What was your first job?

DigForVictory

Filing clerk in the civil service. Started just as the IRA caused some local fuss, so for my first fortnight, til the security alert calmed down, I had to be escorted Everywhere, including the loo.
Happily my line manager was a nice woman, the work was drudgery but she made sure I got breaks out to "help" her check the rest of the team & that I was introduced by distributing payslips.

I'll not forget the moment I hauled my father to the site cashpoint - and at his baffled look, proudly explained "It's In Credit!"
My mother was delighted that I spent the remaining money "sensibly" on a freezer, delivered to my University flat! (A biggish deal back then - not an associated address for anything financial but a postcode & a promise that I'd "be looking out for" the driver - watched for him with a handful of balloons ready to make sure the freezer came to the right building & the right flat!)

TopQuark

My first job was a paper-round at age 13. I got about 6 quid a week, back in the mid-90s. When I was 15 I had a Saturday job in a cake shop, which was hard work but I got to take home the fancy leftover gateaux at the end of the day. The value of this perk wore off reasonably quickly though as I got sick of them. At 17 when doing my A-Levels I worked Saturdays for Etam, which was boring but the staff were nice (I'm still friends with one person, 15+ years later). When I started university I had a weekend job for Clinique in House of Fraser. I did a science degree, so found working at the weekends hard but I needed the cash. I left when I graduated and started my PhD, which is equivalent to a full time job and so other work was prohibited. I was so happy to get my weekends back finally!


I'm fortunate to have a good education and a highly paid position these days, but I will still encourage my kid/s to take on such positions as they are growing up (#1 is on the way). For me, it wasn't just about earning my own money, it was also the sense of independence and responsibility it gave me. After my PhD I took a job on the other side of the world in a developing country where I knew no-one and I'm not sure I'd have had the strength of character to do so if I'd never had a job until I left (7 years of) university.

PurplePow

I had a paper round when I was around 13/14 for one of those free papers. I got 1p per paper delivered and I think I had around 300+ to deliver. I would often get leaflets to deliver with them and so would spend hours putting the leaflets together with a paper so when I was out delivering it was easier to post. I got a bit extra when there was leaflets but it varied so I was never sure how much I would get paid. I remember one week getting just over £10 and I thought I was rich! I hated it though, and because it was free I didn’t get the ‘Christmas tip’ normal paper round kids got. Ended up stopping because I was bullied as a kid and the kids on my estate would come after me when they saw me out delivering. It’s funny to think now as a young 13 year old girl I went around on my own to deliver papers in the dark which would take me ages!

When I was 16 I got a job working as a waitress in the executive boxes at the local football stadium. Only worked on a match day and got around £30 a shift. I hated the evening matches as worked straight from college and wouldn’t get home till around 11pm, and then had college the next morning!

I got a job at Morrisons at around 18 which carried on through my University years (I couldn’t afford to move away for Uni so went to the local one, which was/is naff). Did 2 x 3 hours shifts on weekday evenings and then 8 hours over the weekend. Got around £300 a month!

PeacefulSlumber

I worked full time in a cake shop, filling buns with cream and doughnuts with jam, strangely satisfying job earning £508 per month in 1993.

captainhaddock

I worked in an electrical transformer factory in 1976, the pay was £17 per week - only lasted a week, hated doing the sandwich run, someone always moaned or shouted if their order wasn't right and as a shy 16 year old I was glad to get out !

A few days later my next job was as a boilermaker - slightly better pay at £20 per week - but a great small workforce - enjoyed 10 years working there.

Goldiegirl

I started work for Barclays Bank in 1976, on an annual salary of £1074

mgdavid

I first earned money at the age of about 11, as a choirboy if we were booked for a wedding we got a shilling and if I sang a solo I got an extra half-crown. This would have been around 1960. I was on a market stall on Saturdays at about 14, did a paper round in the summer hols. Later went to Woolworths on Saturdays, did a couple of evening shifts in a small factory for a few months, petrol pump attendant at the local garage on weekends, and by the time I was doing A levels I was a cashier at the local swimming pool. First fulltime job was as a van driver delivering booze for an off-licence; just a fill-in while waiting to join British Airways as they only had new starter dates every few months.
The sixties were a terrific time to be a teenager; as Mac said at the time, we never had it so good.

System

Home Bargains

I quit after 2 months, i was doing my GCSE's at the time and they were demanding i came in on exam days which i struggled with plus they treated me like crap!

Ganador

When I was 15 I had a Saturday job on the Danish Bacon Stall in a covered market. I think I got about £6 for a full day - but there were benefits!! My mother used to make a fantastic soup with bacon bones and when the butcher realised that I was buying them he started leaving extra meat on them for me. I also made a friend on the bus home - I would get the same bus each week and one stop later a gentleman used to get on with his guide dog who would make a beeline for me!

Jagraf

Fruit and veg shop flipping cold in the winter. 1989 and £8.54 a saturday. About £3 of this went on make up for the evening, and the rest on diamond white and a kebab. I knew how to live.