1st job employment experiences,, oh those wonderful first jobs..

[Chaplain Dusty]

I was a freelance manual lawn mower (a push mower) in the trailer park I lived in and collected pop bottles for extra cash. But, the first paying job was when I was picking onions, picking cotton, picking green chile's and working in a feed yard. With the feed yard job I worked all one summer and saved every dime to buy my first car (a 1964 Dodge Dart with a slant six engine). Mopped floors in a laundromat and became a lifeguard at the White Sands Missile Range Base. I started college to become a sociologist in order to go into criminology, but decided to get a trade behind me. So, I joined the laborer's union at $4.26 per hour, but later was able to get into the sheet metal workers apprenticeship at $3.56 per hour. With my first raise after 6 months, I was making more than I had in the laborer's union. I spent four years in school while working the trade and ended up after 37 years retiring from the trade. And now, busier than ever. My retirement job is working as a lifeguard, aquatics instructor and CPR instructor at the local Community College. I volunteer as a chaplain in the state prison and give Bible studies in a nursing retirement home, a home study group along with working as a youth minister at my church. What an adventure.

 

 

 

Chaplain Dusty

[bj66]

When I was 16 I went to work on my uncles farm. I got to run a IHC Tractor and disc. Loved it because it had air conditioning and AM-FM plus a cassette player in it. Then when it got really hot I got to empty 6 or 7 grain bins. Let's just say I got to learn the business of a scoop shovel. When I turned 18 I could legally buy beer in SD. When it came time to scoop out the bins, I would wait until the neighbor kid was done milking and he would come over and help. He was 16 at the time and would love to have a few beers and would scoop like a madman. We still get together almost every day. Anyway I figured a few beers was worth the sacrifice.

I just talked to my aunt last week, and it looks like I will get to farm some of that ground next year. Last time I was on that ground was 1986. Guess things are coming full circle. Lots of memories from my uncle. Although I grew up on a farm, by the time I was old enough to work our farm, my dad had rented it out because auctioneering took too much of his time. My uncle taught me everything about farming and I guess it's fitting that I get to carry on the family tradition.

[Venture n Dixie]

14 years old. Paper route in 1969 paid for my Honda CL 175. That got me on the road. Upgraded to Honda CB 450 a year later then a 63 MGB before I turned 16. Then Dad gave me the "Son, you've got to decide what you want to do with your life." speach. As a 16 year old idiot, I thought I was gifted with intelligence only reserved for folks like Jesus, Dylan and the Smothers Bros. So while living amidst the children of German rocket scientists and IBM developers and programmers in The Rocket City I proclaimed, "I think I want to be a farmer!" Dad had a lot of connections (and he grew up on a north Georgia farm during the depression) so the county extension agent set me up with Monty Davis, a cotton farmer that leased northeast Alabama (literally). After 2 months of getting up at 4am, driving my MGB 30 miies listening to the Eagles on 8 track wide open to stay awake, riding the front of a highboy tractor with 3 other field hands in 100degree heat, spraying Johnsongrass and cuccleburrs with something I'm sure has been banned now, and spraying each other when it got too hot, we came to a time called "laying off" which means you stay out of the fields and let the cotton do it's thing. Well from day 1 I had decided this was as close to hell as I ever wanted to get. Even worse than the hated paperroute. All summer I had been devising ways to break my arm so I could legitimately quit this "gift of a career". Our first assignment was to paint a 5 mile long white fence at the main farmhouse. When we finished there were 3 barns/buildings to paint white. Suddenly the answer to my prayers was mathematical! The widow next door needed her house painted and I knew I could get $250 and do it in a week. At $40 a week on the farm I wouldn't make that the rest of the summer! It was a raise, a few weeks vacation and escape from the career from hell all in one! By the end of the week I swore I'd never paint another house. Another broken promise. At least I did get a couple of weeks off before school started back. Don't remember what I did though. Funny thing is I still waste my time and money every spring to try and grow a few tomatoes and such. Something about watching a seed come out of the ground and producing something edible just fulfills a basic instinct. Kind of like going to that "special" narrow country road, taking the helmet off and cruising 45mph. Not a lot of noise, the wind blows the hair and the nasties from my mind and you can't beat the smell of the country.

 

That what you were looking for Puc?

