I checked the adding up of marks on A level and GCSE papers one summer.
I also worked in a warehouse unloading lorries full of mattresses which was equally thrilling.
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Following on from that thread below - so what crap jobs did you do as a kid
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Worked in a brewery -not that bad, got free beer.
Basically manual labour though.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Paperboy but that was a great job, had about 4 different rounds.
Chicken shed cleaner was a pretty nasty job. Very dry and dirty.
Kitchen Porter for a big restaurant was a properly dirty and crappy job. Paid well though.
I was a rat catcher too which was a way cool job.
I worked the traps at a clay pigeon shoot which was ok.And then one summer I worked for a brewery, mainly with the draymen. Those guys are some of the toughest men I have ever known. They could lift huge barrels no problem and would have a pint at every pub they made a delivery to with no apparent ill effects.
Posted 1 year ago # -
From 13 to 16, 4 paper rounds, 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening, on a sunday i did all 3 that the newsagent had. Those were stress free days, i do remember on Bank Holidays used to get the call at 2pm to say the papers where in so i could start early!
16, first proper job was a Data Input Clerk for Electrue they did parts for small electricals, vacs and that sort of thing. Then went back to college so started working for Safeway trolley boy for 12 months then at 17, Checkout Supervisor then Checkout Manager at 19, even though i went to Uni got my degree i stayed in retail, work for Tesco now.
Its funny when you look back, i remember late shift on friday 4-9 on trollies then 8-12 next day and thats all i used to work, so different these days!
Posted 1 year ago # -
paperboy, then got promoted to the shop to do friday and saturday night shifts because i was the burliest paperboy. only paid £1 an hour. got moaned at if you finished the jobs for not doing it properly/ not thinking of anything else to do. got moaned at if you didn't finish the list of jobs though. kicked it in ofr another paperoound which pid more than the PR and the shop together.
i also used to test condoms, but that was a placement year at uni - and being covered in chocolate lube all day isn't as good as you'd think!
Posted 1 year ago # -
gravedigger.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Filling 1 gallon cans with paraffin
Various waiting at tables jobs.
Not a crap job but a great job- working as a steward/security/dogsbody for a Harvey Goldsmith company. Got to see tens of top bands in the 70s and get paid
Finally had to finish college and get a proper job
Posted 1 year ago # -
Not sure I've had any crap jobs, They've all contributed to the experiences that have made me the awesome person I am. One of the things it has taught me is that there are not crap jobs, just crap people, and as a result I don't look down on people who have low skilled jobs.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Grumm - I did a stint at Burger King - grim as hell but it's where I learned how to roll spliffs the size of battleships on the half hour break
Haha - yup that sounds familiar. I did sometimes get a massive free bag of donuts too. Quite good after the spliffs.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Selling peaches on the beach -- in 1977 when The Stranglers were topping the charts!
Paper rounds.
Helping customers on and off boats at a boating lake.
Selling ice creams on the beach. Commission based resulting in £100-130 a week in the 1983 summer holiday as an 18 year old.We had some cracking summers the years I was doing those jobs and I don't think any employment I've had as an adult has come close to being as enjoyable. I've never had such a good sun tan again either.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Multiple paper rounds (as seems compulsory)
Picking Lettuce during the summer holidays - The money was crap, but back then seemed like a fortune. All of which was spent on bike parts. Some things never change eh? I had a seriously pimpy BMX
And it taught me everything i know about chain smoking, swearing and pulling seriously evil tricks on people. Usually involving shrink-wrapping to pallets and hoisting them up to the top of a warehouse on a fork-lift
Posted 1 year ago # -
I also did multiple paper rounds, with 2 routes on Sunday with one of the most expensive streets in Aberdeen so it took three trips to the paper shop to refill up my bag, and the letter boxes were all tiny 15*4 cm ones so I had to split the paper into sections. A schoolfriend did the same morning round as me (from another shop) and his Dad used to drive him around in winter whilst I had to trudge through the snow.
Then a few years on the tills in a supermarket but that was mostly pretty good fun actually.
Posted 1 year ago # -
de-tinning pork pies (night shift)
Used to help on a pork pie production line near Wakefield - used to help the women who worked on the machines - IIRC one put the ring in a machine, the second put some pastry in which was squashed into the tin by the machine, the third person put the 'meat' in and the fourth put the pastry lid on which went through the machine again to be taken off by the first person. Amazing the speed they worked at and how ratty they got if it broke down. Also spent some time in the fridges and freezers.
Other crap jobs included egg collecting at a battery farm (by far the worst job I ever had, particularly where the cages were damaged and the lights weren't working you used to get nasty pecks from the hens), a sunday paper round, gardening for a wealthy old lady and kitchen porter in a local hotel. Had quite a nice job working in a warehouse for a distributor of Adidas sports gear for a summer - managed to get loads of their gear including enough of football boot studs to keep a football team going for years.
