Your high school jobs
 

Aidie and I went to 31 flavors tonight. Was pretty crowded with teens and young kids, but the doors were open and plenty of seating outside to watch the sunset. We got our cones ($7.38 is a far cry from that Thrifty cone I used ta get in the 70s). I overheard teens talking about what colleges they were going to attend (31 is the hangout for the college preps?) and got to thinking about my summers in that So Cal Oven where i grew up. In '79 I decided I needed some spending cash so I walked across town, marched into F.W. Woolworth's and applied for a summer job. To my amazement, the manager, Mr. Jaramillo, hired me on the spot and I started the next day. Worked from 4 - 8pm or whenever closing was that summer; mostly swabbing floors. I truly learned how to use a wet mop and dust mop. I was amazed at how dirty a floor got in the desert sands. I grew to despise ICEE drinks that inevitably ended up on the floor, bright red initially, but black and sticky sand by the end of the day. I can still remember the smell of the place - fresh popcorn, lucheonette foods, Taiwanese merchandise, aquarium fish and gerbils against the back wall. Eventually I worked up to stockman and from time to time, when Mr Jaramillo was desperate, the old-time cash register (where you had to make change in your head - especially for the old timers that gave ya $11.14 for a 10.89 purchase...with an half grin). I worked there on and off through high school and Jr college - when they needed a hand at Christmas time or during a summer break. Eventually Mr Jaramillo got a Mgr job at a larger store in San Diego Co (always a step up). I went back in the late 80's to see who was still working there. The old gals were still there - Socorro, Gloria, Chacon (only used her last name, from 'Chicali), and a few others hanging in there until they finally closed it down. I still have my name tag and some great mopping memories. :-X22

So the point of all this ramble, what was your teen summer job? What did you learn that stayed with you all these years later?

Farm and gas station.

Never had a job during high school. My first job was the US Air force, and it came after I had graduated (and still had no clue what I wanted to do with my life).

Jim

Lol, that's the shortened version. I liked the first one better. Sorry if that was a painful memory!:(

Yeah Ed, what's up with that? The first issue was entertaining :)

I played in a couple of different bands through high school, and managed to stay busy most weekends with them. Weddings, dances, shootings, gangfights...those types of events. In my senior year the band I was with had a standing Sunday night gig at a nightclub called The Ivanhoe up on Las Tunas in Temple City...that made Mondays kinda rough. In addition to that I did concrete/brick work with my dad during the time school was out.

Hmm... that reminds me Steve - we need a jam session G2G. If nothin' else, it'll be loud.

Loud is good!

That settles it...Geezers Of Rock 2012 Vegas Tour @ Will's place :-jammin

First of all, I forgot the band we had also. Most fun I ever had, making less than $2 per hour....but fun.

RE: Shortened version. I went back and read the OP, then read mine again....I decided too much pity party going on there. I'm glad I had that experience growing up, but the way things ended up, and the realization that so much of the effort there was needless (think work smarter, not harder) that I think.... DAMN, there I go again.

Anyway, back to the OP: I went to work for Kmart after college (manager trainee, code for paying you for 8 hours, working you 12...) and I came to hate the icee etc drinks that the slobs that shopped there would spill or pour into the mailbox out front or clothing inside. 22 months there learned me I ain't the retail type.

Cool thread!

I really cannot remember ever NOT working during summers, and many evenings during the school year. Beginning in about 3rd grade when my dad owned an auto shop in Grover City, then all through middle school when he was a HVAC and steam fitting contractor. Mostly installing and repairing dry cleaning equipment.

My first job where I actually got a pay check from a non-family member, began in 1971 as a high school senior. It was at Jack in the Box on Washington Blvd. The store is still there. But unlike most patty flippers, I worked an 8hr graveyard shift. Started at midnight and worked until 8AM. As a senior I had all the credits I needed so I had a minimum day at school, so didn't have to be there until 2nd period, and IIRC left after 5th period. Missing 1st period was very popular with the seniors. But most slept in. Me, I rushed from work to school. It wasn't every day, and not a full time job. I guess I've forgotten exactly what the schedule was. That job was mostly cleaning and stocking, and flipping a Breakfast Jack now and then. IIRC, my wage was $1.65hr.

