# What did your first job pay?



## sags (May 15, 2010)

Thought it might be interesting to swap old stories.

My first job was in 1966, when at the tender age of 16, I started my first full time job working in a shoe factory. I earned 1.05 per hour. 

Such a long time ago.................


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Paper route, paid hourly plus tips, can't really remember the wage


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

50 cents an hour. It was a different time..


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## Young&Ambitious (Aug 11, 2010)

McDonalds $8/hr minimum wage


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## RealizedReturns (Oct 16, 2010)

paper-boy: can't even remember. under $100/mo
ice cream bike: about $0.50 per ice cream sold. Some good days, lots of bad days.

I put myself through University working in a warehouse for around $16/hour and when I got my first career-oriented job after graduation it was for around $14/hour (less than 10yrs ago).


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

While a student at U of T, I worked in the emergency department of 'Women's College Hospital' registering patients & doing other administrative duties. 

I can't remember the exact hourly wage anymore, but I do remember making around $600 a month, so I guess I made $9+/hr., not bad considering I only worked on weekends. Boy what a hectic place it was and what silly non-medical reasons some people had to come to emergency. It was great experience though!


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

I started work when I was about 12 in the family business... starting salary: $0.


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## ChrisR (Jul 13, 2009)

McDonald's - 1990 - $4/hour (minimum wage for minors in Alberta)


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## 200above (Nov 18, 2010)

~$9/hr as stock boy at local co-op (2005). working along good friends.. priceless. 

My first flying job paid 26.5K salary living in Northern Saskatchewan. brutal.


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## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

1996 math tutor, minimum wage for Nova Scotia was about $5.50


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

First paying job was summer 1985 in a Craft Shop earning $4.35 per hour .A year later I got a job as a bank teller for $8.00 per hour while i was in University.I thought i hit the jackpot as our rent was $315 a month and my husband was making $12.00 an hour in his trade .In 1986 we earned $24,000 a year and had $8000 in our bank acct .Two of us could live on $50 a week in groceries lol


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## plen (Nov 18, 2010)

Paper route - $70ish a month
Gas Station Attendant - $5.75/hr


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

$70 per week in a factory. The job was excruciatingly dull.


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## Oldroe (Sep 18, 2009)

Started working at a fruit market at 7. Picking peas at .25 for a 6 quart basket. My best day was $13.25.

I worked at couple fruit markets every summer. Had a worm biz made a fortune .02 a piece and had 2 orders every fri. for 1000 and 1500. Was a loan shark to friends of my parents (didn't like them) my interest was 20%/week. At about 10 years old.

Retired at 50 and get nausea thinking about work.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I started working summers and weekends at age 12, doing yard work (mowing, raking, weeding, etc.), and I think I charged $1.50/hour. My first fulltime job after university (education coordinator at a natural history museum) paid $9,000/year. Rent was $350/month, so the budget was very tight! After a year I got another job that paid $13,500 and I felt rich.


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## Ben (Apr 3, 2009)

1993, age 12, $2/hr at a market garden picking vegetables, weeding, hoeing, throwing squash around, etc. Five summers there, earning $6/hr by the end. Worked my way up to be chief roto-tiller operator. I was trusted to operate a large piece of machinery next to a row of vegetables without decimating them. Finally terminated along with two others under suspicion of "leaning on our hoes". Spent the rest of the summer like Huck Finn.


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## Mensa (Oct 19, 2010)

3.50/hr working at the Ponderosa restaurant, clearing tables. Can't say I miss it much!


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Freelance on-call piano accompanist for a ballet school. Had to be able to produce - instantly - passable improvised music at variable tempos and time signatures called out by the instructor. $15 an hour; I was 13.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

First job after college, $3.14/hr in 1967.

Last job before retirement, $160/hr in 2002.


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## DavidJD (Sep 27, 2009)

1987 - 14 years old. Rode a bike down the road to a vegetable market and picked yellow and green beans and was paid by the pound. At LEAST $15/hr but only 3.5/day. By 9:30 AM I was rolling in cash...


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Mensa said:


> 3.50/hr working at the Ponderosa restaurant, clearing tables. Can't say I miss it much!


