How Old Were You When You Got Your First Job?

I was just watching something on TV that was discussing how kids today dont actually get a job on average until they reach the age of 20.

That made me realize that i had my first 'real' job (a paper route) when i was 12 and before that i used to make some allowance by helping my father at his work.

Its kind of strange looking back and thinking about how old i was, along with many of my friends, when we got our first job and thinking about how these days the average age for someone getting their first job is 20 in the US for guys and 18 for girls.

I wonder if its because we have become to lazy as a society or, if it is because parents are to controlling with their children these days?

Regards,

Lee

My first little jobs where washing cars for neighbours, cutting grass for them etc. for a little money when I was 11 or 12. When I was 14 I also started a paper route :) I hated it!!

I think at age 12 I copied books for a bookbinder for a few months - very dull work

My first real job was when I was 12 as well. I helped to bale hay, put it on the truck and take it off the truck. I made a whole 5 cents per bale I put on and 5 cents for the ones I took off.:wolf:

16 at a department store (where the 40 year old managers would sexually harass me and the poor guy that would restock the vending machines in the break room)

I had my first little job mowing the lawns for my neighbors when I was 12 till I turned 15yrs old. At 15 I got a job running the only store in my hometown, called the General Store, I would cook pizzas and subs, answer the phone to take orders, clean the place and dishes, and ran the register, all by myself, with no supervision at all most of the time.

It was always busier for me when the owner was out because everyone in town thought she was a bitch. She was, and sometimes she would leave her two kids with me, the most spoiled, bratty kids I ever met, and have never met any kids as bad as them in my life.

I even closed the place up myself, took care of the cash, which I would put in the freezer, then turned on the alarm and locked up.

My pay was 5 bucks an hour and whatever I wanted to eat and drink while I worked. I got paid in cash and took my pay out of the register every night when I was done my work.

I think it would be really hard to find a country store that ran this way in this day and age.:whip:

I was mowing yards in the neighborhood when I was 13.

i got a paper route and worked in the basement of an auction clearing house when i was 12 :confused: i always wanted to be independent and loved making money, but i remember i was one of the few kids who worked at that age. most of my friends where rather lazy :P

Mowing lawns and shoveling snow in 5th Grade.

I never had a newspaper route, but i did sub for neighbor kids who did.

First W2 job was in a restaurant (non fast food) at 15.

College newspaper (for pay) at 17.

TV station at 17. (Camera and film).

Radio station at 19.

Nightclub DJ at 26.

i did yard work for the neighbors when i was 13 and after that when i was 16 i got a job at a grocery store as a cart guy hehe

By the time I was 9 I could sort and do laundry, vacuum, cook and mow the lawn. Then I started going to work with my Mom and helping her clean offices when I was about 11, by 13 I was getting up at 4am and working all day until about 6pm with my Mom on her lunch/dinner wagon (during the summer).

So I started pretty young.

Had a paper route when I was 12 and would hit up my older subscribers to mow their lawn for $5. Making $50 or more a week at age 13 I was the envy of all my friends.
Worked at a bakery, a gas station, and KMart until I was 18 and then got a job as a door man and sales clerk at a porn store shortly after my 18th birthday. The manager of the store hired me instantly as she was the lady who used to watch me in the mornings before school when my parents both worked early morning jobs.

For a little while when I was young I used to mow the lawn for a neighbor who was an ex-NBA player - took all day (probably 3-4 acres of grass). Forget how old I was - probably mid teens.

I think my first office job was when I was 17 - it was stuffing envelopes for Liberty University School of Lifelong Learning (Jerry Falwell's university). The offices were in the Moral Majority building... That didn't last very long, then later I answered phones for Falwell's TV show The Old Time Gospel Hour.

I mowed lawns in the summer. Made good money for a kid of 14/15 or so. At 16 I had a job at Dairy Queen. At 19 I started working retail in a camera store.

The first job where I actually punched a clock and paid taxes was as a dishwasher at a local Mexican restaurant at 14. To officially work that young I remember needing a work permit signed by my school and parents.

Before that, I would mow lawns in the summer and shovel snow in the winter (it seemed to slow all the time back then). I also worked for a little old lady that ran an antique store. She gave me enough cash to feed my arcade habit. I had a paper route too when The Denver Post was an afternoon paper.

Damn you Lee! Now I really feel old! Thanks for asking.