What is the cheapest hourly wage you remember working for??
In the summer of 1965 between HS graduation and starting college in August I worked at a local factory. I was paid the princely sum of $1.65 an hour. This included an extra 10 cents for working the second shift. With this hourly wage I was able to pay for 1 semester of school including dorm room and board. Surprisingly the food was pretty good.
Can you imagine what your hourly wage would have to be today to work for three months and pay for a semester of school???
-
1.00 a hour from a uncle I would help at his business
just thought about it I am not counting the free help I did at a early girlfriends family farm when I was 18
but oh my, oh my, the benefits my GF provided for me made me forget all about not getting paid to help farm
0 -
$7 per day as farm and ranch hand. Some 12 hr days,
0 -
1960... $.50 / hr as a helper / cleanup man in an auto repair shop.. After a year, I asked for a raise... owner fired me...
JIM...............
0 -
In 1965 was 15 years old, lied about my age to work as a fountain boy at a Steak an Shake restaurant. $1.25 an hour. Only lasted about a month though, dad made me quit because I was getting home late and had school the next day.
0 -
I don't remember how much I was getting paid, but in Miami about early 1970's when about 11-12, I'd ride my bike about 5-7 miles to my 1st "Job." A huge Pet Store, Exotic animal importer. I'd clean cages of dogs/puppies and cats/kittens. There were lot's and lots of them. Clean fish tanks, seperate and place in aquariums the various Snakes that were always coming in. (Pretty scary when you were a kid.) Some were very big Pythons/Boa's. (It took 2-3 of us on those.) Scary, aggressive wild caught snakes. 😮😦😳
Still remember all of it. There were about 3-4 Hippies that ran the place, that looked out for me. 😁👍 Good times/memories. (Except the big Snakes.) Still have various regular Nightmares about those.
6 -
$1.00 an hour on a diary farm.
0 -
Employed by Burger Chef hamburger joint. It was 1970. Orlando Fla. I remember it well. I was paid 90 cents an hour. I wore a stupid paper hat. The manager was named Drew. This is etched in my noggin forever. Pray for me......Ha.
3 -
Well lots of under the table jobs for a lot less than minimum wage as a kid, but first legit job with taxable income was $1.35 hr. minimum wage at the time for food industry...
0 -
used to mow the neighbors yard took a little over an hour on the rider, then about a half hour of push mower trimming, and once a month take those hand held grass nippers that looked like sheep shears and trim around all the trees and driveways. I got $7 for all that and saved enough over the summers to buy a new a new motorcycle, a suzuki 185 street and trail. totalled it my second year, hit a car head on, that has put an end to my riding days.......
next kid that mowed for them got #10, as the gentleman passed away and I guess the wife was more generous
3 -
They probably just did not "Like You," @hillbille.
You probably run in to that, a lot. 🤔😉👍😁😂🤣
3 -
Probably bucking bales at age 12.
$ .05 per bale. Two of us could put up around 500 per day, 8+ hours.
Somewhere just north of $ 1.50 per hour.
0 -
I mowed the lawn and got to eat.
0 -
1.75 an hour, as an HVAC apprentice. Man do I ever remember those small checks. Kept my nose to the grind stone, never called out sick and kept my mouth shut. I could never repay the man that took the time, knowledge and patience, to teach me a career. I always speak about him to my apprentices, to this day. I bet that man never knew how far, and how many people , he gave knowledge too, in the HVAC field. He passed away at 60, of a massive heart attack on a job site. God rest his soul.
0 -
Forum Staff
6 -
Oakie: 30307193130267/comments/30307325491739
1.75 an hour, as an HVAC apprentice. Man do I ever remember those small checks. Kept my nose to the grind stone, never called out sick and kept my mouth shut. I could never repay the man that took the time, knowledge and patience, to teach me a career. I always speak about him to my apprentices, to this day. I bet that man never knew how far, and how many people , he gave knowledge too, in the HVAC field. He passed away at 60, of a massive heart attack on a job site. God rest his soul.
Agreed 0kie. JWs (journeymen) like that were 0rdained by GOD. My first paying job was in high school driving a school bus
State of South Carolina paid us drivers a whopping $36 a month. Stall High booster club paid us $5 a game to haul the team to a game. l remember one trip to George Town to play the Winyah Gators. Going across the OLD COOPER RIVER BRIDGE (two lane, 25 ft wide) on the down side we heard a loud long SCRAPE. All those hoodlums suddenly got QUIET😲 After the game l told Coach Weed we were taking the long way home down 17A thru MONCKS CORNER. Coach Weed protested the extra hours time, but left it up to me. Never did find a scratch on the bus..🤩
0 -
Going back to my 1.10 dollar an hour dishwashing job. My girlfriend lived a county away and most of my earnings went to AT&T (Ma Bell) for long distance overpriced phone calls! The charges back then were highway robbery!
I blame my irresponsibility in money management on HORMONES!! 😁
0 -
Worked on the farm with dad my early years and pay was my room and board. Dad did buy me a nice car while I was in HS.
0 -
I was a waitress for a short period of time in high school.....Dennys. It was horrible. The customers were always miserable...the management acted like they were in some high stress position and if you gave people too many rolls the floor would open up and swallow the entire building. I didn't return after the first paycheck. It was something like $2 per hour, but "you get tips"....which is stupid and I don't understand why this is still an ongoing thing with the food industry. The whole idea that a business has employees that the customers are responsible for paying is something I'll never understand.
0 -
Look at these 2 old check stubs of mine.
This was just out of high school at one of my high-end paying jobs at a metal shop.
Raises were 5 cents at a time and the $10 deduction on each check was for your tools you had to buy.
Welding, cutting, riveting/etc. Still have my tools and box. If I could go back, I'd still do it all over again.
0 -
At the other end of the spectrum from my $1.65/hr was the rate I got doing voiceovers for radio commercials, where I pulled down $300 per minute. (That's a minute of air time, but as I often did my work in one take, that turned out to be net.)
0 -
If memory serves, it was $4.15 per hour, washing dishes at a cafe. My first car was an old Ranchero with a 460, so a good portion of it went right back in the tank.
0 -
I busted my ass on the family farm for a roof over my head and at least 2 meals a day.
0 -
$1.50 an hour unloading trucks. It was in 1972. Boss said I was apprentice. Had to put in 200 hours to get to $1.85. I think he was fleecing me.
0 -
I was born in 1975.
I spent my summers during high school living & working at a Bible Camp in Wisconsin. It was an unpaid job but the food was good and housing was included. I did everything from being a camp counselor, to maintenance worker, dish crew in the kitchen, and leading horseback rides.
Before heading off to camp, I would work as a Caddy at a Private Country Club to make bank for early part of the spring / summer. It was a good paying cash job that I started doing at age 12. When I got laid off after 9/11/2001 I went and Caddied a summer at age 27. Also made good cash $.
0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
54 comments