Your First Job

[jackie5275]

I was a Patient Account Processing Clerk I, or PAPCI, pronounced pap-see at Pontiac General Hospital working in the lab. I pretty much did billing for patients' lab tests, called lab results to the floors, & told the phelobotmists about stat blood orders that got called in. It paid $3.35/hr which was the minimum wage at the time, which turned out to be the longest running min. wage amt of recent history. I worked the afternoon shift. Looking back it's kind of funny because we had about 20 staff working in a hospital lab, & I was one of 3 people of staff that was a non-smoker. Everyone else was lighting up all the time in the lab. Boy how times have changed.

[65memories]

First job was at Pep Lines Trucking, on 3rd at Sears in Highland Park, just west of the large Sears store on Woodward. 1964...worked in the office during the summer, filing, billing, getting orders ready...$1.25 an hour...thought I was rich. continued to work there through college.

[Magnatomicflux]

I was 14 and I made lead fishing lures. To be more accurate, I filed the "flash" off of the newly cast lures with a file. I then had to stick them, hook first into this peice of wood with grooves in it one after the other, and keep doing it fo 8 hrs. It was so hot in this place, it was very small but housed a smelter for the lead. But of course there was no fan in this place just two open doors, I passed out twice at the job. Anyways, after 1 week I had made 8763 peices. I opened my first cheque and saw that I made $87.63.
Never went back.

[Jimaz]

I was 14 and I made lead fishing lures.... Never went back.

Good decision. You probably saved yourself from lead poisoning!

[catch22]

First job was a Detroit News route I bought off my older brother when he got old enough to get a "real" job.

Second job was in the summer of 1969 as a gas-pump jockey at the Cherry Hill & Venoy Standard in Westland. Pumped gas, filled the vending machines, cleaned the rest rooms, provided the occasional extra pair of hands for the mechanic, all for a whopping $1.65/hour. Saved up enough cash to provide me spending money for my first year of college.

Summers during college I worked at the American-Standard plant on Tireman as a shear and punch press operator, mostly on the midnight shift.

After college, I took a job with the phone company while "exploring other opportunities" and never left until I retired from there almost 30 years later.

[jcole]

Gateway Theatre
Sterling Heights, MI
33870 Van Dyke, Sterling Heights, MI, United States [[map)
Status: Closed
Screens: Single Screen
Style: Unknown
Function: Unknown
Seats: 1434
Chain: Unknown
Architect: Unknown
Firm: Unknown
Opened in 1965 with the James Bond movie, "Thunderball", the Gateway was part of the Suburban Detroit Theatres chain, and could seat around 1430 in its auditorium.

Once the Showcase Cinemas opened nearby in 1974 with a then-rare five screens, business steadily fell off at the Gateway. It closed by the late 70s.

It was reopened in 1981 as a dance club called the Premiere Center, which has long since closed. Sometime after the club was closed, the entire building [[the marquee included) was painted black, for some unknown reason.

from cinematreasures.com

[Blueidone]

Thanks jcole...that answers that question!

[mikeinmotown]

I started baby sitting when I was 12 for 75 cents an hour. My first real job was in 1969 at the A&W Root Beer Stand on 12 mile in Berkley. It's still there. I worked the counter and even made tips. When I got paid, I'd walk to the Wayne Oakland Bank on 12 mile in Berkley and deposit $5.00 a week. Big money back then. Then stop at Kresges to sit at the counter and order an ice cream sundae. You would pick a balloon, pop it and pay the price that was inside. Good times.

[preserve]

Greenfield's on Griswold - $1.00 an hour

[Ray1936]

Lot of great posts and experiences in this thread! Thanks to all for posting; I've enjoyed reading every one. I think JohnnyFreddie had the most mysterious job; wonder what would have happened had he stayed at it? [[g)

[EastsideQT]

Lot of great posts and experiences in this thread! Thanks to all for posting; I've enjoyed reading every one. I think JohnnyFreddie had the most mysterious job; wonder what would have happened had he stayed at it? [[g)

Ray I initiated this post because I felt it was a good way for us to get to know each other better. I'm glad you are enjoying it. Many of the posts brought back a lot of really good memories about Detroit.

[drjeff]

I grew up in Jackson. My first job [[part time) was giving piano lessons at a local music shop. At the time, minimum wage was $3.35/hour and I was making $12/hour so it was pretty sweet. My first full time job was at Wolverine industries, which makes vinyl siding. I worked in blending and also on the packing line for 2 summers in college.

[SMRJim]

Like many back in the day I had a Detroit News route, 1973-1975. Route was in Rosedale Park, right near the park itself, on Scarsdale, Avon and Puritan. The station was in the alley just off Grand River and west of Southfield, behind where the old Chinese restaurant [[name escapes me) and Cartwheel bar were. A good friend also had a route at that station, we used to stop at Biffs after finishing our routes on Saturday and Sunday mornings and have breakfast. Christmas tips were great! After that I worked for the Police Officers Association of Michigan selling tickets for their annual fundraiser shows, did that for about a year.

[Sandhouse]

My first job was in the summer of 1970 as a stockboy at the downtown J.L. Hudson's, arranged by my father. That summer was split between being an errand runner in their 7th floor interior-decorating department, helping two very earthy seamstresses from downriver and a dozen less-than-masculine decorators; and the lamp stockroom on the 20th floor, with a fantastic view up Woodward.

