First Job Search

[wdmso]

My 1st job was blue gold sea farm in middle town on Burma road I lived in navy housing . And had my scuba diving license so they had me being a watch person in the boat when guys were in the water , and did a lot of piece work putting dowels in rope from which they hung the bags for the mussels to grow on . we got paid by the box

[Rmarsh]

When I called the number listed in the want ad for helpers, a man with a deep gravely voice said to show up at the gas station parking lot at 5:30 am. and look for the orange passenger van.
When I got there that morning, a very rugged and weathered looking older guy, standing outside the van smoking a cigarette, introduced himself as Roger...the boss. "Get in" he said, as he looked me over. I found myself sitting between two other guys who had already taken the window seats, and off we went.
"Little did I know".......about a lot of things....but in particular that being a carpenter would be my life long vocation, and a turning point in my life.
I had already spoken to Joe at Jiffy Clean, to tell him that I would be taking another job. He wished me luck.

[Rmarsh]

My new boss Roger was what I would call a home grown redneck. A country music lover and straight to the VFW after work. He was definately one tough SOB. He barked his orders and everyone jumped when he did. I was a skinny and under developed teenager, but I put as much effort as I could into it. I remember Roger looking at my skinny legs and with a grin saying "Bobby, how do those things hold you up? He was equally snyde with all the new guys, especially those of us with long hair. "What do you find under a pony tail?" He would ask us. He would answer himself with "A horses ass" and laugh at us. But as weeks went buy I found myself gaining respect and admiration for him as a leader and carpenter. I think he started to like me as well.
And..I started liking the job, the progress of a building going up, working outside in the fresh air, making new friends with some of the crew, and the takehome pay for my 50 hr week was $99!!
By the end of that summer of '73, my blisters had turned to calluses, muscles started growing where there were none, and with those big paychecks I was able to pay my Dad back for the car loan.

[Rmarsh]

By the end of that summer we had worked all over the cape, framing houses in Brewster, Hyannis, and Harwich....weather was hot and the hours were long. Getting home tired and hungry every night and then up early again the next morning left very little time for anything else.
Come fall we were framing condominiums in Falmouth right by the water. I was getting very interested in learning everything I could about wood framed structures, beyond what I was learning on the job, so I started getting books on the subject and studied carefully on my own. I had always enjoyed building things.... first bicycle was built of scavenged parts from different bicycles I found at the dump.....a good frame from one...wheels and seat from another etc.
Roger the boss, noticed my enthusiasm, and that I had very little fear of heights...must have been all the tree climbing we did as kids. He assigned me to be the guy unhooking trusses from the crane as they were lifted into place, with just the last truss to stand on. Every payday I would go straight to the bank and deposit my whole check....except for a few dollars for gas. Next stop was a little hardware store where I set up an account and every week I would buy a new tool to add to my homemade toolbox, like the ones I had seen other guys with.
It felt good when I got a raise in pay.....like my efforts were being rewarded.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Guppy

How was the pay? :-)

Terrible. Minimum wage was 4.25 but their was a provision in minimum wage for dependents overseas that was 2.90 / hour

[Clammer]

Great read .

But I can,t ad anything …..just knew I had to survive & once I got married & a kid on the way pretty quick ...I was in OJT when she was growing .

I did what ever I could legal & illgal to make ends meet & because of unplanned events .I,m still doing the same , sadly at a much slower place .

R Marsh did it the right way .

I DID IT ANYWAY >> can,t change what was …..but I sure would have gotten a education ..

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

By the end of that summer we had worked all over the cape, framing houses in Brewster, Hyannis, and Harwich....weather was hot and the hours were long. Getting home tired and hungry every night and then up early again the next morning left very little time for anything else.
Come fall we were framing condominiums in Falmouth right by the water. I was getting very interested in learning everything I could about wood framed structures, beyond what I was learning on the job, so I started getting books on the subject and studied carefully on my own. I had always enjoyed building things.... first bicycle was built of scavenged parts from different bicycles I found at the dump.....a good frame from one...wheels and seat from another etc.
Roger the boss, noticed my enthusiasm, and that I had very little fear of heights...must have been all the tree climbing we did as kids. He assigned me to be the guy unhooking trusses from the crane as they were lifted into place, with just the last truss to stand on. Every payday I would go straight to the bank and deposit my whole check....except for a few dollars for gas. Next stop was a little hardware store where I set up an account and every week I would buy a new tool to add to my homemade toolbox, like the ones I had seen other guys with.
It felt good when I got a raise in pay.....like my efforts were being rewarded.

1 chisel a week..... LOL

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

1 chisel a week..... LOL

Yes Ray...thats how it was. Nowadays I have so many tools, its mind boggling.
Those first few personal hand tools, that I bought, turned out to be an investment in my future. Wasnt long before my boss noticed my seriousness about becoming more than a helper and started giving me more responsibilities, and the pay raises just reinforced my resolve to advance.
That fall the weather was glorious, but eventually the the harsh reality of working outside in the cold and wind of winter, brought a new set of challenges to overcome. I suffered through it like most of the guys on the crew. Some days were tough, with frozen numb hands...unable to even hold a framing pencil.....and feet that didnt thaw out until getting back home at the end of the day. Other framing crews werent even showing up...or calling it quits after a few hours....but Roger, my boss wasn't the kind of guy to show any weakness, and we stayed working through the bitter cold.

[Slipknot]

Hard work builds character. I remember having to shovel the snow off the top plates of the walls first thing in the AM in order to get up there and set floor joists, or nailing of strapping inside when raining with just some plywood on the roof so still getting wet, trudging thru snow climbing ladders boots frozen. Then I went from one extreme to the other moved to Tempe Arizona, left here April 1st with an inch of snow that day, got a job framing, by June we started at 5 AM so we could be done at 1, talk about hot, burning hot. I felt bad for the roofers. Next month I got a job in a cabinet shop, been doing that since.