I miss the Ponderosa Restaurant though ,they had the best salad bar in St.John's Newfoundland


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

CAN'T SPEAK FOR THE REST OF YOU BUT these lower paying jobs i had in my teens motivated me to do better in life.I am thankful I had the experience.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

$6,000 Plus car, selling food, totally boring,1968.

First house, $21,000 with a scary $16,000 mortgage.


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## lister (Apr 3, 2009)

My first real job was back in 1993/1994 at $29K per year. Pretty good for a year or so removed from high school.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I've had so many 'jobs' at a really young age. Not including the odd jobs (babysitting, picking onions, newpaper routes, working for family, etc), my first job where I received a T4 would have been working at the local fair at a booth, I received $5/ hour. 

For jobs that I did not receive a T4 for, I would have to say picking and bunching green onions at age 4/5 (not 100% sure) and I recieved a nickel for every 10 bunches I picked and tied. I did that every Sundary during the summer or when ever onion growing season was.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

Age 12 I started looking after kids while their parents went in for high-pressure time-share sales. I can't remember the hourly rate, probably a few bucks an hour. My first 'real' job was as a cashier at an IGA for $3.50/hr. Started with about 10 hours a week.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

marina628 said:


> I miss the Ponderosa Restaurant though ,they had the best salad bar in St.John's Newfoundland


We were just in the US for holidays, and my husband's family is totally obsessed with Ponderosa. We went, and I have to say, I now wish they had them in Canada. It was surprising good.


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## onomatopoeia (Apr 8, 2009)

paperboy when i was 13.

first "job" was at a used bookstore for 4.75/hr (min wage).

Man I miss that job - i was paid to read and talk to the occasional old person


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

onomatopoeia said:


> i was paid to read and talk to the occasional old person


Heh. You are describing large portions of my current job (she said with tongue in cheek).


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## Pigzfly (Dec 2, 2010)

Off Ice Skating/Pilates Instructor - $10, a few hours on Saturdays starting around grade 10.

Been all over the map since then.
Still no "real" job since university.


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## atrp2biz (Sep 22, 2010)

First "official" job was at a hotel working as a banquet porter in my first year of undergrad (~$8 per hour). I got the overnight shift--I would come in after a function ended (some time after midnight) and set up rooms for the next morning. 

Unofficial--working at my parents' convenience store ($4 per hour)...I must be Korean.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

Plugging Along said:


> We were just in the US for holidays, and my husband's family is totally obsessed with Ponderosa. We went, and I have to say, I now wish they had them in Canada. It was surprising good.


Is this the same as Ponderosa Steak House? I thought they used to be in Canada, years and years ago?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Yep. We used to have Ponderosa and Bonanza. What a shame to have lost those. We did gain the Royal Fork though, gotta love that!


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## atrp2biz (Sep 22, 2010)

I'm waiting for the Cheesecake Factory to come to town.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I went to a Morton's in Cleveland a couple months ago ,The chocolate Souffle is amazing .There is one downtown Toronto but having a hard time justifying the trip down and the cost.I love Cheesecake Factory ,we go everytime we are in California!


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## GeniusBoy27 (Jun 11, 2010)

My first job was as a lab assistant -- they paid something like $16+hour + 18% benefits. It was the best job for a kid.

First real job was as a resident -- they paid me something like $37 K per year. 

Somehow, I still live like a student ...


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## loggedout (Dec 30, 2009)

First job on the books was a summertime gig as an engineering office assistant, I made something like $12 per hour.

First FT job out of school, I made 50k, as an automation engineer.


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## Sustainable PF (Nov 5, 2010)

My first non paper route or baby sitting job was working a fruit stand one summer when I was 14. I think I made about $3.50 an hour.


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## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

McDonalds $2.15/hr 1980
I enjoyed a 300% wage increase over 6 years
When I quit in 1986, I was making $6.45/hour.

Imagine what I would be earning there today if that rate of increase had kept up


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## PoorPablo83 (Feb 8, 2010)

First job was mowing lawns for around $10-15 a yard around age 13. First "real" job was at McDonalds at age 15 for the min wage of the time which was around $7.50 (plus all the big macs I could stuff my face with). That was in 1999. Eventually went to school and was serving part time making at LEAST $20/hr with tips. It was a pretty great feeling walking home from work with at least $100 in cash after every shift. 

