9.
“My first job was in the late ’70s, at a tiny little T-shirt shop in North Jersey, where they had a big iron on and a lot of band logos and pictures transferred onto shirts. I was 15 or so. I worked there when I was 16.’ I got paid. There were probably one or two shirts a week that were perfect for me and full of mistakes that I wanted to save. Most of them had small flaws that were barely noticeable, but at least I graduated high school with a collection. There were 100 T-shirts, candy people left behind, chips, pizza, whatever food they had, and there were always snacks around the 15- or 16-year-old boy. After school, that was very important! Sometimes someone would buy me a joint or two, a hunk of hash (very popular back then!), two or three beers, or even a Quaalude (also very popular) ). ) Again, important to a 15-16 year old Jersey boy in the late 70s. ”
“Speaking of drugs, a guy came up to me one afternoon and said he wanted a bunch of shirts from a band he was managing. They were British and were on their first U.S. van tour. As a tip, he gave me $20, a lot of money.” He said his band’s first US single, “Roxanne,” would soon be heard on the radio.
I also got passes to three or four trade shows in Manhattan (an hour and a half bus ride from my home). There I was 15-16 years old, representing a store that catered to customers my age…well, I walked away from there. Every show I had as many items as I could carry.
They also gave me $20 every now and then if I had a good week, $100 at Christmas, and they threw me a big party when I turned 16.
How much does that amount to per hour? I don’t know, and I didn’t really care at the time. I lived with my parents, had fun and learned a lot. And that experience has made me have high expectations for every job I do since then. It worked pretty well for me. ”