# Name some jobs you had in your teen years.



## Pappy (Feb 8, 2019)

Me: Delivered two different papers daily. 
Worked as an usher in our local theater
Helped bring in baled hay for a farmer I knew. 
Planted Christmas trees.
Bagged groceries and worked produce department.
Mowed several lawns.
Shoveled snow from sidewalks


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## CeeCee (Feb 8, 2019)

Babysat in high school.

Then when I was going to the University of Pittsburgh I worked weekends at the Children’s Hospital snack shop in Oakland, PA.

Thats about it!


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## C'est Moi (Feb 8, 2019)

My first job was part time in the shoe department at Sears.   I had to watch training films on how to properly use the "Brannock Device."


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## applecruncher (Feb 8, 2019)

"Check-out girl" (cashier) in a grocery store 2 yrs

Misc clerical duties including taking customer payments summer before and after college.


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## squatting dog (Feb 8, 2019)

Last 2 years of high school, I worked in a plastics factory from 4pm to 12am. Came home from school at 3 and just had time to change and get to the factory. 
On weekends I worked at a Shell service station. pump gas, sweep up, then moved up to tune ups and oil changes, then on to major overhauls (eng. trans. rear-ends)
Before these jobs, I was basically slave labor for my contractor dad.  Didn't realize it at first, but, the skills I learned working with dad came in mighty handy later in life.Those skills allowed me to do all my own work on any house and not have to pay any contractor. For instance, I was able to build my own house and do it all... Clear the land, pour a footing, frame a house, wire the house, plumb the house, roof the house, and finish trim the inside of the house.  
Of course, the last job I had in my teens, involved uncle Sam and a trip to south east Asia.


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## moviequeen1 (Feb 8, 2019)

a summer job  working in drug store
volunteered at Red Cross facility


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## RadishRose (Feb 8, 2019)

Baby sitting
Coffee shop waitress


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## hollydolly (Feb 8, 2019)

I left school at 15... I worked in various jobs through my teens but the first was as an office junior and switchboard Operator  in a punch card  office (computer data storage cards)

I worked potato picking as a seasonal job, and a waitress on a holiday Island for a summer season


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## Falcon (Feb 8, 2019)

Was  an  usher  @  the   Fox  theatre   in  Detroit.

Washed  cars.


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## jujube (Feb 8, 2019)

Babysat, of course.  

Clerk in a sleazy loan company.

Switchboard operator (on one of the old-fashioned cord boards)

Cafeteria worker in my dorm (one of the worst jobs I've ever had but there weren't many jobs on campus...the worst part is that I had to wear a dorky yellow uniform with white tennis shoes and white ankle socks AND A HAIRNET!  There went any chance of making a good impression on any guy in the dorm I might have had my eye on.....)

Clerk at a big health insurance company

Data entry person at the headquarters of a major college fraternity

A lot of summer temp jobs.

All but one of these were part time/temp/summer jobs while I was in college


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## grannyjo (Feb 8, 2019)

I was employed as a grapho/typist/addressograph machine operator.

I punched metal plates (graphotype) with the name and address of shareholders,  via a very ancient machine.  They were then fed into another machine (addressograph),  which used another technology to print the envelopes to send out the the dividend cheques to shareholders.  Lots of heavy lifting.

I moved from that to National bookkeeping machines.  Those with long metal bars that held specific spots where you could add debits or credits to a person's account when you fed in their card.

Still lots of moving,  but not so heavy.  Kept me very slim at the time.

Moved on from there to be a bookkeeper with law firms.  Trust account management.  Mostly done by hand in those days.  Had to dob in one law practitioner who seemed to move trust funds around rather randomly. 

Yep,  he was caught taking clients funds and was banned.



Lots


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## Don M. (Feb 8, 2019)

I started out mowing yards in the summertime at about age 12.  When I turned 16, I got a job, evenings and weekends at a local gas station...pumping gas, washing windshields, and minor repairs.


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## IKE (Feb 8, 2019)

Had a paper route for a short period.

Washed dishes in a pizza joint. 

Worked at a full service car wash.

Mowed yards and shoveled snow.

When they were biting good I caught and sold fish in the neighborhood.

Peddled a bicycle ice cream cart.

Worked night shift in a vegetable canning factory.

Traveled one summer with a carnival as a laborer.

Worked on dairy farm.

Went to work for Uncle Sam and the U.S. Army at age 17 1/2.


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## applecruncher (Feb 8, 2019)

jujube said:


> Babysat, of course.
> 
> Clerk in a sleazy loan company.
> 
> ...



I think you told a story about the sleazy loan company, can't recall what thread but your dad made you quit ..?

Cafeteria worker - one of my college roommates did that, she hated the HAIRNET.  Odd that food service workers no longer have to wear hairnets.


