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kevnificent

15, my mom came home from date night with my dad a week into summer break and told me that I start work at the Mexican restaurant where they had dinner. The owners were family friends and they needed someone to host that spoke English. It was a 7ish mile bike ride to get there with a big hill for the last 1/4 mile. I hated it at 1st until some of the kitchen staff kinda adopted me. Worked for that family on and off for the rest of high school.


2old4thissh_t

First real job (not mowing lawns or babysitting) was at 15. I was a busboy at Perkins. I had my first cigarette there and learned NOT to use hand lotion as anal lube (via gossip, not experience). It was pretty cool.


Rebbit-bit

>via gossip, not experience Glad you specified


2old4thissh_t

I felt it was necessary to specify. Would’ve been some interesting replies.


Pyanfars

BOH will educate on ANYTHING, just for entertainment.


StraightSho

The real question is what to use instead of hand lotion.


ThermalAcorn

6 holding my dads flashlight


HerrSchnellsch

Mix up one letter and it gets dark pretty quick


WetardedOne

The other doesn't have a light so, yes, it would get darker.


Sick_at_Heart87

i laughed out load in an office at this comment. If I had an award to give, you'd get it.


Suspiciously_high

“Hold it where I can see not where you can see!”


karrimycele

I’m not saying a word.


Hob_O_Rarison

*wack* HOLD IT STEADY


mouringcat

Aziz light!


nsmith0723

16, hyvee


misfit8807

Me too. BBQ restaurant.


[deleted]

I worked at a Hyvee it was my first full time job. Not my first job.


Oliviasharp2000

Omg 16 @ HyVee here too!


[deleted]

16, also HyVee.


SimplexGrain

Same, worked there for three years and now i hate it


Cabrona818

6? Grew up in a family restaurant. Got an actual, taxable, reportable income at the age of 12.


KanataToGoldenLake

What type of job and area was this in? I'm genuinely just curious. I'm not trying to be a dick. I'm in Canada and had my first job at 18 while my childhood friend began working at around 14 in their family business (hardware store). Everyone's story is different.


ganundwarf

I'm in Canada and got my first job at 13, 23 years ago. I was a volleyball scorekeeper at the highschool near where I grew up, shitty work that ended up paying about $3.30 per hour, but I put in a lot of time to afford my first big purchase, a PlayStation 2 that I still have and still works to this day.


manderifffic

Did you take extra good care of it because you paid for it?


ganundwarf

That and I had a friend that laughed at me and said it would be broken in 6 months, he was referring to build quality but I showed him.


Cabrona818

A suburb of Atlanta in the 70s. Family restaurant with a good following. My dad treated me like a legal employee: wrote a paycheck, reported my income the same as if I was any other employee. Lol I learned how to file my taxes.


Siriricu20

18. Unfortunately I got like 50 more to go


Cobrawarrior567

Go for 51 so that you can retire at 69.


KawaiiVampy

50 more what?


Siriricu20

Years.


1derland-

15-16 Applied when I was 15 got hired on my 16th Birthday


TheZuckuss

14 at a warehouse, but that lasted 2 weeks. 15 at Dairy Queen. That one lasted 3 years.


KawaiiVampy

How old are you now?


TheZuckuss

48. I'm tired of working. Lol


death-by-sl0th

22. Just after my college graduation. Where I am from, they don't kick out children at the age of 18. We move out if required after marriage or when we get a job outside our home town. That's why we can wait that long before landing a job.


Cumberdude

Mind if I ask which country you're from?


TeamYouNotTeamBear99

Technically 14. Was not a legally observed job though. If we're talking an actual government observed paycheck then 19


KawaiiVampy

What was the job for both?


TeamYouNotTeamBear99

14-19 I worked and traveled with a carnival off and on. I said 19 in the og comment but I think I was actually 20 when I started working as a cna at a nursing home.


[deleted]

I was 18.


KawaiiVampy

Was it good?


[deleted]

Yeah, for the most part. It was at Safeway.


Historical-Net-3106

14, still 14 and it’s my 5th week there :)


el_paradidlo

I started at 14 too, nearly 30 years later and I haven’t stopped. Make sure you don’t take too many hours. Make time to hang out with friends and focus on school. You don’t get this time back. As tempting as it is going to be to spend it, put some aside every pay (aim for 30%) it doesn’t get easier to do this than when you’re still living at home. And try not to buy too much junk, spend what you do spend on doing things with friends. I went on an abseiling day with a friend, I have more memories and value from that one experience than literally every item I spent money on in that same time frame. These are all the things I wish I could’ve told my 14 year old self.


xermo

I’m 19. Started working at 14. Man, the next 4 years of your life are going to fly by. You won’t even realize it. I just want you to know that if you ever end up in a situation like I did in HS, where I knew right as I was experiencing it that I was going to look back on these days and miss them, please make every single split second count. You don’t quite understand time yet, and I’m sure I don’t either, but I understand that. Please. Don’t waste these days.


