Restaurant Hostess

Gigolo

Worked at a very small, local grocery store. Did just about everything. The only specific thing I remember is stocking the shelves on Tuesday after the IGA delivery.

I was paid minimum wage, which was $1.60/hour.

Thought I hit the big time when I left that job for another that paid $1.85/hour.

Great memories.

Sonic.

I think it was a great first job. At ours they started us off inside (bagging food, taking orders, making drinks) and then you got "promoted" to carhop. Most stores were opposite, which is stupid because car hops make way more money. I worked there until I was 18ish, but then still picked up shifts here and there, and when I came home from college for the first summer.

The only reason I left Sonic was because I got a good job being a cocktail waitress at a country club. I almost didn't go to A&M cause I made such good money at that job. And before any of you get thoughts in your head, it was upscale and we had to wear long sleeve white shirts, cumberbunds and bow ties lol.

Fluffer

Full-Service gas station (Gulf) attendant / tire repair

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I wish I would have better appreciated that time I got to spend with them.

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I hear you. But you were there. Great post.

Albertson's sacker at 14. Was a groceries night manager by 16. Not because I was stellar per se, but simply because I was reliable and always showed and did my job. It was not in a good part of town and the bar was quite low.

That was when I figured out I did not ever want to do a customer facing centric job ever again. Couldn't hold box cutters because I was too young yet had my life threatened over expired coupons. That being said, it was a decent job honestly and I had more freedom and leeway to do that job than others I would hold later in life and I learned a hell of a whole lot there.

14 - dishwasher at Garfield's restaurant in the Parks Mall in Arlington. Stayed there all the way through HS but ended up being the lead cook in short time since all they seemed to employ were druggies and morons and I was the only one that continued to show up for shifts.

It sucked.

Worked in a coastal marina. Opened the hatches on the marina-owned sailboats in morning and then washed and waxed sailboats. Sat in a sling at the waterline to clean and polish hulls, and tried not to think about the resident alligators.

Parks and Recreation department the summer after my freshman year in high school. Building park equipment, pouring concrete, cutting curbs, sweating my ass off.

First income was lawn mowing at age 12. Mowed the same 4 yards plus randoms along the way until I left for college.

First W2 I worked in a panel shop at a fabrication company when I was 16. Did back panel layouts and wiring based on wiring drawings. Helped install conduit and pull cables on process skids. Helped build an office expansion and did the Ethernet installation.

Grocery bagger at one of the old small local HEB stores at 17. Since that day I have always had a job except for 5 weeks in 2016.

Delivering the Dallas Times Herald on my bike as an early teenager back in the '70s. Never understood why they would do afternoon deliveries during the week, didn't seem like a good business decision.

Picking cotton around Donna, Texas in 1964. I was 6 years old and loved it. I credit my Granddad and Uncle for my work ethic. Up at 4 am to grease the pickers, work into the night with the pickers headlights on and lucky to be in bed by 10 pm.

Pouring and finishing concrete for my dad's company when I was 14.

Mowing lawns when I was 13.

Cashier at HEB. Worked there 4 years, the last 2 in the meat department. When I started in 95, I was getting paid 5.25/hr. By the time I left, I was getting paid 7.50.

Landscaping in the summer of 2002 at the age of 15. I think I was paid $6.75 an hour, and the typical week was 45 to 55 hours. Overtime was paid in full in cash, so that was a nice little perk.

We spent just about every day that summer landscaping the new (at the time) airport in Tyler. Pretty much the entire place was clear-cut to build the airport, so it was like working on the surface of the sun. We would start each morning about 6:00 AM because of that. We installed lots of beds with shrubs and smaller things, but we also installed hundreds of trees that were in 40 and 50-gallon pots and 36-inch boxes.

I was also playing baseball on the weekends with practice and/or lifting a few times a week. I did back-of-the-envelope math once and figured I was consuming 6000-8000 calories per day just to not lose weight.

I ended up working for the company for four more summers after that, and it was the most formative experience I've had from a career standpoint. The guy I worked for was an outstanding man, and I really loved the work. It also made me stay on point at A&M and make sure I didn't have to do that type of work later.

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I was paid $6.75 an hour

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Balla!

Lifeguard at local public pool

Maintenance at a local waterpark.

I used to cut a couple of yards in high school. First time receiving a paycheck was age 19, Summer 1991 at the National Weather Service in Port Arthur (office was closed and merged into Lake Charles years ago). I made $5.50 an hour that summer and bought a PC plus printer at the end of it.

Pretty sure I got bumped up to $7.50 in summer two because I could drive then. That was on my way to being totally flush at $9.50 an hour in summer five.

Albertsons shelver and bagger-boy.
I still have my badge and Albertson's shirt with the logo on it.

Soda jerk at my grandparent's soda shop when I was in middle school. It was pretty slow at times and there was a library next door, so I read a lot of books.

I dug holes with a shovel in Houston to install hot tubs between my junior and senior year of high school. I got ripped that summer. Eventually started doing some plumbing and electrical work related to the hot tub. Got to help build decks then, too.

Mom was an accountant at a lighting store and I got a job on the weekend installing showroom floor light fixtures - fans, chandeliers, etc

2nd job I worked in the A&M student loan department. That had its perks...including my cute boss who liked to look over your shoulder while resting her chest on that same shoulder lol

Set pins at a 9 pin bowling alley. Sure I was way way way underage but at least everyone in the building was smoking and drinking

Out of college was 16k/year with a minor league hockey team….in Texas.

Albertsons sacker at 16. Did that for two years until I left for basic training at 18.

Kitchen staff at El Rancho Cima BSA Camp (the River Camp). $65/week plus room and board. I slept on a cot in a tent. In the summer. In Texas.

Hoed weeds on Pawpaw's farm with my brother when we were probably 6 and 8. He dropped us off with some water and said get after it. We spent most of the time throwing dirt clods at eachother. Mamaw said he ought've whipped us for how filthy we got our clothes (that she hand washed in the sink to avoid ruining her washing machine), but he just laughed and paid us whatever minimum wage was 30 years ago. He didn't hire us back for another day though.

Mowed lawns, assembled playground equipment, painted fences, and overhauled travel trailers to turn them into mud logging trailers in high school.