The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday in the noon hour.
QUESTION: Where was your first place of employment, did you like it, and how much money did you make?
Talk about it….
Morning paper route. Totally sucked. Made around $25 per month. Had to ride my bicycle in the snow and ice during the coldest time of day before sun up and school. Took over an evening route with more customers when the old boy “retired’. Doubled my income and could do it on foot.
If we don’t count mowing lawns and such, I had a stockboy/janitor job after school for 2 bucks and hour at a variety store.
Oh, I liked it… I’ve always just liked to work….
The Tilden Park Merry-Go-Round. I started working there when I was 15 1/2 years old and I had to have a work permit. Worked there, part time, for about 2 years on weekends and during the summer months. I loved the job and met a lot of people. I believe I started out at about $1.35 an hour. Didn’t realize it then but there’s a lot of history to that Merry-Go-Round with all the animals being antiques and very valuable.
Paper route in 8th grade.
Did I make enough? I was 13 with my own spending money.
My first job was in fast food. I made minimum wage, which was $3.35 at the time.
Me too! Funny because it was in the chicken industry in Concord. We must have gitten our 1st jobs around the same time.
The Martinez movie theater! I loved it, lots of fun and free movies. I think minimum wage was 6 something back then.
Concord Pavillion
Mowed lawns in my Concord neighborhood – had about 10 customers I believe. I think I charged $10 a month (for weekly service)!! This was in the mid 1980’s (I was not charging enough!).
First ‘real’ job was at Doc’s American Diner on Clayton Road (now Nations). I was a busboy and made $4.25/hour. Had to get a work permit since I was only 13 at the time. Still remember that I NEVER once received any portion of the tips – the older people I worked with there said “tips are only for waitresses and kitchen staff and not busboys”. I was young and didn’t know any better (very naive)! Every time I go to Nations it’s like a bad flashback!!! Haha
Dario’s Home Furnishings on San Bruno Ave. in San Francisco. I was 16 and was hired to deliver furniture. My friend already worked there and he got me the job. It was just the two of us driving around the City in a Ford pick up delivering furniture and goofing off in between deliveries.
I was paid $20.00 a day in cash and gave my mom 1/2 of it every day. Back then twenty bucks went a long way. A half gallon of milk was 50 cents. a dozen eggs about the same, and gas was 28 cents a gallon. Rent for a three bedroom house was about $150.00 to $300.00 a month, a one bedroom apartment about $50.00 a month and the cost of a new home was about $18,000.00. A brand new Mustang would set you back $2,300.00 and you could find a decent used car for about a hundred bucks.
Ah, yes – the good old days!
I bought my first car for a hundred, too. I’d still be driving it if it hadn’t been stolen in 1978.
Had a Paper route. I was 14 years old…made $17 a month…lol..
My first above the table job was a Busboy at Ms Sandys in the El Cerrito Plaza $ 1.65 a hour.
Worked at Capwells in El Cerrito Plaza for several years as a stock guy. Don’t remember Ms Sandy’s but I did hang out at Kirby’s drinking a couple cups of coffee there every morning when I worked. Also use to go into the Melodie Club after work for a couple beers.
The Mel-O-Dee still has the same felt wall paper. I stop there about once a year for nostalgia.
The Fractionator…Ms Sandys I worked there in the mid 70s. I used to knock the Roaches off the wall with the sink spray nozzle. Kirbys…My grandmother would take me there for dinner, she loved the liver and onions. Later on in life I enjoyed it as the El Cerrito Station, night time dancing and pickup spot. Ms Sandys was right out in the front next to Longs. As a kid I would go upstairs in Capwells and buy new 45s, bike parts or Hotwheels. As a teen I would walk around it with a new girlfriend holding hands of course.
The Wizard……I started working at Capwells in the early 70’s. I also would go to El Cerrito Station at night for drinks and meeting folks. I can’t remember the guys name who bought Kirby’s and changed the bar to the Station but he was the manager of Kirby’s. He also opened another restaurant on the N/W corner of the plaza. Lots of action in the EC Plaza back in those days. Use to hit other places along S.P. Ave like the Viking Lounge, It Club, Hotsy Totsy (still there) Solano Club and a few others that have been gone for a long time.
Stevenson Electronics on Locust Street in Creektown. Working in the shop, antenna installations, Magnavox deliveries, setup and installation of Ampex, HH Scott, McIntosh, JBL, Wharfdale and RecoCut components. $1.25/hr, I liked most of the people and customers. The customers included many of The Who’s, who in the 60’s, when millionaires were millionaires. Many of them very gracious.
You indeed are a fossil. Do you recall an electronics store on one of the side streets in the area? I’m looking at a map now and guess it would be on Giamonna about where Skipolini’s Pizza is now. That place only sold parts while the retail store on Locus had a customer friendly showroom.
Nave’ was across from Stevenson’s on Locust.
Miller’s was the electronics parts store.