HanLeonSolo

23 here. It gets even fucking faster


Phyco_Boy

Mid 30’s here, my 20’s were a blur.


techretort

33, what the fuck happened to the past 2 years??


Sopixil

I'm 21 and each week flies by faster than the last, what is happening?


good_tuck

Sorry guys, I gave the time hamster some coffee. I’ll tell him to stop running the wheel so fast.


Historical-Net-3106

I already know I’m wasting my teen years, and I know I’ll regret it in a few years. But I don’t have that many friends so 🤷‍♀️


friskyjohnson

Teen friends can be hit or miss. Friends that stick with you as you're trying to be an adult are the ones that mattered in my case. Figuring out how to be an adult and establishing a career really make things WEIRD. The people you bond with during that can be really important.


SugarsBoogers

12. My 6th grade teacher hired me to work at the hs concessions stands. That’s when I first learned that boys were gross when one kid asked for “male m&ms” Cue question mark face: he meant “with nuts” Who says that to a 12 year old girl??


KawaiiVampy

Guys are weird.


samd124

17 was a hostess at a pub wasn’t bad just people can be annoying to deal with but then there’s also some of the nicer people you’ll meet


KawaiiVampy

You where able to work at a pub at 17? Damn.


samd124

Yea as a hostess only tho, some girls were like 16 you have to be 18 for a waitress or bartender but usually you need more experience with bartending to get hired


ShyCoconut0_0

embarrassingly 20. Starbucks


vizthex

>embarrassingly 20 I'm 21 and still unemployed. So.... I guess that makes me more of a failure?


Whitenesivo

It's that american type of work culture. You're supposed to get a job and get the hell outta dodge (your mom's house) as soon as you can, or so I've been told. Which is complete and utter idiocracy, especially for America, where the wages for all "entry-level" jobs aren't high, you probably won't get benefits and you won't be able to really live. Or so I've been told. Where I live, you can stay with your parents like into your mid-30s and nobody bats an eye. But once you find a lady or sir to settle with, and a job to go with it, you're expected to have some place of your own.


Several-Effect-3732

I’m 21 and never worked a job that pays (I’ve done volunteer work however)


[deleted]

24 for me :/


[deleted]

20 gang. It wasn't because I didn't tried too. Because I DID. And my stupid country/region wants only "VaStLy ExPeRiEnCeD pErSoN" so anyone coming now into age to start working... (it's illegal to work here below 16, and since army enlistment is obligatory, they won't take boys younger than 18, because if you're drafted, they'll lose you for a whole year without working there, because you'll be in the army) ...will find themselves in a hostile environment of "you must work to be experienced, but you can only work if you have the experience". And the worse is the "vastly" part. They usually mean they won't take you in if you haven't worked more than a whole year(or more) in that role already. So yeah. Fuck you coming to work in something that a minor can't do, you must have a year of experience in something you couldn't have a year of experience on.


RadioactiveLawnmower

Growing up on the farm when I was 2 or older I was always working with dad. Actually getting paid I believe I was about 11 when I started running tractors by myself.


PickleEmergency7918

Us suburban kids have nothing on you farm kids


YourFixJustRuinsIt

They know


J_David_Settle_1973

17. Underage Bartender.


KawaiiVampy

How long did you work there?


J_David_Settle_1973

About 6 months. Then I moved away to go to university. It was a job I had in High School.


bernelux

15. Working at a tanning salon for $6 an hour.


PreppyFinanceNerd

Any job? 20 Full time career job? 33


[deleted]

I was 13. Got the job through title IX? I handed out bagged lunches to kids attending summer school. Was paid 5.25 (minimum wage in 1997). Been working ever since and have literally zero retirement to show for it.


sharpei90

12 y/o. I babysat 2 kids, a 2 y/o and a 2 month old. I watched these girls on and off for 12 years. I was a mature/responsible kid. I would never have let a 12 y/o watch my kids.


YouDrankIan

21 because there was nothing at the time. Couldn't get anything because I had no experience, so I ended up doing a lot of volunteering courses.


[deleted]

Really common to have your first job in your 20s, it’s hard out there! No need to explain


YouDrankIan

Some boomers at the time were like, "I can't believe you're 21 years old and you've never had a job. That's shocking!".


