Our First Jobs as Teenagers in Canada

What was your first job?

In this episode, we take a trip back to our teenage years and talk about the first ways we earned money. From delivering newspapers as a child to babysitting at 12, working in libraries, and trying out jobs in the service industry, we share our own stories and memories from our early working lives.

You’ll learn about the kinds of jobs teenagers often have in Canada, what those experiences teach us, and some of the funny (and sometimes challenging!) moments that come with your first job.

Join us for a nostalgic conversation about first paycheques, childhood responsibilities, and the beginning of our working lives!

As always, this episode is great for intermediate and advanced English learners who want to practice listening to natural Canadian English and learn about Canadian culture. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So babysitting, did you do anything else around that age? Oh, before then I had a job. I was a young entrepreneur. Love it. I believe it. Um, I had a newspaper route. I was a newspaper delivery person for years. I was starting, how old were you? Okay. So I let me do some math.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Um I lived in a town, but yeah. Well, just we're language teachers, so math takes a while. Yeah, I'm really having to. You can fast forward. Hello, Eepers. Welcome to another episode of Extra English Podcast with Misha and Larissa.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

We are two Canadian English teachers talking about life in Canada, our lives, and anything else that might interest us. And hopefully will interest you too.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

So join us for another conversation. Today we're going to talk about our first jobs. The things we did as youthful teenagers.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah, in the good old days.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

The good old days? These are good days. These are also good days. These will one day be the good old days, also. They just keep going. What was your first job, Misha? Oh, I know. At the library. Yes, that was my first official, like I earned a paycheck job in the library, which was a great first job. Yeah. I worked two evenings a week and Saturdays.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Okay, yeah. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah, it was fun. But before that? Oh, well, before that, probably you were the same, I would guess. You can tell us. I babysat.

unknown 1:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Right? Which most kids my age, girls my age, girls mostly, yeah. Did did babysitting, which I started that at 12, I think. Is that how old you were?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Probably, yeah. So I have sisters who are nine and eleven years younger than me.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

And so when I was nine years old already, I was very comfortable around babies. Yes. And then when I was 12, like I had already had three years' experience with little kids, and I would often babysit them. Yeah, yeah. My parents would pay me when they went out to watch my sisters. Yeah. Um, so it wasn't a stretch for me to then go to somebody else's house. In fact, the hardest part for me was not dealing with the children, but rather like being without an adult in a strange place. Yeah, I mean, like someone else. That idea of responsibility and like, what is that noise?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

And I was just thinking that was exactly just being alone, not alone, the only the closest thing to a grown-up in a house at night by yourself at that age was the hardest part for sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

And it is surprising that at 12 we were doing that.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, I feel like it might not be so common at that young age these days, although I'm not sure. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

I mean, so I've had children and I rarely got a babysitter for them. Yeah. Um, often I would call a friend or like a parent would come rather than just a teenager. But on the rare occasion that I did get a babysitter, yeah, they were like 16.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Older.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah. 16 is when legally in Canada you can get a job. Like my library job was 16 because they couldn't hire me at 12. I would have done it. And they would have loved it. But 16 is kind of the age where people are considered old enough to have a job. So yeah, interesting. But 12 was the age. Yeah. I mean, was I I wasn't looking after babies. Like I feel like a baby baby, it's a different responsibility. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Yeah. And it yeah, it's often it was often school-age children, not even toddlers as much, but school-aged children.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Who can like know well enough how to get themselves a snack or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

And so I feel like the job was more to entertain them. Agreed. And to make sure they got to bed on time. Yes. And so that the parents just knew there was someone who was comfortable calling 9-1-1 if they needed to.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

That's right. Who would tell the kids go to bed. That was usually, I feel like usually when I babysat, it was you'd go over in the evening, you'd have a snack that you were supposed to give the kids, andor supper, and then like some activities or read books, and then bedtime. And then I would do my homework or watch TV. Or watch TV. I would watch TV and eat the snacks usually the parents had left me. They usually did, yeah. Do you know? Sorry. Okay. When I babysat, I babysat my babysitter's kids. Wow. So like when I was a little kid, an adult woman babysat my brother and I. Okay. And she had kids who we played with, but they were younger. And then when I was old enough, I babysat those kids in their house. It was nice. So a nice little full circle. Yeah. And they were a lovely family.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

