I never made minimum wage

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Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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Nope. In my first job at 7-Eleven I made $5.25 an hour, which was $.10 more than NJ's minimum wage and $.90 more than federal minimum wage at the time.

I also made $5.25 an hour at workstudy jobs in college, which was $.10 more than the federal minimum wage at the time.

I think anyone who is in favor of raising the minimum wage probably hasn't thought it through very well.
 

ColemontHD

Banned
Oct 4, 2006
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Originally posted by: erub
My first job was at Dickey's Barbecue, as a bus boy..I made $5.25/hr when minimum was $5.15 (this was in 1998)..I went on to hold various other jobs throughout HS and early college, all paid in the $6-8 range until I put those behind me and was able to get nice engineering internships. Tell me about your minimum wage story

stupid economists

Dude, $5.25 is PRACTICALLY minimum wage. It was the best way for your employeer to show that they were paying you more. LOL!
 

ivol07

Golden Member
Jun 25, 2002
1,475
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Yup, $4.25 an hour at Blockbuster Music. But it was a music store, so that was cool at the time. After a year of working there they gave me a $0.10 raise an hour. I immediately went and found another job. Cheap bastards!
 

razor2025

Diamond Member
May 24, 2002
3,010
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nope, hopefully never. My 1st job was $8.05/hr @ Office Depot doing floor drone. It was relatively easy, but the store was short-staffed all the time, so I got to do a little bit of everything.
 

A5

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2000
4,902
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Started at $14.76/hr at my co-op, and now I'm up to 17.07/hr in my 3rd semester (with 2 more automatic raises coming...I should be at $20+ for my last semester).
 

Metron

Golden Member
Oct 16, 2003
1,163
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I started waiting tables for a local Tex-Mex restaurant when I was still a teenager and minimum wage was $3.25. They were only required to pay $2.10 an hour though, because they also provided free food.

I recall getting paychecks for a few pennies, since you had to pay tax on your tips which left your net paycheck at almost zero at times (excluding cash tips).
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
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Nope. I was making $7.50 in '96 (I was 16) building servers, running cat 5, etc. My next job was at $14/hr when I was 17, and well over twice that by the time I was 19. I made a lot of progress back then.
 

Syringer

Lifer
Aug 2, 2001
19,333
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71
If you make minimum wage then you deserve it. If you want to make more, do better at your job or find a different one..like at WalMart.
 

lokiju

Lifer
May 29, 2003
18,526
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I was paid minimum wage when I was 16 and worked at a video store for about a month then they gave me raise and promotion.

That was the only time.

 

D1gger

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
5,411
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76
Yes,

Farm labourer in 1975 wage = $1.80 / hour
Gas Station Attendant 1977 = $3.25 / hour

 

Dobbs

Senior member
Nov 19, 2001
311
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everyone has to start somewhere and nearly every first job when you are a teenager will be minimum wage. I remember my first job was around 1982 but I was only 11 years old, summer job, under the counter pay but the pay was $4.50 an hour which was above minimum wage. The next job that paid tax's was at $3.25 and the minimum wage had just gone up at that time, fun huh. If I had to do it all over again I wouldnt change much because its more about the moment and whats around you then the paycheck.
 

CollectiveUnconscious

Senior member
Jan 27, 2006
587
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I was paid below minimum wage as a GTA, but such were the days of graduate school. I still hold that all doctoral students are masochists at heart.
 

sash1

Diamond Member
Jul 20, 2001
8,896
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ever since my first job, i've made less and less. started $8/hr back in HS and now I'm making $2.13/hr
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
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My first job was at a Putt-Putt that was just off my neighborhood and I made less than minimum wage. They were able to do this because of something about a 'probationary period' for new hires. I lasted for three months until the probationary period was up and then they fired me and hired someone else and fired them when the probationary period was up and continued this cycle for a while.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
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i currently make $2.13 as a wage.

but i guess i could say that ive never made minimum wage either.
 

CollectiveUnconscious

Senior member
Jan 27, 2006
587
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Originally posted by: bignateyk
Yep. Started at 5.15 an hour at the local grocery store when i was 16. It sucked. Alot. Moved my way up to 7.35 and hour at the golf course. Once I started college I made my way up to 11.25 an hour doing research. As a grad student I make 21.50 an hour. Nothin great, but pays the bills.

You make ~10k/yr less than the average assistant professor? As a grad student? I'm about to call shens, what dept., what college, and how many hours per week?
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
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Originally posted by: Queasy
My first job was at a Putt-Putt that was just off my neighborhood and I made less than minimum wage. They were able to do this because of something about a 'probationary period' for new hires. I lasted for three months until the probationary period was up and then they fired me and hired someone else and fired them when the probationary period was up and continued this cycle for a while.

Yeah, if you're under 20 they can pay you less for the first 90 days. This is the first I've heard of an employer actually doing that though.
 

imported_Imp

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2005
9,148
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Yes. I saw about 3 or 4 minimum wage increases at about 30 cent increments. Started at $6.85 here up north. Then I quit and jumped to triple that and now at zero:(.
 

crystal

Platinum Member
Nov 5, 1999
2,424
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Below minimum wage. When I was young, my first "pay" job was walking around the block and sticks advestiment on people door. The lady paid me $2/hr while the minimum wage was around $4 or $5. :D