First Jobs

[Galway Eagle]

My buddies and I did landscaping for a few places as a "company" through HS.

Worked at an overnight camp for burn victims, spina bifida, diabetes, Tourette's, kids with failing kidneys, and sexual abuse survivors.

Bouncer and bar back at Brothers in MKE

Was a paid sparring partner for pro boxers.

Social media intern for Tammy Baldwin

Marquette phonathon

field director for an Illinois state senate campaign that folded.

Ended up doing door to door selling windows and roofs during the second coldest Chicago winter in history along with driving Uber to pay the bills one year out of college. Not exactly how I had envisioned using my college degree in 2014 & early 2015.

Between bouncing and driving Uber I'm saying I did Al McGuire's "everyone should work at a bar for 6 months and drive a cab for 6 months"

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Started at 12 working for a permenant booth at the MN state fair grounds, got paid under the table by a classmates dad. Don't remember how much but it was definitely less than minimum wage.  That guy ended up in jail (for something totally unrelated)

Bagged groceries at Lunds starting at 14 IIRC

Worked at Noodles & Company starting at 16. Did everything from dishwasher to cashier to line cook

[wadesworld]

*I could walk into a Kopp's right now, jump in any position and I can guarantee you ticket times wouldn't slip, they might even improve.

That's because Kopp's couldn't be any more overrated.

[JWags85]

That's because Kopp's couldn't be any more overrated.

Whoa whoa whoa.  Easy there.

[Hards Alumni]

That's because Kopp's couldn't be any more overrated.

[MUfan12]

Cleaned houses, mowed lawns, and babysat a bunch to make money in HS.

College I managed events at the Zoo. Worked so many hours from May-September, I didn't need to work much during the school year. Picked up a couple office cleaning gigs on weekends for fun money.

[Plaque Lives Matter!]

Dental hygienist at 13

[Scoop Snoop]

I forgot about my job at Motorola between HS and Freshman year at MU. Worked on the color TV assembly line.

[Skatastrophy]

• Selling newspapers door-to-door in the hospital very young - probably 10 or 11.
• A regular paper route at 12
• Washing dishes in an Italian restaurant at 14 - I consider this my first "real" job.

Are you me?

Milwaukee Journal paper route -> Italian resto dish washer

[MU82]

My first job while at Marquette, I worked as an usher at the Grand Theatre downtown. We were allowed to take home popcorn from what was left in the machine at the end of the night. I used to get one of the big boxes that the popcorn cups came in, and I'd fill it with popcorn and that infamous movie-theater "butter." I'd jump on the bus back to McCormick, typically arriving at the dorm around 11 p.m., and a couple of stoner friends would always be waiting for me in the lobby to get that freakin' popcorn before anyone else did.

High school:

Dog groomer's assistant at "Bowser Haus" from age 14-16
McDonald's (whipping up Quarter Pounders)
Cashier at Alexander's Dept Store (kind of like Kohl's today)
Making cones at Carvel
Hauling crud at a lumber yard

College:

Aforementioned Grand Theatre job
Go-fer at Milwaukee Athletic Club
Janitor at Old Line Life
Interned at Bridgeport Telegram
Recorded high school football and basketball scores for Associated Press

Fun topic, tower. Thanks for starting it. Have enjoyed seeing what others' early jobs were.

[tower912]

Fun topic, tower. Thanks for starting it. Have enjoyed seeing what others' early jobs were.

Agreed.   The inspiration came from 4ever's snark.

[4everwarriors]

Which snark, Fahrenheit? I've had dozens of 'em, aina?

[tower912]

Your attempt to insult Sultan. It made me wonder what other first jobs people had.

A whole lot of posters got early starts on menial stuff.  Facinating to learn.

[Dickthedribbler]

GRADE SCHOOL AND H.S. :

Worked on a family farm in Central Wisconsin for little or no pay. I was doing a man's job at age 13-14 years old ( driving a tractor, working in the fields, working around animals). If any of you guys have any pigs that need castration, PM me.

COLLEGE :

Worked 2 summers in a saw mill, before there was much of anything in the way of OSHA regulations. Through the grace of God, I came away with all of my fingers.

Then worked 2 summers second shift in a large meat packing plant. Ðirtiest, greasy miserable work ever. Great motivation to get that degree, though.

[The Lens]

Just so everyone knows...this is now the venerated and exalted Sybaris

 It was back then. I was there after the orginal Wolf's Island restaurant + motel closed and the new restaurant and Sybaris opened. 

Line chef...is that code for surveillance camera installer, hey?

My brother was a bus boy and they made him to deliveries to the rooms.  He has stories.

95% of the time the Sybaris / restaurant clientele did not overlap.

That's because Kopp's couldn't be any more overrated.

What's it like to be so anti-Milwaukee?

[BrewCity83]

While in high school: 

Cactus Jack's Turquiose Country - booth at the Wisconsin State Fair. Worked there with a few buddies selling turquoise jewelry to lots of young ladies at the fair.  We were paid $5 an hour cash at the end of every night.  Not bad for the late '70s.

High school/college:

Midwest Services - usher for Brewers/Packer games at County Stadium/crowd control for Summerfest.  That job was a blast and included the World Series in '82; worked there 5 summers

College:

DJ at a rock/dance club in West Allis.  Also made $5/hour cash plus free drinks     and I could play whatever music I wanted as long as the dance floor was busy.  It helped that all of my friends hung out there.

