First jobs? mine starts soon

[That Baker Guy]

dang 14? wish i could have found a job at 14, i thought you had to be atlea
st 15 to work anywhere these days? my first job, got when i was 16 (last year) i worked on a construction site doin random stuff, 9 bucks an hour, now i work at a bbq restruant, and we are the world champions in bbq

 

[Sunk]

I got my first job at 16 working in a shop sweeping and organizing shelves... Soon after I was helping out the techs with random stuff, and eventually started doing brake jobs and oil changes by myself. I quit after a little over a year to make pizza that I could eat for free and make $10.25/hr instead of $7.65.

 

[flyingbrick]

First job, i was 15 worked in a lumber yard, making $9.30/hr. You want all the girls in school to stare at you(in a good way) work at an outdoor lumber yard for a year or more.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

First job, i was 15 worked in a lumber yard, making $9.30/hr. You want all the girls in school to stare at you(in a good way) work at an outdoor lumber yard for a year or more.

yeah same here i know what you mean, lumber yard was my first job, worked there for a year and by that time i could tuck 1 single 20' 2x4 neatly onto a unit way up above on the rack with the forklift. we handled/delivered stones, sheetrock, hardibacker... stuff like that.. heavy stuff. got laid off 1 day before i was hired the year before.

i used to think that was a hard job until i got my second. i was in excellent shape already so that helped me survive.

2nd was a laborer at a place that i STILL don't know what they do. (toxic site cleanup at the time)

first duties were to crawl inside a giant fan housing and connecting pipes and shovel/chisel/scrape hard baked on carbon off every surface. the tubes were about 5' tall and im 6' 4" so it was extremely rigorous hard work especially with the restriction of a full face mask (filters filled up really quick) the only light available was from the access hole about the size of a microwave.

one time i almost fell into a big DEEP pitch black hole because it was so dark, it was a gigantic holding tank and the pipe i was cleaning was at the very top with nothing to stop me from going over.

another task at that place was helping welders in the blowing snow on the river bank 50' in the air soaked head to toe, got home and poured water out of my boots... 16hr day like that, i was like **** this. i actually have some rough memories from this place, got laid off soon after

now my 3rd job is at an auto shop as a full on tech, just turned 19

 

[milje]

Started cleaning at my dad's sawmill when I was 14, making $60 a week. Bought my first truck off that. Then piling lumber in the summer, 6-4:30 four days a week. Of course my first year there, there was two of us on the greenchain, and the other guy had to go get arrested, so I learned how to bust my ass pretty fast (only guy on the greenchain cutting 8k feet of hardwood a day). Other guys would help in their free time.

Got better as time went on, I was there until I graduated HS. Spent most of my college vacations there though


Only had one job where I had to deal with customers, working at a ski hill. Hated it, lasted one winter. I was more than happy to go shovel condo's or work on the terrain park, but dealing with those city slickers drove me nuts. I think I drove a few of them nuts, showed them how to be stubborn

 

[cappin90]

first job was bucking hay at 7.00 an hour, 8am to 8pm one hour break 7 days a week... made bank and got ripped, best gym membership ever

 

[Boggin]

So go west young man.

thats the plan when i get outta school

 

[Carlos Murphy]

1st jobs

Stock boy in a STAR super market when I was in high school.

Mobile gas station attendant later in high school.

Next job was a mechanist in the US Air Force.

 

[99RangerKrazy]

First job was pushing carts for Fred Meyer (grocery store) for $7.73 an hour. I did this for 2 1/2 years, and then I became a cashier for the same store for $8.32 an hour, did this for about eight months. I took quit for the summer to go work for my dad at Tyson Foods in the ground beef department for $10.00 an hour, which is now where I spend my summer breaks. It's not bad, nice paychecks each week, but definitely not something I want a career in.

 

[Jason]

My first job was raising mink on a family farm. Got paid 6 bucks an hour and learned that even the smallest, softest animal can really mess you up.

 

[Little_blue_B2]

Yard work around the neighborhood, Doing 4-6 yards a week, not too bad for middle/high school. Last semester of Sr. year I go ta "real" job. Pushing Buggies at a grocery store for about a year, Cashier for a month, then Customer Service Staff where I'm at now ( 3 1/2 years later ) Its a good job for us kids still in school. And yea I deal with the stupid people...

 

[MUDDING B-3000]

my first jot was cleaning a club house for a higher end golf course. like washrooms vacuuming, fixing odds an ends, for 10$ an hour usually 4 to 5 days a week for 9 hours a day. that was a wicked job for a 16yr old making like 750$ every two weeks lol that job paid for my mazda b3000.

i ended that job as the season closed then start working as a labourer for a fireplace comany, where i now have been for over a year an at 18yr old i am a fully liscence Gas Technician.

 

[TinyBear]

First job was working for my fathers security company as a installer.