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## exwisehe (Feb 8, 2019)

Paper Boy
Mowing lawns
putting up hay (on my dad's boss's farm)
Bagging groceries
Working in a hardwood flooring company (summer before college)
Janitorial work and "slinging slop" (in the cafeteria in first year in college)


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 8, 2019)

Worked on an assembly line in a greeting card factory, and also did a lot of babysitting.


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## jujube (Feb 8, 2019)

applecruncher;976632[COLOR="#FF0000" said:
			
		

> [/COLOR]*]I think you told a story about the sleazy loan company*, can't recall what thread but your dad made you quit ..?
> 
> Cafeteria worker - one of my college roommates did that, she hated the HAIRNET.  Odd that food service workers no longer have to wear hairnets.



Yep, it got robbed while I was in the restroom primping and killing time.  I came out and the place was full of cops and much excitement.  My dad wasn't pleased.


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## Gary O' (Feb 8, 2019)

Hoeing roses
Bucking hay bales
Setting chokers 
Washing dishes in a restaurant
Pumping gas
Small engine repair 
Mowing lawns
Other stuff I don’t care to remember 

Summers, I was busy 


School years, I was busy afternoons and nights

No moss


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## Butterfly (Feb 8, 2019)

Babysat, of course, and in my senior year I had a half day job at a savings and loan (I got out of school at noon).


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## mike4lorie (Jun 18, 2019)

Paper Routes, Collecting Bottles


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## JustBonee (Jun 18, 2019)

Babysitting
Worked at Dairy Queen 
Movie Theater/ ticket taker
P/T after school -  Credit Bureau/file clerk


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## moviequeen1 (Jun 18, 2019)

babysitting
worked as a stock clerk at a local drug store


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## Rosemarie (Jun 18, 2019)

Nursery assistant
Hairdresser apprentice


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## Aunt Marg (May 1, 2020)

Babysitting
Cashier at a corner store
Stock girl at a pharmacy/drug store (late teen years)


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## Ferocious (May 1, 2020)

*Anaesthetist ......I didn't do it for very long......the patients were not to keen on my mallet.*


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## Ferocious (May 1, 2020)

Pappy said:


> Me: Delivered two different papers daily.
> Worked as an usher in our local theater
> Helped bring in baled hay for a farmer I knew.
> Planted Christmas trees.
> ...


*What did you do in the afternoons, Pappy? *


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## oldman (May 1, 2020)

Jobs in my Teen Years:

Delivered papers.
Worked at the local gas station (pump gas, wash cars, do oil changes/lubes)
Worked at a 5 & 10 cent store warehouse
One day a week I would put the order away at the local grocery store
Worked helping out on a fruit farm and also baling hay
In addition to the above, I had chores to do at home like most of my friends. 

I had three jobs during the same time period for about 10 months.


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## Ken N Tx (May 1, 2020)

Delivered papers,stock boy,sold ice cream, usher in a movie show, pin setter in a bowling ally.


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## oldman (May 1, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


> Delivered papers,stock boy,sold ice cream, usher in a movie show, pin setter in a bowling ally.


Hey Ken:  I set pins for a few weeks. That job was so boring, I had to quit. I remember that when the first ball went down the alley and struck the pins, we had to jump down off of the shelf above the pins where we would sit and wait for the ball to knock over the pins and clear away the pins that were knocked over. After the second ball would strike the pins, we would clear away all of the bowling pins and step on a pedal that caused ten pins in the floor to raise up where the bowling pins would need to be placed and we would put the bowling pins over the pins in the floor and then step off the pedal, so that the pins in the floor would go back down. Was your's the same way? It was very much like the video:


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## Ken N Tx (May 1, 2020)

oldman said:


> Was your's the same way?


Yep..thats it..


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## Ferocious (May 2, 2020)

*Did some window cleaning......some people didn't draw their curtains, I occasionally got a right eyeful.......*


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## Lewkat (May 2, 2020)

I worked part time as a soda jerk after school.  Great job for a teenager.


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## Pappy (May 2, 2020)

Ferocious said:


> *What did you do in the afternoons, Pappy? *



Did the dishes, vacuumed the house, cooked all the meals....Not..


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## katlupe (May 2, 2020)

I was a secretary and greeter at a state park in FL. Also babysat a lot.


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## fuzzybuddy (May 2, 2020)

I printed  the 'in house 'sales signs for Ames Dept. Stores. You know, the signs that say, "Now, only $19.99". Ames had about 10 stores at the time. So I had to print signs for all those stores, too, One week, they were late getting  me the list of what was on sale, so i could print the signs. It took all night, but I was able to get all those signs printed, and in the mail. But I did have a slight problem. Seems that I left the "R" out of "SHIRTS" in all the signs.


