What was the first adult job you had where taxes and SS were taken out? Mine was at my college cafeteria. And your

[debm55]

first adult job was_____?

[rampartd]

1. i was a 14 year old paper boy

and yes, paid taxes and social security.

i also repaired an old lawnmower and did neighbor's grass in the summer (maybe not so much on the with holdings there)

[debm55]

4. Thank you very much , rampartd, for sharing with us. I remember the days of the days of the paper boy. Didn't know you

had to pay taxes.

[Ritabert]

2. Switchboard operator for the phone company covering summer vacations for full timers.

[debm55]

5. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Ritabert. That seems like a great job.

[Ilsa]

3. Fast food joint with lots of ice cream served. I was 16. nt

[debm55]

6. Thank you very much for sharing with us, llsa, for sharing with us.

[TexasBushwhacker]

73. Dairy Queen - I was good at making the curl at the top of the cone

[debm55]

74. HAHAHHHAHAHAHHA. That is funny. Thank you TexasBushwhacker.

[LuckyCharms]

7. I shined shoes as soon as I got my working papers at age 14.

This was at a brick and mortar shoe shine parlor operated by a sole proprietor. He never was there, and he gave me a key to the place. It was a half block from my house, and I could open and close whenever I wanted to.

This was near a famous international business that had over 10,000 employees a few blocks away, so business was good. I always turned the proceeds over to the owner. He didn't pay me legally half of the time, but I didn't care, because I was walking home everyday with about $80 in tips per day! Big money for a kid.

Guy came in one day and I'm shining his shoes. He started asking me a bunch of questions. Turns out that the guy was from the labor board. He shut me down...he made me lock up and go home. The owner ended up having to pay me something like $800 in backpay for all the times he "forgot" to pay me.

Jesus, for a kid, I made a lot of money on that job!

After that, I worked construction under the table, with no deductions for taxes or social Security. If I remember correctly, that paid $1.85 an hour.

[debm55]

8. Thank you very much , LuckyCharms. What a great post. Working in the cafeteria paid me, 1.80 back in 1973.

[flor-de-jasmim]

30. Wow! I was highly paid at the univ canteen in 1971 - $1.85 per hour!!!

[debm55]

34. Thank you very much, flor-de-jasmim. I don't know know if it was because it was a work study job that I got from the

university.

[flor-de-jasmim]

83. Probably. Mine was.

[Sailingdiver]

9. Farm laborer.

14 at the time. Detassled corn, walked beans, weeded and harvested vegetables and fruits, and cleaned animal pens.

[debm55]

17. Thank you very much, Sailingdive for sharing. It sounds like very hard work.

[Midnight Writer]

20. Same here. I had paper routes from the time I was 8. Local DeKalb farms would not hire unless 14.

I worked for cash on a lot of farms, but the DeKalb job was the first with a paper check and deductions taken out.

[debm55]

35. Thank you very much, Midnight Writer for sharing that with us.

[CrispyQ]

10. I was a car hop at the local drive in burger joint.

No roller skates or I wouldn't have been hired! 🛼

I have to say, the locals were very generous tippers. I made more per hour doing that, than when I got a "better" job working for a high end retailer.

[debm55]

19. Thank you very much for sharing with us. CrispyQ, That's interesting about the tippers. Did you have to turn that in ?

[Cirsium]

11. 75 cents an hour

Seemed like great money at the time. Auto parts store, age 14. Paper route before that.

[debm55]

36. Thank you very much , Circium, for sharing with us. I always felt sorry the Sunday paper boys and their families. They

had to get up very early and put the inserts into the papers.

[Cirsium]

42. It was an evening paper

I remember those dark, cold, snowy January nights.

[debm55]

75. Thank you very much, Cirsium. That was hard work for a kid.

[perfessor]

12. Putting up stock at the local grocery store.

I spent the first week thinking about how I was going to spend all that money. When payday came around, there wasn’t nearly as much as I thought. There were union dues as well. This was circa 1968.

[debm55]

38. Thank you very much, perfessor. Yes, our early paychecks were not what we expected. But at that time we had a job.

[AllaN01Bear]

13. cleaning a church in glendora ca .

[debm55]

39. Thank you very much, Bear for sharing with us.

[unweird]

14. Gas Station Attendant

Pumping gas, checking oil, washing windshields while ogling the skirts at 15 years old for a buck sixty an hour. Prior untaxed pump jockey work for dad at his gas station paid a whopping twenty bucks for the summer of ‘71.

