I used to work with.
 
oscash said:
I turned 15 in December, and I got a job in the January at an Encyclopaedia warehouse. We worked on the 6th floor but weren't allowed to take the elevator, had to climb 90 steps every morning. I worked in the filing department for a couple of years and then I was promoted to the legal department sending letters to people saying they would be prosecuted if they missed any repayment on their book orders. No air-conditioning and on very hot days we used to wet tea towels and attach them to the grates on the large fans so we could get a cool breeze. I'm still friends with the girls I used to work with.
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Sounds like a draconian work place. Why were you not allowed to use the elevator?
 
Bretrick said:
Sounds like a great place to work, shame about the awkwardness with your work mate.
Were there other pets? Not just an aquarium selling fish?
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It was a huge pet store with 2 sections. The biggest section I worked in was the fish department. The other section sold dogs and cats. I tried to stay away from that section cause I hated to see animals caged up. We did have a full time woman who cleaned up their cages though. What a horrible job that would be.
 
While in high school my senior year, I only had 2 classes due to the California system I had left the summer before.
Found a job after those classes, working for a Sail Maker, cleaning up and helping with the material.
Great people to work for and learned a lot about my favoriter pass time, Sailing.

The Boss and others that worked there had nice boats and they invited me on many trips to the other Islands,
where we would anchor offshore and surf and dive.

My parents never seemed to mine as long as I kept my grades up, but my brothers still bring up to this day,
how I was 'special' and got away with more than them!

I would smile and remind them I was the invisible, middle kid...
 
My first job was actually as pin setter in a bowling alley. I got ten cents a game. I was really young, 12 or 13. I used the money mostly to pay my cherry coke tab at the bowling alley. Then when I was fifteen I had a more normal job as a receptionist at a state park, Bulow Plantation Ruins in Flagler Beach, FL. I had to give tours to the visitors and it was a fun job.
 
Making me laugh all you people with your Ā£1.60.. and Ā£1.65 an hour.... My first 3 jobs I earned... less than Ā£6 for a 40 hour week...

There was no minimum wage in the UK back in those days... so I was working for less than 15 pence per hour... and I had to hand my wage packet over to my father unopened.
 
Feelslikefar said:
While in high school my senior year, I only had 2 classes due to the California system I had left the summer before.
Found a job after those classes, working for a Sail Maker, cleaning up and helping with the material.
Great people to work for and learned a lot about my favoriter pass time, Sailing.

The Boss and others that worked there had nice boats and they invited me on many trips to the other Islands,
where we would anchor offshore and surf and dive.

My parents never seemed to mine as long as I kept my grades up, but my brothers still bring up to this day,
how I was 'special' and got away with more than them!

I would smile and remind them I was the invisible, middle kid...
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Sounds like a great start to your working life. :)
 
hollydolly said:
Making me laugh all you people with your Ā£1.60.. and Ā£1.65 an hour.... My first 3 jobs I earned... less than Ā£6 for a 40 hour week...

There was no minimum wage in the UK back in those days... so I was working for less than 15 pence per hour... and I had to hand my wage packet over to my father unopened.
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I started work in 1977 in the deli. No idea what my rate was.
When I started my apprenticeship my hourly rate was about AU$4.25 an hour.
 
hollydolly said:
In my office job I was earning Ā£4.50 for the whole week.... :eek:
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I want to tell anyone who thinks that this is unlikely... that it's very true.... the first job was Ā£6 per week.. which was in aa factory which paid more than office work.. then the office junior was Ā£4.10 shillings which is Ā£4.50 in decimal ...then the 3rd job in a jewellers shop was Ā£6 pw... it was only when I started to work in high street fashion shops that the money went up a few pounds.. by the time I was 17 I was earning the vast amount of Ā£12 pw.....and this was in the 70's..
 
My first job was at a fishing resort Gunnison CO. Rode my Cushman Eagle scooter to work. There was a stock pond on the grounds and one of my jobs was to mow the grass right down to the water's edge. Mr. Lacekey the owner showed my how he wanted it done. At one point he said be careful and don't cut down my horseradish plant. I had no idea what that plant looked like and was too intimidated to ask. You guessed it, I mowed that plant right down to the dirt.

Mr. Lacekey went ballistic, and finally his wife came to my rescue. Little bitty woman that she was she made him bend down and whispered something in his good ear. Don't know what she said, but nothing was ever said again about that plant. From that day on Mrs. Lacekey and I were best buddies. I would go to work a little early and she would feed me hot buttered biscuits and bacon. They were Jewish, so she told me not tell the Mr. our little secret. I loved that old lady and think of her often when I have a warm biscuit. The plant didn't grow back, still don't know what the look like.
 
hollydolly said:
In my office job I was earning Ā£4.50 for the whole week.... :eek:
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You're just a whipper snapper. In '77 I was back from the war, finished a second college degree and working for an international company. You must be about the same age as our daughter. My first job was $1.25 and hour and I thought I was rich on payday. Didn't understand I had to pay taxes, but soon learned.
 
TennVet said:
You're just a whipper snapper. In '77 I was back from the war, finished a second college degree and working for an international company. You must be about the same age as our daughter. My first job was $1.25 and hour and I thought I was rich on payday. Didn't understand I had to pay taxes, but soon learned.
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I'm 70 next Birthday....
 
hollydolly said:
I'm 70 next Birthday....
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I really wasn't asking your age. I'll confess that I'll be 76 next month. Some days I feel like I could go out and conquer the world, and then my back and my knees reminds me that I better just watch the battle from the sidelines.
 
TennVet said:
I really wasn't asking your age. I'll confess that I'll be 76 next month. Some days I feel like I could go out and conquer the world, and then my back and my knees reminds me that I better just watch the battle from the sidelines.
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No..it was because you said I was likely the age of your daughter.. I didn't think you had a daughter age 69... I have a daughter of 48...
 

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