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## Keesha (May 4, 2020)

Babysitting 
Waitressing 
Working in a pet shop 
Assembling gyroscopes 
Landscaping


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## Ferocious (May 5, 2020)

Ferocious said:


> *Anaesthetist ......I didn't do it for very long......the patients were not too keen on my mallet.*


*But they did like the laughing gas. *


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## Pecos (May 5, 2020)

Lets see:
Farm Hand
Yard Service
Donut sales

….. and the one I made the most money: Manure Sales

A buddy and I would drive out to the dairy farms and load up the pickup with dried manure. Then we would drive back into ElPaso and I would sell it to homeowners by going door-to-door. I was a pretty good salesman and we made a lot of money.

For an extra fee, we would spread it around their yard.
I sold eleven loads to a Retired Army Col, and always wondered what his neighbor thought.

So, I guess you could accurately say that I was a very successful S___ Salesman.

I learned to be very careful when cleaning out the Bull Pens. They seemed to be highly possessive of that stuff.


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## toffee (May 5, 2020)

shelf filling at 15 on a Saturday 
then college  to study art /design 
made shirts for a American company 

and more till I married .


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## Yo-Yo (May 5, 2020)

I have had the same job my entire life. I was a baker.


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## peppermint (May 5, 2020)

I had a job in a super market....16 years old...They put me in the Meat Department....UGH!!!  I lasted 2 weeks....
I had a babysitting job every Saturday for a little Tot....That lasted until the woman lost her job....The baby was adorable...I was sad...
I did take care of my brother when he was young....When Mom was on her sewing machine.....She sewed men's army clothes...
That machine was always nosey up stairs in her bedroom...I took care of my brother....When my boyfriend came along, my brother
was tagging along with me and boyfriend (who is my husband now)   55 years....in August...


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## Fyrefox (May 6, 2020)

Before of legal age to work, I mowed lawns and was a pet sitter when their owners were away, caring for dogs, cats, birds, and fish.  When I became of age, I worked in a paper box factory for several summers that made the small boxes things like aspirin bottles came in...


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## Em in Ohio (May 6, 2020)

Lots of babysitting in my teens and a work-study secretarial job.  But my favorite job in _elementary_ school was "Japanese Beetle Killer." That paid me 2 cents a piece to clear neighborhood rose bushes - and that bought me ice cream!


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## Aunt Marg (May 6, 2020)

Em in Ohio said:


> Lots of babysitting in my teens and a work-study secretarial job.  But my favorite job in _elementary_ school was "Japanese Beetle Killer." That paid me 2 cents a piece to clear neighborhood rose bushes - and that bought me ice cream!


How times have changed.

Babysitting was big business back in my day, wasn't a girl around that I knew that didn't babysit, and at the very start of summer holidays when the school year ended, the newspaper would be flooded with ads with those looking for babysitting work.

Today, not so. I see few ads for babysitting work anymore, and back when I used to babysit, word of mouth gained me every single babysitting job I ever had (no ads required), either neighbourhood moms who knew my mom, or neighbourhood moms I babysat for who passed my name onto other mothers they knew who were looking for a sitter.

Did a ton of evening babysitting (weekdays), and by Friday of each week, I usually had my entire weekend booked with babysitting work.


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## debodun (May 7, 2020)

After I turned 16, my mother decided I wasn't going to sit around the house all summer anymore. She always seemed to line up department store inventory jobs for me.


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## Knight (May 7, 2020)

Until 16 do everything in a mom & pop grocery store. At 16 was in DE [Distributive Education] program worked afternoons and Saturday  at a large grocery store  as a stock boy for a week then a chance work in the meat department opened up. At 18 I was making more than my father & could have worked for Kroger a major food chain as a full time retail butcher. But the Navy offered something not possible where I lived. Travel & a chance to learn something else.


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## win231 (May 7, 2020)

When I was 18, I was in a band & needed around $3,000.00 for keyboard equipment.  I got a part-time phone job in the evening working for a carpet-distributor business.  Every day, the office manager got an empty paper cup from the Sparkletts water dispenser & poured Vodka in it. He drank a whole bottle during each 4-hour shift.  The office was on the 2nd floor & just before quitting time, he'd walk to the balcony, announce to the employees, "Well, the bar's closed,"  & drop the empty bottle into the dumpster 30 feet below, while we all LOL'd at how plastered he was. The dumpster always had pieces of carpeting in it, so the bottle never made any noise when it landed.

One afternoon, I told my co-workers to get ready for a big laugh when he was finished with his bottle.
Another employee & I climbed into the dumpster & removed all the carpet so it was empty.
Right on time, at 5:00, he got up & said, "Well....the bar is closed."  He walked to the balcony, dropped the bottle & started walking back into the office.  When the bottle landed in the empty dumpster, it made a huge sound like an explosion.  It scared the hell out of him & he jumped.
When he saw us laughing, he realized what we did & he said, "You dirty bastards.....you mutha fu--ers," which, of course, made us laugh even harder.


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