re: #400 HappyWarrior

My first job was back in 2003 when I was just over 16 years old. IT was 5.50 a hour, just above the minimum wage. It was bagging groceries in and outside the store right in the middle of the fall and early winter.

I used to take care of infants and small children for 50 cents an hour. I was 11, 12, and 13. When I was 14 I raised my rate to 75 cents. When I was 15, I didn’t want to do it any more, so I raised my rate to $1, and the calls quit coming.

My first on-the-books job was for minimum wage, $1.93 an hour (1975, I think). Again, taking care of children, at a day camp. They weren’t much younger than me.