View Full Version : Summer Jobs when you were a kid?
I was just responding to CathyA's question about beans over in gardening - and it reminded me that when we were kids we worked in the fields most all of the summer.
We started with strawberries - right after we got out of school, some people then picked cherries, but I wasn't very good at it - so I took a small break before we could "string beans". We stringed the baby bean plants and then started picking them later in July (?) and it seems like we picked beans almost until school started in the September.
Later when I was 16 I got a job working at the cannery that canned the Green Beans. So it was a long time before I could eat beans again!
We used the $$ to buy school clothes and the rest went into savings. I don't remember ever buying anything special - just school clothes :~)
What summer jobs did you have as a kid?
Husband worked on a dairy farm when he was 14 until he qualified to work in a grocery store.
Note that the dairy farm was far more dangerous. But state law let him work around ALL the heavy equipment and cows but would not let him sweep the floor in the donut shop because "he was not old enough".
treehugger
2-18-11, 7:52pm
I never had a summer-only job. When I was 12, I started babysitting for neighborhood families, evenings and weekends throughout the school year and summer. I never really enjoyed babysitting (some kids were better than others of course), but it was the only way that I knew of for a pre/young teen to earn money.
The summer I was 15, I was finally old enough to get a "real" job and I never babysat again. I worked for a local catering company throughout that first summer, and then continued on evenings and weekends for the next 3 years.
I picked beans one summer. It was my idea. My mother warned "You won't like it," and she was right. I baby-sat a few times for a neighbor and relatives--because they were desperate--and I didn't like that, either. Pretty much set the tone for my working life. :treadmill:
I am thankful every day to be retired; I never take my freedom for granted.
I went to work at a service station the summer of my 15th year. I loved it and learned a lot. Those were the days of "Check the oil Ma'am?". :cool:
I had bought a '55 Chevy that summer and was able to "use the rack" to work on my car at night. We kids spent a lot of nights at the service station. Putting on headers, adding cams, and really getting into engines, etc.
My next summer - I got a job at the "Haggar Pants Factory". In the South there were lots of textile factories. I had to get permission from my folks but they agreed and I was a "seam buster" swinging a steam iron, "busting" all of the pants seams. What an education. This was my first experience working with adults. The ladies flirted with me because I was so young - that was the best summer of my life...
Next summer, I worked for my Grandpa, he had a plumbing and heating company that did jobs like schools, factories, etc. I rode in the back of a pickup to the job sites and home in the evenings - of course that was where I was introduced to beer and cigarettes.
Summer ended when I was drafted the next summer - my adult life began and I still have wonderful memories of my summer work,
Peace
When I was 15 I worked clearing brush on the hillsides after the Brentwood fire in Southern California in about 1961 or 62. It was in the summer and it was hot and dirty work.
I was just responding to CathyA's question about beans over in gardening - and it reminded me that when we were kids we worked in the fields most all of the summer.
We started with strawberries - right after we got out of school, some people then picked cherries, but I wasn't very good at it - so I took a small break before we could "string beans". We stringed the baby bean plants and then started picking them later in July (?) and it seems like we picked beans almost until school started in the September.
Later when I was 16 I got a job working at the cannery that canned the Green Beans. So it was a long time before I could eat beans again!
We used the $$ to buy school clothes and the rest went into savings. I don't remember ever buying anything special - just school clothes :~)
What summer jobs did you have as a kid?
Geez, Gregg, did you live in the same exact community I did? Or are there simply THAT many similar towns in the Pac NW? I picked both beans and strawberries, thornless blackberries, and worked in the cannery when I was old enough. Pre-season, I worked at the cannery manufacturing hallacks (sp) you know, the little boxes the berries go into in the flats.
My schoolmates baled hay, too...mostly the guys. We had raspberries and cucumbers, too. The potato and corn fields were harvested by machine.
Yup, school clothes and vinyl LPs. That's what my $$ went for. Ah, the good old days of child labor! :D
Next summer, I worked for my Grandpa, he had a plumbing and heating company that did jobs like schools, factories, etc. I rode in the back of a pickup to the job sites and home in the evenings - of course that was where I was introduced to beer and cigarettes.
Summer ended when I was drafted the next summer - my adult life began and I still have wonderful memories of my summer work,
Peace
What a neat image, Zigzagman...you sounded like the kind of guy my parents warned me about...and I of course was attracted to! ;)
Baskin-Robbins, where a life-long addiction to ice cream started... I was 15.