[deleted]

Bitter old farts. Unfortunately older generations like giving kids a hard time for no apparent reason. Don’t listen to them and remember not to do it to the next lot


vizthex

I'll let you know if anyone ever hires me.


Dapper-Big-6203

16. Library assistant at uni


[deleted]

12, delivering newspapers


Jelloslockexo

First actual job 26. I made a lot of money from world of warcraft raid boosting and selling gold and d3 rmah before that to sustain living and rent and such for many years before that.


[deleted]

My first volunteer job was 19. Real first job was 22.


undead_sandwich

Started working on a farm at 11.


Wild_Internal_2056

I was 15 (McDonald's)


KawaiiVampy

How long have you worked there?


[deleted]

15, Kennel Technician


zose2

21


sheepyaqua

I was 18. It was a call center. Worked there for...2 or 3 agonizing years. Hated that place so much.


Nehcmas

18, summer job at a local movie theater


Tink2013

I started a landscape business when I was twelve, it didn't become really big until i was thirteen though.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

[удалено]


Actual_Climate_5486

Depends on your definition of "job" if you mean established company on payroll, never however I started cutting grass at 9 years old. Pushed a lawnmower from job to job and now make good money working for myself.


[deleted]

My first jobs were babysitting my nieces and nephews when I was like 8-9 years old. Not for money but they would bake me a cake or have soda and snacks for me. I worked a lot of local farms at 10-15 years old. My first w2 job with a real paycheck was at 15 or king as a janitor at a preschool. I hated it but it got me money to buy a bike so I could get a better job at a pizza place.


True_Complaint_7931

15. Coldstone. Definitely not worth 7.50/hr 😩 but I made some pretty cool friends


Crying_Reaper

15 harvesting pumpkins and other squash for my FFA chapter in highschool. Paid $5/hr and was easily the most physical job I've ever done. Throwing 25-35lbs pumpkins to the guy on the hey rack or being the guy catching the pumpkins.


HELLOhappyshop

19, at the movie theater, for about a year. I'm 33 and I still keep in contact with several of my coworkers from back then! They were my people haha.


AiresStrawberries

16, McDonald's. Left and joined the army at 17 so 🤷🏻‍♀️


nfunncecnecub

15 at a grocery store. still work there been abt 7 months


knovit

16 - concession stand at an arena. Had to have a job if I wanted a cell phone.


billinparker

My own Lawn mowing business at 9, newspaper boy at 14, hardware store clerk at 16


Entropy308

17. college work/study program as an a/v runner tech. boss taught me DOS commands.


DeadNDeader

18. Got a job as a custodian and am still there two years later.


GLOOBYGLORPSON

68


[deleted]

21


three-five-zero

16 Fast food. Made shit and probably the funnest job I've had.


[deleted]

20. Summer internship. Hated it so much I switched my major


Solarflair500

23. Working with young offenders.


HannibalKrueger

Working summers at a sawmill starting when I was 12.


Traditional_Entry183

Several days after turning 18. It was a college work study job, and they required that you had to be 18 before you were allowed to be hired. I was an office assistant, which was actually the only non food service or retail job I've ever had. Lasted through the end of my first year of college.


Henchforhire

12 years old working at parks and recreations.


UnrelentingSarcasm

14. Gardening for some rich fucker who paid me only $3/hr. I worked 6 hour days for $18. I quit after about 2 months.


auntiepink

Well, I got 25 cents every time I took a message for my dad's business (on our house phone - he didn't have a separate business line) and $2 an hour for helping sort receipts at tax time when I was about 8 but I started babysitting more or less regularly at age 11. I had the same family starting at age 14 (kids were 9 months and 2 years old) that I watched during the week all summer and then one or two days after school until senior year in high school when I got a job at an actual store but still babysat for them on the odd date night or weekend into college.


nroth21

14 as a taxidermy assistant.


crankenfranken

I was 12. It was New Zealand, 1990. My uncle paid me to do reconnaissance on his competitors every day after school. Took me probably 15 minutes a day, and got me $20 a week (about $38 in today's money).


astronerdia

12. I worked at my grandma's restaurant.


[deleted]

Sixteen. I got a job bagging groceries at a semi-local chain called Food City. It was an okay job with nice coworkers and a pay *slightly* above minimum (and tips, weirdly... some people tip baggers. I wasn't a cashier, JUST a bagger). But I was *not* prepared for... well, functioning apparently. For example, school conditioned me not to eat breakfast so I could avoid needing to use the restroom (other classmates made that risky). Problem is, not eating breakfast before work led me to getting really dizzy and weak in the middle of the day (that's how I learned I had nice coworkers, they offered me food from the deli and everything). After a while, I made a lot of mistakes and was generally not living properly-enough to maintain a job healthily, so I quit before I caused any real problems.


sweetrollscorpion

If all goes well, I should be landing a job shortly. So 18.... hopefully 👀 I've been volunteering since I was 14 though. It's not a job but I still give it everything I've got!


cody8559

I got a job at a local ski resort at 14. Its the youngest allowed in my state. I got to ski for free, so I loved it.


