Your First Job

[Packman41]

While in high school in the mid 1960s I pumped gas and did small repairs [[tire punctures, oil change, lubes) at a Texaco station for $1.15 per hour.

During college [[late 1960s) I worked as a non-destructive materials testing technician at Magnaflux in Oak Park, MI. Eventually became qualified to x-ray test underground gas pipelines, aircraft wings and aerospace parts - started at 2.75 per hour and in 4 years worked my way up to $4.15 per hour. That was big money in those days, especially with overtime. Took a pay cut to have my first professional position after graduation.

[birwood]

Aside from delivering newspapers, the Detroit News 5 Star Final, I worked as a jumper for one of my neighbors who had the neighborhood Twin Pines milk route. Jack would pick me up about 5am and work till 9:30am, 5 days a week, then on Saturdays we worked till we finished usually around noon, but we would go to the dairy on Lyndon, load the truck then head out. I did this thru part of my Sophmore and all of Junior year at Mackenzie because I was able to get late classes 5th thru 9 hr. I couldn't get late classes as a Senior. He paid me cash too, $30.00 later $35.00 a week. The next job was USAF 1968-1972.

[56packman]

Blueidone--the Gateway, at 1,400 seats would in no way be the largest theatre in Michigan in 1966. Almost every house downtown exceeded that number, as did several in the neighborhoods. The late, lamented Mai-Kai in Livonia [[1963) seated 1,700.

[56packman]

My first job was at the grand River Drive-In on Grand River [[where else?) in Farmington, working the concession stand. At age 16 my life-long problems with math caught up with me, I could not add the items a customer wanted up in my head, let alone make proper change, so that didn't last long.
The next job was as a projectionist at the "Ritz" Studio 8 theatre in Oak Park and the Studio 4 in Birmingham, that lasted about two years, until the Studio 4 closed, to become a sports car dealership [[again, that building had been everything since the 20s when the shell of the building was built) and the 8 "changed policy"--but that's another story all together.

[douglasm]

Selling shoes at Baker's Shoes in Northland, 1965. Harvey Fescorn was the store manager. I was in the Distributive Ed program at Ferndale High. Little did I know that that job as a high school senior would lead to a 30 year career in retail.

[Jimaz]

Delivering The Detroit News. Winters were brutal, deadly.

[eno]

My first job was as an usher at the Beverly Theater on Grand River. I had to do work like taking tickets, changing the marquee to show which films were currently playing, adjusting the curtains to fit the screen size, dealing with unruly customers, etc. All this for less than $1 per hour. I'm not complaining. It was good experience.

By the way, I remember that Good Houskeeping store on Library street. I bought my first component stereo system there in the 70s. As I recall, I paid for it in installments. Lost it in a burglary before I'd finished paying for it.

When were you working at the Beverly? That was my fave movie theater in the late 50s for the Saturday matinees.

[Ray1936]

Wow...the Detroit Times...not that's something I haven't heard anybody talk about on DetroitYes!

Actually, there has been quite a bit in years past. A poster, Jjaba, used to also have a Times route at the same station I was at, and we chewed the rag quite a bit over days gone by. Haven't seen a Jjaba post for at least a year now, though. Perhaps he got run over by the Dexter bus.

[ordinary]

Pumping gas at Vernor and Parker back in the '70s.

EastsideAl,
You were a petroleum transfer engineer.

My first job: Independent carrier salesman. [[Detroit Free Press carrier)

[DetroitPlanner]

I delivered papers for the Metro Shopping News. I had several blocks around Cody High School. I was probably about 11 at the time and made $2 a week! I then caddied for several years at the Dearborn Country Club and worked a few retailers in Fairlane.

I then got into College and worked for Metropolitan Hospitals which had locations on Woodrow Wilson and Tuxedo as well as Joy Rd out by Inkster.

By the time I was in my early 20's I had enough quarters to collect SSI. I sure am going tobe mad when I turn 67 in 25 years only to find out I'm not getting any!

[Tractor75]

For the city of Dearborn - a Junior Leader at Ford Woods Park 1973.

