My first job

My first job other than babysitting, which I did as much as possible so I could have money for Tiger Beat magazines and Donny Osmond records, came about the summer I was thirteen.  My parents never really gave us allowance much, so I always worked as much as I could starting at an early age so I could have spending money. 

Unfortunately there were not many jobs around for a thirteen year old girl. But that summer my older brother had been working for General Farm Supplies building metal wheels to put on irrigation pipe so the system could roll across the fields as it watered.  For some reason (perhaps when he took his canoe trip up the Oldman River, I can't remember for sure) he needed to take a few weeks off.  He didn't want to lose the work, so he sent me and my brother, Leon, in his place while he was gone.  So we worked together for about three weeks, first putting cleats on the half rims, then adding spokes between the rims and hubs, and finally assembling the two halves together to make a whole wheel.

The wheels we made were similar to those shown in the above picture; not exactly the same, but you get the idea.

Anyway, we were able to make about three wheels an hour together and were paid $2 per wheel, so split the $6 per hour between us.  Now you must understand that in the early 70s, minimum wage was $2 per hour, so to get $3 per hour, we really thought we were rolling in the dough.  It was hard work, but I'm glad I had a chance to do it.