# High school jobs. What was yours?



## Pappy (Nov 21, 2016)

Back when I was a youngster, it was easy to find part-work, or even full time. While you were in high school, did you have a job, or jobs. I'll start it off.

Delivered our local paper, six days a week.
Planted Christmas trees.
Baled and stacked hay for local farmers.
Ushered at our local theater?

Worked as a bagger and cash register runner for our local market, Victory markets.

What was your job?


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## Ralphy1 (Nov 21, 2016)

Sofa jerk...


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## WheatenLover (Nov 21, 2016)

I babysat and had a thriving $1/hour business doing that. At the time, the going rate was $0.50/hour, but I advertised heavily in our apartment complex, the kids liked me, and I taught them reading and arithmetic when I got tired of playing with them. 

I also worked at Burger King, and at a clothing store at the mall.


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## Shalimar (Nov 21, 2016)

Assistant life guard at the beach during the summers. Taught swimming in the winter at the pool. Babysat, taught belly dancing  (unknown to my mother.)


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## Ralphy1 (Nov 21, 2016)

Belly dancing!  You exotic thing, you...:love_heart:


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## HazyDavey (Nov 21, 2016)

I was also a delivery boy for the local newspaper, six days a week.

Worked in the yard for a bridge construction company, loading & unloading trucks, sorting material.


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## bluebreezes (Nov 21, 2016)

I did some cleaning work and taught guitar.


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## Falcon (Nov 21, 2016)

Usher @ the Fox theater in Detroit, MI.


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## Carla (Nov 21, 2016)

I worked in a factory nearby, 3:00-6:00. Mostly sewed baseball emblems on jackets. ( junior & senior years)


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## Don M. (Nov 21, 2016)

I cut lawns, and shoveled snow in the neighborhood. starting at about age 12.  Then when I turned 16, and got a car, I worked evenings and weekends at a local gas station, pumping gas, and doing minor repairs.


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## Victor Meldrew (Nov 21, 2016)

When I was around 15, I lasted about two weeks as the weekend graveyard shift busboy/pot scrubber at a local 24 hr diner. They let me go after I fell asleep on my feet in the middle of scrubbing the burnt residue from the bottom of a large pot around 5 am one Sunday morning.

A couple of years later at the beginning of my senior year, my surfing buddy got me a job at small mom & pop Italian restaurant he had just started working at. Another kid we went to school with had gotten him the job there a couple of weeks earlier. We were primarily pizza makers and dish washers, but we eventually worked our way into prep cook assistants working day shifts a couple of times a week.

It didn't pay squat, but we made our spending money and got to eat plenty of free pizza and spaghetti.


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## fuzzybuddy (Nov 21, 2016)

Mine was working part time in the garden shop of Ames ( a failed discount store). I filled in for this Italian guy, Lefty. Lefty was rumored to have lots of girlfriends, even though he was married. One day a woman came in and asked, "Where's Vigoro?" I figured 'Vigoro' was Italian, so she meant Lefty. So I said, "he's off today". She wondered off. When the manager came out to clear the register, I told him about a woman asking for Lefty. He wanted to know all about it- maybe a little dirt? When I told him, he fell down on one knee laughing. You see Vigoro is a famous fertilizer brand.


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## Shalimar (Nov 21, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> Belly dancing!  You exotic thing, you...:love_heart:


Thanks! Taught by the Lebanese mom of my best friend. Who knew it would help pay my way through university?


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## Vedaarya (Nov 21, 2016)

Officially, we couldn't work while at school, but out of record, each of us was happy to earn some money doing odd jobs (doing shopping,shovelling snow,,etc.) for elderly neighbours.


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## jujube (Nov 21, 2016)

Babysitting my younger sisters after school and during the summer.  For which, I might add, I didn't get paid.  Hmmmph.  All my friends had these glorious 50-cent-and-hour jobs like lifeguarding and working as a car hop.  I was so jealous.


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## Victor Meldrew (Nov 21, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> Thanks! Taught by the *Lebanese* mom of my best friend. Who knew it would help pay my way through university?



Hey... the ****** orientation of your friend's mom should be of no concern to us or anyone else!!!! 

:joke:  <<wink wink>>


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## Shalimar (Nov 21, 2016)

Victor Meldrew said:


> Hey... the ****** orientation of your friend's mom should be of no concern to us or anyone else!!!!
> 
> :joke:  <<wink wink>>


I don't understand? Lol.