[FredGarvin]

Bus boy and dishwasher at Big Boy at Allen Rd and Southfield in Allen Park. Worked there for about 6 weeks until a relative got me into Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. Worked 2 summers at their recreation center at Allen Rd and Oakwood in Melvindale, and 1 summer at the Noble Street station behind Carl's Chop House.

[mbshan]

Mine was at TG & Y in Novi. This was during the late 70's. I made $2.30 an hour and i still have that pay stub.

[English]

First job? Well, 1948, delivering the Detroit Times. Think I made seven bucks a week as I recall.

So totally cool! My grandfather was a Detroit Times paperboy in the early 1920s...

[English]

My first job with a bonafide payroll check was at the Richard Branch Library in the fall of 1992. I had just turned 15. Student library assistant... came home with a bad math grade first quarter cardmarking, and that was the end of my gig [[but the beginning of a lifelong love for the Detroit Public Library!).

I wish I remember how much I made. All I know is that my dad charged me rent and took HALF of each paycheck. My parents never charged me quite so much ever again, but I was always expected to contribute something to the household expenses if I was working. They taught me early that there are no free rides in life.

Next job was at the Marti Walker boutique [[sp?) at Wonderland Mall in the early summer of 1994. I hated everything about selling clothes -- everything! -- so when I was called by New Detroit for a summer youth internship program, I gave my two weeks' notice immediately. I don't think that my fashionable manager was sorry to see me go!

I worked for New Detroit for the rest of summer '94. Then, New Detroit placed me in the Federal Courthouse in the summer of '95. Both years, I worked in accounting. [[My original intended major in college and career interest was accounting/finance.) I'm pretty sure the mininum wage then was a little less than $5 per hour... it was $4 something. To this day, I'm so grateful to New Detroit [[and the Clinton administration) for those youth jobs programs. I believe that it was one of many factors that led to the drop in urban crime as we headed to the turn of the millennium.

In the mid to late nineties, I was a "Kelly girl" during summers home from college. I'll never forget when the Kelly people told me that I was going to make $10 per hour. I couldn't believe it -- I thought I was rich!

[12468_laing]

My first job was a bus boy at Kavan's Colony East about 1973-1974.

[Gistok]

Blueidone--the Gateway, at 1,400 seats would in no way be the largest theatre in Michigan in 1966. Almost every house downtown exceeded that number, as did several in the neighborhoods. The late, lamented Mai-Kai in Livonia [[1963) seated 1,700.

56packman, I have no doubt that the building manager that Blueidone worked for exaggerated the seating count to make it sound [[to his employees) that the Gateway was indeed the largest theatre in Michigan, probably to make his staff seem proud of their workplace.

Mercifully the downtown theatre owners NEVER exaggerated their seating counts.....

LMAO... actually [[as 56packman already knows)... the downtown theatre owners [[especially John Kunsky and William Fox) were NOTORIOUS for overstating their theatre counts by nearly 1000 seats in some instances.

Here's some downtown theatre counts... supposed versus actual...

Capitol Theatre......4,250 seats.... actually 3,384 seats. [[Kunsky)
Michigan Theatre...4,500 seats.....actually 4,050 seats [[Kunsky/Publix)
Fox Theatre...........6,000 seats.....actually 5,048 seats [[Fox)
Fisher Theatre.......3,500 seats.....actually 2,975 seats [[Kunsky)

.... and speaking of jobs... my first job was at age 16 as Bagger at Chatham #8 at Morang & Kelly in Detroit. I believe Nixon was our president at the time...

[eno]

1571 seats is the capacity of Kunsky's Redford Theatre rather than the claim of over 2000 seats

[Gistok]

1571 seats is the capacity of Kunsky's Redford Theatre rather than the claim of over 2000 seats

Eno... did you verify that the sign in the lobby didn't include the balcony seating? The Theatre Historical Society booklet on Detroit Theatres mentions the Redford's original seating as 2,000.

But in recent years they may have redone the main floor seats to spread out the aisles somewhat, with fewer seats... so that 1571 may be correct now.

