What was your first job?

[ChefKnivesToGo]

I don't know why I was thinking about this today but my first job was silk screening lobster pot trap flags for a guy in Coventry CT. They were blue flags and we had to silk screen the license numbers on them so they could be identified out in the water. I was 12 years old and I used the money to buy Spider Man comics.

How about you guys?

[Organic]

My first job was delivering the local newspaper. I started helping my older brother with his route when I was 7, but I was too young to be on the payroll officially so I was paid in cash by my brother. When I turned 11 I was able to get my own route.

[jacko9]

Usher in the Troy movie theater which was an old 3 story with side balconies type of theater. I was 16 years old (old enough for a work permit). Prior to that as soon as we could life a shovel (~8 years old) we spent our winters shoveling snow from sidewalks and parking spots and summers collecting junk (metal, papers, etc). LOL - and yes I spent some of my hard earned snow shoveling money for comic books as well!

[nakneker]

My first job was painting 22 miles of wood fence for a ranch, they paid me 25 dollars a day, most days were over 8 hours and I thought I was living high. I equated that money to being able to buy two bricks of 22 shells a day. Back then life was simple and enjoyed that job a lot.

[Runner_up]

Growing up, we were family friends with folks who were a few generations into the grocery business. High end store staffed with old world Wisconsin butchers and bakers. My oldest brother had worked at the store in high school, and I started three days after my 14th birthday. Ended up staying all the way through highschool and became grocery manager.

Great job that taught me a lot..

[Afjagjones]

I washed bush planes for my uncle's airline in Alaska, Yute Air. I scrubbed years of dirt and oil off of the bellies of those (mostly) Cessna 207s.

[Chefspence]

Technically, it was pot dealer, but after that, at 16 I worked a kitchen line cooking breakfast and lunch. Had no idea then that I would end up as a professional chef

[pd7077]

My first job was as a medical courier for my father’s laboratory. Started working there over the summers once I got my driver’s license at age 16. Drove about 400 miles a day picking up specimens and dropping off slides. No wonder I hate driving so much now!

[mauichef]

Mine was in a male boutique in the flower power days (1966) after getting kicked out of high school. Selling Beatle jackets, flowery ties and shirts and hipster trousers with wide belts. That didn't last too long before a brief visit to the advertising business and then moving into auto racing where I earned a whopping 5 pounds a week!

[Carter]

When I was 14, I spent the summer working for a convention services company...they set up for boat / home shows, etc. Most of my days were spent pushing a Hoover Commercial vacuum, I vacuumed several football fields worth of carpeting a day. I also pulled staples from the sides of all the display tables...the fronts of the tables usually had paper or cloth table cloths and after many many uses there were so many staples embedded in the front of the table that you could not staple anymore table cloth....8hrs pulling staples with a pair of needle nose pliers sucked and resulted in bloody fingers.

[delmar]

Did the various pre-W2 jobs like paper route, babysitting and lawn mowing. After getting a $500 speeding ticket when I was 16, my parents made me pay it,which meant a real job - bagger (aka "courtesy clerk") at Vons making less than minimum wage (legal because you were on 90 days probation with union).

[MikeT]

My first W-2 job was as an apprentice electrician installing aluminum wire in new construction houses. One day, there were not any jobs to send trucks to, so everyone cleaned the warehouse. Pretty soon after that, no jobs at all, I think company went under.

[Drewski]

Weeding 4km of small sea buckthorn plants. Guy lived 7 miles away in rural Manitoba, so I was in great shape from the commute by bike. He started growing them with the thoughts of some medicinal use I think. Took around 2 weeks to do the weeding by hand, and I'd just have to start from the beginning once I was done. Felt pretty futile. I could only pick up a country music radio station on my Walkman, which was fine with me. Peanut butter and strawberry jam on rye everyday. I used the money I made that summer to buy a high end mountain bike for racing, and I still have it.

[cwillett]

I worked semi illegally as a 15 year old for a catering company. Weekend gigs that started at 2 pm and ended at 2 am or later. I washed dishes, set up tables, bussed tables, and was generally exploited for $3.35 per hour.But the owner's son gave me beer at the end of the shift and that seemed so grown up.

[Altadan]

In my mid-teens, working for landscaping older brother, doing anything from constructing outdoor BBQs, brick walls with white cement (colored with paprika, to save on the red pigment), mowing lawns, cutting branches, and what not. Sweaty work, but made a few hundred sheckels every day. Learnt that the gardner's most important tool were his eyes. Gotta look carefully, see what needs attention, and what doesn't. Always got in trouble, though, if my brother had another worker... I'd be inclined to speak too much. But when he landed good jobs and the pay was good, my life - though sweaty - was good too. Spent my money on the drivers license course.

[cooknola]

Right out of high school I helped open a restaurant and worked for my college at the same time. Granted both were part time it was a fantastic experience and given I decided to go the professional Chef route one that greatly influenced my future.

[lsboogy]

Paper boy and then mowing lawns. By 14 I had six mowers, 5 friends helping (I split the money with them) and had made enough money to finance my t bolt clone, powered by a true 427 side oiler and 8-71 on top. More car than I could handle, but I got into a great deal of trouble anyway - 47 points on my record before I turned 18.

Onion is probably the only other one to understand what that was. Car is still out there, and is a true 7 second car on the track - I drove it to 8.39 after shutting it down losing it going into 4th gear -

Never worked in a kitchen until I was over 40 - spent too many years thinking I could race cars

Interesting side note - the first homeless work I did was at Minnehaha United Methodist Church - worked with and knew Kathleen Soliah (Sara Jane Olson of the Symbionese Liberation Army - Patty Hearst stuff) - she was a nice person whom I would have over for meals with her husband and kids. Her take on life affected me - still does - why my retirement goal is a homeless kitchen feeding as many as I can. I'm learning in a high volume kitchen for a reason

[datster]

My first real job after the lawn mowing, snow shoveling and paper boy stuff many do was on a huge pig farm that raised hogs for Eckrich meats. Started there when I was 13 and worked two summers. Second summer at 14 the farmer felt bad for my parents getting up every morning so he let me drive the farm truck 12 miles back and forth to work. Good old days when you could do that at 14 years of age. Turned 15 in 1970, got a job in a body shop and did that until I graduated high school, then it was all kinds of jobs after that. Still looking for what I want to do when I grow up.

[Kit Craft]

My family had a greenhouse business but I guess that does not count as it was family. Though I did get paid. Regardless, my first job that I went out and got on my own was at the local pet store down the street. I'd walk there every day after school. Was totally not legal--lol. I was underage to work there and I got paid in store credit until I was older. If that does not count, I got a job at Burger king when I was 16 and had to get a work permit. Awful place to work, that particular one anyway. I still hold that opinion after having worked in a mil on 5 12's a 10 and an 8 for two years. I'd go back to that before I went back before that BK--lol.

[timos]

got a job as soon as i was old enough, grocery bagger making 5.15 an hour. the pay was almost good enough to cover the cost of the car/gas i needed to get to and from. It wasnt long before I would only work sundays at 1.5x pay and worked a few hours a week in a machine shop for about 8/hr i think.