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.

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

 

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.

 

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 ), 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.

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.