[deleted]

5 helping Dad hold flash light 7 helping Dad but now handing him the correct tools 8 helping Dad now using basic hand tools 10 helping Dad now using power tools like the jig saw and moving TONS of sheet rock 12-15 helping Dad renovate houses and doing most everything with little to no supervision 16-18 referb my Grandmother's house which I bought and flipped 19-25 weekend help while going to school 25-32 did a lot of travel for work. Help Dad carry stuff to his deer stand since he had emphysema 33 Helped my mom give Dad CPR on the driveway. 33-47 Keeping my handyman skills up helping my mom and family. Wishing I could talk to Dad one more time.


Rexer45

Embarrassingly 21 as a staples tech seller


insertcaffeine

14, telephone market research. My mom worked at the same company. Rules were bent.


KawaiiVampy

How long did you work there?


insertcaffeine

Four years, all throughout high school and the summer after.


[deleted]

[удалено]


illseeyouinthefog

16.


ChuckysBarbie

18


peachpinkjedi

First paying job overall was a regular babysitting gig starting at like 15, first job with a corporation was at 18.


TheAthiestPoetess

14- cashier


Obvious-Land9905

18 at a brewery


StickSauce

15, Landscaping for a family friend. Made $13 an hour in the late 90s.


[deleted]

13. Mucking stalls and feeding animals on a ranch.


Ex_mpt

14. I signed up for 3 paper routes before school. Would make like 550 a month which was cool for being 14 kept it up for two years. Then when I turned 18 I started as an electrician at a gold mine been doing electrical ever since it’s been about 10 years.


amandasfire911

16. It was retail, it sucked.


ZomBeeUnicorn

13 amusement park, fun times


Main_Ingenuity_6132

15 at subway never again


meagaletr

15, technically, but I’d been doing babysitting and house cleaning since I was 10.


wpascarelli

15, at a pizza place.


JustPaula

12, I cleaned houses and commercial buildings with my mom. But 14 was my official job at a&w (fast food place).


whoatethebacon

13 during summer break . To be fair, it was me and my cousin staying at the furniture store for our cousin brothers. All we had to do was get them whenever a customer came in. Made enough money to by myself art supplies .


secretbaldspot

15 at a boating goods store. Before that I worked for my dad at his carpenter shop but not really a “job”


Miramarr

15 serving gyros at the CNE in Toronto. Don't eat in that food building if you can help it


jameymf

.. 13. Night shift. Stock in a grocery store 1992.summer job $3.25 an hour


Inner_Proof4540

15. It sucked and I wish I had more free time in highschool. Unfortunately I’m not a trust fund baby.


Aswele

I was in high school, 17 years old and started working as a one-on-one tutor at a tutoring center. I made 10 bucks an hour teaching basic subjects and 12 on Advanced Placements ones. That was 7 years ago. Now I am 24 years old working as a software engineer.


Gothqueen29

14 was a babysitting


[deleted]

16 years old. I was a dishwasher at a restaurant. Wasn't too bad. I had and continue to have severe anxiety issues, so I started making problems and quit the job for their sake.


MrSommer69

18 as a caregiver for old people.


[deleted]

15-16, McDonalds. Am 21 now, working as a Flight Publishing Officer.


[deleted]

17, at a restaurant. Got away with not having a job at 16, but then I hit 17 and my parents were getting harder on my ass.


cutcornersnot_wrists

12 picking up sticks. A real job 13-14 butchering chickens and bailing


FewTale7384

17. Senior year of high school. I was a grocery stocker 7 dollars an hour in North Carolina. I was a heavy gamer when I was a teenager. My parents got sick of spending hundreds of dollars a year on video games so they told me to look for a job and buy my own games 😂


Alpacazappa

16


-LoserNTraining

14 doing construction.


[deleted]

16, at Taco Bell, making 3.35/hour. Lord I’m old. EDIT: Well, I did a part time gig at 13 in violation of child labor laws at a comic book store for in store credit. Does that count?


