Thursday, February 20, 2020

Throwback Thursday - First Job

This old post from Saturday, February 16, 2008

In keeping with ripping off Erica's ideas for blog fodder, this week five things learned from the first job I had.

1. The day after my 16th birthday, Ma told me I had to get a job. She had already made arrangements for me to see the neighbor across the street. He sold to retail artificial floral arrangements. I went to talk to his wife. She said they needed some help, offered to drive me to the factory to check it out. She said it was a dirty place and I might not like it there. I told her it didn't matter whether I liked it or not. Ma said I had to have a job. First lesson, when the big boss tells you to do something, you jump to it.

I actually loved working at the factory. The company was small and employed 7 people. They were a great bunch to work with. The boss, George, treated us very well. I learned how to make artificial floral arrangements, bows, how to pack boxes for shipping and other life skills.

2. One of the first arrangements I learned how to make was done using a small (size of your palm) ceramic planter in the shape of a swan The arrangement took 2 flowers at the shoulder, two at the hip and one up the butt. The space in the middle was filled with a filler flower, babies' breath, statice, forge-me-not, or other tiny flowers. The type of flowers and bow colors followed the seasons. , oranges, golds, and browns for the Fall and Thanksgiving, reds and greens for Christmas, pastels for Spring and Easter. One day, I was told 700 of these little arrangements were needed to fill an order. The first 25 were fun to make. After that, the task got old pretty quickly. Lesson learned: sometimes we have to do things that are boring and we don't like.

3. We worked in an old factory building. One area had been partitioned off for a retail sales area. George would sell floral stems, tape, colored pots, etc. to do it yourself crafters. My job on Saturdays was to open and man the retail area. For some reason I was not given a key to the building, so the only way to get in, was to walk across the sloping metal roof to crawl through a second story window. It wasn't bad in dry weather, but was a little dicey in wet or icy weather. I'd like to think the lesson learned was confidence and a sense of adventure. I should have learned assertiveness to tell him I ain't walking across the roof.

4. We had to spray paint 4, 6, and 8 inch plastic pots in seasonal colors. Lesson learned: there is a reason for the warning to do this in a well ventilated area. Always turn on the big fan!

5. I was paid $1.65 per hour which was minimum wage back then. I saved up my money and when I had enough, I bought a pair of Frye cowboy boots. Lessons learned: financial independence, saving for something gives you time to really decide if you really need the item. Those boots were cool, even if I couldn't find a pair like just like Heath's.

What was your first job?

23 comments:

  1. Ah the memories of our first ever job. Mine was at a supermarket - Saturdays only. Whilst studying.

    God bless.

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  2. My first job was lifeguard at the local swimming pool. We worked 6 days a week, from 9 to 8. We worked 30 minutes at one lifeguard stand, then went inside to sell tickets and clean the showers with bleach. Next 30 minutes was other lifeguard stand and baby pool, then finally, we "manned" the concession stand for 30 minutes. I got one free hour a day. I usually taught private swimming lessons or diving lessons during that time. I was a real entrepreneur back then. I got paid a whopping $300.00 for 3 months while the pool was open. Seemed like a lot then. I did this from my freshman to sophomore year, sophomore to junior year, and junior to senior year. We had to be recertified every year before we could be hired.

    Speaking of flower arranging, and boring jobs, one year I made a floral bouquet for a friend to use on Mother's Day. Several people asked if I would make one for them. I decided I could do that, and charged $2.00 for two flowers, or $3.00 for three flowers. There were silk leaves and baby's breath, as well as tulle, ribbon, and carnation essential oil. All was wrapped in covered wire. When I delivered them, people started ordering them. I had more orders than I should have filled. I made them on the way to work (I worked in another town 30 miles away) and wrapped wires, tulle, ribbon, or baby's breath while I was driving down the highway in the morning and on my way to class in another town in the evening. I'm surprised I didn't end up in a ditch somewhere (grin). By the time I finished all the orders, which included several boutonnieres, and four weddings, I stopped making flower arrangements. To this day, I have to be in a mood to arrange flowers.

    Lessons learned. Don't take on more than you're willing to deliver, or you'll work day and night meeting the high demands of the job. Charge what you are worth, not what you think people will expect to pay.

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    1. Charging what you are worth (or 2 to 3 times what your materials cost) is the valuable takeaway.

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  3. Does a babysitting co-op with two neighbor friends count? If not, then it was the 'usual' grocery store cashier. ;)

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  4. This was interesting to read. But wow for walking across the roof to get in. That sounded very dicey in any kind of weather. My first job paid minimum wage. Most / all of what I earned was used to pay for college (which also required taking out student loans, to pay for it).

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    1. Yeah, not bright walking across a second story roof. Always wondered how I would explain things to the police if I ever was caught.

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  5. That sounds like an interesting job. It makes life so much better when your boss is reasonable and your co-workers congenial.

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    1. It might have spoiled me to think all workplaces were like this.

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  6. It's always good to earn your own money, and an important lesson to learn. My first job (at 14) was working in a bakery, and I got bread to take home, too. Valerie

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  7. My comment just disappeared and I wasn't done

    anyway - fascinating to read about the artificial flower arranging. Love those boots.
    My first job was on a factory line putting together color TV wires on a chassy ...and they would come fast and furious down the line and i had to do my wire thing really quick ..I last about three months. This is where I first starting smoking - i would go to the break room and this older lady (I was 18)... would offer me a Tarryton and I would smoke it and get dizzy.. Hmmm I thought...not sure i like the dizziness but she said it would go away in time and it did and i became a hooked cigarette smoker for 40 years. I'm am now this year nearing December 10 years free of nicotine. anyway... i didn't last long and eventually went to a second job which was for the telephone company 'filing' papers of all things - how biring. your story was really interesting

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    1. I've been having issues with Blogger today. For some reason pages are taking an unusually long time to load. So you begin typing and then the page loads and your comment is gone.

      When I worked at the hospital, everyone smoked. Most of the people in my group smoked. Like you, I was young, tried it, but it didn't do anything for me so I never took it up.

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  8. Love those boots! I bet you can still make a mean arrangement, something I'm a complete failure at. Though, I don't think I'd want to go across the roof for the point of entry to the workplace. What were they thinking?

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    1. I think they were thinking: We won't have to spend money on having a key made and what could possibly go wrong? 😺 I was lucky. Isn't the saying God watches over drunks and fools?

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  9. Love the picture of the ropers. Are those the style you bought?

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  10. My first job was babysitting and I got a dollar an hour. It shocks me now how expensive a babysitter is. But my first payroll job was working for the Youth Conservation Core doing trail work and all kinds of things like that over in Spencer. It wasn't a bad job, but it wasn't the best job I ever had. But I did have a pair of Frye boots just like those in the photos, and they were so cool. I wish I still had them now, even though they would probably be pretty beat up by now. Hope it was a good day. Hugs-Erika

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    1. I bet you know my good friend, Lambie. She grew up in Spencer. Her father and later her brother ran the airport.

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  11. Interesting post.
    My first job was babysitting …

    All the best Jan

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    1. I babysat once or twice. Not my favorite thing to do.

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  12. You had to go across a metal roof and enter through a window??
    My first job was working at a movie theatre. I lasted one night! LOL!

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