What was your first job?

artybee

Summer job after GCSEs in a tile warehouse, taking tiles out of a big box that said "Made in Spain" and putting them in a smaller box that said "Made in England".

Cycrow

My first job was when i was 11/12, i took over my brothers paper round, delivering the free paper, Why. I was paid 1p per paper. Which worked out to about £3 per week (about 300 papers to deliver)

gazwaldo8

Mine was on a Saturday morning helping my milkman on his round (also on weekdays during school holidays) when I was about 7. He paid me a pint of milk and a caramel bar (which he also used to sell). Now and again he would give me a share of any tips!
Slave labour?- Most definately! - but that was just the way it was then.

I stopped this when I had my first paper round at around 10 or 11. This was quickly expanded to the morning round as well as the weekly free paper on a saturday for 1p per paper delivered. This was maybe one of the hardestjobs I have ever had to do and was still just a kid!!
I now realise why somany of these bundles of papers (around about 300 papers at a time) seemed to be 'dumped' (I never did by the way!).

Oh those were the days! lol

KentJan

At 12 I working in a local cafe on Saturdays starting off clearing tables (inc washing out ash trays) and washing up for the princely sum of half a crown an hour! I now get cross when I go into a cafe and see dirty tables cluttered with other people's used stuff wouldn't have happened under my manager and it was a good grounding in hard work.

Kernow666

my 1st job was a sunday paper round where i got £2.50 ( 27yrs ago ) it only took my about 40mins so i got another one so bagged a fiver every sunday for 90mins work plus 2 free papers for my mum & gran so got another 60/70p on top

left school at 16 and was on the YTS for £29.50pw ( working 40hrs) working in a DIY store but left after 2 years although my money went upto £35pw at 17 i was doing as much if not more work than the people working there on a wage

my 1st proper job was in an electrical store for £100pw (40hrs) on a 3 month trial then £125

duchy

My Saturday job was a real cushy number (mostly) as I worked for my Dad in his travel agency. I started age 12 stamping brochures and by the time I was fourteen was booking holidays , rail tickets air tickets etc solo. Looking back I am amazed the customers were happy for someone so young to make their bookings and take their money. I was paid £5 a day (I'd work more days in school holidays) plus most holiday companies had incentives- I always had a purse full of M&S vouchers but if my Dad and I fell out he'd refuse to let me work .On the upside he'd buy me my lunch and always bought cakes for all the staff on a Saturday Most of my friends had Saturday jobs - and looking back the ones who did were the ones who ended up with better jobs when we left school.

My first fulltime job was a travel agency in central London. London paid so much better than local that it was worth paying the £5 a week season ticket to London (the same weekly season ticket today is £45.10). I got the job from the Capital Radio Job Line My first day I answered the phone and David Niven was on the other end (lovely, lovely man but OMG his language was ripe) who was a regular customer.

I don't think there's anything wrong with kids having Saturday jobs. It taught me a good work ethic. Some years ago I worked for a while as a bowling centre manager and the majority of the staff were 6th formers and the best workers were also the ones who got the best results and got into the better unis.

PasturesNew

I had loads of jobs until I started full-time, proper work, aged 18. Aged 15-18 I worked through temp agencies in offices (filing clerk, then typist, then secretary). That was every school holiday. My first full week's pay was at the rate of 84p/hour. I think I took home £27 that first week and had the joy of putting the cheque into my Post Office Savings Account.

Other jobs included: plum/apple picking on a farm one weekend only (I was staying with people who were doing that so they took me too); dish washing (by hand) in a pub; babysitting; Avon; Saturday job in a Co-Op on the meat/cheese counter and the tills; shelf stacking in a tiny/old-fashioned greengrocery company (one Easter weekend only, my dad's friend, paid me an insulting amount of about 30p/hour); stand-in paper round for my friend when she was on holiday (not allowed to do one regularly); order picker at a small plant nursery; welding some gas masks for a friend's dad's engineering firm (some MoD contract he had); Saturday job at a town jewellers (£7/Saturday of 8 hours), including minor fix/repair work such as changing batteries, fixing/affixing watch straps and attaching/detaching charms with jump rings.

My first full-time "proper job", aged 18, was PA to the MD of a metals and chemicals brokers.... sounds posh but it was just the MD and 2 other blokes + a receptionist in an almost empty office, with a telex machine. I had to take dictation and type letters - and use the telex machine to send prices of stuff to traders - and sometimes take a box/paperwork down to the freight company who actually delivered stuff. No idea where the stuff was held.... I think, maybe, they never had ownership of physical stock, they'd simply buy and sell as a middleman without ever touching the stuff. I used to cycle 6 miles there and 6 miles back, on a salary of £3k/year, taking home £184/month.

InsideInsurance

First job was at 15 working for Kays, the catalogue company. Initially on their new customer telephone line - setting up accounts and taking their first order etc - and after a couple of months moved on to the enquiries line and finally into the escalated complaints team.

Unfortunately was the start of 10 years of call centre work that covered sales and service, inbound and outbound, all the utilities - unfortunately unlike monopoly you dont get double money if you've got all the utilities.

Really was amazed about how much people lie and cheat and try to weasel their way out of their obligations - obviously made coming to this site a lot less of a shock. My first ever call on the enquiry line was a woman asking for a payment holiday because her mother had died last week, a quick check on her records showed this was the 6th time she'd requested one in the last 2 years and all the previous ones had been because her mother had just died too.

Baldybear

Not my first job but definitely my worst paid working a 66 hour week for £75 a week, on a YTS training scheme. Boss was a cow too lol!

layna1491

In 1976 at the age of 15, I was left in sole charge of what was then called an 'old people's home' and was expected, among other duties to produce the afternoon meal for all residents. I remember the owner instructing me to phone her if anyone fell over and not to move them.
I was paid the princely sum of 50p per hour!