Bastelmutti
2-19-11, 9:33am
As a younger kid - planting/weeding our own garden & cutting the grass. There was pay for cutting the grass as I recall.
In high school I went to camp (more like summer school with swimming), but later I had summer jobs in a credit union (filing - I tried my hand at balancing tills whenever I could because filing was so BORING), one at a bakery front counter and one at a country club serving food. Two short-term gigs I had were telemarketing (awful!) and catering waitress (not so bad). The bakery, country club and catering jobs both gave me a real appreciation for the invisible service worker and lit a fire under my butt to get a good education so I wouldn't be the invisible service worker.
PS My DH is from the PNW, and he bucked hay and picked berries, too.
Mrs. Hermit
2-19-11, 10:34am
I worked as a file clerk for a real estate office, babysat, petsat, and did lawn care work as a young teen. During college I worked as a "summer intern" for the Federal Government.
Growing up on a large working farm there was plenty of farm work to keep me busy - we ran cattle, horses, sheep, had row crops, hay, and even a christmas tree farm and the hardest work on a tree farm is in the heat of summer trimming the trees so they grow in that nice (fat or skinny) shape that everyone will want the next christmas. I didn't have an 'off the farm' job until the summer between Jr/Sr year when I worked for an adventure camp outside of Washington DC. Came home and got a paying job at the best restaurant in town. Then the following summer headed West to work at a conference center outside of Santa Fe, NM. Summers during college I either returned home to work the restaurant job (good tips) or stayed in my college town to work at a restaurant and the college admissions office. The final summer before my Sr year I worked as a cave guide and ended up staying there some even after college.
I babysat through all my teen years. In junior high I worked in my dad's office (horrible experience) and then in the office of my dad's best friend (great experience). Later in my teens I worked as a waitress.
I was a magazine girl at the library. All the back issues of magazines were kept behind a desk, and patrons would use the primitive computer system to search for articles, and I would search for and pass out the relevant issues, and re-shelve them later. It was pretty fun, and often left plenty of time to read.
The one annoying time of year was the week the local public high school assigned a research paper on "issues of the day," which meant a hundred kids came by the day before the assignment was due asking, "Do you have any magazines about teen pregnancy?" I also spent a good bit of time convincing middle-aged ladies that yes, we did have a lot of back issues of National Geographic, but you will not find any photos by that guy from The Bridges of Madison County because he was NOT REAL.
After babysitting, I went door-to-door selling aluminum siding, which totally sucked. I didn't realize the job was a "show up and you'll be hired" and was confused about how to quit. I was 16. Next two summers were lifeguarding which was fun at times but really boring at others. I went to college with a really great tan, though! I think the first summer in college I was a traffic flagger, then after that I got jobs in laboratories. I met more weird people at the traffic flagger job than any other, though. One guy claimed to be allergic to the sun, and I could not figure out why he would get an outdoor job if he had that! I have no idea why I didn't go for work at a camp or ski resort or something, duh. I don't care to work with kids but they must need cooks and stuff. Oh, well.
I spent 5 summers bussing tables at 3 different restaurants. The work wasn't very fun but for the most part I liked the people I worked with. The summer after my freshman year of college I worked at the same place I'd worked the summer before. By the end of that summer I was literally counting the days until I could get back to school. I spent the whole summer thinking, "thank god this is only going to be 3 months and not 40 years like some of the people here."
Wow, I guess I had a lot of different jobs and with everyone else replying I had to think about it more:
Before I was 14 I babysat and did jobs for my parents for an allowance. That meant everything from weeding the garden to doing dishes.
Once I was old enough, during the summers I worked at restaurants, fast food joints, and lifeguarded at a pool.
For a stretch of time, it seemed as though whatever place I worked that year closed the next: worked at a TCBY - frozen yogurt place - I guess I brought home too much yogurt ;), worked at a Pizza Hut one summer with my sister and cousin, we brought home lots of pizzas (the place closed down in the winter, but it was at the beach), a Friendly's during my senior year in high school (changed into a bank!), a Steak and Ale restaurant during college (I was a c***tail waitress and it was where my friends and I had our first drink in a restaurant and yes, we were underage!).
i have also worked at some amazing places and done some excellent travel before I started real work: Between my sophomore and junior year in college I worked with a graduate student studying when the dinosaurs came to an end, and so had to go out to Montana for field work - saw a bunch of national parks then.