[debm55]

40. HAHAHAahhaHH. Thank you for sharing with us, unweird. Did you get tips?

[unweird]

54. Now that you mention it, nope.

But one Sunday night while I ran out for lunch we had a VIP stop in. But this was in Nashville and spotting country music celebrities wasn’t too rare. Porter Wagoner sans Dolly.

[debm55]

76. Thank you very much.unweird. I always tipped the attendent.

[CanonRay]

15. Selling bicycles at Toys R Us

Then it was Children's Bargain Town. $1.60 an hour.

[debm55]

47. Thank you very much for sharing, CanonRay. Did you also have to put them together. I liked Toys R US. Sad to see them go

[displacedvermoter]

16. Koala Muana

Polynesian restaurant, with flaming drinks with umbrellas. Dishwasher and kitchen worker.

Two weeks of getting screamed at in Chinese was all I could handle. Did develop a love of fried rice and Chinese chicken wings, still probably the best I ever had.

[debm55]

48. HAHAHAHHAHAHH. Thank you for sharing, displacedvermoter. I had a couple of jobs when I was way younger that I was glad

that I was fired. Working continues were bad.

[MIButterfly]

18. Woolco discount department store. I think I lasted about six weeks before I got fired.

I didn't care; I didn't like it anyway. I wanted to quit, but thought I'd get in trouble at home if I did, so they really did me a favor by firing me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it (because it's true!).

[debm55]

49. Thank you so much for your post. MIButterflly. I was glad that I was fired. I didn't have the nerve to quit. The jobs

were working the cash register. which made me nervous.

[CountAllVotes]

21. Reading to the blind

It was while a student at San Francisco State University many years ago.

It was a horrible job, it paid $1.25 an hour.

And some wonder why I receive so little on SS today. Its because I worked one too many jobs of this ilk; low low pay.

[debm55]

50. Thank you very much for sharing with us. CountAllVotes. It was an honorable job you did. You should have been paid more

[MolecularDust]

22. At 15 I worked at a Bonanza steakhouse

If you worked four or more hours, you got a free meal which was a hamburger. I started getting tired of hamburgers so I would have the cook just grill up the hamburger patty and then cover it with the mushroom sauce and a baked potato on the side - Salisbury steak without it really being Salisbury steak. That mushroom sauce was so good. I never got tired of that combination. I still make this for myself, although I have tried and failed to make a mushroom sauce as good as Bonanza’s was.

The assistant manager got one digit wrong in my Social Security number when I was hired and it took me a very long time to get that corrected.

[debm55]

51. Thank you very much for sharing with us, MolecularDust. PS. Welcome to DU.

[MolecularDust]

62. Thanks for the welcome!

Thank you for posting these types of questions every day. They are really fun to read! 😃

[Ferrets are Cool]

23. Local burger joint. After taxes, i made $1.00

An hour to flip burgers.🤪

[debm55]

78. Thank you very much, Ferrets are Cool. I did that once on summer break. I felt so greasy from standing over the grill.

[jgo]

24. Lifeguard, during summers, while I was in high school

[debm55]

80. Thank you very much, jgo. Sounds like an interesting job.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

25. I did janitorial and housekeeping work at a local company.

My uncle was my boss.
His most often remark to me:
"I'm taking a 10 minute break for the next 20 minutes, see you in a half hour."

[debm55]

81. HAHAHHAHah. Thank you very much, discntnt_irny_srcsm. You had an interesting uncle.

[FalloutShelter]

26. Checker at Pathmark

When I was 16.

[debm55]

82. Thank you very much, FallourShelter. I was a failure at our then local Foodland. I was fired as I was nervous and people

complained as the lines were long.

[LoisB]

27. Accounting Clerk; 1964; $1.65/hour; aerospace company.

[debm55]

84. Thank you very much for sharing with us, LoisB.

[MontanaMama]

28. I worked at the local trap and skeet club

as a puller and scorer for the trap shooters. This was in the late 70’s. I made $3.10 per hour plus tips. I wasn’t old enough to drive so my dad had to drop me off and pick me up. It was a good job for a youngster. I sat in a chair and got a great tan all summer long.

[debm55]

85. Wow. Thant was good money back then. MontanaMama. When I was younger, we used to go skeet shooting.

[PufPuf23]

29. On timber crew at US Forest Service.

Age 16 in 1969 under what was called Youth Opportunity Corp (YOC). Paid $1.65 / hour and $106 take home every two weeks after taxes and other deductions.

Only did it so did not have to spend another summer working in father's gravel quarry.

Ended up a career Fed age 19 and started university month turned 21. Worked at USFS Research Lab then in Berkeley while at school. Post BS worked on two different Ranger Districts and the Feds paid me to attend two programs for Fed employees for another 30 grad units. Quit USFS age 33 when had satisfied time owed Feds for the two programs.