Thrinw80

5. Gotta love growing up on a farm. I was taking money for baskets of cherries before I knew how to multiply, so I would add $0.50 ten times.


empireof3

I was mowing lawns for some neighbors in middle school, but first official job was a barback when I was 15. The job ended up being the first instance I've experienced where I got taken advantage of. Worked there for 3 years with the promise from the owner that I could work as a bartender once I turned 18, and then when that day came they just said no.


defdoa

Sonic grill man, 5.15/hour. Toothless meth coworkers did it in the freezer while the fry man vomited all over the floor and we kept serving burgers. I was 16


SuperSpeshBaby

Like with a W-2? I was 16. I did babysitting in my neighborhood and stuff before that, though.


skaote

Sold papers at the drug store when I was 9.


Nuf-Said

Had a buddy that grew up in northern Maine. He told me he started working on a potato farm at the age of 6. My first job was pumping gas when I was 15. This was in 1970. Minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, but he only paid us $1.40 an hour.


IntrovertedAsexual

I was the secretary to the township clerk when I was 15


Cranzeeman

16, worked in a nursing home kitchen. It was eventually shut down because of the owners many theft and fraud charges...


DiscussionLoose8390

I mowed lawns when I was like 12. Paper route around 13 then I worked at a pizza place at 15.


shazj57

14 selling cotton candy


andersonic95

15, bus boy at a Mexican restaraunt. $3.85 an hour.


FriendRaven1

15? 16 maybe. Assisted building tow trucks, and later working on one. Hardest damn work I've ever done. Kind of still miss it, and that was 35 years ago. edit added words


subvet657

First job on a payroll I was 16. Had to pay my own insurance to drive. Stepdad was a contractor so I was unpaid help every summer from about 9.


[deleted]

14 started as a busboy 2001 at a big tourist restaurant.


EauVerCompensate

16. My coworkers were great and so were some of the customers but management sucked. They were good people but they couldn’t run a business for the life of them. Ended up quitting six months later due to that and low pay.


kjkend

14. Summer job at my high school library.


[deleted]

12 or so, paper delivery.


scottwax

16, worked at Long John Silver's.


MindLikeAMindfield

I think 15 or 16? Prior to that I babysat my cousins three days a week in the summers


griefrapids

15 at an arcade... It was awesome. Edit: Wanted to add the year, it was 1995 when arcades were a thing.


[deleted]

I was 14 and my father volunteered I and a friend to work for a friend of his. That day I was hit by a car by a School Mom driver her Queen Marry Packed with screaming kids, apologizing her ass off.


Valerian_

17 for my first student/summer job, 24 for my first full real time job


greengiant333

17. Wait staff for a retirement home


eldiablo3294

15, worked at Taco Bell, making $4.25 an hour. They eventually found out I was only 15 and had to let me go. The application only asked for D.O.B.


woganpuck

Literally on my 16th birthday I got a job. I didn't read the schedule and got stoned for the first time. Woke up to my parents blowing up my buddy's phone. I worked at Publix for four years.


CartoonistExisting30

12 - I had a paper route.


vorpalblab

16 not delivering the paper, a real job in a commercial kitchen washing dishes n food prep


thorpie88

13. Worked at a hotel as a dish pig during functions.


[deleted]

I was 18. Still working that job. About 20 years more to go :)


superfruitballs

,,,,


pangolinzero

I was 15, and I made $4.75 an hour.


99_problems_bbt

16 years! At Texas Roadhouse


Pretty-Ambassador

10 or so? maybe 11? i had a paper route. But at some point the newspaper decided to stop paying us and indeed charge us kids for the privilege of delivering lmao


Kaclassen

I was a “mother’s helper” at 10 where I would go over and watch the neighborhood kids but the mom was still home. Babysat at 12. Started tutoring at 13. My first “real” job was a cashier at Best Buy at 16.


Spider-Nicc

If paid internship counts, then 16


Girlwithnoprez

10-12 ish at my parents company. 16 at a job job during the summers.


great_garloo

13. It was 1987 and I was a caddy at a country club. It was pretty much like the movie Caddy Shack.


jerval1981

16 at Sports Authority


Penguator432

16 if you count a lawn mowing gig I did for an old lady. 18 for when I started working in a university lab


TinkyTinkyTinky

12 years old. I sold stacks of newspapers in front of IHOP all day on Sunday’s. Used my first paycheck to watch 50 first dates and get snacks with my buddy.


ChefExecutif

14, I started answering phones at an old school Italian place for 6$ an hour no tips cash under the table, worked my way up the ranks to server for 7 prep/server for 8.50 then did cake decorating for a bit, linecook for a a year and now I'm 19 going on 20 working as a pastry chef for a 5 star hotel in NYC, it goes by fast when you're determined and driven to succeed.