Being young and stupid I left university after 2 years to travel and never went back. Got in to construction at $14/hr, which was a bitter pill to swallow at the time, as well as being the lowest guy on the totem pole so the job was just constantly physically brutal and I had some pretty verbally abusive supervisors. Think Chef Ramsey on speed. 5 years later and I'm now a journeyman in my trade, but was that ever a tough ladder to climb or what! No wonder so many trades people are bitter and socially inept.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

I have two Brothers, Sparkies, retired at 62, each with a multi million dollar portfolio.

Worked hard, saved, house in Scarborough that was quickly paid for.

Hard work, granted, but you can make a good living.


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## DavidJD (Sep 27, 2009)

hystat said:


> mcdonalds $2.15/hr 1980
> i enjoyed a 300% wage increase over 6 years
> when i quit in 1986, i was making $6.45/hour.
> 
> Imagine what i would be earning there today if that rate of increase had kept up


$8.50


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## Rat Racer (Sep 16, 2010)

First job was at 13 years old... Pumping gas, working in the convenience store at the local marina, $4.15/hr. I got to spend the summer at the cottage with my grandparents and go to work 5 days a week. I did whatever odd jobs needed to be done through the week, cut the grass and got the grounds ready for the weekend warriors to arrive on Friday and manned the docks and store on the weekend. The best gig ever for a kid. Did it for 4 consecutive summers. 

I put myself through university being a student garbage man in our town... I hatted the job, but it sure helped to understand jobs I wasn't willing to do and pushed me to focus and work harder in school.

As it turns out, it worked, now I am the weekend warrior heading to the cottage for the summer weekends. I always look with pride at the kids working at the marina docks...


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## atrp2biz (Sep 22, 2010)

Wasn't my first job, but it was my coolest job (pre-career). I was a dealer at the Brantford Casino while I was in school (McMaster). By far, the best part-time job ever. Paid decent (about $20/hour including tokes), was fun and fit around my schedule.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

atrp2biz said:


> Paid decent (about $20/hour including tokes


Really???? Or maybe that was "tokens."


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

My first job was for the family business, us kids were like indentured servants. We rarely got paid in cash although I did once... my dad was repairing a D-8 bulldozer for a client. He was rebuilding the motor. So basically a D-8 has tracks that are about 6 feet high. Dad hired this guy to stand there and pass him tools all laid out on a table. Dad was prepared to overlook the fact that this guy would often leave to drink on the job. When his wife showed up at 3 in the afternoon to pick him up so he could take her shopping twice in a row, Dad gave him his last paycheck. The big rush for this job was so we could all go on vacation together. 

My sister and I offered to stand there and pass him tools 14 hours a day. We did this taking turns for about a week. Apparently we were more attentive and precise than drunk guy was  Of course I knew all the wrenches and names of things by then. Finally we were finished and my dad gave us $400 each. I think his exact phrasing was "You guys did a great job, here's some money for vacation, this is what I would have paid that "insert french swear words here" 

Next I went out to fool around in the back 40 behind my house and lost it in the field somewhere. It took us about 4 hours to find it, a fact that will never be forgotten. 

I think I was 9 and my sister was 8. Other kids got to relax after they came home from school but we usually had to help after the employees went home to finish some task. 

Personally I have no problem with honest work of all kinds, I have a kind of mental ratio I use to evaluate work. It depends on how much I like it. For instance... if you want me to be a cleaning lady it's about $100 per hour. If you want me to be a property management I'm on call 24 hours per day 7 days a week for $60 per month for condos. I don't have to do much so it's well paid until something happens. If you want me to be a chocolate taster then I'll pay you.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

my husband and his brothers all came up from Newfoundland 25-35 years ago with maybe $100 in their pocket.Actually the tell my husband he had it easy because when he came up in 1984 he had $300 in the bank lol.
All these guys are self made millionaires and today have a very large HVAC company with about 50+ employees.My husband started making $8.00 per hour in 1984 and by 1990 he was earning $15 per hour while i was earning $12 per hour .The two of us had over $40,000 in our savings living in a bachelor apartment ,couple nice cars(his weakness) and probably another $15,000 in RSP.


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## ashby corner (Jun 15, 2009)

*2.80*

2.80/hour, working in a convenience store, within a .5km of the infamous tar ponds.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

In 2003 $11/hr working for the city's parks department.


