My main teen job was a nurses aide at a nursing home. My mom was the DON so she talked me into it. And then at 5 am when they called because someone wasn’t coming in, she’d volunteer me. It was really pretty difficult starting at 5:30 or 6 am, cleaning up poop, lifting, spending full days in a hot steamy bathing room, etc. but it had its good parts too. I did that from 15-21.
Good thread - my 14 year old wants to get a job!
Me-
babysitter, math tutor (great money per hour), pool cashier, lab assistant (college), hotel phone reservations, and manual labor temp the summer after college graduation (I guess I was 21 that year, not under 21). That was actually the worst of all of them, except I liked the flexibility. But the actual jobs were horrible. The absolute worst was working on the floor of a factory that made styrofoam buckets. I only did that job for one day and refused to go back.
My oldest kid has done babysitting and cat-sitting and worked retail for 3 different big chains. Middle kid (17) has never worked. Youngest is thinking of applying to McDonalds.
Started working at 15, for $3.35/hour.
- maintenance/landscaping/janitorial
- house painting (exterior)
- deli
- tutoring SAT
- cafeteria server
These are all before I was 18. I got a TA job in college when I was 19 or 20.
Lots of babysitting from age 11 on, then at 16 got a job in a restaurant kitchen. Got fired 3 weeks later when I suggested to that manager that he not bother training me to do carryout orders–because I had applied for another job and probably wouldn’t be around long. He told me to get the hell out then and there! Fortunately, I did get the other job as a swichboard operator/receptionist at a car dealer. I also worked as a secretary for an industrial parts supplier. I worked 42 hours a week while I went to school part-time in 12th grade, saving all $ for college. In college I worked in the dining halls–checking IDs, preparing/serving food, washing dishes. Also did ESL tutoring and babysitting. Summers I worked at an amusement park, operating rides and sweeping up trash. Of all those jobs, sweeping trash at the amusement park (Cedar Point) was honestly my favorite.
Some of my kids’ jobs were in restaurants, a warehouse, dental office, movie theater, babysitting, daycare, nanny, maintenance crew at college, vet’s office
Gymnastics Coach on and off for six years, my favorite job during that age range
Babysitter (hated it)
Youth Conservation Corps two summers, hardest job ever but so fun! I made $2.85/ hour I think
Fast food
Lifeguard
Various work study jobs: driver, TA/paper grader, data entry, tree planter for research project.
My mom got me my first job in high school through a friend - punching FORTRAN cards in the computer lab at the state university. The summer before college I worked at a movie theater - I could time the exit checks so that I eventually I could see all parts of each movie. The next two summers I worked at Dairy Queen, eventually tiring of hot fudge (switched to strawberry) and french fries (switched to onion rings). We were allowed to eat all we wanted, and we had fun creating elaborate shakes (this was long before the invention of the Blizzard). I can still make a perfect twist on a soft serve cone.
DH’s most interesting job was working in a Twinkie factory.
During college I worked in the dorm mailroom sorting mail into the slots. I also waitressed - first at the Delta Restaurant Pizzeria- I quit at Thanksgiving when I couldn’t get time off; everyone else who had been there when I started had already quit. My second waitressing job was at the campus University Club, where I learned to debone fish. I also had to flame and carve Chateaubriand off a wheeled cart.
I babysat until I turned 16. Then I got a job as a busgirl in a local seafood restaurant. Over the next 7 years that became hostess, then waitress. I worked there until 2 weeks before I began teaching.
My kids:
- My son’s first job, the summer before he started high school, was with a local dog boarder. He fed, walked, and cared for the dogs. When he turned 16 he got a job in the dairy department of a small local supermarket. He quit that last summer to focus on the EMT class he was taking. Just before Christmas he started working part time at Applebees while continuing to attend school.
- My older daughter got a job at a local Italian Ices place after her freshman year of high school. Five seasons later, she'll return there on spring break. She has also worked in a local bakery and hostessed at a diner. She'll be doing work study at Residence Life this semester.
- My younger daughter got a job at the same Italian Ices place last season. This winter she's also baby sitting 3 afternoons a week.
@washugrad, my son got a job at 14 as a page in a public library. He shelved books in 2- or 3-hour shifts a few days a week. You might want to see whether such opportunities are available in your community.
Myself:
Babysit - not my favorite
house cleaning - hated it
Office work - in college (work study) and at my father’s work place.
Typing in college - I used to type student’s papers, I charged $1/page if I had more than 2 days to get it done, and it was $3/page if it was the night before. I also typed for few school’s newspapers and I got paid by inch (good, easy money).
My kids didn’t work when they were in high school.
D1: girl Friday for a very busy woman executive freshman summer. She also tutored few students from her high school around their midterm and finals. It worked well for her because it was always around her winter break and beginning of her summer break. While in college she worked in an office, TA and a ballet instructor.
