re: What was your first real job in high school? Like where you had to clock in, etc.

Lot of Winn Dixie in this thread

Tiger concessions located at Gate 1 of Tiger Stadium. Football game days were brutal. But in the office during the week we had fun. Counted a whole lot of Snickers bars. Popped a whole lot of popcorn. Learn how to drive a Cushman.

Dorignac’s on Vets Blvd.

City Parks and Rec, at 13.

Back in 1984 if you were under a certain age (maybe 16?), employers weren't required to pay you minimum wage.

MW back then was $3.35 an hour (equivalent to about $10.60 today).

I think they paid me $2.50 an hour, if I remember correctly.

Billups gas station. Worked 12 hour shifts the summer of my freshman year in HS. Some night shifts too, it was open 24 hours a day. Filling up cabs full of soldiers heading to Houston for the weekend.

Bruno’s bag boy. On the weekends I would work 5-11 am and stocked the Bruno’s eggs, milk, and bread. During the week it was common to find the stoners in the milk freezer drinking the tea and smoking dope.

After that did landscaping.

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Gas was 24 cents a gallon

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I remember asking my dad, why he always gave the attendant $5 for gas...he said,
"That's how much it takes to fill it up"

I started work at a veterinarian as a vet tech in 1982. I was 17. This was before tech licensing laws, etc. Worked all summer for two summers, 5 1/2 days a week. First year I made $100 a week, got a raise to $125 the next year. Assisted in surgery/anesthesia, exams, large and small animals. Gelded horses, wormed cows and horses. We once pulled a dead calf out of a momma cow. Both died. During the school year I cleaned kennels before school every morning. I was a distance runner - track & cross country - and I would clean kennels, run 3-5 miles, shower and go to school. I worked for the vet right up until I left for college.

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Hardware store

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That was my first job in highschool as well. I worked at a True Value Hardware store that really trained everyone to an extreme.

I became highly proficient in every department as we frequently rotated as the lead person in every department and they trained the heck out of us. I took numerous training courses on the job for topics like plumbing, electrical, yard chemicals, paint, etc.

It didn't matter what you needed when customers came in. I could cut and thread pipe, sharpen lawnmower blades, make keys, mix paint, cut single pane window glass, tell you what weed killer, fertilizer or insecticide you needed, tell you what size and type electrical wire and components you needed, replace your lamp light bulb socket, fix your garden hose, show you how to use any hand tools, power tools or lawnmowers that we sold and much more.

If you needed just about anything fixed that required replacement parts from a the hardware store, you could just bring in whatever was broken and we would sell you the parts and fix whatever you brought in for free.

We were all so highly trained that people from wealthy neighborhoods would come in and hire us to do work at their houses after work and on the weekends usually for things like fixing their toilets, installing ceiling fans, etc.

It really was the perfect job for learning how to be a handyman and do most work needed in and around a house and yard.

Waited Tables all thru high school and college