OT: What was your hourly pay at the first W2 job you held?

WranglerofDawgs

Sophomore
Apr 20, 2014
120
110
43
$6 - local landscaping company in North MS. Although we weren't "technically" W-2 employees as we picked up cash from under the mat, but that was the going rate at the time (we were actually pretty pumped that we were getting $6 over the expected $5/hour that we just assumed we were getting).
 
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aspendawg

Sophomore
Sep 10, 2009
400
137
43
Had a lot of jobs before this but they all paid cash. First W-2 job was working on a sod farm in Tate county. Paid $7.25 an hr. Standing on the back of a tractor and stacking sod by hand all day in the Mississippi summer heat. The biggest my forearms have ever been second to puberty.
 

LandArchDawg

Junior
Sep 14, 2003
2,543
206
63
I mowed grass for B-Quicks in the summer between 5th grade and 6th in 1989. I made $3.35/hr. I get a kick every time I see my Social Security statement and see that summer's amount in there.
 
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Dawgzilla2

All-Conference
Oct 9, 2022
2,026
2,360
113
Also $3.35, minimum wage at the time. 3 hours meant $10. It doesn't sound like much, but in High School getting $30 to $40 in a week seemed like a fortune.

IIRC, we didnt have taxes withheld back then as long as you could check a box declaring your income would be below the taxable level. I do remember the first time a had a full time Summer job, and all of a sudden FICA was taking some of my money
 
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patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,636
25,964
113
Think I started at Chick Fil A at $3.50/hr then bumped to $3.75 after about 6 months. Minimum wage was $3.25. Plus after 2 years and 2,000 hours I got a $2,000 college scholarship. So effectively $4.75/hr when minimum was $3.25. Not a bad gig.
 
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L4MANDW

All-Conference
Feb 21, 2018
922
1,892
93
$3.35 an hour in the local grocery store 6 months before they legally was supposed to hire me on my 15th birthday and after a 40 hour week & taxes, $80 went a loooong way! Job before that was workin’ them sweet tater fields in Vardaman & made $25 a day, worked six days a week, & farmer’s wife cooked a big spread for dinner every nite so farmer made us go to his house for lunch everyday, kick off our boots, bless the food, pull the tablecloth off last nites leftovers & dig in! Probably the best job I ever had. $125 a week and a free lunch but the country girl’s and farmers daughter’s there was pretty, the work was hot, hard, & dirty but plenty of water fights and lots of fun! We didn’t even know we was working for the most part.
 

ckDOG

All-American
Dec 11, 2007
9,987
5,802
113
Close to $10 late 90s. Labor for a company that sets up golf tournament infrastructure (temp fences, grandstands, tents, etc).

Great money/experience for a kid in HS, but that was the summer that confirmed I was going to college.
 
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3407Dewey

Senior
Jun 4, 2014
320
445
63
$3.35/hour. Installing gigantic satellite dishes on the MS gulf coast. Before the DirecTV and Dish network, people would get 8-10 ft satellite dishes. Had to dig a square hole about 2.5 ft and then mix concrete to pour for the steel pole the dish would mount to. Then trench by shovel to the house to bury the cable, then run cable through an attic or under the house. I think I sweat about a 5 gallon bucket each day.
 

The Peeper

Heisman
Feb 26, 2008
15,396
10,535
113
another thread got me thinking back to my McDonald's days: $3.35/hr which was the minimum wage at that time. as an inflation point of reference gas was usually $0.85 - $1/gallon
$2.90/hr in 1979, AND WE LIKED IT!

Getting Old Baby Boomer GIF by MOODMAN
 

grinningmule

Heisman
Jul 15, 2021
3,499
12,117
113
$3.35/hour. Installing gigantic satellite dishes on the MS gulf coast. Before the DirecTV and Dish network, people would get 8-10 ft satellite dishes. Had to dig a square hole about 2.5 ft and then mix concrete to pour for the steel pole the dish would mount to. Then trench by shovel to the house to bury the cable, then run cable through an attic or under the house. I think I sweat about a 5 gallon bucket each day.
You could get some sweet porn on those bad boys
 
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The Peeper

Heisman
Feb 26, 2008
15,396
10,535
113
$3.35/hour. Installing gigantic satellite dishes on the MS gulf coast. Before the DirecTV and Dish network, people would get 8-10 ft satellite dishes. Had to dig a square hole about 2.5 ft and then mix concrete to pour for the steel pole the dish would mount to. Then trench by shovel to the house to bury the cable, then run cable through an attic or under the house. I think I sweat about a 5 gallon bucket each day.
1770914890537.png 1770914915459.png

Did you ever envision them being the roof over an outside structure?
 
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Boosh

Junior
Sep 14, 2017
214
244
43
My first professional job equated to $12.74/hr. Of course, I had to work 55+ hrs / week to get everything done. I don't remember the pay from all the jobs in HS and before.
 
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Willow Grove Dawg

All-Conference
Nov 3, 2016
7,204
4,133
113
$3.35 an hour working in the family business after school & summers in high school 80-83
$8.50 an working in a manufacturing plant summers & Christmas break in college 84-88 - this was big money. I could almost pay for a year at MSU including fraternity with summer savings.

My dad had me working with him on the farm in the summer as a 13 year old in 1979. I worked every day that summer out of school that it was not too wet to be in the field. My dad paid me $10 a day CASH plus the proceeds of a goose-neck trailer load of soybeans when we harvested that fall.
I remember telling that I thought there were child labor laws. His response was I also slept in house & ate food that he bought. Debate ended.
I opened a checking account at The First National Bank and got a credit card ($500 credit limit) before starting back to school in the fall for the 8th grade.
 
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jwtorch

Redshirt
Jun 15, 2023
24
10
3
Think it was $5.12 as a federal gov't co-op back in 1983. Think I was a GS-3. At that time, the gov't was well behind industry starting out but you could usually catch up in a few years.
 
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Drebin

Heisman
Aug 22, 2012
21,478
25,008
113
another thread got me thinking back to my McDonald's days: $3.35/hr which was the minimum wage at that time. as an inflation point of reference gas was usually $0.85 - $1/gallon
3.35 per hour in September of 1986. Fred's Dollar Store.

Two months later I got a raise to 3.50 and I thought I was the man.
 
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