Flashback Friday...
How old were you when you got your first (paying) job? Did you work during the school year? What stipulations, if any, did your parents put on spending, saving, etc.? What types of jobs did you have before you were, oh, 21 or 22? Did you go to college or a technical/trade school? If so, did you work while you were pursuing your post-high school education? What were your favorite -- and least favorite, if you wish to share! -- jobs? What did you learn from those early jobs?
Well... I spent most of my teenage years being a verrrrrrrry well paid babysitter! When other girls were making $2 - $2.50 an hour, MOST of my families were paying me $4-$5/hour! And I had 4 families that kept me booked up on Friday and Saturday nights for so long I might NEVER have dated had I not moved away the day after I graduated! Then I also had a "group" of families that paid me to watch ALL of their children together while they played golf on Saturday mornings ... through late afternoon. LOL! For that I was given $20/hour! Hey, I was 16-17 years old -- I hadn't learned how to NOT have patience yet! I loved kids and they loved me, and it was a winning situation for everyone involved! I had 8 kids between 1 and 7 years old and we had a blast!
But for SOME reason... I'll never fathom why... in the Autumn of my 16th year, I decided I should get "a real job". This was CRAZY because there was NO WAY "a real job" was going to pay me what I was making babysitting! But I guess I figured I could do this during the week, after school (although I had an after school babysitting job too...) and make even more money! I dunno. But I got a job working at People's Drug Store - behind the soda fountain. I hated that job! I hated the woman who ran the soda fountain. I hated the man who managed the drug store. And I hated the people who ate there who were NEVER satisfied no matter how hard you tried to please them! BUT... I was not a quitter! For sOMe reason (probably peer pressure!) I wanted a REAL job! I vividly remember that I had to give up SOME of my babysitting jobs to satisfy their work schedule -- and I sure didn't like that! THEY were only paying me minimum wage which was $1.60 at the time! AND taking taxes out of it! BUT... I was NOT a quitter! Soooooooooo needless to say... I was absolutely THRILLED when they put me on the schedule to work THANKSGIVING DAY! I knew... there was NO WAY this side of Heaven, that my mother was going to allow me to go to work on Thanksgiving Day! LOL! I told the woman I couldn't do it. She said "You'll do it." I told the manager "I can't do it." He said "You better." And so the day after Thanksgiving I went into work, and they said "You're Fired." And that was the END of my first "real job". I went back to babysitting... making the big money!
Now, the sad part about all this is, that when I graduated from high school 2 years later and moved out of my mother's house the next day -- and moved several states away -- I got my first REAL real job. The kind where you are dependent on it to pay the bills! By then the minimum wage had been raised to $2.10/hour and I was VERY fortunate fresh out of high school and NOT attending college to land a job paying a WHOPPING $3.25!!! I was a telecommunications clerk. That turned out to be a fancy schmancy name for mail clerk/telex operator! I LOVED that job! It was a great job! I got a little apartment - my rent was $450/month! You do the math! Overtime wasn't an option. My little apartment lasted about 4 months before I was starving and looking for a roommate! Boy, I wished I could go back to babysitting for a living! It doesn't work like that ... then it's called Day Care! Ya need a license and ya gotta pay taxes... it was a learning time of life... that's for sure!
posted by Melli at
10:26 AM
10 comment(s):
It always amazes me what people manage to make babysitting. I don't think I ever made more than $5/hour!
Grown-up life can be a rude awakening, huh?!
I remember the minimum wage being $2.75 and then a little over $3.00.
By
Mocha with Linda, at
5/14/2010 10:49 AM
I never babysitted. There were no small kids around, and I had never money problems either, I asked and I got what I wanted from my father who always was afraid that he would give less money to his daughter then his collegues, what a shame! He always had to be the "Greatest" I have to admit that was really very easy for me ! and as strange as it sounds, I even learned to handle money and am rather good in that.
By
Ingrid, at
5/14/2010 11:35 AM
our bumps and bruises help us become stronger, for sure.
:)
By
Skoots1moM, at
5/14/2010 12:20 PM
Wow, I'm impressed. I used to babysit for 50 cents an hour. (but then I'm an antique! Guess you didn't know what a sweet job you had till you got a real job.
By
Lazy Daisy, at
5/14/2010 1:16 PM
I never baby sat and can't even remember how much I made working as a kid. It's my world and welcome to it :)
By
Anonymous, at
5/14/2010 1:50 PM
I was highest paid babysitter in our neighborhood and kept a personal calendar on the wall by the telephone to record my jobs. I would be booked for weeks in advance. I loved the kids and the kids loved me - -which means their parents loved me. Plus I cooked and cleaned!
By
Charlene Amsden, at
5/14/2010 10:42 PM
I baby sat for the school director's daughter my senior year in the US. Can never remember numbers, how do you people with good memory do this? Mr Mar remembers all prices and fares, I just can't. I got minimum wage at my college's cafeteria serving breakfast.
((Thanks, Melli))
By
MaR, at
5/15/2010 2:54 AM
Oh the joys of babysitting!
Back in my teenage years I was not so concerned with right and wrong. I had one couple that I would baby sit for and they would go out and "Party" big time. There were occasions when they would pay me before I left then in the morning they would not remember that they had payed me and pay me again. I wish I had had the moral compass back them to do the right thing but sadly I took the money and thought I had hit the jack pot!
Have a great weekend
R
By
Robin Lambright, at
5/15/2010 10:00 AM
I used to baby-sit, but I don't remember at all what I made.
My first "real" job was at a new fast food place -- I only lasted a week. Even then I couldn't take the noise and confusion and commotion.
By
Anonymous, at
5/15/2010 10:37 PM
I've done some babysitting, never felt you got much money for all the time and energy.
By
Rose, at
5/16/2010 5:20 PM
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