The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

What was your first job, and what did it pay?

Here's mine:

Wendy's
$4.35/hour (a full TEN CENTS above the minimum wage!)

dishwasher: 2.35 plus .5% of tips so they didn't have to pay minimum wage.

I was 13 years old and a family friend runs a construction company. I'd go to the site on the weekend to work and learn. I learned how to weld, cut, drive Bobcats, Doozers, forklift and operate a crane. I could only go on the weekend cus the safety inspectors weren't there. I was only able to use the forlift, and bobcat on a regular basis. I got paid like $20 a day, I was happy with that.

My 1st legitimate job was with UPS as a package handler. I started out with $8.50 an hour and full benefits working part time.

My first job was with McDonalds. I got paid $4.50 an hour. I got sick of McDonalds and went on my break and didn't come back. I guess I got sick of seeing people drop the burgers on the floor and then say a million cuss words in spanish or I just got sick of seeing a friend of mine "accidently" drop a plate of buns on the floor and a manager come up to 'straighten them out' .........

I don't eat at that McDonalds no more. And I never will.

I had many jobs or business ventures prior to turning 16, including picking blackberries, cutting grass, picking dandelions, a small engine repair shop in my father's garage, selling term papers (pre-internet days), but the first job I ever received a W-2 for was stacking lumber at a neighbor's sawmill for minimum wage and lunch on the way home.

I started at 5:30 am to beat the heat and wore a hole in a brand new pair of 501s within a half hour. If the owner wouldn't have been someone I would have had to face every day for the next few years, I'd have quit the first day.

It was the best thing that ever happened to me. It made me realize that I didn't want to do physical labor when I was forty and reminded myself of that every day throughout six years of college.


The neighbor and his wife are the Godparents to my oldest child. One summer stacking as he was scaling motivated me to become what I am today and I'll never forget the lesson I learned.

Wow curveball a lesson in the first job question who'd a thunk it.

My first "job" was cleaning. I would clean a friend of my stepfather's house everyweek. I only went once a week and I'd make $75 to $100 each time. I'd love to have that gig back. lol But my first job where I got taxes taken out was at a little cafe'.

I think everyone should start out with a cruddy job. Nothing promotes studying hard like the alternatives. I also spent three summers working for my future father-in-law's paving company because he allowed me to keep up with my obligations (I was on a wrestling scholarship and had to work at least one camp every summer).


One day after a late night the night before I complained to him about having to bust my butt everyday while others got to stand there holding a sign all day. I told him he was just working me hard because I was dating his daughter. He said I could "Slop"(after slow/stop) the next day.

Longest freaking day of my life. I couldn't sit, listen to the radio... nothing but the walkie talkie all day. The women who looked so hot driving by as I was shoveling weren't all that when stopped next to me weighing 320, cursing like a drunken sailor.

Anyone that can do that for a living has my respect.

I worked at a pet store cleaning crap out of dog cages, etc. (Yuk!) Think I made $2.25/hour.

My first job was at ChiChis as a dish washer.

I made 5.00 because my cousin was laying wood to the assistant manager. I tried and she wanted the manager to fire me.

Three months after I quit and my cousin left for college she finally gave in thanks to Keith Sweat and me begging for it as if I was applying for my very first credit card. Turns out it wasn't worth it. She sucked

Back in 1977, Delivering dentures for a dental lab in my area, At $3.75 per hour

Worked with my stepdad in our family janitorial company. Nothing motivates like having to empty used maxi disposal boxes from the women's bathroom. Started at age 12, working with adults ages 25-55. Figured out pretty fast that I didn't want to be "that guy." Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for my stepdad...it just wasn't something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Worked in the Men's Department at Leggetts and made a whopping $1.80 an hour. Of course that was 1975.

From age 13-17 I worked for my dads construction company as a laborer during the summers. I think the first summer I made $20. I was just happy working with grown-ups. By my last summer I made $5 an hour tax free and had learned that this was hard work and couldn't wait to do something else.
My first job I got on my own was at Toy's R Us, working in the stock/pick-up room. I made $3.75 an hour.

NC43Hog wrote:Worked in the Men's Department at Leggetts and made a whopping $1.80 an hour. Of course that was 1975.

I had my first experience with labor that year too. I was born.

from age 14-17 I worked at a seafood resturant as a dishwasher and made it up to the postion of cook. I made 4.35 an hour.

Carried grocery bags for ladies and the elderly at age 10 to 12. They gave me whatever they could... in dimes and nickels

Worked on a farm seemed like forever -

My first tax paying job was Lifeguard for $3.10 an hour, and I highly recommend it I
got more girlfriends from that job than any other.

JansenFan wrote:

NC43Hog wrote:Worked in the Men's Department at Leggetts and made a whopping $1.80 an hour. Of course that was 1975.

I had my first experience with labor that year too. I was born.

Wow, TOTAL burn

My first job was at Burger King, I made 5.15 an hour and had to work pretty late into the night, not a lot of people know how much stuff needs to get broken down and cleaned before the employees can go home.

