What was your first paying job as a teenager? I worked at a pizza joint, How about you??

[moniss]

64. I had worked full time hours+

on a farm from the time I was 11. I was a big kid from birth and even in 5th and 6th grade I was already almost 6 foot tall and weighed about 145. So when I was an actual teenager at 13 I was then a full 6 foot tall and I weighed about 155+. At that time my hours on the farm increased from about 45+ during the winter to about 85+ during the spring/summer/fall. Dairy and crops. My time was unpaid from 11 to 13 but once I hit 13 I got paid $1 per hour. No overtime. I used to work sometimes on farms for others too at the same time as the family farm during plowing, stalk chopping, haying etc. It just depended on who needed extra help.

I developed back trouble and joint problems by the time I was 15. Given the state of medicine at the time there was nothing corrective to be done other than quit and I wasn't allowed to do that. Big time upper back pain between my shoulders. Knees pretty well shot by the time I was in my early 20's. Some farm kids can work like that at a young age and it doesn't seem to affect them. I wasn't one of them.