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## Victor Meldrew (Nov 21, 2016)

jujube said:


> Babysitting my younger sisters after school and during the summer.  For which, I might add, I didn't get paid.  Hmmmph.  All my friends had these glorious 50-cent-and-hour jobs like lifeguarding and working as a car hop.  I was so jealous.



One of my best friends worked as a mechanic at his father's European car repair shop, working on MG, Triumph, Jaguar and Lotus sports cars. He "got paid" for it, but only when his dad felt like it, or could afford it. He had five siblings. Four younger sisters and one younger brother.

Plus his maternal grandmother lived with them, too.

Lotta groceries to buy.


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## Victor Meldrew (Nov 21, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> I don't understand? Lol.



:doh:


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## Lon (Nov 21, 2016)

Doorman & Usher at Movie Theater &

Stock Clerk in Market


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## Victor Meldrew (Nov 21, 2016)

Lon said:


> *Doorman & Usher at Movie Theater* &
> 
> Stock Clerk in Market



I'd like to have done that.

Never thought of applying for it, though.


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## RubyK (Nov 21, 2016)

I worked in a small calendar factory collating each calendar by hand.

Worked after school and on Saturdays at a bakery as a salesperson.

Babysat on week-ends for neighbor kids.


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## Ruthanne (Nov 21, 2016)

I worked at a bar as a waitress.  I had a fake i.d. back then.


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## Marie5656 (Nov 21, 2016)

*While in high school all I did was baby sit.  After graduation, did a lot of work in stores, and even in a factory for a minute one summer.*


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## Carla (Nov 21, 2016)

fuzzybuddy said:


> Mine was working part time in the garden shop of Ames ( a failed discount store). I filled in for this Italian guy, Lefty. Lefty was rumored to have lots of girlfriends, even though he was married. One day a woman came in and asked, "Where's Vigoro?" I figured 'Vigoro' was Italian, so she meant Lefty. So I said, "he's off today". She wondered off. When the manager came out to clear the register, I told him about a woman asking for Lefty. He wanted to know all about it- maybe a little dirt? When I told him, he fell down on one knee laughing. You see Vigoro is a famous fertilizer brand.



Hahaha, did you ever tell busy Lefty?


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## Buckeye (Nov 21, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> I don't understand? Lol.



(a) old, old joke >> "Lebanese" mistaken for Lesbian.  Archer Bunker era.  

(b) first job was helping a local farmer (Kingfish Swisher) bailing hay.  60 cents an hour.  After that clerk at Kroger (grocery chain).


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## tnthomas (Nov 21, 2016)

1. a restaurant as a dishwasher.
2.in the meat department of a Food Giant supermarket, as a clean up guy.
3. at Angela's Italian Restaurant as a dishwasher/pizza maker.

For my senior year I figured I was just "too smart" already so I dropped out and joined the Army.   :shrug:


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## Victor Meldrew (Nov 21, 2016)

tnthomas said:


> 1. a restaurant as a dishwasher.
> 2.in the meat department of a Food Giant supermarket, as a clean up guy.
> *3. at Angela's Italian Restaurant as a dishwasher/pizza maker.*
> 
> For my senior year I figured I was just "too smart" already so I dropped out and joined the Army.   :shrug:



Ahhhhh.... a fellow former dough flipper.


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## tnthomas (Nov 21, 2016)

Victor Meldrew said:


> Ahhhhh.... a fellow former dough flipper.



Back in the early '90s I won a trophy in a dough tossing competition, beat out all the youngsters at Pizza Factory.    :wink:


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## fureverywhere (Nov 21, 2016)

Dishwasher at an Italian place. I was maybe fifteen and made a dollar an hour plus free food. To this day I feel ill washing sauce doused bowls and plates.


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## Bobw235 (Nov 21, 2016)

In my Junior year I delivered the morning newspaper and then worked in a Hardee's Hamburger joint in the afternoon. This allowed me to save money to travel to Brazil. The Hardee's job paid minimum wage, $1.60/hour at the time. After we moved in my junior year I took a job working in an ice cream parlor for a few months and in my senior year I sold shoes in the mall. The sales job was really beneficial for my future career as it taught me to deal with a wide range of people.