So lovely. Yeah. I remember as a kid being excited when the babysitter would come over.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah, because your job is to entertain, you're fun. Yeah. And you're like closer to a kid. Yeah. So kids are more fun for kids.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

And partly like, you know, the rules can be bent a little bit. And and they're trying to make you like them because they want your parents to call you back. Yeah. Call them back. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah, the babysitter was fun. Yeah. I don't remember if I was ever babysat by a teenager. Yeah, I don't know. Interesting. Um, did you take a course? A babysitting course? That is a thing now. Kids will take like a which is a good idea. Like I think it includes some basic first aid. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

There's there are two courses. There's one that's called like the stay home alone course, something like that. It has a name like that. And so I think when you're 10 years old, maybe a kid can take that course just to, you know, think through all the things about what is it like to be home alone. There's a lot to think about. And then there's another one, a babysitting course, which yeah has safety and first aid and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

But if it was offered, I never knew about it. I never heard about it when we were young. No. I mean, once again, as we've discussed in other episodes, we grew up in the 80s and 90s. Loose. Everything was just it all worked out.

unknown 6:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Interesting. So babysitting, did you do anything else around that age?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Oh, before then, I had a job. I was a young entrepreneur. Love it. I believe it. Um, I had a newspaper route. I was a newspaper delivery person for years. I was starting, how old were you? Okay. So I let me do some math.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Um I lived in a town, what, yeah? Well, just we're language teachers, so math takes a while.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Yeah, I'm really having to. It actually doesn't even matter. I was young. Let's say I was I was less than grade three. Um? What I she can't even do that, Maggie. Let's say I was seven or eight, okay? And my dad actually procured um a newspaper route. Yes. This was in a a little city that had a one day-a-week newspaper. Oh. And so once a week the papers came, and then my younger sister and I would go with him and deliver. He would carry them. Cute. And then he'd give him us the papers and we'd run to the houses and deliver them. And then I think we got the money. I don't think he got any.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

That was nice. It really was nice. That's a good way to instill some like working skill concept at a young age.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

That's cool. Yeah. Then we moved to another town and got another newspaper route. This time I was doing it by myself and often like walking in the wintertime with the newspapers in the bag. This was daily, five, six days a week. More early morning. Uh no, after school. Oh, after school. Yeah, I don't know how they let us do that. The papers didn't come until we were at school, so it was after school. Interesting. Uh Saturday was in the morning, though. Sure. But the Saturday paper was thick. And so often my dad would drive us like with the papers, and then we'd run and and do them.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Do you know what? I'm just thinking as you talk, this might be a bit of a weird concept for delivering newspapers. Yeah, or even the idea of a printed newspaper delivered to houses. It still happens. I live in a condo building where the newspapers are delivered. Wow. There's like a certain number of people in the building that subscribe to that service. Really? Yeah. So I go in the lobby, there's four or five of them sitting there, and people will the units that have paid for it will pick it up. But when we were young, I think everybody got it.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Oh yeah. So I I had maybe like three streets. Yeah. And I would say three quarters of the houses on those streets received the newspaper. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

So it was every day of the week. And like Larissa said, Saturday was bigger or more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Sunday there wasn't one of this particular newspaper. So that's why Saturday was big. Um but then the interesting, so like delivering was step one. Yeah. But then they had to pay. Like remember, we didn't have.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Did you have to collect the payment?