And after my senior year at college, I worked for the Milwaukee Public Museum as a field geologist on a Dig-A-Dinosaur project! None of my geology jobs since that one have ever come close to the fun I had, except working for the National Park Service.
Considering I have had four careers since leaving college, and have found the best one yet, I guess all the things I did when I was growing up were worth it. Lots of variety and gives you a good idea which way to go someday.
When I was 14, I spent the summer working in the Post Office of the US Navy building in downtown London (where my dad worked). I sorted mail into bags and often intercepted my own mail :) There was babysitting too, and bagging groceries at the mini-mart down the street with a friend ("baggers work for tips only" hehe).
All the fruit- and veg-picking jobs sound pretty fun!
So many interesting and fun jobs posted.
Babysitting was a staple of mine. Did that from the time I was around 12 till I was 20 (or so). As trivial as babysitting is/was, I still think of it as the best job I had related to the simple preparedness of motherhood.
At age ten/eleven I started working for a European family (Austrian) that moved to Canada for a new life and future. They opened up a fine dining family restaurant just blocks away from where we lived and my job there was "chief dishwasher"! Thinking back on it now it was a pretty cool/fun job- for washing dishes that is.
I wore these great big thick heavy rubber gloves that went up to my elbows! There was a big huge stainless steel washer at the end of the dish-washing counter (right beside two oversized stainless industrial sinks), so I'd take plate after plate, cup after cup, glass after glass, fork after fork, and everything else needing washed, and remove what I could (the mess) by hand in the sinks first, then I'd put everything on the conveyor leading into the big stainless washer and ready myself at the end of the washer to collect all sanitized things when they exited the other side.
It was hot sticky sweaty work! The kitchen/dish-washing area was HOT! I wore pink slacks (pants), a pink top, and a paper-like hat. As I gathered up the finished and clean goods from the washer I'd stack everything on the big open shelves. (Plates with plates, cups with cups, etc). Worked there for several years. (All my meals were free)! Anything I wanted!
After graduating I got a job working at a Pharmacy Store. I served customers on the floor, helping them find things, etc. I still remember the outfit I had to wear. Tight navy blue slacks, navy top (short-sleeved), and all white sneakers. I wore my hair up in an "updo" style with a stretchy black cotton band at the back. (Standard look/apparel at the time for female floor staff). I even had a name tag too! :laff:
Did that for a little over 3 years (daytime), Monday to Saturday, (two varied/staggered days off a week), helped care for baby nephews and nieces (oldest sisters kids) evenings/weekends, then got married! Some say life ends when you get married, I say life just begins! :)
Bump! Though this was a most perfect time to resurrect this thread in hopes of more fun entries, with summer right around the corner!
The weirdest summer job I ever had between junior and senior year at college lasted all of three hours ~ I sold egg rolls off the back of a "tricycle" on campus. It sucked, as one of the wheels was out of alignment and it made it hard to pedal around! I gave up and quit right then and there!
OMG! LOL, SiouzQ!!! If only you could see me right now, I haven't laughed this hard in so long!
I would think they would have furnished you with an electric golf-cart or something, anything other than a tricycle.
It was a tricycle with a "hot box" mounted on the back. To top off the image, I had a mohawk at the time and wore fatiques and black army boots. It was about 1982.
ROTFLMAO! I do hope you have a picture or two (for old sake)! :) P.S. Was the tricycle at least equipped with one of those thumb-bells?
I started working after school everyday - not just summers - when I was about 14. My first paying job was as a Waver/Greeter/Door Opener at a restaurant (many of you SoCalians may remember Belisles down by Disneyland on Chapman and Harbor Blvd.). I would ride my bike about 10 miles each way after school, don a chefs outfit (including high hat) and stand on the street corner and wave at passing cars. I made about $1.25/hour and all the food I could eat! On weekends I worked at a local motorcycle park (Saddleback Park) as park patrol. Basicly riding around on my little Honda 125 dirt bike helping people who crashed, were lost or getting to yell at people just being bad. I didn't get payed but I got in free (expensive when you are a kid), got all my fuel paid for, and also got my race entry fees paid because I rode on the Parks racing team. When I was around 16 I worked at a motorcycle parts and repair shop as a mechanics helper and store clerk (Cycle Parts West). Also did the basic fast food stuff like Jack in the Box. Worked as a maid in a motel one summer in Lake Tahoe while living with my aunt and cousins. Also worked in a factory full time right after high school while waiting to go to CG boot camp.
Me at 15 on my little bike!