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## Butterfly (Nov 21, 2016)

I worked part time at an office.


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## SeaBreeze (Nov 21, 2016)

I did a lot of babysitting and for a short time worked part time in a greeting card factory on an assembly line.


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## twinkles (Apr 11, 2018)

i worked in a laundry after school  dropped out of school in 11 th grade-- moved out to the  boone docks got a job in a restaurant as dish washer then as a waitress
i had to walk about 3 miles to that job--got another job in a laundry-left home at 17 got a job at the hecht co. in wash.dc then got married


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## applecruncher (Apr 11, 2018)

Cashier ("check out girl") in a grocery store for the better part of 2 yrs.


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## Robusta (Apr 11, 2018)

Never worked a job for wages until I left home. We worked the farm as part of a communal family effort.   We received a few dollars when ever the spirit moved the elders, but for the most part we worked for our keep.
I made my own money by running a trap line and selling fur.


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## Keesha (Apr 11, 2018)

Baby sitting and worked at a pet shop for 3 years. Loved it.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

WheatenLover said:


> I babysat and had a thriving $1/hour business doing that. At the time, the going rate was $0.50/hour, but I advertised heavily in our apartment complex, the kids liked me, and I taught them reading and arithmetic when I got tired of playing with them.
> 
> I also worked at Burger King, and at a clothing store at the mall.


$1 an hour, wow, what I would have given to make $1 an hour back in my babysitting days.

When I started babysitting... early 70's, .25¢ an hour was the going rate, and it wasn't until I was in my later senior high years that I started seeing .50¢ an hour.

The only time I seen more than the standard going rate was typically around Christmas time and on New Years Eve.


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

Had no job in High School.  My first job was in the toy department of a major department store for Xmas.  I was a freshman in college, age 17.


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## Keesha (Jan 15, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> $1 an hour, wow, what I would have given to make $1 an hour back in my babysitting days.
> 
> When I started babysitting... early 70's, .25¢ an hour was the going rate, and it wasn't until I was in my later senior high years that I started seeing .50¢ an hour.
> 
> The only time I seen more than the standard going rate was typically around Christmas time and on New Years Eve.


When I was 12 years old, 25 cents an hour is what I made. The mother was also a bible study teacher and for memorizing psalm 23, I got a Donny Osmond album.

I HAD to have a job in high school since I was living on my own and supporting myself but I finished.


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

Keesha said:


> I HAD to have a job in high school since I was living on my own and supporting myself but I finished.


That takes guts.  *Proud of you*.  My husband left home at 13.  He had an interesting story.


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## Jeweltea (Jan 15, 2021)

Worked at K-mart part time when I was a senior in high school. I  worked in the fashion accessory department (hats, scarves, etc.)


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## charry (Jan 15, 2021)

I did a paper round , at our local hospital, and I loved chatting to all the patients


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## Keesha (Jan 15, 2021)

Pepper said:


> That takes guts.  *Proud of you*.  My husband left home at 13.  He had an interesting story.


Wow 13. If I could have left at 12, I would have


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## Jeweltea (Jan 15, 2021)

charry said:


> I did a paper round , at our local hospital, and I loved chatting to all the patients


I was a candy striper at our local hospital but that was volunteer.


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## Knight (Jan 15, 2021)

Apprentice retail butcher. 5 hours a day & 10 on Saturday. School began a new concept of D E or Distributive Education. Mornings in school afternoons at a job leading to a skill. Wage was good didn't take long to be able to buy a car. A 1954 red with white interior Ford Fairlane convertible.


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## Pecos (Jan 15, 2021)

I worked on a cotton farm with the laborers who came up from Mexico. I had to start paying room and board when I was 15 to help support my parents drinking.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

Pecos said:


> I worked on a cotton farm with the laborers who came up from Mexico. I had to start paying room and board when I was 15 to help support my parents drinking.


Translation, and because of the fact you were left with little to no spending money for yourself.


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## Yosh (Jan 15, 2021)

Delivered Sunday newspapers to farmers year round and worked 60 hours/week for a man who moved houses and buildings for four summers.  Looking back, it was a huge mistake to work so much.


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## charry (Jan 15, 2021)

Jeweltea said:


> I was a candy striper at our local hospital but that was volunteer.


What’s a candy striper ?