SPEAKER_02 9:05

I had to collect the payment. Wow. We called it collecting. We'd go around collecting. How often? Because like they couldn't like pay online. We didn't have that system. No. Okay. So every two weeks. Interesting. Um, I'd have to go. And we had these little cards. They were cardboard cards with the dates printed all around them, and they were held together on a ring. And we had a whole punch. And we'd like knock on the door and say, hi, I'm collecting for the newspaper. And they'd go get the whatever the two weeks' payment was and give it to me. It'd have to make change. And then I would punch my card on the dates I had paid for, and they had a corresponding card. And I would punch their card. Interesting. And then we all knew who had paid. That's that's a good system.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yeah. And also a good thing for a kid to learn some math. A little bit. Didn't stick. Just kidding. No, but you would have learned some basic skills that are useful and also like dealing with people.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

I I hate knocking on doors. I found like I was very nervous, but I was there in an official capacity and I did my job. And I think because it was dealing with strangers and money, my dad often accompanied me on that one because I was young.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

And you're a little kid knocking on someone's door.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But and then like we had to count the money at the end. Yeah. And the newspaper would tell us how much we had to give them. Yeah. And then the rest we could keep.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Oh, really? Yeah. So you were so the amount that the person paid included your delivery fee. Yes. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

And if it's a good system. And they would often tip. Like, let's say it was five $550, or like maybe it was like maybe it was $3.50, let's say. And they would just give me a five and say keep the change, then that's all profit.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

That is extra for you. That's great. Yeah. What how long did you do that all the way through?

SPEAKER_02 10:52

All the way through high school. Wow. Maybe not like till the end of high school, but certainly for years, certainly into middle school. Eventually, like it was too hard to keep it up with like my homework and my babysitting, and I would go away for the summers to camp. So I think I was gonna say it's a big commitment. Yeah, because every day. So certainly till grade eight. Yeah.

unknown 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

And that's how like I bought my first computer by myself with my paper root money.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Would have been a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

It was a big, it was like physically a big thing and a big thing. Big deal. Yeah. Cute. Yeah, it was it was, I I didn't like it, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Like it's winter, the rain, like you're going out in all sorts of weather. Yeah, it's feels like a chore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Like I'd walk home from school and ugh, I have to deliver the newspapers or I have to do this.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

But it's having your own money. Yeah. Plus it's good. I mean, you have much a much better sense of money when you've worked for that money. Right. And the I think the earlier you learn that the better. Yeah. I often think if you if you don't learn some of those like hardworking skills when you're young, I think it's really hard to develop as a adult. You know? I mean, anything can always be improved.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

You can, absolutely. And there's other ways for kids to learn about money, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

But that's a really concrete. You worked for that money, slogged away every day, then you're gonna spend it. You're gonna think about it.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Cool. So newspaper delivery. Love that.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Now it would be click. Yeah. No, there's still a physical newspaper, but select the stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

I am surprised at the I'm glad you told me that because I I still love to read a paper book. Yes. Like I love I would rather read a book that I'm holding in my hands and I'm turning the pages rather than a digital copy. Yeah. But I don't I read the news digitally.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Me too. Yeah. But I think older generation still, my building is all older people. I think it's still quite common. I like it. Yeah. And they still print like the Saturday, well, all of them, but they have puzzles like crosswords. Yeah. People want to do that in person. A lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Yeah, with the paper and such a coat. All right. So babysitter, newspaper delivery person. Did you ever work at a restaurant or something?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

