I worked on a turkey farm when I was younger, started when I was 11-12 and worked there till I was 16. Kept the birds fed and watered, cleaned out the houses when we sent a flock off to market, put down fresh shavings for the new chicks, etc. Also baled hay and kept the cows fed and watered.

I learned how to drive a dump truck when I was 13, and drove it on the highway to deliver litter to people's fields. Those were rough days, but good days.

My first paying job was as a grocery packer at a local Big Bear supermarket. I rode the bus to and from the store and was paid $0.50/hr plus tips. A big tip was a quarter ($0.25) per bag back then (1952). Believe it or not, my regular pay was subject to IRS withholding.

Some time later I landed a job taking phone orders at a Chinese carry-out place, Moy's Kitchen. I also performed tasks relating to packing up the food for the takeout customers. I think I got $1.50/hr at that job, plus a free dinner on site. I used the bus system for travel to and from that place, too. (There was no seating for customers there--just a few chairs in the waiting area--food was picked up and taken home to eat.) There was withholding on my pay there, too.

flashguy

On some evenings and weekends, I ran the lights and sound board at my high school's theater/auditorium for things like PTA meetings, school board meetings, community events, competitions, etc.

I also mowed a few yards for friends of the family.

Didn't do farm work in high school, but did in college. Had a friend whose family owned a cattle ranch a couple hours way. One weekend or so a month I'd go home with him and work for the weekend to get a couple home cooked meals and a little spending cash.

Washed pots and pans in a restaurant.
Busboy in another restaurant.
Stock room,delivery driver,counter sales,display set up and what ever else needed done for an electrical supply company.

Delivered phone books (remember those?).
Lined baseball fields at city parks.
Worked in a paint store.
Sold souvenirs at Dodger Stadium.
Delivered pizzas.
Cleaned-out back rooms at a print shop.

At 16 I worked in the back of a bowling alley keeping the pin setter machines running.

High school, I started out doing yard work, and split a lot of wood. Spent one summer working on my grandparent’s vineyard (Franz Valley, outside Calistoga, CA). Spent another summer working as a page/messenger at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in NYC. Then off to the Navy...

Every summer worked at a carnival on Amusement rides.

Paper routes.
Stuffed Sunday papers (assembled all the parts... comics, ads, magazines, classifieds, etc.)
Cashier in a general store (located on grounds of a state hospital)
Prep-cook at a steak house

Golf Caddy

Kings Island (Amusement Park) did the Dippin’ Dots stand one summer then switched to a theater usher. Boring job but pretty much always in the A/C and never had to work at open or close and had a set schedule unlike the Dippin’ Dots stand.

Metal Fabrication shop

Interesting topic.

Mowed lawns
Worked in a pharmacy
Hauled watermelons (hilariously fun on a wet day)
Worked in a chicken hatchery

Michael

1980s - a wealthy older widow - in her 60s - paid me and a friend to take care of her property on Saturdays - mowing, raking, yard maintenance type stuff. She had a 10+ acre property. Paid $3.50 / hour.

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mowing lawns and working in a bottling plant making the pancake syrup you were buying at the grocery store.

My absolute worst, but it was a great life lesson...Worked at a BIG chicken farm, egg operation. Me and several other HS buddies cleaned chicken shit. And I mean TONS of chicken shit. Did this for a summer and weekends.

Worked for my Dad as a weekend clean up guy/laborer on construction sites. Did everything from dig ditches, pile up blocks on scaffolds, take down/erect scaffold, etc.To drive a small dumptruck, lay pipe for septic system, build french drains, etc. Paint, tar foundations, stack wood, all sorts of jobs.

Worked for a few months at a snack food factory as a general clean up kid. Scraping burnt popcorn from big copper pots, scraping gooey crap off the floors, etc. BUT....all the caramel corn one could eat!

Later when I was driving I worked as a pump jockey at the HESS gas station in Flemington, NJ.

Mowed lawns
Umpired baseball games

The latter thickened my skin a bit!

Built e-commerce websites.

I worked in a photoshop[/studio/camera store and started out making custom picture frames. With both Cities Service and Phillips Petroleum having offices in my town I literally did hundreds of picture frames holding certificates and awards. In addition to that I started doing darkroom and photography work. I loaded all the film holders and did the film developing for the commercial and portrait work. on the photographing side, I did everything for mortuaries to weddings. Never did understand why when gramp pa passed someone would want a picture of him all laid out in the box?

This thread points out that lots of us did really shitty (literally) jobs that kids today wouldn't touch. And lots of the jobs taught skills for life.

Picked strawberries, janitor at a doughnut shop, busboy & dishwasher at a steakhouse and also at a pizza joint, I think that's all of them.

Mowed lawns.

Bussed tables at a local buffet restaurant.

Bagged groceries at a local grocery store.

Worked as an electronics tech for a small consulting business during college. The owner did product safety work and I got paid to occasionally blow things up.