This job required a shirt and tie [[something my current "professional" job does not), and paid $1.35 an hour. A year later the wage had risen to $1.50, and I worked in the shoe, clothes, and mattress stockroom in the third basement, next to the vast electric substation and the [[disused) pneumatic-tube change desk. This occasionally required riding the truck-sized freight elevator up through the store in its window-lit shaft facing Farmer Street - the Ren Cen didn';t have Detroit's first glass elevator. I've still got the signs from my dad's office, a mirror from the cosmetics department, and a couple "Selling is the biggest job we do!" pencils, as well as memories of that fantastic building.

By the way, was that YMCA at Gratiot and Harper the one with the meeting room decorated like a log cabin? I remember that from a Cub Scout event, and wonder where it was, and if it still exists.

[Ray1936]

Quote: "This job required a shirt and tie [[something my current "professional" job does not), "

That's a good point. My job at Fromm's Hardware in the early fifties demanded a white shirt and tie and no jeans. I never thought twice about it.

[oladub]

I sold the Sunday edition News and Free Press in front of the Woods Theater on Saturday nights. I could make up to $14 walking home by 1am. One group of customers would drive up and buy papers to get the latest horse race results. There was also a male prostitute who would be picked up and dropped off over the course of Saturday night. We would talk sometimes while waiting for our respective customers.

My first paycheck job at 16 was working for the Dewey S-- landscaping company on East Warren. Most of our jobs were in the Grosse Pointes. Hot work in the sun. One fellow employee was fired on the spot for drinking from a water spigot. The boss considered it bad form. Once when the boss was away, a black maid brought us out glasses of ice water with the instructions to drink it fast before her boss came back. I still appreciate her gesture. At the end of the day, we sat on the back of the company stake truck with our legs hanging off and enjoyed the breeze; our bodies depleted of energy.

[Kathleen]

Great thread!! I note a couple of folks whose path may have crossed with mine over on the east side since we ate Kavan's and shopped at Chatham's etc. Wonder how many of us crossed paths with other Forumers years back....

So...my first job with a regular paycheck...

For 6 weeks during the summer of '74 between my junior and senior years of high school, I worked at Westcott Paper Products, still located on the northwest corner of Cass and Amsterdam. A classmate had worked there the previous summer so I went with her when she applied to work again during the summer. I took the job, but I don't recall her working with us that summer.

Westcott did a lot of work for the auto industry, preparing and packaging materials for auto showroom displays. We basically worked on small assembly lines. For example, preparing pages of car upholstery and matching vinyl roof swatches. Or placing one particular piece of a display into a box and once all the pieces were in, folding the boxflaps in and running it through the machine that closed up the box.


It was a fun summer. There were lots of high school and college students employed. I carpooled from the east side with 3 or 4 college students, older siblings of grade school classmates. The job was 8-4:30, 30 minutes lunch, and two 10-minute breaks. The catering truck showed up at lunch and at breaks. We punched a clock, and we worked 6 days a week. $2.00 an hour. They didn't take taxes out, so I brought home $96 a week for six weeks. Socked it all away in the bank, since I was still babysitting a couple evenings a week and was able to live off that money. The following summer I used half of the money to buy my first car: 1966 Dodge Coronet.

I have fond memories of that summer. And I'm still in touch with one of my fellow employees. But I opted not to go back to the factory the next summer. I got a job in the housekeeping department at Bon Secours Hospital and worked there on weekends and filled in for the fulltimers when they went on vacation during the summer. Worked there for my first two years of college before getting a job in Purdy Library at Wayne State for my last two years of college. Upon graduation, I took a job at Gale Research where I've been employed now for more than 30 years.

[lizaanne]

1983 - I was washing dishes at the Fox and Hounds on the weekends in the upstairs banquet rooms. I worked my butt off there, just making minimum wage I believe. Hard hot work for a young girl working alone on parties of over 100 sometimes. I would get help with some of the really big parties, but for the most part I did it alone. In spite of all that, had a good time working with really fun people. So sad to see that place go, what a loss.

[grumpyoldlady]

My first job after graduating from Denby in '67 was as a sales clerk at J.L. Hudson at Eastland. I made a whopping $1.525 per hour... they made a point of telling us it was "a dollar and fifty-two-and-a-half cents" per hour. Was contingent and didn't get a lot of hours. As soon as I was hired by Ma Bell, it was "farewell" to my aching feet.

[rid0617]

First job was something not heard of now a days. A full service gas station. 1968 and earned a whole $1.60 an hour. Lived better on that $59 a week gross pay than I do not on police retirement.

[rid0617]

If anyone is old enough to remember my father's first job was 1951 working for Fred Mays Trim Shop on Mack Ave

[gnome]

My first job was picking strawberries, .07 cents a quart. I was six. Did that every summer til I turned ten, then started a lawn mowing concern. Had 32 yards and two Helpers when I gave it up for haberdashery work.

[xphillipjrx]

My first job was at Little Caesar's Pizza Station on Telegraph S. of 10 Mile. Mike and Marion Illich used to come in on Sundays for a meal. When the Wings got Petr Klima I think Caesars was one of the first meals he had in the US. I also worked at the one in Ann Arbor on South U when I went to college and I was Little Caesar two years during the Art Fair. Good Times.

[blindowl]

First job was in '72 at the Edmund Olds dealer on Campau, right across from Woody Pontiac. I thought it was great being a car porter, drivin' all those new cars. We used to have to cram 'em in that small lot, and I must say, we got to be pretty good drivers, not puttin' a dent in a car.

[reddog289]

I mowed lawns for other people besides the folks. Then in 9th grade I got a Free Press route.Which left me with left over papers in the pre recycleling days. Took them out to the trash.After 30 years I am still taking out the trash,The only job I ever had to not take out the trash was when I worked at a machine shop and my Uncle took care of the trash.Hell I could be CEO of Fords and I would still be pulling my trash bag and getting rid of it.