As soon as I graduated, and could work days, I got a construction job through some friends. Joined the carpenters union, and even took a couple of classes up at the union school near Rio Hondo. Overall I guess less than a year swinging a hammer. Shoot, swinging a hammer was a rare thing. Mostly I hauled plywood and cut fire blocks. Learned to drive a Pettibone.

http://troutmachinery.webkit.com/fil...2f7e037dd4.jpg

cKNo problem. I'll need bathroom breaks every couple of songs during practice. Don't worry though, once its showtime, the diaper goes on and I'm ready to ROCK!(until I get tired and need a nap)

Had been handy at twisting wrenches since about the age of thirteen, so naturally I wanted to do something like that when I finally could get a job.

A friend of my father's owned an auto repair shop in Granada Hills, and I applied as "a mechanic". He immediately realized that a sixteen-year-old had very-limited experience, and replied, "What I NEED is an Indian".

So, what do I remember most?

I spent my days picking up and delivering customer's cars, or running for "dealer-only" parts. When I wasn't doing that I was the one at the solvent tank washing transmission cases, degreasing heads (remember, this was the era of "sludge"), or pulling wheels, cleaning bearings, and stripping shoes off of backing plates.

I learned just how hard "Indians" work.

It was good for me!

Pop

Costa Mesa golf course at 15 years old in 1976. I was a sophomore at Edison High, rode a Honda MT125 motorcycle to school and work. On weekends I would get the carts ready for golfers, drag the driving range (yes, I was the guy you were aiming at in the cage :-X04), and shagged dead carts at the end of the day.

The highlight of the job was looking for dead carts on the course at the end of the day. I usually did that in the carts, but on the slow days they would let me take the motorcycle out because I told them I could cover more ground quicker. They said stay off the greens and the tees and out of the sand traps and it's all good. We also used to fish in the lakes and had some pretty good luck.

In-N-Out Burger baby! And am i glad i did i meet my wife working there...... trapped her in the walk in refrigerator and kissed her, the rest is history! oh and i learned that i like a double double with onions and lettuce only well done and on a none toasted bun, when to go get a box with a lid not a bag. I also learned that the old guy wants a quarter back, not a dime and a penny, and now i do the same thing and people get really confused most of the time.

I also worked at a summer camp 3 summers, doing catering for the meals that were not in the dinner room, BBQ, pancake breakfast, carnival, sack lunch for train day.

After graduating from mowing lawns at 14 (I was a child laborer. My mother insisted on the lawn being mowed every Friday whether it needed it or not) I decided on a career change.

When I was 14, a family friend was the Service Manager at a local Caterpillar Dealership and got me a summer job as a shop monkey. I became an expert at pushing a broom & cleaning up oil spills around the shop. I hated it. But, it wasn't long before I was working the parts counter and mowing the lawn out front, (previous experience, see above) on a 10hp Toro riding mower. Now we're talking.:-X22

Fast forward a couple years, I'm 16, know my way around the shop now, and getting to go pick up "parts." Life is good. Making about $4.50hr. I can do this.
Then the ultimate, delivering parts to our mechanics out in the field. Sometimes the 'field' was a road trip 200 miles to BFE, 10 miles off blacktop, to find a mechanic working on a skidder or loader, up to his elbows in gear oil.

By the time I graduated HS & left the Company, I learned to drive, not operate, but drive pretty much anything made by CAT, at least around the yard. Turned out to be a pretty good gig. There was nothing like lunch time around the shop. For a 14yo kid, I learned some pretty salty language from a bunch of dirty old men, for sure.

Great thread... I'm not sure if I'll remember every job, but here goes:

Paperboy - This may also be pre high school, but 2 of my brothers and I delivered the morning newspaper on our bicycles for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune until they converted all the routes to one's done by car driving adults. We always watched the early rerun of SportsCenter from the night before while folding and rubber banding the newspapers. I remember the mornings where I'd see deer grazing in the yard at one particular house at the top of one street. Mornings when people would be getting dressed with their curtains or blinds wide open. I suppose they thought no one would be around to see them dressing before 6am. Collecting $7 a month from some houses, of which I got to keep all $7. :) Finally there was the Sunday morning when my dad drove my oldest brother and I around in the family station wagon and we covered all three routes. We started to back into the long driveway of one of the last houses on my route and my feet caught the ground and I fell out the back of the car. My brother yelled for my dad to stop and he did just in time before the bumper hit my head. My knees hit the ground so hard that I was unable to stand and had to drag myself to the front of the car to sit in the front seat for the last few minutes until we got home. My knees have never been the same since that incident.

Mowing lawns - Didn't do this too much, but I do recall regularly mowing the lawn for a lady my mom knew through the SCMOTC Southern California Mothers of Twins Club. The lady stiffed me more than once and my mom encouraged me to continue to mow her lawn for free. Sorry, but I had money to earn and my time was not going to get donated to a cause that did not earn me money.