[Chaplain Dusty]

Yes Puc, I remember the sky hooks! As a sheet metal worker the metal stretcher was a good one. When I was a third year apprentice I saw the men from a square pipe shop send a newbie across the street to the round pipe shop for the metal stretchers. They sent him back lugging an anvil, but the men told him to go back and get the larger one. On his return trip he got caught by the boss and when he told the boss what he was doing everybody got chewed out big time! Sending them after the round square was also a good one. The most dangerous I saw was on the Flint Creek Power plant in NW Arkansas. They would con a new person into the three man lift. I was working on a composite crew with the boilermakers, but we watched the iron workers on this one. They had two big guys lay on the ground on each side of the person they told that one of the other guys could lift all three guys. In actuality the outer two guys were just there to intertwine their arms and legs with the middle guy to hold him down, while the guy who was to do the lifting greased him up good. It was dangerous because when they let the guy up and took out running, he almost hit one of them in the head with his connector spud wrench. Enough said!

 

 

 

Chaplain Dusty Just saying!

[Great White]

Let's see, broad strokes:

 

Paper route, fast food, fast food, jobber parts counter, chysler dealership parts, auto mechanic, then airframe tech RCAF, AVN tec RCAF, Flight Engineer RCAF and soon to be retired (or medical release, not sure how its going to go).

 

All this was concurrent with: high school, university, trades training and continuing education post university.

 

Picked up my auto mechanic license, AME cert, a couple Degrees and a few medals along the way. A few of those medals I could do without.....

 

Now, looking at maybe a welding course post military and go for my red seal. Maybe start my own small shop to keep a little busy during retirement doing small jobs and make a few extra bucks to supplement the pension, mostly to support my automotive hobby stuff. Probably just work summers and head south for the winter.

 

I've already had job offers once it got out that retirement is in front of me, but its more SAR flying. Not sure I can do that anymore.....hard to just get in an airplane now.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Great White

[SapperMedic]

My first real job was working at Smartline Dairy after school at age 14, I made $1/hr feeding calves, hauling hay bales, mucking out stalls and spraying out the milking room after the 2 pm milking. I honestly don't think I earned my pay though. We messed around too much and got in corn cob fights all the time. Mr Smart (his real name) would good naturedly get after us, but I still remember get hit in the head with a piece of sileage (corn cob) from about 60 yards that he threw. I found out later he was a fast pitch softball player and had learned to pitch throwing corn cobs

[Venturous Randy]

Got a 125 Ducati Bronco in June 64 before I turned 14 in late Sept. This gave me the mobility to go places and mostly worked in tobacco and hay. Right before I turned 16, I got a job in a drug store from 4 to 8 during the week and from noon to 8 on Sat. That was stocking and cleaning. I worked there until I joined the Air Force when I turned 18. I also met the girl that became my wife for 41 years and we divorced 5 years ago.

After 4 years in the AF, I worked for American Air Filter, which made large air filtration systems for large buildings. After two years and a deep recession, I was laid off and with the GI bill and unemployment, I was able to go back to college. After graduating, I got a job as Quality Coordinator for a company that made electric motors for the appliance industry and worked my way up to Corporate Quality Manager over four plants in three states. They made condensing fan motors and I suspect many of you have these motors in the refrigerators in your home. We were making about 65,000 motors a week when I left in 95. I then went to work for a company that made aluminum wheels for the auto industry, mostly GM products. I did get the opportunity to spend the day in the plant in Montreal that made the Camaros and Firebirds and that was neat. Worked for a couple other companies over the years in the Quality profession and retired right before 60.

Randy

[ChiefCass]

. Various kid jobs. Baled hay, humped shingles onto roofs, cleaned boats. First hourly job was 2 weeks after 16th birthday and driver's license at restaurant 5 miles down the road from my house. Rode 1972 Bridgestone 175 Scrambler I got from my dad in exchange for tearing down a barn. I was the afternoon dishwasher and janitor after closing. Cannot remember rate of pay. Do vividly remember foggy night on the way home running my bike through a herd of deer crossing the road at nearly 60mph and then laughing about it. God, was I ever lucky. Joined USN before my 18th birthday and did 20 years.

 

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[cowpuc]

. Various kid jobs. Baled hay, humped shingles onto roofs, cleaned boats. First hourly job was 2 weeks after 16th birthday and driver's license at restaurant 5 miles down the road from my house. Rode 1972 Bridgestone 175 Scrambler I got from my dad in exchange for tearing down a barn. I was the afternoon dishwasher and janitor after closing. Cannot remember rate of pay. Do vividly remember foggy night on the way home running my bike through a herd of deer crossing the road at nearly 60mph and then laughing about it. God, was I ever lucky. Joined USN before my 18th birthday and did 20 years.

 

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Heyyyy, Gladwin Michigan,, how cool is that @ChiefCass!! I did a LOT of dirtbike stuff over there back in the day.. Also did a fair amount of deer hunting in the Glenny area. Always a pleasure seeing another Michigander varmint at the water hole!!

Pleasure hearing from you and, oh, by the way, THANK YOU for your service in the battle for freedom Chief!!!

Puc