Pepito’s in Pleasant Hill for $2.25 an hour. Some great times with Pepito back in High School Days.
Non paper route/babysitting jobs, was stock boy/cashier at TG&Y on Clayton Rd at $3.35/hr.
Not counting Babysitting as a teenager, at 18 years old was a waitress at Birdsong’s Landing in Martinez, back in 1975. Both the job and the restaurant were short lived.
Los Angeles Times. I was a “stuffer” in high school. The Sunday paper arrived at a distribution center about 1/4 mile from my home. The ads arrived separately. A stuffer stuffs the ads into the center fold of the newspaper and stacks them in neat stacks against a wall. The stacks were 15 feet high. I worked every Sunday morning from 1:00 AM until 7:00 AM. The pay was minimum wage, $2.50/hour. I remember my dad seeing me leave at 12:30 AM for the 1/4 bike ride to the distribution center and asking where the hell I was going after midnight and I said work. He said good and never asked again. If I had known it was that easy to get out at 12:30 AM, I would have used that excuse earlier.
Worked at AAA during the summer when I was 16 as a “trip-tik” girl. Mapped out people’s road trips anywhere in the US. Loved it. Still love paper maps. Made $98/week working 37.5 hours/week.
Bex,
And to think, half the people reading this comment had no idea what a trip-tik was! I saved the one I got from AAA in 1986, which had directions from Maryland to New Orleans. It was an easy drive, and in retrospect, the “Trip-tik Gal” I got it from, probably could’ve just said “go south and turn left at Atlanta” 😂 Beginning of a new life, graduate school, and a 35+ year relationship with my husband. Great Memory. Thanks!
Delivered papers, early 1950’s. On cold Sundays teamed up with another carrier to assemble the news with the shopping sections and we would stuff the wrappers under the metal storm drain and set them on fire to keep us warm. He became a local fire captain. Earnings varied because we had to collect from the subscriber, some would tip.
Tips! Wow! My customers were all skin flints. I even had one guy who wouldn’t pay me for a long time because he was upset with the previous paper boy. That was the bad thing about the job; having to pay for them whether or not the subscribers paid when it was time to collect.
I worked at the Baskin Robbins on Powell Street in San Francisco (no longer there). The only fun think I can remember about it was that if took a scoop of Pink Bubble Gum Ice Cream in your hand and melted the ice cream away under the faucet you got a big dose of candy coated bubble gum. It was around 1972 or 1973 so the minimum wage was next to nothing.
I’m dating myself but 1st job was at ”Maries Golden Chicken” on Clayton Rd. Minimum wage then was $1.35/hr……………….
When I was eight years old everyday after school I stopped at the local butcher shop and asked them if they had any deliveries. Some days they had one or two some days not. Most always the delivery was to an old lady. When they gave me a package it was just the meat wrapped up in butcher paper no bag. Some of the delivers were six or seven blocks away. By the time I walked that far with a package of meat my bet is it was pretty well tenderized. Don’t remember how much they paid me. Probably no more than a nickel. Circa Chicago 1947.
Bobs big boy on treat / monument. Loved it. Great owners. Think it was around $3.00- $3.35. I started in 83.
First job was working for the Kings Christmas Tree Co (the parking lot outside of Ace Hardware) on a seasonal stint in 93. Does it count if I was paid under the table?
First on the books job was food services in the inaugural summer at Waterworld. So many burns from working in shorts around steam tables.
“So many burns from working in shorts around the steam tables.” I’m reminded of a time I fried bacon without a shirt on and believe me, I will never do that again.
Bob’s Big Boy, Jr. in Southern California.
Worked nights and weekends because I was still in high school.
Loved it because it had a make your own sundae bar, hated it because it had a make your own sundae bar that I had to clean up at night. Fudge and marshmallow sauce every where.
But knew I had to work harder and save to end up having my money work for me.
To WC Resident
Nave’ on Locust across from Stevenson’s. Miller’s was the parts house.
I delivered the Richmond Independent, afternoons in El Sobrante in the 40’s. Received a bonus because part of my route was on a very steep hill that was impossible on a bike. Some customers were very difficult to collect from.
In H.S. I worked 1 summer for a house wrecking co. on Monument where Dolan’s is now. My job was pulling nails from used lumber, I was paid by the board foot. Mid 50’s.
Two jobs at the same time. Twelve years old I worked as a bagger/stockboy at the Blue Top Food Store in Kilgore TX. The pay was fifty cents an hour taken off my family grocery bill. At the same time I sold the Kilgore News Hearld It was a short route near downtown that serviced a few homes and the downtown bisinesses, all of whom paid a yearly subscription to the paper. I was also expeced to buy ten copies mysef for thirty cents, which I sold on the street for a nickel apiece. If I sold more than six, I made a profit. Five or less, I lost money that day.