Started at 13 yeas old for $10/hr and BUSTED my ass carrring all the gear and equipment for the guys untill i learned enuff to start running wire, putting cameras up, and installing card readers. Job was alright but never was much to my liking (their was some really cool parts) especially cause i am afraid of hights and offten i was put on a roof of a building to try working over the edge to install a camera. Did that for 4 years on the weekends during the week and both days on the weekend.

When i went to college for diesel mechanics i needed a more flexible hour job and took a pay cut to work in a large Canadian tire store for $7.50/hr. Worked mostly in parts but got to do my share of oil changes and small easy jobs when they needed some help in the garage.

Later i quite that to take a full time job cleaning and fueling city buses in a HUGE mechanics shop with the hope of getting into the shop. Was misserable work got paid $10/hr and worked 4-5 12hr shifts a week from 7pm-7am.

That lead in three weeks to getting moved into the shop side in the HEAVY Auto trans rebuild area (allisons and voiths for buses, fire trucks, garbage trucks along with even bigger stuff for heavy equipment etc). This job was AWESOME. Still only made $10/hr but got to tear down old transmissions to salvage parts and hook up the rebuilt ones to a engine (either a 460 gas ford or a 6V71 detriote two stroke Diesel) and wheel em into the dyno for checks and break in. As well as this when i ran outa work (quite offten) they would send me down to the "swamp" were they get old engines and all ya do is tear em down ash and store whats good and toss the crap. The floor ALWAYS had like a 1" worth of grease and slime on the floor hence the nickname "swamp" but its here i got to use the magnaflux stuff to check heads and blocks for cracks. Also got to spend alot of time out doors with a fork lift getting engines and trans for tear down or rebuild for all the guys. Sadly about 6 months in the company ran into some $$$$ problems and close down one of their shops and took the old time guys from that shop and all the apprentices got replaced and laid off.

So i moved on and got a job at a HUGE International truck dealer. Thought i made it big and was set. Was making $15/hr and was easily meeting all the job times. But after 3 months of working in that hell whole (no music allowed, no hats coats or anything unless it said INTERNATIONAL on it) i learned a VERY VERY valuable lesson. NEVER fear telling your boss he is wrong. Unfortunetly i learned the hard way and ended up crushed with the front tire of a 5 ton truck on my back and my chest on the frame of another (we were stacking new trucks for transport). Dont know what damage it did cause i never went too a docs but for the next several months it was harder to breath and my chest was this REALLY gross purple yellowih colour. Patially due to this my work started to slow and meeting times was getting harder. Add to that that i got hurt AGAIN when i was trying to lift a pump outa the parts truck on my own (was not too heavy just big and awkward). But i was told "your a big guy tuff it up just do it. So i did and ended up as a BIG guy with a minor Hurnia. This slowed me down AGAIN and I was always walking around pissed off hell i got seriously injured TWICE withing 6 months of working there. So eventually when that same boss told me to climb into the steam parts washer to clean it i VERY loudly and publicly refused in a very Unprofeshional way. Sure enuff the next week when i spilled a bit of oil (made a rookie mistake of dropping the oil filter) and they fired me for having a oil spill and not reporting it. Needless to say i was VERY happy to leave after only 8 months in that hell hole.

Then i landed a great job at a large school bus company fixing the buses. DID that for $13.75/hr for 2 years. Got REALLY good at it loved the shop the guys were great including the boss and i was allowed to use my bay for my own stuff every weekend. Eventually i ran the place every day from 3:00-7:00pm. I worked HUGE amounts of HRs but the place was still awsome and i still miss working their. I ended up quiting because i needed more heavy truck experiance to finish my apprenticeship and get license.

So i took my current job working for Ryder. Have been with the company (two different shops though) for nearly 4 years now. Not quite as fun a place to work as that old bus shop but i am good at it and the pay is MUCH MUCH better at $27.13/hr now. And some of the stuff i get to work on makes it worth the more up tight structure of the place. Got a fleet of show and shine trucks we run outa our shop witch although can be a pain some times is something i take pride in. Oh and i get to do alot of the engine work outa the shop as no one else wants it LOL.

 

[Legend]

When I was 6 I started my own business selling garden seeds. Made enough money the first year to buy a lawn mower and mowed yards also for a couple of years.
When I was 9 I got my first job working for someone else, as a telephone lineman. Climbing poles, stringing wire, installing phones and repairing them. As I recall, I started at $0.25 / hr and worked up to $0.50 / hour.
During college there were so many students competing for jobs that most of them only paid $0.15 / hour or so. I was lucky and got a job as a security guard for $0.45 / hour. I had to supplement that with hustling cards, pool, bowling, ping-pong - anything to help make expenses.
Graduated and my first industry job was as a design engineer for airplane radios.
Now I am retired and mow lawns (mostly to stay in shape) for a friend who has a lawn service company. I figure if I start selling garden seeds next year, I will have come full circle.

 

[Toms01PSD]

By the way, Happy Birthday Boggin.