[debm55]

87. Wow, what an interesting early career you had. PufPuf23. Thank you for sharing.

[Zackzzzz]

31. As soon as I was 16, I worked part-time at Woolworth.

45 Cents an hour. I wasn't a waitress at the counter because I always forgot something in an order.
It felt so good to have Mad Money. When you look at my Social Security history, my payments in were
little, but I was contributing. Once, one of Social Security agents brought up the small size of the
amounts. I told him my contributions from Woolworths and later the Bank came from what was
called the Pink Ghetto.

[debm55]

89. Good for you for saying that, Zackzzzz and it is true.

[OLDMDDEM]

32. Inventory specialist at an electronics firm in Lincoln, Nebraska

[debm55]

91. Thank you very much for sharing with us. OLDMDDEM. It sounds interesting.

[walkingman]

33. At 15, I got a job at a Haggar pants factory (had to get parental consent) and punched a time clock.

This short video is exactly what I did....busting seams with a steam iron. It is the last position in the assembly line. I did this one summer and saved enough ($250) to buy my first car a 55 Chevy.

https://youtube.com/shorts/G0hF3SzP7cw?si=bkLLNvmw_j2LUXyn

[Nittersing]

71. Omigosh that looks mind-numbing

Glad you got a car out of the deal!

[walkingman]

72. It was a good experience for me - I had to show up everyday, how to get along

With my co-workers, and maybe most importantly that I needed to get an education. As far as the car, I was hot rodder and in 1965 the '55 was the perfect car - I learned to on cars, fix things, and they carried through for the rest of my life.

[debm55]

93. Wow. that looks like it was a very hot job to do, especially in the summer. Thank you for sharing.

[TommieMommy]

37. I worked at Hardee's for awhile.

[debm55]

94. Thank you for sharing, TommieMommy.

[Emile]

41. Car hop at Marty K drive-in.

[debm55]

97. Thank you very much, Emile, for sharing with us

[squiregeek]

43. Tour guide and switchboard operator...

...for a local TV/radio station when I was in high school in 1964.

[debm55]

98. Wow. That would be two great jobs. Thank you very much and welcome to DU, my friend.

[sinkingfeeling]

44. High school sophomore when I worked at a local grocery store.

[debm55]

100. Thank you very much for sharing with us. sinkingfeeling.

[ProfessorGAC]

45. Janitor

Really a weekend helper to the full-time janitor & a big banquet hall.

[debm55]

101. Thank you very much ProfessorGAC for sharing with us.

[av8rdave]

46. Air Force Academy

We were paid 1/2 of a Second Lieutenant’s pay, from which taxes & FICA were withheld. Half of what remained was held in a savings account that we had no access to. That was actually a good idea. The money was released to us upon graduation, where we quickly discovered a lot of unexpected expenses associated with transitioning to real officer life.

My job prior to that was at a 60,000 bird chicken factory (no way would you call it a farm if you saw it). I picked/packed eggs, shoveled chicken manure and shot rats for a bistering $1.25/hour. No taxes were withheld.

[debm55]

130. Oh wow, Thank you very much for sharing with us. av8rdave.

[appleannie1]

52. Pittsburgh Hospital on Frankstown Ave. At 16 I worked as a nurses aide full time for $120 a month.

[debm55]

132. Thank you very much for sharing with us. appleannie1 . A lot of work for 120 a month.

[HappyH]

53. Janitor at a mental hospital while I was in high school

My shift was 4 till 11 three nights a week and 7am till 3 pm on Saturday. $1.65/hour to sweep, mop and wax floors, clean window and other chores as needed. It paid for a lotta good times and expenses for my ‘66 Beetle. Even managed to save a little for college!

[debm55]

133. Thank you very much for sharing with us, HappyH. It sounds like a very hard job.

[HappyH]

135. Actually pretty easy once I got the routine down.

The hospital found it cheaper to hire 2 high school kids than to hire I full time adult.
Added benefit: I met and dated for a couple years the super hot college chick who worked in the snack bar. Also met some very interesting patients!

[debm55]

137. Thank you very much for sharing.

[gopiscrap]

55. At 14 working for the AAA baseball team in Tacoma WA

my first check was drawn on their parent club, the Chicago Cubs. I was outraged that they took 9.82 out in Taxas and Social security.
My first check (12.00) was a stipend for singing for a Roman Catholic Church in which I got paid 20.00 per Sunday

[debm55]

134. Thank you very much , gopiscrap. I was upset when I say my first check with SS and taxes taken out. I had dreams that I

would get way more.