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## debodun (Jan 15, 2021)

Studying


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

charry said:


> What’s a candy striper ?


They were hospital volunteers, Charry, but I'm certain candy stripers are no longer.


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## Pecos (Jan 15, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Translation, and because of the fact you were left with little to no spending money for yourself.


I was able to hang on to some of it and it came in very handy, especially when I moved out of the house and moved into the bunkhouse with the Mexican laborers. I kept going to High School where I worked in the cafeteria and ate like a pig during my free lunch. I eventually went home, graduated, went off to Southern Calif where I met my natural father's family and stayed for about a month. Then I joined the Navy while I was still 17.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

Pecos said:


> I was able to hang on to some of it and it came in very handy, especially when I moved out of the house and moved into the bunkhouse with the Mexican laborers. I kept going to High School where I worked in the cafeteria and ate like a pig during my free lunch. I eventually went home, graduated, went off to Southern Calif where I met my natural father's family and stayed for about a month. Then I joined the Navy while I was still 17.


That was a tough start you had, Pecos.


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

Keesha said:


> Wow 13. If I could have left at 12, I would have


He first tried at 12 but was found and brought back.


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## Jeni (Jan 15, 2021)

I had babysat or did odd jobs for small pay when 12-17
When I was 17 ..... My older sisters long term best friend was a assistant manager at a new location of a fast food restaurant. They did not have enough people for opening week   and wanted a body ASAP ..
best friend offered a job to sister starting that day .... my sister did not want to smell like french fries or whatever ( translation did not want to work).

She told me "hey lets get dressed in slacks and white shirt" and go for a ride ... took me to restaurant dropped me off yelling at her best friend out the car window "Jeni , will do it" and she drove off .......... that was my first day at my JOB.


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## Kathleen’s Place (Jan 15, 2021)

Summer Play Ground assistant, pool basket attendant, babysitting, cashier at A&P, worked at newspaper doing ad set up’s (only job I liked) and worked in a shoe store


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## Gaer (Jan 15, 2021)

hm-m.  High school, i wanted to get into drama after school but I had to get a job if i wanted a car. 
So, i worked at a dress shop after school and on weekends.
When I turned 18, I moved out of state, got my own apartment and worked full time at Penny's in the shoe dept.


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## Kathleen’s Place (Jan 15, 2021)

Ralphy1 said:


> Sofa jerk...


Not touching THIS one!


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

My mother's first job was at age *5*, selling shopping bags on the Grand Concourse, The Bronx NY. Her line was "Shopping Bag, Lady?"  During the Depression this was.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

Pepper said:


> My mother's first job was at age *5*, selling shopping bags on the Grand Concourse, The Bronx NY. Her line was "Shopping Bag, Lady?"  During the Depression this was.


Breaks my heart when I hear stories like this.


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## Pecos (Jan 15, 2021)

Pepper said:


> That takes guts.  *Proud of you*.  My husband left home at 13.  He had an interesting story.


That does indeed take a lot of guts and his story would be very interesting as that is an exceptionally tough age.


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

Pecos said:


> That does indeed take a lot of guts and his story would be very interesting as that is an exceptionally tough age.


I meant KEESHA had the guts!  

Yes, desperation makes a kid want to leave home so young.  I didn't let my husband get away with lying to himself for years with his own "reason", the reasoning of a 13 year old boy.  Sad, he was not treated well.  Sad.  At least I never had a MIL.


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

Just remembered it was Not the Depression yet.  That's right, they were poor anyway.  The year should have been 1924 or so.

Always poor.  That's depressing too.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

Pepper said:


> Just remembered it was Not the Depression yet.  That's right, they were poor anyway.  The year should have been 1924 or so.
> 
> *Always poor.  That's depressing too.*


Yes, and all too many know all too well how that feels.


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## Jeweltea (Jan 15, 2021)

charry said:


> What’s a candy striper ?


A candy striper was a teen-age girl volunteer at a local hospital. They were called that because of the pink and white striped uniforms.


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## Murrmurr (Jan 15, 2021)

I worked at my grandfather's tailor shop. He wasn't supposed to pay me but he did. I bought an old Chevy Biscayne.


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## Sunny (Jan 15, 2021)

Addressing envelopes for a neighbor who had a cottage industry, I don't remember selling what. Imagine having to pay high school kids to address envelopes by hand! We made 50 cents an hour.


