What Was Your First Job?
January 22nd 2008 03:52
From trying to ply homegrown fruit by the roadside to shining shoes – I’d worked it all out – trouble was . . . no-one else seemed to bequeath their ‘hard earned’ to young Mr Nice Guy’s ‘How to Become a Millionaire Overnight” fund.
Unperturbed, I soldiered on – until one afternoon – while espousing some earth shattering 10-year-old view of the world to a perspective customer – it happened . . . I was made a job offer!
OK, so it wasn’t exactly full time work or anything – but back when 20 cents would buy you a decent sized bag of mixed lollies, a meat pie or an icy pole plus three more for your mates – an offer of $10 for an afternoon’s work, was – well, unheard of.
So, with a Tom Sawyer outlook – I enlisted the assistance of a friend – to whom I offered half the takings if he’d share the workload.
In essence – all we had to do was run errands – easy . . .
So the next day – we turned up at the house at the end of the street (how innocent – and potentially gullible - were we back then) only to be given five envelopes each along with a surname (always Mr) and local addresses.
Deciding it was better to work in tandem – we rode our bikes to each address and dutifully delivered each envelope to Mr Such and Such or simply left it in their letterbox.
After around 3 hours – we were finished and reported back whence we were paid our agreed $10.
. . . if only we’d known.
Years later it came to pass that the old man up the road was in fact an SP bookie – who quite often used kids to delivery the proceeds from the track – to avert suspicion.
A neighbour – who until then believed the elderly gentleman to be simply a favourite amongst the kids in the area later learned the truth as well and reported him to the relevant authorities.
But the excitement of that first job will live forever.
And what did we do with our ‘ill gotten gains’.
I guess that’s another post altogether.
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Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
When I was about seven I set up a stall out the front of our house and sold my brothers' toys. It seems I wasn't as sweet as you!
Then when I was thirteen I got a job doing office admin in the holidays, then a year later I started work in a store. My first real pay was a cheque for a couple hundred dollars (the school holidays work) and I couldn't believe how much money it was!
Mich
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
Selling your brothers toys!
That's sooooo you
Surprised you didn't want to sell your brother as part of the deal.
MNG
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
Early on I ran a private library with quite stringent overdue fees...
Later on at 14 and a bit, my first real job after school, was Thursday nights and Saturday mornings in the doughnut shop at Eastlakes, Sydney. The joy of it was not only money - which seemed irrelevant - to the bags of unsold doughnuts I got to take home on Satruday afternoons.
Yummo...
*lol* the intersting thing now is, I couldn't eat a doghnut if you paid me!
Lilla ...
Ps your story reminds me of a girlfriend of mine who was told she could work out in the country collecting special moon dust. The job description involved donning a leather jacket and running through the dope fields at night, making the heads of the plants bash the jacket, collecting the pollen that became hashish. Apparently, they later scrape the jackets to collect the putty-like substance...*lol* It sounds so weird, I've always wondered who was lying and who was telling the truth?
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
As for your girlfriend - I'm lost for words - but suddenly feeling very hungry
MNG
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Mis
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
Blessed are the nursery workers . . . .
MNG