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3Hotdogs

(15,538 posts)

9. 13 --- I was a trap boy at the Union County (N.J.) trap and skeet range.

Reply to SalamanderSleeps (Original post)

Wed Jul 19, 2023, 09:02 AM

Jul 2023

The trap machine had a spring loaded "arm" that ejected clay pigeons about 100 ft from the hole. Kids pulled the arm back to lock it. Then put a pigeon onto the arm, QUICKLY, before it was released again. A damaged pigeon would shatter against the wall and hit me in the face.

Eye protection? Wasn't none.

And I loved the job. 1954. Paid $.75 per hour, plus tips from the shooters.

Years later, I became the manager of the range. It helped pay for college expenses.

It is now a county park, under D.E.P. remediation for ground pollution.

No. this post is not about unsafe working conditions or child labor is ok.

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Try to remember what you were like when you were 16 [View all] SalamanderSleeps Jul 2023 OP

2 jobs... MiHale Jul 2023 #1

When did you start driving? Effete Snob Jul 2023 #2

Two jobs, stoop labor (dangerous enough because of machinery and chemicals), flipping burgers. marble falls Jul 2023 #3

At 16 I was a roofer Ponietz Jul 2023 #4

I worked in a parking garage Shrek Jul 2023 #5

I had a friend UpInArms Jul 2023 #6

Stockroom at T.G.&Y. Never once feared for my life. czarjak Jul 2023 #7

I worked at the Olympics in 1996 ecstatic Jul 2023 #8

13 --- I was a trap boy at the Union County (N.J.) trap and skeet range. 3Hotdogs Jul 2023 #9

sales clerk at a stationery store Wicked Blue Jul 2023 #10

I didn't work at a business, I did house and yard and garden work. lark Jul 2023 #11

At sixteen, I was operating farm machinery on my parents' farm. Ptah Jul 2023 #12

While there are plenty of 16 year olds capable of intheflow Jul 2023 #13

Thanks. SalamanderSleeps Jul 2023 #15

Worked long before 16, so that age is not really an issue to me. BUT, unsafe working conditions is Silent Type Jul 2023 #14

Late 80's JustAnotherGen Jul 2023 #16

16 year olds are perfectly capable... Chakaconcarne Jul 2023 #17

At 16 I had already been working sarisataka Jul 2023 #18

"Our employees are our most valuable asset" Initech Jul 2023 #19

I think I've found my new role model. :) SalamanderSleeps Jul 2023 #20