OT: What was your first job as a teenager?

[Deepster]

My first job was in 8th grade, delivering the weekly "Rare Reminder" newspaper where people sell their used junk. I got paid $0.01 per paper and had 4 streets on my route. Probably worked out to $3.00 a week.

When I turned 16, I worked at Burger King on the fryalator. Then got "promoted" to the drive thru window. Smoked a lot of weed with the cooks out back in those days.

 

[Lafayette]

between 8th and 10th grades - paperboy, Hartford Courant

then a Lechmere opened and I was in video rental then photography - ton of weed was put into empty film cartridges!

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Cromwell KMart. Started in Housewares, but also handled front registers, service desk, garden shop, electronics, layaway, and even the grill. Yes, I did a couple blue light specials. I was grossly underpaid in the 80's at about $4/hr. Landscaping jobs after that.

 

[CL82]

Building New England stone walls when I was 13. Figured out that what made them so strong was the fact that they collapse into themselves. Me and a buddy started making them for people and did pretty well. I'm a big believer that everyone should have a job where they come home sweaty and dirty with blisters on their hands. It shapes your thought process for what hard work actually is. The next year I got a job as a lifeguard, which I decided I liked considerably better.

 

[Horatio]

13 years old working at a laundromat. Responsible for wiping down the washers and dryers, moping the floors, and running errands. In New Haven 1982 and 83. They let me work until football started. $100 per week and sometimes food.

 

[Dove]

Pot washer, then dish washer at the Frank Davis Resort. Moved up to server for breakfast shift and then, the coveted server position doing lunch AND dinner shifts. Fun times.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Newspaper routes as a pre-teen and teenager and some grass cutting and snow shoveling.

Hartford Courant paper route in the morning and Journal Inquirer in the afternoon.

Once I turned 16 it was lifeguard and swim instructor.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Cut lawns for the older folks in the neighborhood then at sixteen worked as a busboy/dishwasher Fri-Sun at a local civic club. Made lunch for the afternoon sports fans in the bar of mostly sandwiches, burgers and fries. Would work a mid-week event if scheduled. usually a buffet. Caddied at Fishers' Island on occasion, Played cards on the ferry coming home. That could be a real make or break time.

 

[alphasigko]

Caddy at Ridgewood CC in Danbury at 13 btwn 8th Grade and HS Freshman year. I caddied there on weekends in addition to other summer jobs thru my time at UConn.

 

[alexd]

At 13 I delivered Tradewinds newspapers in my W. Htfd neighborhood.
At 16 I helped teach junior tennis clinics for the Town of W. Htfd along with a few private lessons thrown in.

 

[Minicoop69]

Freshman in HS started working for family friend and his electrical company just doing basic cleaning, mowing, cutting wire, etc for $5.50/hour under the table.

Starting working at a Gas station at the DB Mart in Waterbury on corner of Hamilton Ave and Pearl Lake Rd for $7/hour in 2003.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Landscaping all the way summers in h.s. through college. Paid well, worked with buddies, got a nice tan and was home fairly early.

 

[superjohn]

Stonemason, started in high school. Did it for 4 summers and continued in college when I had some breaks/was in and out of school.

Wish I still had my Carved in Stone t-shirts, they were great.

 

[DisabledVet]

Trimmed headstones at the Milford Cemetery.

 

[TroyHall98]

13 years old delivering drawings around the city of Boston for a structural engineering firm.

 

[MTHusky]

Working at Schaftel's (SP?) cigar store on Main St In Ansonia. Also helped out in Vonetes at Christmas time making Candy canes, putting the hooks on.

 

[husky99]

Paperboy
But really pizza hut in Brookfield

 

[Stew Crew]

Cromwell KMart. Started in Housewares, but also handled front registers, service desk, garden shop, electronics, layaway, and even the grill. Yes, I did a couple blue light specials. I was grossly underpaid in the 80's at about $4/hr. Landscaping jobs after that.

Waterbury KMart. "Attention shoppers. For the next 10 minutes and 10 minutes only, the blue light will be flashing in the sporting goods department......."

Seriously, I can't imagine of a worse job. The full timers were forced to take their morning break in the store restaurant where the miserable store manager would regularly berate them and tell them how worthless and replaceable they were. The humane assistant managers would get pigeon-holed into dead end jobs. In order to get promoted, the assistant managers had to be all-time SOBs.

 

[tomtom80]

Long time ago, I guess before health standards for restaurants, I worked at a Dunkin’ My daily tasks were as a porter(cleaning toilets and mopping floors) followed by. a donut finisher( filling and sugaring them)

 

[History Geek]

Caddy at Mill River Country Club in Stratford, then when I turned 16 a dishwasher at a diner in Milford.

Also indentured servant work for my father. Do stuff when he needed it and he gave me money when I needed it.

 

[willie99]

Paperboy 10-16

McDonald's age 16 (Thomaston Ave, WTBY)

 

[husky8273]

delivering prescriptions by bike from the local pharmacy in Queens

 

[CL82]

Long time ago, I guess before health standards for restaurants, I worked at a Dunkin’ My daily tasks were as a porter(cleaning toilets and mopping floors) followed by. a donut finisher( filling and sugaring them)

Well, thank you for that imagery.

 

[huskiesouth]

Caddied at the Yale Golf Course started when I was 10 did it until junior year at college, made pretty good money, learned the game of golf and learned a lot about human nature, caddied for some famous people like Sydney Poitier the year after he won Academy Award, real gentleman with class.

 

[CCSUblue]

Summer camp counselor, Subway, local IGA bag boy - I honestly didn't remember what order I started these in.