I've had a 40 hour per week + job since I was 12.

Left home at 15, put myself through high school, worked 3 jobs and slept in the gym.

Then military, then oilfield.

Now I do Business development and have our little engine rebuild business. Life hasn't been easy, but it's been damn good to me.

at 14 started cutting meat in small town grocery store. after school pour concrete for three years. I then went into logging woods for a few years left there and went into oilfields on workover rigs. I got into pumps and been there every since.

Worked as a pipe fitter in the ship yards that should say it all......Not a lot of money but a good life.

My weekend truck needs some TLC.

Still working hard.
Got the broken down body to prove it.

I worked a full time job and two sometimes three jobs until got to the upper end of my pay scale. Once that was achieved there was no such thing as a 40 hour week paid unless I was on vacation. I never lived on the time and a half or the double time which allowed me to " retire " at age 55. After almost two years off "retired " an opportunity fell into my lap which I have been doing off and on for five years now. I am able to set my schedule so it works out great for me. After working 34 years NOT on my schedule but the company's schedule this is perfect.....No I could not keeps up with the pace early on in my career.

The pheasant and quail seasons used to kick my azz. When you are guiding for geese and sandhill crane, you are laying down and can occasionally sneak in a nap. Pheasant and quail was hard walking all day through knee-high brush. Between bartending at night and guiding all day for upland birds, I was whooped.

Fortunately I never had to work more than one job at a time. Started working for "the man" when I was 16. By that I mean I wasn't mowing lawns or doing odd jobs for neighbors to make some spending money. Graduated from HS and spent three years at UT, but my family was dirt poor so I dropped out of school to work for 1 year and save enough to pay for my senior year. Oops, got drafted and got to spend some vacation time (15 months) with the 4th Inf. Div. in beautiful South Vietnam. When I came home I got my old job back and was very quickly promoted, which kept me from going back to school, which I wanted to do after working for another year. At this point I was making more money than most of my recently graduated friends. I even hired two of them to work for me.

I always had short term goals when working for someone else. Get the next job up the ladder in x-number of years. Made it most of the time. When I did performance reviews I had a stock answer when asked where I saw myself in 5 years. "I'll probably have your job, because my hard work will make you look good and get you promoted." Problem got to be that every company I worked for got bought out and I had to start over somewhere else, usually taking a step back and then working that ladder thing again.

My wife had bought a small business from her folks and wanted me to help but I knew nothing about that business (magazine publishing) so I stayed put where I was with my "real job" that had paid vacations and insurance. Once again the company got bought out and I did not want to take a step back, feeling that I had paid my dues, so I quit and learned the publishing business. We worked out azzes off and made some nice money, setting ourselves up for a good retirement.

Now I'm enjoying the fruits of all my labors. Not wealthy by any means but quite comfortable since we retired with no debts. I spend a lot of time playing with the grandkids, traveling with my wife, and fishing a bit with RATZ.

Started earning money around age 9 doing yards or odd jobs for neighbors, by 11 Dad told me and my older brothers that we were going to have to pay for our own clothes, shoes, etc. Ran paper routes before school and odd jobs after. I wasn't too happy about that back then, but looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. Worked different jobs in different areas chasing the best paycheck, some jobs were hard and some were fairly easy.

Right out of HS worked on a cattle/sheep ranch in NW Colorado. In the winter we would get up at 5am to feed then have to go load the truck for the next morning, we fed small bales. That would take until lunch, then I worked for a construction company until about 6pm. I finished off the evening checking the herd of mama cows for newborn calves until about midnight then off to bed.

It was fun in the spring moving the herd up to the mountains as we would spend a week on a drive camping out and being in the mountains in the spring.

My first job was working at a Christmas Tree stand. I would take trees that were bought to the check out and then out to the customers car. Got my first real job when I was a junior in high school working at a local Jack In the Box. If I had a dime for every drunk asking to speak to Jack at the drive thru speaker I would be a millionaire. I also worked fast food while going to collage. While working my career job as a police officer I also started a security business which I kept for 38 years. Needless to say I stayed very busy but loved it. Now I am totally retired and loving the retired life a lot more.

JP is right about living in the country. Seems like the work never ends but I wouldnt trade it.........My Mom was from a pioneer ranch family in Central Texas so thats how it happens I guess......

During High School, I worked at Safeway Grocery and got up at 5 AM to go in and set up the produce isle then headed for school. That is back in the day when the store closed overnight and produce went back into the walk in cooler over night. After school, home to eat then back to the store for the evening shift, took everything back to the cooler then mopped the whole store before heading home for a few hours of sleep.
After I graduated, it was off to trade school. About half way thru, I got a job at a local machine shop so it was school from 7 AM to 3:30 PM, get off and drive to the shop and work 4 PM to midnight.
Graduated and went to work for Eastman Kodak in Longview, hired in on a Monday and on Wednesday went on 12 hour nights learning how to rebuild Quench Boilers for one of the cracking plants and worked thru the weekend. The most hours without going home was 37 hours, can't even remember how many days we worked without a day off or the number of 16 hour days.

I worked at a Bonanza steak house washing dishes at 16, worked my way up to set ups within a few months, then it closed about 6 months after I started. My brother got me a summer job at a factory he worked at when I was 17, I’m still with that company today, 42 years later, but I’m not in the factory anymore

First job was Ken's pizza when I was 14. Before that I mowed lawns. Never been afraid of work.