Hardware store gopher - Small hardware store in town was going out of business. I was hired on the keep the place clean and tidy and do any and everything the owner asked of me, including the time when he told me to "go take a piss for me." Made $20/hour for one full day while moving a wall full of fasteners to a shop in Chino. That was absolutely thrilling because my usual wage was about $4.25/hr.

Lifeguard - At Raging Waters. Pretty much every person you rescue is ungrateful and rude to you. Got kicked in the nuggets really bad one time trying to rescue an older Oriental gentlemen. Had to shut down the ride for a few minutes while I recovered from that one. Overall the job is not as fun and rewarding as they lead you to think it will be. Got a great tan though!

Sunday newspaper assembler - For Los Angeles Times. I did this job almost every Sunday morning from 9th grade until I was 19. Sometimes I'd go to bed and wake up to head to work at about 1:50am. Other times I'd go straight to work from being out for the night. It was only about 2 hours of work every Sunday but the steady ~$20 every week paid for gas every week when I had my own car.

Best job I had was maintaining the yard etc at a friends house. I could work as much as I wanted and got paid $10/hr. There was always something to do: mow the grass, trim trees, build a wall, annual garden planting in soil that was clay and not the best for a garden. Built a cabana, a vineyard, a second tool shed, re-landscaped a lot, ran things to the dump.

Had a few other jobs after high school before starting into a career:

Mechanic - at two small shops

Car Prep - Enterprise Rent a car, washing cars.

Electric company whipping boy - Pulled parts from inventory for orders, picked up supplies for and delivered them to job sites all over So. Cal. I remember seeing rats as big as your average house cat at a store in Hawthorne while re-lamping it one night. Big, ugly, scary looking buggers. Most fun was heading into the shop at 12am one Monday morning with my brother to get a load to drive up to Campbell for a school under construction. We made it to the job site by 6am. He stayed there and I loaded up a scissor lift to drive back to the shop. Made it back to the shop by 1pm. Slept a few hours then caught an evening flight from Burbank to San Jose. Waited for the boss to arrive on the next flight up and then went to the job site with him until about 1:30am while he and other big wigs worked on who knows what. Checked into the hotel at about 2am and got up at 5am for another full day of work on the job site. Good times!

First job was working as a shipping clerk in Simi Valley. I quit after I suspected the merchandise was stolen.

Then I started my business. I was 16.

First real job was working for the local KMart up here in Goleta. In the six weeks I was one of the staff members that had been there the longest besides the managers. And by then end of that 6 weeks they had me closing 3 out of 7 departments at the same time.

After 6 weeks I had to leave town for the summer because I didn't have a place after school got out. Manager and HR said they would hold my job for when I came back, called to tell them when I was available again and found out I had been fired with no explanation. O well I didn't really wanna go back anyway!

First 'on the books' job was at Carl's Jr. The funny story to that one? I had applied to lots of places prior with little to no success. Most places, they looked at me like I had a second head. Finally, my mom asked why I was having such a hard time getting a job since I was such a bright lad. I showed her the last application I had turned in to Vons and shrugged. She looked for a couple minutes, then laughed. So, you know the section where you put your availability? Well, I knew that teenagers can only work so many hours a week, so I parsed out the hours into a hypothetical schedule, not my overall availability. Somehow in my head that made sense. She immediately took back the 'bright lad' remark. The next application I filled out was for Carl's Jr, and having learned my lesson, I filled it out correctly this time. I was hired on the spot. Worked there for 18 months. I liked it well enough, mainly because the manager was willing to work around my hectic schedule.

Prior to that, I worked the concession stand at my local little league fields for a couple extra bucks and all the free snacks I wanted while on the job.

Mike

What a great thread !

In reading about all of your guys roads traveled. I was kinda overwhelmed with emotions that I have not felt in a long time, from reminiscing about my first job and being 15 at the time. I was thinking about my family members who were not here any more.
Anyway.
My father was a CFO at a company that made high tech medical equipment for hospitals.
It was located in Chatsworth, Ca. It was called I.R.I.S. (International Remote Imaging Systems). I got a job there after school working in the shipping and receiving dept and doubled as a stock cleck for the parts that they had coming in. By the time I was 16 they moved my boss up in the company as a project manager. So I became incharge of the shipping and receiving dept. I remember rushing to work after school and having to pack and ship these machines and support products. These machines were big at the time. 5' tall, 4' deep, 8' wide. Anywho, I worked there until I graduated from Van Nuys High School. Did two months at Valley College, Quit and joined the USAF.
Its good to reminisce, remember and be thankful.