D2: worked at many legal/non profit organizations to build up her resume for law school. She also worked at a publishing company over a summer. The funny thing is people she has met at those professional organizations ended up asking her to babysit their kids after she left work (maybe because she was so responsible at work 
). Now she is in law school, she is doing babysitting for some of those people. It’s paying for most of her living expenses. When she was in college she worked in an office to help students do volunteer work around the world.
Yikes, I remember that $3.35 minimum wage!
Me – waitress (did not get minimum wage because of tips), from summer after high school through college.
Son 1: restaurant and server jobs first two summers of college (great tips!), then unpaid internships . . . .
Son 2: camp counselor in high school and in college, plus on-campus job, now on the hunt for first “real” job this summer.
Lifeguard
Swim Instructor
Bacon Factory line worker - One college summer I decided I wanted a “real job” like many of my friends. Bad idea. I made more money that summer than I ever had before but it was 12+ hour days, 6 days a week, in a cold, smelly, greasy factory. The upside is it is a great story to tell and is a reference point for anyone thinking of dropping out of school/college; try it for a summer and see if that is what you want to do for the next 40 years.
Commercial after hours janitorial service
County road maintenance
Ok, here goes.
From 11, babysat other people’s kids.
Age 14, summer clerk typist for state agency—awful in having to correct each sheet of paper with correct color of correction fluid — canary, goldenrod, green, blue, pink, onion skin, and original. Convinced me that I was terminal for clerical jobs.
Age 15, summer telephone operator at hotel in Waikiki—better job and convinced me I never wanted to work in travel industry—I wanted nights, holidays, weekends off
Age 16-18, after school supervision of school kids, light homework assistance, various sales summer jobs: shoes, jewelry, clothes.
Age 19-21, summer recreational leader at parks (day camp), summer research assistant for attorney general’s office, summer law clerk for a judge
during school year campus work study jobs—checking names of folks eating in cafeteria, restarting honor societies for associate provost, working in library of my college major, typing papers for people for pay, unpaid undergrad teaching assistant
My kids
S—summer science aide, buying & reselling items on Amazon and other sites, research assistant as engineering student
D—transcribe interview about slack key guitar documentary, work for public broadcasting station, help film lectures & plan events on college campus
My other summer gigs for some reason did not end in the post. Worked at a commercial bakery one summer. Like @iaparent, made decent money but it was back breaking! And the heat!!! At least it smelled nice. Also did some odd jobs like babysitting (hated!) and weeding.
Banquet server is a good job for young people. No tips but it usually pays around $12 per hour depending on your location. Unlike waitressing you wouldn’t get sent home early if there are few customers or asked to stay past your assigned shift if it is busy.
I hated baby sitting. I had some jerk clients that shorted my pay rate because little Johnnie took a nap while he was in my charge.
I didn’t work a lot while in school and college, but I had a couple of very enjoyable summer gigs as a worker on an archaeological dig.
Me:
6th - 8th Grades: Paperboy
11th - 12th Grades: Worked at a men’s clothing store at the mall
At college: Taught gymnastics to kids on weekends
Every college break: Worked for a beer company…
…and I never left. I’ve worked there ever since. It will be 30 years in June.
S1:
10th - 12th Grades: Soccer referee = $50/hr (ended up with over $10k in the bank)
Summer before college: Worked at the same beer company I do.
Every college break: Will work at the beer company(until internships are necessary)
S2:
Getting certified to ref soccer next month.
Babysitting ( only a few times- not my thing)
Clerk at a small family owned pharmacy
Spent a summer working in a factory
Placed marketing flyers on doors
Waitressing/ hosting at Howard Johnson’s
Best job was in the pharmacy. My neighbors were the owner and great people to work for.
Worst was the factory. I spent the entire time thinking “ I am so staying in college “.
Yes, I worked in a sewing factory - folded laundry bags.
Worked at a restaurant - cashier and waitress.
All of those bad memories coming back to me.
Oddly, though, @oldfort, not everyone’s memories of their early jobs are bad. And those jobs don’t necessarily motivate kids to go to college.
My son worked in a party goods store during his last year and a half of high school. He enjoyed it. The people were mostly nice, and the job was varied. He might spend all of one shift blowing up helium balloons, but the next shift he would be doing something else. And because most of the employees were female and he was quite willing to take on tasks that involved lifting heavy boxes, he was well liked.
I was annoyed with him that year because he didn’t apply to a true “sure thing” safety school. But he was unconcerned. He figured that if he wasn’t admitted to any colleges, he could go full-time at the store and reapply the next year to a different set of colleges. And he knew he wouldn’t mind that. I would have minded because I was worried that he would drift into long-term work in retail and never go to college, but he was fine.
Teen docent at a nature preserve…gave private tours to lots of celebrities most notably touring country, rock, heavy metal bands.
The octogenarians who ran the program were afraid of the “show business types” so I would get the call.
To a person…they were very nice people who wanted some stillness, a quiet respite an moments of privacy…it was their minions/ hangers on who acted like divas…