What was your first job and how much did you make?

[JayhawkCO]

This is a spinoff from the Overrated thread. What was your first official (as in signed a W2/I9/etc.) job and how much did you make?

Mine was at JC Penney at the now demolished Southglenn Mall in what is now Centennial, CO. (At the time, it was just unincorporated Arapahoe County.) I worked on the loading dock helping people with their large catalog orders and then I also went around to the various sales registers bringing back hangers, grabbing the trash, etc. I made $8 an hour. I ended up working at three other JC Penneys before I turned 20 (Avenues Mall in Jacksonville, FL; Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, CO; and one in Lawrence, KS), but moved to working the catalog desk helping people place orders, return orders, getting their small orders, etc. Obviously this was before the days of e-commerce as we know it. (1998-2000)

[1995hoo]

I got my first job in November of 1989 after I had to replace the clutch on my car and then was in a crash when driving my dad's car. The clutch was $350 and the deductible for his was $250, so I had to come up with $600 and for a 16-year-old kid, that was a lot of money back then. I worked part-time waiting tables at a retirement home in Fairfax not too far from where I lived; two other high school classmates also worked there and suggested the job. The initial pay was $5.25 an hour (it gradually increased by small amounts every few months when I got good evaluations). No tips—the residents paid a lot of money to live in that retirement home and thus there was no expectation that they would tip the wait staff. I continued to work there part-time until I went off to college in August 1991; during the summers, I augmented the income by mowing some lawns, for which the going rate for high-school kids in our neighborhood was $25 per mow per lawn.

[kphoger]

Target, Wheaton, IL

"Cart attendant" (pushing shopping carts & various other tasks)

$5.25/hour (I mistakenly said $5.15 in that other thread)

Between 36 and 40 hours per week

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

This is a spinoff from the Overrated thread. What was your first official (as in signed a W2/I9/etc.) job and how much did you make?

Mine was at JC Penney at the now demolished Southglenn Mall in what is now Centennial, CO. (At the time, it was just unincorporated Arapahoe County.) I worked on the loading dock helping people with their large catalog orders and then I also went around to the various sales registers bringing back hangers, grabbing the trash, etc. I made $8 an hour. I ended up working at three other JC Penneys before I turned 20 (Avenues Mall in Jacksonville, FL; Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, CO; and one in Lawrence, KS), but moved to working the catalog desk helping people place orders, return orders, getting their small orders, etc. Obviously this was before the days of e-commerce as we know it. (1998-2000)

Another thread I think I'm responsible for.

[oscar]

^ So did you have a first job, or not?

My first job was a summer job working evening shift on the front counter at a McDonald's. Since that was more than a half-century ago, I don't remember the hourly pay.

[Rothman]

My first job with a W-2 was at a franchise of a regional video store chain.  Probably $4.25/hr. in mid 1990s.

[-- US 175 --]

I worked part-time in 1981 for a short time at a factory that made plastic flower pots.  I don't remember the wage.

The next is what I consider my real first job.  I was a cook during the summer later the same year at a Dairy Queen for $3.35/hour.

(45 years later, I make $19.10/hour.  I'm not sure I've done very well for myself, and I sure haven't kept up with inflation.)

[Max Rockatansky]

I did some odd jobs for a race team and a garage back in high school.  That was all under the table work paid in cash. My first W-2 style traditional job was at Target in 2001.  I pushed carts Full Time for $7.50 an hour but got into the LP department within months of starting.  The LP work paid about a dollar more per hour.

I'm still working on the retail Loss Prevention field a quarter century onward.  Where I'm at pays decently but has killer benefits given it is government work.  I'll be fully vested in my pension in six years.  Past that point I'm planning on considering possibly throwing in some applications for the Forest Service.

[kphoger]

I worked part-time in 1981 for a short time at a factory that made plastic flower pots.  I don't remember the wage.

The next is what I consider my real first job.  I was a cook during the summer later the same year at a Dairy Queen for $3.35/hour.

(45 years later, I make $19.10/hour.  I'm not sure I've done very well for myself, and I sure haven't kept up with inflation.)

Huh?  $3.35 in 1981 is equivalent to $12.21 today.  How do you figure you haven't kept up with inflation, if you're making $6.89 more than that?

[74/171FAN]

Definitely Cracker Barrel washing dishes around $9 an hour (their star system made that a bit variable, but I did have 4 when I left in 2015)

[-- US 175 --]

I worked part-time in 1981 for a short time at a factory that made plastic flower pots.  I don't remember the wage.

The next is what I consider my real first job.  I was a cook during the summer later the same year at a Dairy Queen for $3.35/hour.

(45 years later, I make $19.10/hour.  I'm not sure I've done very well for myself, and I sure haven't kept up with inflation.)

Huh?  $3.35 in 1981 is equivalent to $12.21 today.  How do you figure you haven't kept up with inflation, if you're making $6.89 more than that?

OK, maybe I have, but I just don't feel like I've gotten very far in life wage-wise compared to my time in the work world.

