For a lot of teenagers in the 1980s, getting a part-time job was just part of growing up. A summer job or after-school shift meant earning your own spending money, saving for something you wanted, and learning what it was like to show up on time and answer to a boss.

The jobs available to teens were also different from what many young people do today. There were no online applications or gig apps, and workplace rules weren’t always as strict as they are now. Teenagers could find themselves working around machinery, chemicals, traffic, hot cooking equipment, or early-morning routes.

Many of these jobs taught useful skills, but some also put young workers in situations that would make parents much more cautious today. Here are eight jobs that were once fairly ordinary for teenagers.

Gas Station Attendant

Before self-service pumps became standard, gas stations employed attendants to pump fuel, wash windshields, check oil, and sometimes perform other basic tasks for customers.

For a teenager, it could be a decent way to earn money while getting plenty of interaction with customers. The job also meant spending hours around gasoline, moving cars, traffic, and potentially slippery pavement. A lot of parents today would have concerns about putting a young worker in that setting.

Factory Floor Helper

Factories and manufacturing plants offered summer and part-time work to some teenagers, particularly in areas where industrial jobs were common.

A young worker might move supplies, package products, clean work areas, or assist older employees. Depending on the workplace, that could mean being around conveyor belts, heavy equipment, and machinery. Workplace protections for young employees are much stricter today, and many industrial tasks are restricted by age.

Farmhand

For teenagers growing up in rural communities, farm work could be a normal summer job. Helping with planting, harvesting, feeding animals, cleaning barns, and other chores could mean long days of physical work.

Some young workers also operated tractors or other farm equipment and worked around livestock, pesticides, and heavy machinery. Farming still provides jobs for young people, but hazardous tasks are subject to rules that limit what minors can legally do.

Parking Lot Attendant

Parking attendants could be found at restaurants, hotels, fairs, sporting events, and other busy places. Teenagers might collect parking fees, direct cars, or help customers find available spaces.

The job sounds fairly harmless until you think about spending hours around moving vehicles. Late-night shifts could also put young employees around crowds, frustrated drivers, and customers who had been drinking.

Fast Food Fry Cook

Teenagers have worked in fast food restaurants for decades, and plenty of 1980s teens got their first job behind a counter or in a kitchen.

Working a fryer meant dealing with extremely hot oil, steam, sharp utensils, wet floors, and a busy kitchen. Young employees could learn to work quickly under pressure, but burns and other kitchen injuries were real risks.

Janitorial Work in Office Buildings

Cleaning offices after employees went home was another way teenagers could earn extra money. A shift might involve vacuuming, emptying trash cans, cleaning bathrooms, and mopping floors.

Depending on the job, young workers could also handle concentrated cleaning products or operate floor-cleaning equipment. Working alone in a mostly empty building late in the evening would also be a concern for many parents today.

Pre-Dawn Newspaper Delivery

Before everyone had news on a phone, newspapers had to reach subscribers before breakfast. Teenagers were often responsible for delivering them to homes along a set route.

That meant getting up extremely early and heading outside while it was still dark. Depending on the neighborhood, kids might walk or ride bicycles through rain, snow, cold temperatures, or poorly lit streets. Missing a delivery wasn’t an option just because the weather was unpleasant.

Construction Laborer

Construction work could be an attractive summer job for a teenager looking to make decent money and learn a trade. Young workers might carry materials, clean up job sites, move supplies, or assist experienced workers.

The environment could also involve power tools, ladders, heavy materials, loud equipment, dust, and other hazards. Many construction tasks now have age restrictions for minors, which makes some of those old summer jobs sound very different from what parents would consider appropriate today.

Teen jobs have changed a lot since the 1980s. Some of these jobs are still around, but age restrictions, workplace safety rules, and greater parental supervision have changed what young workers can legally and practically do.

For many former 80s kids, though, those first jobs remain memorable. They were a chance to earn a paycheck, learn how to deal with customers and coworkers, and discover just how much work goes into earning your own money.