[JohnnyFreddy]

I always worked for my father after school in whichever Dental Laboratory
he happened to be working in [[there were many). General cleaning, replenishing
supplies, whatever. My pay was "You have food on your plate don't you."
"A roof over your head."
My first job on my own accord, right after graduating High School, was working
as a phone canvasser for a 'basement stop leak system' or some such.
It was alright. I don't remember the pay, but in 1977 it couldn't have been too
much, especially for that line of work. I really only worked there for about
4 hours. My bosses were a husband and wife, the wife being extremely
attractive. She kept complimenting me on my phone skills, and after about 2 hrs.
she suggested I become the 'phones manager', which would entail MANY more
hours and higher pay. She was kind of hovering over me, and smiling a lot.
I immediately told her yes, I would do it. Hey, I was 18 yrs. old, and she was really cute, in her early twenties it seemed.
Her husband quickly took her aside and a heated argument ensued.
He then let me know that I would henceforth be canvassing door-to-door.
And that I would be able to 'work my way back up' to my previous pay.
I had only been working there for 4 frikkin' hours....and already a promotion,
a raise, a demotion, and a pay decrease!!!!
I got out of there as fast as possible!!!
That was pretty wild.

[56packman]

We never claimed that the Redford seated 2000, the original capacity was in the neighborhood of 2000, adjusted for 1920s ballywhoo. When we took the building over the seating was at 1495, the projectionist union made a rule in the 1950s that if you had over 1500 seats you had to have two union men in the booth on weekends. The Goldberg Brothers [[Community theatres) fixed that by having enough seats removed so that the count was 1495. We added those seats back in 1980 when the Toledo library gutted their auditorium from their main branch, we transported those seats and installed them on the bare "steps". The count is 1571 after our $270,000 partial re-seating done in 2003. The original seats were much narrower and crammed together, the seats we removed and scrapped in 2003 were from the 1950 re-seating, also when the current marquee was added.

[upinnair]

Rub-A-Dub hand car wash on Meyers and Santa Maria. 50 cents per car. 1980 to 1982.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

Fairfax Market in Grosse Pointe Park on the corner of Beaconsfiefd and Fairfax. It was around 1979 or '80 and I was about 15. The owner, Gus had known our family since I was 5 years old as my mom had been shopping there since the 60's. It was/is an old time market that delivered groceries, had a great little deli and old wooden floors. Gus' partner John used to make me the best sub sandwich for lunch. I was a stock/delivery/sweep/mop up boy. The Market is still open with Gus and Rita getting up there in years and every time I'm in town visiting family I take my kids in there for some Swedish fish and a hearty hand shake from Gus.

[Vic_doucette]

Worked for the Southfield Parks & Recreation Department circa 1972 for $1.25 an hour as part of their "Teen Scene" staff. We put on films, concerts/dances/coffeehouses, ran the poolroom -- anything teen-oriented.

I hadn't been in that building in 30+ years until 2004, when we had a few meetings there concerning The Miracle League of Michigan, an all-volunteer baseball league for special-needs kids I help run. We have a rubberized, wheelchair-accessible diamond a few hundred yards from the P&R building. Last year we had about 400 kids play with us, all with physical or developmental issues that would keep them out of a traditional Little League program.

We're registering players now for our upcoming season. If you know someone aged roughly 4-20 who could benefit from such a program, send them to www.michiganmiracle.org. We'd love to have them in the league.

[EastsideQT]

Worked for the Southfield Parks & Recreation Department circa 1972 for $1.25 an hour as part of their "Teen Scene" staff. We put on films, concerts/dances/coffeehouses, ran the poolroom -- anything teen-oriented.

I hadn't been in that building in 30+ years until 2004, when we had a few meetings there concerning The Miracle League of Michigan, an all-volunteer baseball league for special-needs kids I help run. We have a rubberized, wheelchair-accessible diamond a few hundred yards from the P&R building. Last year we had about 400 kids play with us, all with physical or developmental issues that would keep them out of a traditional Little League program.

We're registering players now for our upcoming season. If you know someone aged roughly 4-20 who could benefit from such a program, send them to www.michiganmiracle.org. We'd love to have them in the league.

Thanks for the info...some friends just moved to Southfield...they have a 13 year old...I'll send them the link.