San Antonio: My first job was in this building

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Now it is a thrift store outlet of some kind, but in1954, it was a shiny new HEB supermarket. I turned 14 in September and my mother decided I needed a job, so she introduced me to store manager Hugh Fenner and he hired me immediately, forty cents an hour. I was a "box boy," meaning sacking and carrying out groceries, working bottle returns, learning to stock the dairy case, sweeping, all sorts of things that developed a real work ethic in me. In the long run, it was a good thing, but short term, I began working three days a week from 5 PM to 10 PM, plus eight or ten hours on Saturday. I was soon promoted to checker/cashier at 70 cents per hour. My grades suffered badly, eighth grade was not good at all. Our move to California when I was 15 or 16 was a very positive thing for me. I did much better in school and it took six months to get a job at a local Mayfair Market, but pay was union scale apprentice clerk at $1.70 per hour. Did you begin working at a young age?