[Mapmikey]

First W2 job was flipping burgers at Burger King in Goose Creek SC in 1986. $3.35/hr which was SC minimum wage at the time.

First full time job was Radiological Control Technician at Charleston Naval Shipyard at 19 years old in 1989. It started at GS-4, about $13k/yr then. Retired after 36 years in the same field but at the Professional Health Physicist level.

[elsmere241]

I put in some time at my grandparents' business in Salt Lake City the summers I was 14 and 15.  I worked much more at 14 than 15 because I was paying myself back for the plane ticket.  I was paid the minimum wage - $3.35 an hour.

A couple of weeks before I turned 16, I stuck my head in the door at the local Friendly's looking for work.  The manager told me to come back after my birthday, and then we got the paperwork going.  I started at $4.50 an hour, primarily as a dishwasher.  During the school year it was usually just on Saturdays, but during the summer it was typically thirty hours a week.  When I left fifteen months later, I was at $4.70 an hour.

[jeffandnicole]

I started at a bowling center (we were told it wasn't a bowling "alley") in 1991, making around $4.25 an hour. My mom was always insistent that high schoolers shouldn't have jobs because our main job should have been concentrating on schoolwork. The compromise was I would only work weekends.

I ultimately worked with the bowling center for 5 years, a fairly long time for a first job.

[kphoger]

(we were told it wasn't a bowling "alley")

They were wrong.

[Scott5114]

My first job was making $5.15 an hour at Burger King. I started out on front counter, later found my niche in drive thru, and then was assistant manager for a few months.

[epzik8]

Local grocery store, started as a cashier then became porter (the people who, among other things, carry the carts back up front). I initally made about $7.50-8.00 an hour I believe.

[Henry]

My first job was at a Walgreens way back in 1987. I did a little bit of everything, from restocking the shelves to checking patrons out. Somewhere around $4 or $5 an hour was what I made back then.

[dlsterner]

First job was in college back in 1978.  Part time (10 hrs per week) helping various computer science professors by grading assignments and having some office hours where I could help students with their assignments.  Classes varied; typically something like FORTRAN programming.  Just to have a little extra spending money.

Paid minimum wage (In 1978 may have been $2.65 per hour).  Actually filed a tax return to get back $1.43 that was withheld one year.

[jp the roadgeek]

Summer 1991. Working in the parts room at my family's car dealership.  Made $4.25 an hour

[Takumi]

Night shift at 7-Eleven in 2006. $8 an hour.

[Jim]

I am sure I didn't get a W2 for my newspaper carrier job from ages about 13-15. The paper was 6 days a week and I had to collect $1.40/week from my customers. I had about 40 customers.  Of that money, I think over half went to the newspaper, probably more.  Some people gave me exactly $1.40, a good number $1.50 or $1.75, and the generous tippers gave $2.  I actually split a larger route of about 80 customers with a friend, so we could cover for each other for vacations or illnesses or other conflicts.

My first "real" job was in a small pet shop that started at something like $3.15/hr later in high school.  I kept doing that through high school and still did some weekends for them after starting college.  First it was Amsterdam Aquarium at 3 different locations (it moved a couple times) and later when the owners of the Kritter Kastle in Johnstown took it over, I worked at their location in Johnstown some as well.  It was really a good first job, combining working with customers, taking care of the fish and animals, keeping the place clean, and helping with inventory control.  Neither location ever sold cats or dogs.  We had fish, birds, reptiles, and small animals and all the related supplies.  Sometimes snakes and tarantulas.  The Kritter Kastle location also did dog grooming, which is what I think really kept it viable financially.

[elsmere241]

I am sure I didn't get a W2 for my newspaper carrier job from ages about 13-15. The paper was 6 days a week and I had to collect $1.40/week from my customers. I had about 40 customers.  Of that money, I think over half went to the newspaper, probably more.  Some people gave me exactly $1.40, a good number $1.50 or $1.75, and the generous tippers gave $2.  I actually split a larger route of about 80 customers with a friend, so we could cover for each other for vacations or illnesses or other conflicts.

I forgot about the paper route I'd had ages 11-13.  Possibly inspired by Henry Huggins, I'd always wanted one for some reason.  Both my brothers and at least one of my sisters would eventually have routes of their own.

[1995hoo]

I am sure I didn't get a W2 for my newspaper carrier job from ages about 13-15. ....

Good chance that sort of thing is considered either self-employment or an independent contractor type of thing where you don't have taxes withheld and you don't get a W-2.

I forgot about the paper route I'd had ages 11-13.  Possibly inspired by Henry Huggins, I'd always wanted one for some reason.  Both my brothers and at least one of my sisters would eventually have routes of their own.

I remember that book. Around here, a "paper route" was never an option because the paper gets delivered by people who drive around throwing papers into subscribers' driveways.

[CoreySamson]

My first job was working as a kids' soccer referee. Minimum was $15 a game, but I would usually make about $50-100 on a Saturday, depending on how many games were happening that week.

My first W-2 official job was working as an academic tutor at my university. It was also part-time given that I was also a student there. I made $11 an hour doing that.