I was a short order cook. Oh. That's the cook who like it makes the, you know, you order eggs or whatever steak and potatoes. That was me. Wow. But that was after high school. I think that was my first summer home from university. But that's pretty impressive. Yeah, I liked it. It was alright. I have a scar still from those days because I was responsible, so it's memorable. I was responsible for emptying the oil from the deep fryer once a week and cleaning it out. So you're like pouring out liters and liters of hot oil and you dump it in like an oil bucket outside. But when I dumped it, I let the pot touch my arm. You can see there's still a mark here. Oh yes. Got a bad burn. Anyway, which I feel like anyone who's worked in a kitchen, you end up with scars. Yeah. But you know, my job, I was thinking the other job I did as a teenager. So I was babysitting, I babysat for my babysitter. And then how babysitting works, someone tells someone else. And then so I ended up with a few families. And one of those families asked me to also do some housekeeping. Okay. And she kind of the mother of that family showed me how to do it. I mean, I knew how to turn on a vacuum and but she showed me kind of how she required a house. Yeah. And I I was a housekeeper for them. And then that led into being a housekeeper then through university. Okay. Which was a it was a useful kind of skill to learn how to clean someone else's house. Also, another, we have a term uh if you're paid under the table, which means you're paid in cash, which could mean, and I'm not recommending this, that you don't have to report that money anywhere. You can keep all of it. Which also, I mean, if you're a 13-year-old babysitting, you're not filing taxes. Yeah, yeah. But housekeeping also at that time was a job that I was paid under the table. Yeah. Which is kind of fun for a cash in hand, it's nice. I mean, also at that time there wasn't really well, no, you could get paid in check. Check, yes. These days, often payments electronic. Yeah. But that time a lot of it was. Yeah, check.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Check you out to take to the bank. Sign it.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

This was because even then you couldn't put in the machine at that point. What machine? Yeah. Now I just take a picture of a check. On the rare occasion, I get a check.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Maybe like from your grandmother or something, no?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah. Uh well, some of my neighbors used to rent my parking spot and they paid me that rent in check. Oh, in check. Aforementioned. It's sweet. Older generation neighbors. Yeah. Yeah, it was nice. It was good.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

It was convenient. Oh, good. So I never worked at a restaurant, but I feel like like McDonald's is the quintessential first job for many people. Fast food, totally. Yeah, classic restaurants. Like any fast food, but I've heard that McDonald's is is particularly good at training people. Oh, I interested. And so if you have, if you have that on your resume, then pretty much any other, any other fast food joint or like service oriented thing. Yeah. Yeah. So just putting that out there. I haven't experienced it myself, but I have heard that McDonald's does a good job of training their people. Well, that's good to know. Yeah. Cute.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

But neither of us did that.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

No, I worked at uh a little bit later. I was I was a young adult. Um I worked at uh a racetrack in the banquet hall. Oh and in the cafeteria.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Serving food.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Serving in both cases. Yeah. Oh, I actually also worked in the cafeteria at my college.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Um, oh, that reminds me like when you had that burn, my sister worked there too. She worked in the kitchen more in the in the cooking area. And I worked running the or stocking the salad bar.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Oh cute. Oh, less likely to burn yourself. Yeah. Stocking to the salary.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

I got really cold when I went into the fridge to replace the lettuce. But um, yeah, I like that job because it was it wasn't just in the back. So when I came out to to clean up the dressing that had fallen or to whatever, I could see like my friends at the same time. Like I interacted with people. Yeah. Um, but it was also something that I did behind the scenes. Yeah. Yeah. Salad bars both. Nice balance. Salad bar girl. Cafeteria lady. Yeah. I also didn't really like to eat the salad very much because I knew like when you see behind the scenes, it's uh when I worked as a short order cook, I ate so much less food in general.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

And fast food, definitely very little. Because yes, it just loses its appeal. Yeah. When I was like smelling the deep fryer all the time, I did not want to sit down and eat a plate of french fries. No. And you see it.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah. At that, at that banquet center, I would often come home smelling of smelling fried. Yes, much. And like it was in my clothes, it was in my hair. Just makes you less but the salad bar in particular, like listen, I love a salad bar, so don't ruin it.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Don't ruin it.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

I don't want to think. It was so amazing and wonderful and fresh. Everything was perfectly clean. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Yes, 100%. Um, you know, another job I think we both had as teenagers was camp counselor. Oh yeah, right? Yeah. I did that like at day camps in my town, I think when I was very young. I think they let teenagers do that before they were 16. Okay. Didn't does that sound right to you? Sure. So I feel like I did that before. Anyway, I was a camp counselor for like a day camp, and we did have to do a little training. We learned a bit of basic first aid and because we were being super like there were adults always present. Yeah. But you would like have a group of kids, and that was fun.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Yeah. Yeah. So maybe because you weren't in charge of something, it's a it's a supporting role.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