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=786&d=1337650446
I did caddy one year (all year -- after school and weekends) and of course, baby sitting.
In university, I worked over-night security plus cleaning and organizing, as well as packing/unpacking and did laundry for folks (ad hoc for other students), and finally, tutoring too. Started teaching yoga around that time as well.
Later when I was 16 I got a job working at the cannery that canned the Green Beans. So it was a long time before I could eat beans again!
When my sister was on one of her mega-long trips (this one a year cross country road trip) she worked for a spell in the Stokley's bean cannery outside Luddington, MI. She started canning and got "promoted" to the blanching room. Lasted about 5 days before she quit. She said it was pretty tough - and this was from a girl who spent a year picking Kiwi fruit in New Zealand, worked 3 summers on a cruise ship in Alaska, and was armed security for a defense contractor. But the bean cannery was the hardest job she ever had!!
iris lily
5-21-12, 10:58pm
... I also spent a good bit of time convincing middle-aged ladies that yes, we did have a lot of back issues of National Geographic, but you will not find any photos by that guy from The Bridges of Madison County because he was NOT REAL.
OMG this is HILARIOUS!
My first summer job (that was a real job) was at the local greyhound racing park. I was one of the guys who would walk the dogs around the track before each race and then load them into the starting box. Then trot down to the post race area to retrieve the dogs at the end of the race, put their leash on and bring them back. Of course, none of us were old enough to place bets, but after a while we got to know the personalities of some of the dogs and would place imaginary bets. Even after watching 11 races a night 5 or 6 nights a week, we had trouble predicting winners. What I remember most was how poor some of the people looked that were placing bets. It was a fun summer but I've not had the urge to gamble away money ever since.
A few years later, while I was in college, I worked at a fish hatchery in southern Idaho. The family of one of my co-workers had a ranch and I helped "buck bales" of hay after work and a few weekends. That was about the hardest work I've ever done. I also did a stint with the forest service doing campground clean-up, which included trash collection and cleaning outhouses. That was messy!
Bump!
What an opportune time to bump this thread, seeing how summer is right upon us.
Looking forward to hearing more summer-job stories!
Mighty Frugal
7-12-12, 2:38pm
My first summer job as a teen was working at McDonald's! I had a blast. They had such a solid employee incentive initiative that we really loved working. There were formals and semi-formals (swoon I danced with the burger flipper) and bbqs and picnics and scavenger hunts.
We also had the latest and greatest Atari video game in our break room!
sure, they only paid minimum wage and worked you like a dog (you could remain idle for about 3 seconds before the manager would get you to clean the gunk off the strawberry sundae topping dispenser) but it was so much fun to work.
And since that job no other jobs have even come close to being as physically strenuous or being as micromanaged as working at McDs as a teen.
sure we ate our weight in McChickens, fries and Big Macs but I was also swimming 9 hours a week back then so I didn't gain a pound:)
treehugger
7-12-12, 2:57pm
My first summer job (that was a real job) was at the local greyhound racing park. I was one of the guys who would walk the dogs around the track before each race and then load them into the starting box. Then trot down to the post race area to retrieve the dogs at the end of the race, put their leash on and bring them back. Of course, none of us were old enough to place bets, but after a while we got to know the personalities of some of the dogs and would place imaginary bets. Even after watching 11 races a night 5 or 6 nights a week, we had trouble predicting winners. What I remember most was how poor some of the people looked that were placing bets. It was a fun summer but I've not had the urge to gamble away money ever since.
Rogar, your post is interesting to me since I have two rescued racing dogs. They both came from Colorado. Did you work at Mile High?
No matter how I feel about the industry in general, I can certainly tell from the demeanor of most of our dogs right off the track, that there must be plenty of kind, humane people who deal with the dogs day-to-day. Since there isn't any more racing at Mile High, our adoption group now brings in dogs from Florida. The dogs come with way more health problems than they did from Colorado, but the dogs still mostly love people, which is a great sign.
That's funny about placing imaginary bets and it being so hard to predict the winners. The races are so short, and, well, dogs being what they are (and no jockeys), I am sure that each dog fares differently in each race. One of mine raced 193 races, and was considered a champion, but even his race record fluctuates wildly.
Thanks for sharing your memories,
Kara
IshbelRobertson
7-12-12, 2:58pm
My last summer from school (aged 17-18) I worked as a courier on local coach tours around the city of Edinburgh - taking in places like the castle, Holyrood Palace and the New Town.
It scarred me for LIFE!
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