First real job was at age 14. I was working at a Mobile Home Park on the crew pouring cement streets in the Park and mowing vacant lots in the down time. Yup this was in the era before OSHA. I got a wonderful $1/hr (I was covered by state wages and this was considered a farm job for some reason), Federal minimum was $1.60 LOL
We were enterprising youth. (Another word for broke).
Picked walnuts up off the ground in Concord / Walnut
Creek orchards for 25 cents a pail. (The stained black
hands were a bonus). Went knocking on doors as a
solicitor trying to get people to subscribe to the Concord
Daily Transcript newspaper. Got 25 cents per order in
all the Claycord towns except 50 cents in Martinez.
(It was considered a tough town). These were when
I was a kid. First real job as a teenager was at PayLess
Drug store in Pleasant Hill as a shopping cart wrangler.
Got $1.50 per hour. Never had time to play sports or any
other after school activities, but learned the value of
hard work.
First paycheck jobs were after school jobs (HS) wherein I received job experience credits…one was at Chandler’s women’s shoes in Union Square, as a stock boy/part time sales…..also worked at KYA radio in the Fairmont making outbound calls to ask people to rate the hits of the day…and another was as a stock boy at UC Medical Center on Parnassus…wonder if kids still do that🧐
Other than babysitting, my first job was in a music store (also sold radios and TV) in the small town, Koege (population circa 18.000 back then) 15 kilometers from where I grew up. I would take the train and sometime then the weather was good I would ride my bike. It was at times boring, but I like music so that helped, I also met my first steady boyfriend there, he came in and bought records a few times, and then invited me to lunch. We dated about 4 weeks, but I became close to his sister and mother, and had contact with them of years. I also met all of his friends, and hung out and partied with them, until I left the job at age 18 and moved to Copenhagen.
I don’t remember what I made, I lived at home, it was enough to buy clothes, belong to a jazz and rock club, and do things with friends. I loved the town, it was close to the beach and had many old (1600-1700 historic buildings in it. My first job in the was as an au pair in Westport Ct, 1967 I was paid $40.00 a week. The job was an end to means, in other words that I how I came here on green card. I liked the family, but I especially loved Westport, hung out with a great group of friends, close to the beach, it was the sixties, and we just had a lot of fun.
Concord Transcript , but first go to job Solano Foods minimum wage
Red Barn Restaurant – WC. $2.65 an hr. I liked working there. Except the day we ran out of hamburger meat. Customers demanding a Barnbuster, and we had to talk them into something else or refer them to Wendy’s. The mgr. Chuck wasn’t the most responsible person, but he was easy to work for.
The Ygnacio Valley Library in Walnut Creek $2.50 hr.- It was fun the first few days, but then I became very bored with it. I got the job through Concord youth employment program.
Clayton Valley Pet Hospital (across from A&W). $2.00/hr. cleaning the place. Two letters of recommendation from Dr. Jern and Dr. Buntzen helped get me into UC Davis in ‘78.
Delivering the Contra Costa Times back in 1983………are they still around??
I had two gigs at 12 years old. Alter boy at Our Lady of Grace for first and last Sunday Mass and cleaning dog cages for mom and dad who bred Dobermans as a hobby. Neither was a lucrative deal for me. You may not know this but Dobermans can be a little “nippy”. But I never told my parents when I got bit because I thought having Dobermans was so cool. They scared the s**t out of all my friends, which was currency in mid 1970s New York. And a summer rough housing with future guard dogs AND ladies roller ball fixation, I was kinda bully proof by 13. Puberty of course, was simply waiting to take me out at the knees. Not unlike over excited Dobermans if you’ll pardon the clumsy analogy. What was the question?
Babysitting for 50¢ an hour…. but my parents’ rules were that I was to be home by 9p on a week night and by 11p on a weekend (which cut into my profits, for sure). But back then, 50¢ would buy a multi-page copy of sheet music…. still have a lot of it.
My first real paying job was from 10th through 12th grade was as one of the after-school switchboard operator at a local walk-in chapter of American Red Cross. They kept a walk-in office in a very poor part of town, and there was at least one full-time registered nurse there 24/7 (we’re talking full white uniform, white stockings and shoes, and especially the beautiful starched white caps which differed from one another and identified from what nursing school the nurse had graduated). A physician was only a few minutes away. There were a lot of injuries due to fights, and I learned certain first aid techniques by watching and assisting with minor surgical repair and bandaging. It was most frightening of all to see babies and little children being brought in with very high temperatures and struggling for breath. I learned (and have kept) a healthy respect for those who have medical skills, especially seeing such tenderness given to all races.
Oh, goodness! I didn’t remember to proofread the above….. sorry!
I was a busboy at a local burger joint that’s long since gone. It was hard work, and I think I made a little more than minimum wage? I always had some kind of job in high school and college, hated not having a little money in my pocket. My best high school job was working at a local video store, I really enjoyed discussing films with the customers and we got to watch anything we wanted. I also worked at Yogurt Park, which was a great job as a high schooler. I got promoted quickly and it was actually a really rewarding challenge to help manage that young.