At fifteen my Aunt Elba suggested that I start volunteering at the New York Botanical Garden since I had such a love for the natural world (and probably so that I would not soil her floors when I would dig for insects and other creatures in her garden). My mother loved the Idea, so the two called the volunteer manager who was a friend of my aunts and she desperately needed friendly youth science educators to perform scientific demonstrations, guide children through the galleries and explain the interactive exhibits (focusing on basic plant science and ecology), press plant specimens and collect pond specimens in the wetland including: water insects, amphibians, reptiles and even microscopic creatures. The Garden was at the time completing the Everett Childrens Adventure Garden, to be an indoor outdoor educational garden in which children could learn about science and the natural environment while sometimes witnessing it in action. We opened that garden in May of 1998 and I volunteered there for three years after (ever turning down a job offered to me based on my performance and enthusiasm).It was the most fun that I had ever had in the work environment being a cosmopolitan city boy with the heart of a country bumpkin. It was so rewarding to know that some of the children that I taught were inspired to wonder and have a love for the natural world. Some couldn't get enough and would come on a weekly basis. I like to think that this special place has been an oasis of tranquility, inspiration and beauty to others as it is to me.
Posts: 26 | Location: Grand Concourse (Highbridge) Bronx, NYC | Registered: 17 August 2005
I used to hang out at the vendor building at Orchard Beach trying to land a day job at the concession stands. Must have been 12 or 13. I guess today I would have been called a 'day laborer'.
Posts: 3 | Location: SoCal | Registered: 28 July 2003
My first Job was in a factory making Violins, Cellos, Bass and Violas. I worked with my father. he retired there about 5 years ago. I worked there for 10 years started at the age of 17 earning $120 a week and left making $300 a week. I still have dreams abou that place it was/is on Bullard ave in the Bronx, still there to this day and I still know people who are actually still there.
NANA You might B gone but neva 4 gotten
Posts: 33 | Location: Da Boogie Down Bronx | Registered: 05 December 2004
My first job was as a camp counselor, and I forgot almost the entire experience a long time ago.
What I remember (and will never forget) is the experience of getting working papers. That was a genuine hoot. It took at least an hour and a half to get to the place we had to go via the subway. When I got there the line around the building was amazingly long, and this was... of course.. the hottest, muggiest day of the year.
My very first job was at George's Florist on Fordham between Jerome and the Concourse. Minimum wage plus tips for deliveries (not from the funeral parlors). I spent hours wrapping white paper around wires that were used to hold the arrangements in place. I was less than 16 at the time.
Then, stock boy at Alexanders. The pockets of the uniforms were sewn shut to discourage us from stealing. But, I knew guys who would stop the freight elevators between floors, take off their uniforms and put on store merchandise before putting the uniforms back on. Talk about problem solving ability. Then I remember the crowds that would build up outside the doors before the store opened and then the mad dash to the sales counters.
I'll write about the drug store jobs another time.
I made some deliveries for a drug store on Williamsbridge road when I was a kid, just for tips. My first "real" job (while in high school -- Columbus) was an usher at a movie theater on two hundred and something street and White Plains Rd. Don't remember the name, but I remember the cheap SOB who managed the place. He made me bring my own flashlight!
I never worked, I came from big money, my parents were filthy rich they owned realestate up n' down the Grand Concourse. Today, I still don't work, I spend the days waiting for the night, I party sundown till sunup. I make 260K a year and live on a palacial estate.
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself..."
Posts: 337 | Location: MANHATTAN STATE MENTAL HOSPITAL | Registered: 11 November 2006
My first full time job was working for the E. F. MacDonald Stamp Co. Or better known as Plaid Stamps. I was a Assistant Manager for their store on Tremont Avenue near St. Raymond's Church...
South Bronx Kid
Posts: 14 | Location: Sugar Hill, GA | Registered: 21 April 2009
Originally posted by TTP9PA: Worked for Mario Perillo, in a little store under the 3rd ave el. Me and Sara stuffed envelopes, we were around 12 years old.
--MY FIRST JOB WAS IN 1952, I WAS 12 YEARS OLD. I WENT TO WORK FOR MY FATHER'S FRIEND WHO WAS A JOB PLUMBER, I WORK AS A PLUMBERS HELPER ON WEEKENDS AND ALL SUMMER FOR YEARS. J/Q
Posts: 178 | Location: RIVERDALE, BX. N Y/ ASHFORK, ARIZONA | Registered: 30 June 2007
I delivered The New York Post door-to-door. this is when the Schiffs ran the paper. I was talking to a fellow former Bronxite yesterday and we talked about paper deliveries, and taking short-cuts over the roofs. That would never happen in this day and age.
Recession is when my neighbor loses his job, Depression is when I lose my job.
My first job?: It's one I GUARANTEE you never heard ANYONE EVER having:
You know those pieces of cardboard that fit into ties so they stay stiff on the shelf in the store?:
I worked in lower Manhattan in a small shop cutting them out of large pieces of cardboard them stacking them for delivery to tie manufacturers.
Talking about a specialized job!!
That is how the owner made his living for his family his entire life!!!
______________________________________________________________ Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Posts: 3673 | Location: a beautiful farm in a MORE beautiful valley. | Registered: 27 October 2008
I just thought about my first full-time job, after graduating Monroe in 1964.
I started as a savings teller in the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company on Boynton and Westchester Aves.
My starting salary was $60 per week.
Thats where I splurged and bought a 1955 Imperial, the boat that it was.
______________________________________________________________ Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Posts: 3673 | Location: a beautiful farm in a MORE beautiful valley. | Registered: 27 October 2008
Talk about stirring up memories! First job was in the summer of '56, worked as a delivery/stock boy for Spilkey's delicatessen on Featherbed Lane and Nelson Avenue.
Posts: 2 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 11 November 2009