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## Pepper (Jan 15, 2021)

Sunny said:


> Addressing envelopes for a neighbor who had a cottage industry, I don't remember selling what. Imagine having to pay high school kids to address envelopes by hand! We made 50 cents an hour.


Yeah, that's how we did it.  Especially when it was learned in fund raising that a handwritten envelope to the donor got you more money than printed labels.


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## Irwin (Jan 15, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> I worked at my grandfather's tailor shop. He wasn't supposed to pay me but he did. I bought an old Chevy Biscayne.



I used to have one of those! An old (1968) coupe with quarter panels that were rusted out so bad, exhaust fumes would come in through the holes and into the passenger compartment. I think I paid $50 for that old POS. It was reliable, though. I think that was around 1977. A nine year old car was old in those days. These days, cars last over well over 20 years if you take care of them.


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## Irwin (Jan 15, 2021)

In high school, I washed dishes, worked at a gas station, delivered newspapers, babysat, did some other random grunt work.


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## sadie123 (Jan 15, 2021)

I was a car hop for A&W.  It was a fun job.


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## AnnieA (Jan 15, 2021)

Library page at the county library.  Loved it.  Started at 16.   I'll never forget my first holiday off which was July 4th.  We had a wet spring that year and farmers were behind.  I spent all day in a soybean field on a John Deere tractor pulling a cultivator.

http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/careers/librarycareerssite/whatyouneedpage


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## J.B Books (Jan 15, 2021)

I worked for the school district mowing lawns, painting, etc. during the summers when I was 14,15.
I learned to drive jeeps and trucks (all manuals) on mountain roads when I was 15.
when the school district found out about my driving they had me driving split axel dump trucks when I was 16 and legal during the summers.
I drove truck for a pharmacy delivery my senior year in high school when I could if I wasn't playing sports.
I was enjoying life, trying not to think about the draft and Vietnam.


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## Pecos (Jan 15, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> That was a tough start you had, Pecos.


It was a bit tough, but some of the women on this forum have told stories about their childhood that make mine pale by comparison. I put an end to the physical abuse in the household by the time I was 16, and by the time I was 22 my two younger step-brothers had left home and lived with me.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 15, 2021)

Pecos said:


> It was a bit tough, but some of the women on this forum have told stories about their childhood that make mine pale by comparison. I put an end to the physical abuse in the household by the time I was 16, and by the time I was 22 my two younger step-brothers had left home and lived with me.


How heartwarming to know your two younger step-brothers had you, and that you took them under your wing.


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## Mr. Ed (Jan 17, 2021)

I was in a high school work release program called Distributive Education Clubs of America. I ran for Georgia State office, I was elected State ParliamentarIan. A group of elected state officers flew to Los Angeles for National Convention.

In high school I worked at Winn Dixie and United Parcel Service.


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## gennie (Jan 17, 2021)

December senior year I worked the gift wrap booth at J. C. Penny.


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## HoneyNut (Jan 17, 2021)

I only had a few summer jobs that had very short seasons.  
One was selling tickets to the traveling carnival by calling businesses and reading from the script that they could buy a book of tickets so they could give them out free to their customers.  Although I was unaware at the time, I think this was an annual thing to them so most of the businesses were willing to buy the tickets (i.e., I didn't have to deal with annoyed people).
Another was detasseling corn, a very hot dirty job which required getting up a little after 3 AM in order to eat and travel to a small town to catch the truck that then drove us to Iowa (from Nebraska).  The "99 bottles of beer on the wall" song was practically our anthem.  It was a pretty yucky job but naturally I encouraged my daughter to do it when she was a young teen (she didn't like it either, ha).
The only job I had that I enjoyed was selling school books at the bookstore.  We had to memorize the list of which books were for each high school class and then customers would come in and tell us their classes and we would rush around and gather the appropriate books.  It was the summer my friend and I were introduced to marijuana, and one day we went to work stoned.  It was very educational to me of the effects - that it wasn't just a fun feeling, it also made me too stupid to remember quickly about which books were for the classes.  We didn't make that mistake again, saved drugs for recreational times (and one memorable 4 hr car drive to visit grandma where my friend and I giggled in the backseat for the whole ride, tho I think that was an acid trip not weed, ah the late 60s were a wonderful time to be young).


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