[Diamond_Dog]

56. Store clerk in a department store.

I filled in for people who went on vacations. It was a summer job. I was 16. Before that I edited and typed letters and answered the phone in my dad’s office.

[debm55]

138. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Diamond_Dog

[Hey Joe]

57. I was twelve years old and worked at a drive in

movie theater. I picked up trash and cleaned the lobby and restrooms.
We watched a ton of great movies for free back when they still made them. And got discounts on concessions.
Good times!

[debm55]

129. Thank you very much. Hey Joe, Did you catch any making out in the cars?

[Hey Joe]

131. Naa

My cleaning was done the morning after the show.
There was plenty of that going on during the show however!

[debm55]

136. HAHAHA.Thank you.

[happybird]

58. Local deli

It was close to the W&OD bike trail so we made lots of sandwiches for the cyclists passing through. I was 14 or 15.

[debm55]

126. Thank you very much for sharing with us. happybird. It sounds like a neat job.

[oberle]

59. Cafeteria in college

I made $1.00 an hour working breakfasts and banquets 1965-1967. I don't remember how much came out for taxes. The only jobs I'd had before that were as a substitute organist in churches in DC. I'd get a check, but I don't think taxes were taken out. I did pretty good for a few years before college.

[debm55]

125. I did the same in college, oberle, --working in the cafeteria. Thank you for sharing your unique line of jobs.

[rsdsharp]

60. I was fifteen, working in the meat department of a mom and pop grocery store,

for a whopping &1.35 an hour.

[debm55]

124. HAHAHAH. Thank you very much rsdsharp. That was hard work for a 15 year old.

[MiHale]

61. A bagel bakery...

Worked there off and on through high school. Used to open the shop, get the ovens up to temp, get the cash register balanced for the day, then go to school. Started about 3am. I was the only kid that could get up early and want to work. Ahh the good ol days.

[debm55]

123. Yes, I remember the days when one was full of energy. Long gone. Thank you, MiHale for sharing with us.

[doc03]

63. Bussboy at Holiday Inn 1964 16 years old.

[debm55]

122. Thank you very much for sharing with us, doc03.

[applegrove]

64. I got lucky. I had a job in a tea house on a lake in a hanging valley above Lake Louise, Banff Alberta.

I showered in a waterfall. No electricity. It was wonderful.

[debm55]

121. That does sound wonderful . thank you very much for sharing with us.applegrove.

[LogDog75]

65. I worked in a liquor store

I worked mainly nights and weekends for about two years but I enjoyed it. Then I got a job at K-Mart in the Jewelry department. Again, I enjoyed the job even through it was 48 hours (8 hours of overtime) a week. It enabled me to share an apartment with a friend. After two years, I joined the AF and retired after 28 years.

[debm55]

66. Thank you very much for sharing with us, LogDog75. Great selections of jobs.

[LudwigPastorius]

67. My parents made me wait until I was 16 before I got my first *real* job.

It was as a busboy at a large, family-style seafood restaurant for $1.40 an hour.

I later segued into oyster shucking, which was considerably easier.

[debm55]

120. Thank you very much for sharing with us, LudwigPastorius. I hope you got paid more for shucking the oysters.

[Vinca]

68. I was a grocery store cashier during my last couple of years in high school.

The despised history teacher came in and absentmindedly put some gum in his pocket and got arrested for shoplifting. Better than the wages.

[debm55]

119. Thank you, Vinca, for sharing. That's funny.

[Coventina]

69. Answering service with 400 clients.

I was made a supervisor in my teens because I was one of the few who could manage multiple lines and remember how to answer all the accounts.

I ended up getting fired because the manager was embezzling from the company, and I was starting to grow suspicious of his actions.
He fired me before I could put the pieces together.

He was arrested shortly afterwards.

Do they even have answering services anymore?

[debm55]

118. Thank you very much for sharing with us.Coventina. Most places I call have that darn automated service- press 1 for this

press 2 for this. I like talking to a real person.

[MichMan]

70. Burger Chef when I was in HS

For some anniversary of the founding of the chain, the had a special throwback pricing campaign my last summer working there. Regular hamburgers were only 15 cents. It got pretty crazy because people would be ordering dozens at a time. It was the very first fast food restaurant in our small town, so it was very popular. A McDonald's eventually opened several months later.

Typically, someone would order a big sandwich like the "Big Shef" (Big Mac clone) or "Super Chef" (think Whopper), but with the sale promotion they would order half a dozen or more 15 cent hamburgers. So, instead of having to make a couple sandwiches per order , you had to make a dozen, so we were hopping back there in the grilling area. People would buy all kinds of extras to feed to their dogs, or start throwing them at each other in the parking lot. Worked there a year and a half before going away to college.