Mowed some yards when I was 11-14. Mother landed me a job at a boys clothing store in the local strip mall when I was 14- or so. Hated it. Found myself a job at the local grocery store (within walking distance of my house in suburbs) at 15. Investigated work at a local dairy farm (unusual line of work considering how built up the area was) when I was in 9th grade, but although they said they wanted me, I couldn't work there until I hit high school at 10th grade because of school hours/milking hours conflict. As soon as summer started between 9th and 10th grade, I started at the dairy and loved it. it was a unique job for where I lived and I loved working with the animals. Worked there all through high school, milking mornings before school and then again after school through my junior and senior years at high school.
Learned more about hard work and the work ethic at that job than any other. Went to college to become an Ag teacher since the dairy I worked at closed down due to retirement of the owner (missed the opportunity to be a potential buyer by 4-5 years). Still correspond with my old boss these 30+ years later. Will be seeing him ( he is 80+ yr old) in a couple of weeks when I visit my hometown.
The man and his family left such an indelible impression on me; it has served me well all these years as a public school vocational agriculture teacher.

First job in the autobiz, started working when I was 7: Washing/detailing used cars: P. A. Eckles Oldsmobile, 43rd & Vermont, LA

Pumping gas, general auto repair: Curtis & Ross Texaco, Cashmere & Sepulveda, Westwood.

Parts driver/stockman: Simonson & Schactmeyer Studebaker/Packard/Mercedes-Benz (now W.I. Simonson Mercedes), 17th & Wilshire, Santa Monica.

First full time job: Partsman at Frank H. Afton Studebaker/Packard/Mercedes Benz, 240 N. Market St. Inglewood. Dealership folded, was hired as a parts driver at Leon Ames Ford in Encino.

Leon Ames Ford became Ralph Williams Ford (Ralph was married to Ames' daughter).

My first job was in a hippie leather shop in 1972. Made lots of belts, purses, wallets, etc, but not much money. The sign over the cash register read: CORRECT CHANGE ONLY, CASHIER IS STONED. The correct change part was only a joke.

Cool thread, When I was 11 I started cleaning windows at a small strip mall on Beach and Chapman, that let on to working at the bar called the "Country Inn" Cleaning the bar floors and bathrooms. I also tackled their horseshoe pits. These pits were so neglected it took awhile to get them in playing condition. Everyone loved it and started playing horeshoe's again. There was another bar around the corner called the "Paddle Wheel" I started working there as well. Learned how to play pool from some of the best pool players around. Did real good at shuffle board too.
A year later met a guy by the name of "Doyle" he owned a welding shop called "Doyle and Dans trailer and hitch shop" started cleaning his shop at the same time I was doing all the other jobs.
I was taught how to weld both with an arc welder than a mig. Buzz who was one of the welders there and only seventeen at the time, taught me to cut with a torch and he's the one who taught me to weld. I've always worked, can't remember never having a job.
Once in high school I started working at a place in El Monte called "Rainbow Plastics and moulding Inc." I worked the graveyard shift. I Lied about my age just to get a job. I did this so I could go to night school and accelerate through high school. All this so I could gaduate early, just to get into the Army.
Sorry long response but a cool thread like I said.

Found a pic of the old store in El Centro where it all started!

I liked this show as a kid, couldn’t watch it today. :o

Same. My brother and I would watch every episode. Today, I can't stand it.

Jim

I had to think a little,........

As a little kid I mowed lawns, sold seeds door to door, pulled weeds.
At 10 my mom took me to a bicycle shop and told the man, "My son works on bicycles every day, give him a job".
He did, it was fun. At 14 I started working with my dad at his second job. For a company "Crowd Management".
As door security, usher, and ticket taker, at the L.A. Sports Arena, The Coliseum across the street, The Long Beach Arena,The Long Beach Auditorium, The Olympic Auditorium, The Poly Pavilion, The Hollywood Palladium,.... like that.
I worked there on and off till 18 or so. At one point working three jobs.
Worked at Crowd Management, worked as a mechanic, and in a precision grinding shop.
I stayed in the machining and grinding trade and opened my own shop in 1984.
This September will be my 46th year in the trade.

Wow! Must like it to stay in that long. :-jammin

Jim

I had 6 years of experience "before" starting my 7 year apprenticeship.
Three years metal shop in Jr. High School, three years of metal shop in High School.

I "always" knew what I wanted to do,..... even as a kid.