And I wasn't paid. I mean, I don't remember what I was paid.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

I feel like next to nothing.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Okay. If we talk about how much we were paid, I was a teacher's assistant at at college, and there was I was in Saskatchewan at the time, actually. Oh. So it's a little bit different here, but I remember very clearly when the minimum wage it increased. Yeah. And so I was getting paid five dollars an hour. Yeah. And it went up to $550.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Which is a big increase. That is a big increase.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

And also $6 an hour.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

I know. I as soon as you I remember it also being. I think I used to get paid for babysitting $3 an hour or $3.50. Very likely. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Oh, if I made $20 in a night, I felt like I hit the jackpot house. Like, please call me back every weekend. I will, I will move in.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Make the big bucks, the 20s. But everything costs less. So it makes sense. Yeah. Also, we didn't have, I don't have a mortgage when I was 12 or every single other bill I currently have. I had no bills. And when I was a camp counselor at overnight camps, that was a little more money. That was a decent amount of money. Which I saved and then spent on university. Yeah. You had bills. Years of saving. As soon as I had bills. Gotten.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Okay, Misha. When you think back to your first job, so those early days, is there any job that you would love to revisit? Like, is there any nostalgia there?

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I mean, I recently applied for a library job.

unknown 20:37

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

I loved the library. I love books. I love the community vibe. I mean, we have a whole episode about the library and how awesome it is. Yes, yes. So I would be happy to do that kind of work again. Um, I mean, I'm not really, I had a very teenager role at the library. Uh, and I'm not really qualified even still to do too much more than that. Like, I'm not a librarian, I don't have a degree in library science, but I like that job. And I mean, I always love being around kids. I don't want to work as a babysitter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

But I still am happy to but at this stage, I feel like we just would watch our friends' kids. Yes. Right. Like, we're not no one's paying us to do that. We just do it because we want them to have a night out or they'll take care of our kids sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

I think it's I remember the first time I watched my nephew when he was little, and my brother was like, should I pay you? And I'm like, no. I'm the aunt. Yeah. We're hanging out. Come, you guys can go. Yeah, it's true. That's a different vibe.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

What about you? Do you miss your paper whip? Oh no. No, no, not at all. But just the other day I was talking to my kids and they and it came up about jobs. And I said, you know, if I didn't have my job now, I'd like to, I'd like to work in the library. And they were like, like, how would that be? And I I mentioned I don't have a degree in library science, and they didn't believe that that was a thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

That's silly. Library science. Like, what do you have to know? There's so much you have to know. There's so much to know. Like like most jobs, there's lots to learn. Yeah. I also think though, lots of teenagers work in libraries. Yeah. Doing the the tasks that they can do. Yeah. Without a lot of training.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

So maybe that's what they're thinking.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Maybe. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

No, I would like to like be a proper librarian. Maybe one day we'll work at a library together. That would be fun. I would love to work in the programming aspect, especially. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Well, I'm in libraries these days do so much more than they used to.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

So we could talk for hours about libraries. We have, we can again. So listen to it.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Come back, tell us what you think.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

But no, there's no job that like I don't crave, you know, the service industry, working in the service industry, anything. Anything working directly with the public like that is it's hard. It's tiring.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah. Yeah. And people are grumpy sometimes. Like just enough. Most people are lovely, but there's just enough people who feel like if you're in a service job, they can be rude with you.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

And the hours, right? It's often evenings and I'm tired.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

We're no longer youthful 16-year-olds, right? We want to sit on the couch at night.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Which you know, it's good because that means we're saving those jobs for the 16-year-old. Those are their jobs. Yeah. Yeah, we've moved on. Anyway, you should tell us about your first job. Yes, please. Especially if you grew up somewhere that isn't here. I'd love to hear what that was like. What is a typical age for people to start working? What kinds of jobs do people do?

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Yeah. You can let us know by commenting on our video on YouTube if you're watching this there or Facebook, Instagram, anywhere you can find us. It's a place we'd like to hear from you. Yeah. All right. Talk to you soon.