Management looked the other way if we decided to make our own food on the side, so we made some custom off the menu creations for our own meals without having to go through the front counter and pay for them.

[debm55]

117. Thank you very much for your post, MichMan. That anniversary sounds so hard on the workers. Never liked jobs with

grilling and fries were concerned. I smelled like grease. Couldn't wait to get home and take a shower.

[Raven123]

77. Sandwich shop.

[debm55]

116. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Raven123.

[Walleye]

79. Dairy Queen

[debm55]

86. Thank you very much for sharing with us , Walleye.

[Niagara]

88. My first taxed job was a server

at Ponderosa.

I think minimum wage was $4.25 and because I was a tipped server I made $2.12 an hour.

And yes, there would be patrons that would order the buffet and not a served meal that thought it was fine to stiff the server who still refilled their beverages and removed the used dirty dishes.

[debm55]

115. Thank you very much Niagara. That's crappy that they would do that.

[Cadfael]

90. I was 15

Summer job, working 40 hrs/wk doing keypunch….a job that certainly no longer exists

[debm55]

96. I am sure you were very good at your job, Cadfael. I remember the keypunch classes my girtfriends took in HS,

[Talitha]

92. Straight out of high school I was a junior file clerk at Aetna Insurance, downtown Chicago.

Then in about 6 months I was promoted to a senior file clerk. Personal Accounts asked me to be a junior underwriter in their department, and they promoted me to the computer division when the company automated. From start to finish I was there for about 6 years.

Lotsa fun working downtown but today, I don't think I'd recognize it. From what I understand the Carson Pirie Scott & Co building is now a Target store, and Dump tower stands where (IIRC) the Sun-Times building was.

[debm55]

95. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Talitha. You must of been very good at your job to rise like that.

[Talitha]

99. Thanks Deb, it's the work ethic I was raised on.

"Your name's going on it - so make sure you do it right."

[debm55]

114. You are welcome and be proud of yourself.Talitha.

[Chasstev365]

102. Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors and General Cinemas

[debm55]

111. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Chasstev365. Baskin Robbins sounds like a neat job.

[Chasstev365]

112. Except when the entire Little League team came in

[debm55]

113. HAHAHAHHAHAH. Thank you.

[Golden Raisin]

103. Warehouse worker during summers in High

School and College. Got to drive a fork-lift! Parents never told me about taxes/SS deductions and I remember being shocked to see my first paycheck and how much was taken out.

[debm55]

110. Thank you very much, Golden Raisin. I remember that shock too.

[Laurelin]

104. Donut shup

I was 15. I served costumers, took cash, made change. The smell of the grease was with me all summer, in my clothes, shoes, hair. No matter how much I washed my hair the smell stayed. I still hate donuts.

[debm55]

109. Thank you very much, Laurelin, One summer, I worked at a hamburger place. I can still remember the smell of the cooking

fries and burgers. Yuk.

[IbogaProject]

105. Kinneys Shoes

For a few months Senior year of high school. At a mall in Burlington NJ. The dead malls youtube seties said had the most unique mall fountain in the USA. The Kinneys was upper level on the left, fountain was at the end.

?si=QPSEZ8zWV2h6r_a4

[debm55]

108. Thank you very much, IbogaProgect. We had a Kinney's Shoe store at our dead mall too. I watch that series on YouTube.

[TBF]

106. early in high school -

I worked at a farm in the summer - they grew cucumbers. I was in the house helping with cooking, watching kids, laundry ... I don't think I made more than $1/hour. We worked pretty long shifts, in pairs (2 girls on each day) so only 3-4 days per week. I was 14 and I do remember that we had to clock in like the farm workers. I did it for 2 summers and then moved on to working part-time for a supper club when I turned 16 (I washed dishes for minimum wage at that job). I managed to put myself through college with summer and part-time work. Not easy, but that's what you did back then.

[debm55]

107. Thank you very much for sharing your post with us. TBF.

[marble falls]

127. When I was 14 working as stoop labor on a large truck farm for $.35/hr, in Akron, Ohio, cutting lettuce, spinach ...

... pulling radishes, onions, beets. John Graff's farm.

When I was 16, I walked up the road and flipped burgers at Bunny Burgers on Copley Rd. $1.00/hr and got free meals. Same year I got work permit through the Board of Education to be able to work school nights. Had this totally Lutheran alter boy shocked with my first rupture/hernia exam.

[debm55]

128. HAHAHAHHAHA Thank you very much for sharing with us, marble falls.