[James Matthew Najera]

General Discussion Thread 03.15.2025​

Hey GrayViners!

Let’s take a little stroll down memory lane by answering this question: What was your first-ever job, and do you still remember your first paycheck?

Were you slinging burgers, delivering newspapers, or maybe running the register at the local five-and-dime? Was your first paycheck a fortune in your eyes, or did taxes take a bigger bite than expected?

Share your stories in the below!

Whether it was a dream job or just a stepping stone, we’d love to hear about your first taste of the working world!

Cheers!
Blue

 

[Kit]

My first job, other than babysitting, was working in the change of address department of a magazine. This was before computers, so it was a bit more complicated than it would be today. I think I made $1.20 per hour, which was good pay for a teen in those days. Thanks for inviting me to remember!

 

[kyahrose]

My first "real" job was sales in Alexanders Department store in NYC. It was part time after school. I do not remember my pay total, but, I did make $1.85 an hour. Thought I was rich!!!

 

[Donna54]

My first job was at a penny candy/ coin shop .. I think I made $1.25 hour...saved my pay to buy coins lol better than candy I guess

 

[PhilBurns]

I delivered a neighborhood newspaper for a percentage of the paper's cost.

 

[jerlynns]

I had a lady accountant teach me the absolute basics of accounting. In 1960, I made a whopping $1, which I used to buy all my own clothes.

 

[Old]

My very first real job was a Car Hop at the age of 13, at the "Dog & Suds", loved it!!

 

[grayhair76]

My first job was the summer I graduated from high school. I was earning money towards my college expenses. I worked in a Styrofoam factory. There were four of us girls working there during the day shift. We would collect various size cups on our fingers as they came down the conveyor belt. The young man running the machine was a year older than me and had graduated from the same high school. Sometimes, just to be funny, he would speed up the machine so that the cups would come flying down the belt (brings to mind the scene from the Lucy show where Lucy and Ethel were trying to eat the candy as it came flying down the belt - lol). There was a large box at the end of the conveyor belt that would collect all the cups that we did not put on our fingers and package. The nightshift crew would have to go through that box and place them in plastic bags. Needless to say, after that summer I swore I would wash floors before I did that type of job ever again. Today, whenever I pick up a Styrofoam cup, I always look at the bottom to make sure there are no holes as I know there were in some of the cups we packaged!

 

[sudy]

My first job was stuffing envelopes for a neighbor. So boring. Got paid in cash of course

 

[jerry]

Although I began working in my dad's dry cleaners at age 5, my first "real" job was in the USAF, as a secretary and a member of the Battle Staff during Vietnam.

 

[jacnat]

I worked as a swim teacher. My 1st check was for 1 hour of work. Check was for $.72 with .03 taken out for as it stated for old age.

 

[Dhutch7391862]

My first job was girl Friday for JTPA. When I received my first check. I went to the bank and opened up my checking account. I took out $20. And kept the rest in my account. I was so excited to write my first check to the donate to my Church on Sunday.

 

[Ned K]

My first job was with my parents who ran a meat market during rationing our job was to seperate the coupons and then count the tokens ten to a stack

 

[GaryBlake]

I had a paper route when I was 11 years old. Delivered rain, snow, heat...on my gold metal flake Huffy Stingray bike. The route was miles long around my neighborhood and around Winona Lake, and took me almost 4 hours. The papers were dropped off in bundles in my driveway and had to each be taken down and tri-folded for delivery. Most had to be delivered to the door which meant I had to park my bike and go up to the house. Had to "collect" once a week. A dime from every customer. After I paid for the papers, there wasn't a whole lot left....sigh.

 

[Florence]

My first job was at Sonic Drive-in, I was the evening car hop. First check was 11.00

 

[bsa1944]

My first job was at WT Grant. I remember having to clean the bulk candy/nut containers and little worms in the nuts. Made .75 an hour

 

[CejaeRee]

My first job was a file clerk at Sears Saving Bank. I started two months after my graduated from High School. My Pop’s was a Korean War Vet so there was no lying around the house till I figured out what I wanted to do. No clue how much my first check was though.

 

[Michael J Contos]

I was 15 years old when I was hired as a messenger boy for a type-setting firm and I delivered negatives and printer proofs to the entire Philadelphia region including where the old TV Guide building once stood near Radnor, PA.
My salary was a whopping $617 for the year in 1964 and I did it all after getting the so-called "working papers." For more details, see my Blog post here: https://contoveros.com/2024/02/03/my-social-security-all-of-your-earnings/#more-22444

 

[Steve Krafcky]

My first job was detassing corn. We "raked in" a whole 40 cents an hour or $16 For the week in 1959.

 

[dbowman59]

My first legal job was as a bus boy at the Cafe Picardy, located inside the Muehlbach Hotel in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. My salary was $1.47 an hour. Fifty years have passed and I still have fond memories of the hotel and restaurant.