I think we should also have a category where you should list your worst job. They're often the same, but a couple years ago I was desperate for cash so I took a job as an intermural referee for basketball. I know a little bit about basketball, but they said they would train new recruits... and they well didn't... it was like having a job as a translator with 3 years of HS Spanish under your belt 10 years later.

First work was (nearly) volunteer--up at a summer camp in the kitchens. Mostly dishwashing, some food prep and serving. I think I made 50 dollars a week, which essentially covered our staff night out.

My first paying job was working on the maintenance staff for my alma matter during the summers (though when I started I was still going to high school there). Painting, cleaning out drainage ponds, landscaping. My first summer I made $6.50, and ever since I graduated I've made $8.50 (I still work there during the summers off from school).

Bussed tables and washed dishes, etc at some stinkin' steak house on Rockville Pike back in the late 70's.

Worked there for a few weeks before they figured out I didn't meet their age requirement of 16.

I worked at a boarding place for animals for a few months but I guess my first "real" job was at Subway from 12 - probably 17. I also mowed lawns, landscaped, painted, anything, really.

The Subway I worked it was way behind the times - we didn't bake our own bread and the guy who ran it (Mr. Lee - dude was nuts), would buy all his own ingredients to save money instead of following the corporation.

I think I got paid like $3.15 an hour and would get a 6" sub. What a joke... We used to give all our friends free subs when he would step out to get him back for being a nut job.

First job was at McDonalds in 1968 - made $2.05/hour...but I had a good boss who convinced me to buy Micky D's stock - so every payday I used 1/2 my pay to get stock...12 years later that stock had appreciated so much it helped me and my wife buy our first house...

NikiH wrote:My first "job" was cleaning. I would clean a friend of my stepfather's house everyweek. I only went once a week and I'd make $75 to $100 each time. I'd love to have that gig back. lol

Damn Niki -- you got a sweet thing with that cleaning gig.

I too started out my first "job" cleaning house every Saturday for a neighbor when I was 11 years old. I think I got $12 every week (plus lunch!). Obviously THEY got a deal!

My first "taxible" job was when I was 13: I started working at the local grocery store for $3/hour. I worked there until I was 18!

But then again, my dad would always give us "pay" for chores expected to be completed from as early as I can remember. We got "pay" not "allowance" -- and it was like 25cents a week -- Apparently, that's all Rockefeller "paid" his kids, and for some reason my dad thought that was the "get-rich-like-Rockefeller" way!

1st real job - Baskin Robbins @ $5.00/hr...it also made me realize that I did not want to do manual labor - scooping ice cream is no fun, milkshakes are even worse, and I always got confused when an old person would come in and ask for a soda (as in ice cream soda)! What the?

I had the best/worst first job ever. I worked for Mt. Trashmore in Virginia Beach. For those that don't know, Mt. Trashmore was once a landfill that they built into a big hill and made a park out of it. It was completed in the late 70's and I think other places have ripped off the concept since then.

Black Goop would inexplicably leak at out certain locations in the hill. Swimming in the lake was strictly forbidden because it was so nasty. Around the shoreline, where it had eroded, you could see some really cool trash...like coke bottles from the 60's and stuff like that.

I made $4.49 an hour and was happy to make it. I worked w/this totally cool brother (as in African-American) who "trained" me. Whenever we were given a job to do..he would tell me "Fo foty nine -- nothin' but time"...so we would take FFFFOOORRREVVVVER to complete the simplest task.

If it was real hot outside, we'd sit around and play poker and rummy. If it was real hot outside and we knew the bosses were away...we'd add beer to the equation. Which is hilarious...because we would drive the Cushman (which is basically a golf cart with a pick up bed on the back), which was marked all over w/city decals up to the 7-11 and get a case. Never occurred to us that such behavior might be frowned upon.

There was a skate park there and someone left their skate helmet there....so as a joke I would put on the skate helmet anytime I rode in the Cushman....it was hilarious. You should have seen the looks I got. It was especially hilarious when you were just a passenger and were wearing it...and the driver wasn't.

I cleaned bathrooms at night before we closed up (some of the nastiest things you'll ever see are in a public restroom at a city park). Instead of taking the time to clean them properly, I would flush a toilet, pour some bleach in the toilet (once there was a fresh bowl), and shove the mop into the toilet. Saved you the time of having to carry a heavy bucket of water around. Yes, I know, totally gross.

Occassionally, a group would come in and rent the whole place out for a festival or something. Well, one year, the Gay Pride people rented the whole freaking park. Now, don't go bashing on me here....I was 18 and this was the early 90's...so Gayness was just not something I had ever been around...so seeing thousands of dudeds in Daisy Dukes w/shaved legs was just a bit weird. Worse yet, I saw a dude there that I went to High School with!!! (and he wasn't making $4.49 an hour) One of them asked me (while I was riding around on the Cushman) if he could "Ride my Scooter" -- I wasn't sure exactly what he had in mind...but either way, the answer was NNNNOOOO!

Another thing, every morning I would find at least one used condom around that place. Why on God's green earth anyone wants to do the deed on top of a big pile of trash I'll never know.

I could go on and on. I have TTTTOOOOONS of stories.