Did you have a job as a teenager?

@1creekgirl (40767)
United States
March 29, 2024 6:25pm CST
I hate to say it, but the only paying job I had was one summer when we were visiting my grandparents in NC ( just down the road from where we live now) and I worked in a tobacco field a few days. Well, thank goodness I didn't have to actually work in the field. That was a hot, exhausting job for the guys. They primed (picked) the tobacco onto a cart driven by a tractor down between the rows. Then the cart was pulled up under a semi covered barn where I was one of the handers. I picked up three or four leaves and handed them to a looper who used tobacco twine to twist a certain amount of bunches onto a long stick. Those sticks were later hung up inside the barn to cure. Let me tell you, bacca gum was the nastiest and hardest mess to ever get off your hands at night! But for some young teen girls (I think I was about 14) to be chased by a teenaged boy with a fat tobacco worm was the best part of the day! Although we squealed with pretend fright. The job didn't pay much, but it was the next best thing to a date.
15 people like this
15 responses
@kareng (56088)
• United States
30 Mar
I did a lot as a teen. At 12 I worked in State Program that paid min. wage. We were assigned to a school in our parish and you were assigned a duty. I worked in the office and helped with summer registrations, filing, etc. I did that for several summers. It was fun. Then in high school, I worked at major department store during the holidays in the gift wrapping department. We had a very strict supervisor and she was good for forming good habits. I did that for two years. Next was part time job after school my Junior year. I lucked up on a job at a brand new branch of industrial safety wear company opening in Baton Rouge. I became the Office Manager when I graduated from high school and an office assistance was hired to help me. He was a high school student working after school. I ended up moving to inside sales and the guy doing inside sales was moved to the warehouse. Loved that job. I quit when I got married several years later. I also worked as a DJ my Junior year and part of my Senior year. It was so much fun! But it was getting old working nights and working full time and then I had one job that was weekends and that was too much!!
2 people like this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
My goodness, you really worked a lot as a teen! Good for you.
2 people like this
@kareng (56088)
• United States
30 Mar
@1creekgirl My mother was going through menopause and I preferred to stay away.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
@kareng That's understandable, lol.
1 person likes this
@jnrdutton (2639)
• United States
30 Mar
My father helped set me up at a flea market booth, if you think that counts.
2 people like this
@jstory07 (134734)
• Roseburg, Oregon
30 Mar
Yes that counts. I helped my teens sell at the flea market all summer long. They did really good.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
Of course it counts! Every job has its own benefits.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (171916)
• United States
30 Mar
I worked as a teen but nothing fun like that .and not until I was older like 16-17.
2 people like this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
What kind of work did you do?
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (461776)
• Switzerland
30 Mar
I never worked as a teen while I still went to school, but I started my first job 2 months before turning 19, so yes, I worked as a teenager.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (461776)
• Switzerland
31 Mar
@1creekgirl - I was hired in a Financial office to translate documents from English and French into Italian. It is where I met my husband and we were married one year later.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
31 Mar
@LadyDuck What a wonderful romantic story!
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
What kind of job did you have?
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (208195)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Mar
Sounds like fun. Courting is odd when one is 14 or 15.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
It's The Dance.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (208195)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Mar
@1creekgirl I wish I had liked dancing when I was young.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (208195)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Mar
@1creekgirl I chased girls I liked with odd things when I was a young adolescent. It's just a part of life, I reckon.
@just4him (310047)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar
It sounds like a lot of work with some fun thrown in for good measure.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
@just4him Yes, He has risen! We would all be so lost if He hadn't!
1 person likes this
@just4him (310047)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
1 Apr
@1creekgirl Yes, we would. I hope you had a blessed Easter.
1 person likes this
@just4him (310047)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Mar
@1creekgirl It sounded terrible, but at least you had fun with the other kids. I'm glad he wasn't too. Happy Resurrection Day.
1 person likes this
@jstory07 (134734)
• Roseburg, Oregon
30 Mar
That sounds like a fun job. I loved children and watched them since I was 12 years old. I had all my jobs planned out and did really good. I had a lot of money save up when I was 16 years old and bought a really nice car that I used to go to work after high school.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
You were really a wise and hard working young woman!
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (74556)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
30 Mar
I did my best to get out of the city, So I always applied as camp counselor in Latvian summer camps in the Catskill Mountains of New York and once even in Canada,
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (74556)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
31 Mar
@1creekgirl yes they were. I worked with small children and enjoyed our nature walks that took me back to my childhood catching bullfrogs and then putting them back, Teaching them drawing and other things, There were also organized activities by the camp, Good times, And as a hungry growing teen plenty of good food since the little tykes did not eat too much,
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
31 Mar
Were those fun summers?
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (208195)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Mar
Later in life (I was 19 by then) I worked a a dishwasher at Many Glacier Hotel in Montana (during the Summer) and then returned to college where I was paid handsomely (something like $7/hour to tutor Statistics. Cha-ching!
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
You've had many jobs, haven't you.
@Morleyhunt (21748)
• Canada
30 Mar
As a teenager I picked fruit, strawberries,and cherries. I also frequently was called to babysit children of local school teachers.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
Did you like picking fruit or babysitting the best?
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
31 Mar
@Morleyhunt I've heard my husband talk about how hard it was planting and picking strawberries.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21748)
• Canada
30 Mar
@1creekgirl babysitting was easy money most of the time. Picking cherries was sort of fun…you met other kids and adults….picking strawberries was horrible. The sun was hot. The straw between the rows was scratchy and it was hard on the back.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (328039)
• Rockingham, Australia
30 Mar
I lived out on a farm so didn't have the chance to get a job as a teenager. I had to laugh at you being chased and pretending to be frightened. I've done the same myself. lol
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
It must be a universal girl/boy thing!
2 people like this
@JudyEv (328039)
• Rockingham, Australia
30 Mar
@1creekgirl I think so! lol
2 people like this
@LindaOHio (160128)
• United States
30 Mar
I was 14 when I got my first job at a library. I worked there through high school. It was one of my favorite jobs. I was paid $.70 per hour. The minimum wage at the time was $1.25.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
So, you've always loved books? I always wanted to work at a library or book store.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
31 Mar
@LindaOHio I knew we were kindred spirits! Have you been able to talk to your husband on the phone today? Happy Easter.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (160128)
• United States
31 Mar
@1creekgirl Yes, I got to see all the new books as they came in. Plus I loved just the smell of the books.
1 person likes this
@sarik1 (6792)
30 Mar
Never . i was studying in teenager time.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
Being a student can be a full time job.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (13549)
• Hong Kong
30 Mar
I've worked in a Hallmark store as a sales assistant when I was 17. It was a summer job.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40767)
• United States
30 Mar
Did you enjoy that? I think it would be a cool place to work.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (13549)
• Hong Kong
31 Mar
@1creekgirl I enjoyed the job very much and learned a lot.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (208195)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Mar
As a young teen, I got paid a dollar if I mowed the front lawn. I was scamming my parents, and never told them that I enjoyed mowing the lawn! My first album (bought with my riches) was Gordon Lightfoot's Summer Side of Life.
1 person likes this