[Scoop Snoop]

GRADE SCHOOL AND H.S. :

Worked on a family farm in Central Wisconsin for little or no pay. I was doing a man's job at age 13-14 years old ( driving a tractor, working in the fields, working around animals). If any of you guys have any pigs that need castration, PM me.

COLLEGE :

Worked 2 summers in a saw mill, before there was much of anything in the way of OSHA regulations. Through the grace of God, I came away with all of my fingers.

Then worked 2 summers second shift in a large meat packing plant. Ðirtiest, greasy miserable work ever. Great motivation to get that degree, though.

Holy crap! If you and I ever meet, I will address you as Sir.

[Hards Alumni]

GRADE SCHOOL AND H.S. :

Worked on a family farm in Central Wisconsin for little or no pay. I was doing a man's job at age 13-14 years old ( driving a tractor, working in the fields, working around animals). If any of you guys have any pigs that need castration, PM me.

I've got my own teeth for that, don't want or need any help!

[MuggsyB]

I waited tables when I was 15 and 16 at Walker Bros Pancake house.  After that I had a landscaping job and then moved onto quality control at a woodworking warehouse which included a graveyard shift.  Needless to say it dissuaded me from ever having the 11-8 shift again even though I made some good coin. 

[JWags85]

In calling out Sybaris, realized I didn't even answer...

Babysat most of my teens.  Some of my peers found it odd cause that's a "girls job" but I loved it.  Had a really fun dynamic with a couple of families that actually appreciated a male babysitter (one had 2 boys that were terrors for female babysitters but had a tentative respect for a teenage guy, another had 4 kids and the youngest was a boy so they loved giving him a break from all the "girly stuff" with his sisters.)

Started caddying around 14, did it for a few years, eventually had 2-3 guys that played a couple times a month that I would carry for and didn't do the sitting around the shop thing, that was actually really fun and taught me a lot.

First summer out of college, worked landscaping/construction for the developer that was building my parent's house/neighborhood at the time.  Holy hell that sucked.  Beyond the 630 start time as an 18-19 year old, he had us do the crap he didn't want his more skilled teams doing.  Clearing stumps out of a small bit of woods that was being made into a wooded cul de sac for 2 weeks straight, digging post holes...into ground that was 50% gravel, cleaning the ground floor of an office building that had flood damage, clearing a field of every bit of rock or wood that was going to have a poured concrete slab for a building.  I'd like to say it taught me a lot, but it was just arduous.  Made even worse by the company father/developer's father showing up periodically to complain about work quality and say, no less than 15 times over the summer, what an amazing opportunity this was and we should be paying him for the lessons and experience...in 1000% seriousness and grumbling.

Last proper summer job, before starting internships, after sophomore year I worked at Milwaukee Country Club.  Brought on to work as a waiter in the Mens Locker Room, which was awful, I became friendly and trusted by the assistant GM and basically became a floater working at the snack bar, as a valet, special event staff, etc...  I'd pop in and valet during breaks the next few breaks after that.  Actually really enjoyed it, met great people, worked with some cool characters, and actually gained a lot inter-personally.  Was a no tipping club, which sucked, but free alcohol from excess orders the suppliers put in and other perks made up for it.

[Badgerhater]

Farm jobs in HS—baling hay, shelling corn, castrating pigs—plus helping my dad with carpentry projects.

First job in HS where I paid taxes—full service gas station — pumped gas, changed oil and did light car maintenance

College (not MU): General construction—concrete and steel.  Resident Assistant during school year

College (MU):  MU grounds crew where I fixed all the things the rest of the crew broke.  I was busy.

[muwarrior69]

Janitor at our local hospital during the summers (about 800 dollars for the summer).

At MU:

Worked the lower level desk at the Memorial Library on Saturday and Sunday evenings (20 dollars/weekend). Not a bad gig. No too many there on Saturdays so I essentially got paid to study.

Sang Tenor at the Presbyterian Church on 10th and West Wisconsin (40 dollars per month).

not bad money for the 60s.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

worked at a horse stable in Lincoln Park mucking stalls ,walking and brushing horses for free rides while in grammar school.  During  Marquette  years served as a court clerk, then two summers as a garbage man in Chicago

[Goose]

Worked every job in my Dad’s tannery. Aside from the physical work, I spent hours watching and listening to my Dad on the phone. Favorite memory, my Dad lost his entire company/building to a fire in Feb 1977 and had his most profitable month in March of that year.
He taught me how to be creative, leverage relationships and never give up. My Dad was my role model of the American Dream.

[Dickthedribbler]

It was back then. I was there after the orginal Wolf's Island restaurant + motel closed and the new restaurant and Sybaris opened. 

My brother was a bus boy and they made him to deliveries to the rooms.  He has stories.

95% of the time the Sybaris / restaurant clientele did not overlap.

What's it like to be so anti-Milwaukee?

Did you get stuck with cleaning the scum off the surface of the Sybaris room hot tubs. In those days there were 2 bodies of water in SE Wisconsin I wanted nothing to do with-----the Milwaukee River and the in-room spas at Sybaris, if you know what I mean.