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## davext (Apr 11, 2010)

My first job was delivering flyers a couple times a week. Not even newspapers, just flyers. 

I made like $10 per month at the most. I probably worked about 2 hours a week. 

I later got a newspaper delivery job which was a lot tougher especially when I had to cram all the flyers into the newspaper and then roll up the newspaper so that I could throw them. 

I delivered only 2 or 3 times a week and made about $60/month. It was a couple hours of prep work + delivery time so it ended up being about $5 per delivery. I ended up hating that job so much that I asked my friend to help me do half of the street so I gave him $2 and we ended up buying slushies with our earnings. 

Newspaper delivery jobs are the toughest in my opinion


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## DavidJD (Sep 27, 2009)

Berubeland said:


> Personally I have no problem with honest work of all kinds, I have a kind of mental ratio I use to evaluate work. It depends on how much I like it. For instance... if you want me to be a cleaning lady it's about $100 per hour. If you want me to be a property management I'm on call 24 hours per day 7 days a week for $60 per month for condos. I don't have to do much so it's well paid until something happens. If you want me to be a chocolate taster then I'll pay you.


That is so funny. I had a job tasting chocolate and nuts, liquors and fruits and the like to determine which pairing went best with such and such chocolate recipe. Which Macadamian nut - roasted this way over that way - went best with which chocolate mix, texture too. Crushed nut in tiny pieces or a few larger ones etc. More or less nut to chocolate ratio blah blah blah.

Pretty boring after a while too and I never did enjoy chocolate.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

You know what's funny, in my neighborhood kids don't deliver newspapers it's adults (new immigrants) that deliver. After all parents don't let their kids walk around the neighborhood unsupervised.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Ignoring the "I'll pay you to clean the garage" one time items, my first job was picking cherries for something like $0.15 a six quart.

I don't have the dexterity and wasn't fast enough so I moved on as quickly as possible. Others made good money (at the time) at it.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I think something like 2 cents a paper on weekdays and 5 cents on Saturday....Montreal Star.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Berubeland said:


> You know what's funny, in my neighborhood kids don't deliver newspapers it's adults (new immigrants) that deliver. After all parents don't let their kids walk around the neighborhood unsupervised.


My husband and I talk about this, too. I wonder if *part* of the reason is that there are possibly more papers...and fewer subscribers (than in years past) - as in (in my neighbourhood), TorStar subscribers are interspersed with National Post and Globe subscribers, and the carriers have to cover a wide area? 

My husband delivered papers all through his teenage years. And he still rides that same bike, pretty much every day, today.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

the deliverer of newspapers on my street is a gentleman from the middle east. Quite often in the spring & summer i'm outside gardening as day breaks, so i'm used to his small car quietly pulling up & parking not far from me in the gray light of early dawn. He always sets off rapidly with a huge armload plus a bagful of newspapers, depositing papers here & there & eventually hurrying out of sight around the corner. Presumably he covers a few blocks on foot.

on his way back to his car 10 or 12 minutes later, he usually gives me a big smile and, quite often, a newspaper, always refusing strictly to accept any money for the gift. Since he's from the middle east, i for my part sometimes give him boxes of especially fine or interesting loose tea.

it's a lovely way to start a day. If he ever leaves, i'll miss him.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

_" ... I had a job tasting chocolate and nuts, liquors and fruits and the like to determine which pairing went best with such and such chocolate recipe. Which Macadamian nut - roasted this way over that way - went best with which chocolate mix, texture too. Crushed nut in tiny pieces or a few larger ones etc..."_

won't you please stop that you are torturing me.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

When I graduated from college, I worked for Manpower (temporary agency) doing light industrial work for a year while I searched for a job in my field. My first temp job, paying minimum wage, was at an Electrolux factory that had received a bad shipment of bolts: the threads on some of them hadn't been machined correctly and they wouldn't fit into the corresponding nut. So they hired me and another two guys to sit next to the barrel of bolts and take them out one by one, check to see if the nut would screw on correctly, and if it did the bolt went into one bucket; if it didn't, the bolt went into another. The barrel was full of bolts, thousands of them.

At the end of our 8-hour day, the foreman came over and looked in our buckets, and decided that there were so many bad bolts that he would ship the barrel back to the manufacturer for an exchange. He took both buckets and dumped all the bolts back into the barrel and told us to go home.


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