Posted 1 year ago # -
most profitable job as a kid:
selling crappy fluffy pens, christmas jewellery and other cheap items at christmas craft fares. me and my little sister made over a grand each one christmas season. apparently old people want to buy novetly crap from the cute looking 12 and 13yr old kids than the mean looking old hippy
Posted 1 year ago # -
Ran a booze-purchasing racket at school as I looked old enough early on! Very profitable.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Washing up: Greasy hotel slop, horrible.
Chamomile picking: Smelt a little nicer.
Making model aeroplane kits: Hundreds of them, foam, balsa wood, obechi, glue, dust and machine tools.. Mostly enjoyable but hard graft.
Posted 1 year ago # -
My first step on the corporate ladder was going into partnership with my brother when we were 7 and 8 and selling conkers in the school playground. We would collect the conkers from a huge old horse chestnut in our field, polish them up and take them to school in an apple crate. It was 1p per conker, 2p with a hole in it and 3p with string.
Alan Sugar: suck my balls!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I also did multiple paper rounds, with 2 routes on Sunday with one of the most expensive streets in Aberdeen
Alpine girl - I'm guessing the street was Rubislaw Den, and that you worked for Jackson's newsagent on Rosemount Place (or maybe Watsons, depending on your age).
Am I close?
Posted 1 year ago # -
cleaning in a dry cleaners (recursive job?)
cooking fish and chips (good one that nearly did as a career)
builder (1 day)
shelf stacker in gateways (2 nights)
student bar (best. job. ever.)
lots of crappy factory jobs through temp agency (well, its money)
'usher' in a multiplex cinema (easy work plus free films!)
security in a clothes shop on kings Road (standing around looking at girls)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Morning Paper round to start then at 13 worked at a snooker table manufacturers after school in the run up to Christmas got finished from there cos I did not have an NI number, then washing and riding motorbikes on a Saturday at Allan Jefferies including dicking around with the late TT legend and pie eater DJ.Once cleaned the muckiest dog kennel ever for cubs bob a job week and got 50p for my troubles.
Posted 1 year ago # -
'usher' in a multiplex cinema (easy work plus free films!)
Got a pic? some of these lookee likees are rubbish.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Just the one from 13-16.
Most evenings and almost every weekend i'd help my neighbour.
We'd fix fences for a couple local farmers and help out during hay making season.
This would often be either driving the tractor to turn or bale the hay or load the sledge if necessary.
Or loading the tipped bales onto te elevator or stacking in the barn.
Once i was 15 i could drive the teagle bale collector and high sided trailer and deliver to the farm and tip.
His main job was a woodsman, so i'd either help him in the woods or in the shed cutting wood.
So at quite an early age i was using chain saws, hydraulic log splitters or one of the most savage non H&S friendly bench saws ever.
PTO driven, 3ft diameter rusty blade and no guard. Half of the blade was an exposed fast rotating beast of a thing.
I was only allowed on that bad boy once i hit 15.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Dag treader.
I win, or is it lose, not sure really.
Posted 1 year ago # -
tattie picker
tractor driver (as a 5 yr old - meant a man was free to lift bales)
farm labourer (several incarnations and experiences)
butlitz bluecoat (*was nearly pleased when broke wrist in motorbike accident)
car park attendantPosted 1 year ago # -
user-removed
That's a good (I presume educated) guess!! You got the street right, but it was a newsagents on Fountainhall road next to the chemist. I'm not sure if it's still there though, on the corner with Desswood Place. It really was a terrible street for a paper round, on a Sunday most houses got 2 or 3 of the papers.Posted 1 year ago # -
Tattie picker here too.
Shelf stacking at Safeway while at school. At college I washed dishes af Bell's Diner in St Stephens St. An institution for Edinburgh burger lovers. A spell washing dishes and waiting at the Shore Bar in Leith.
Posted 1 year ago # -
alpine girl - Member
user-removed
That's a good (I presume educated) guess!!Ah well, close, but obviously my stalker skills are getting rusty
I used to do holiday cover on all the roads up there and yes, the weight of the bag was truly horrific. Used to pick some great gear out of the bins though - could never believe the stuff those 'posh' folk threw away!
EDIT: pretty sure the shop is still there - the chemist definitely is (or was two years ago...).
Posted 1 year ago # -
Odd jobs on a farm, can't remember getting paid but I had loads of fun, weekly paper round, Sunday paper round thankfully before supplements, milk round finishing off working in a pub/night club paying off the loan I had to take out after I pranged my dads car.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Worst was working on a chicken farm, raising the little fellas that would arrive in what looked like a pizza box with holes right up to dispatching and packing them. Some of the stuff we had to do was gross!
Best was working in a Victorian gardens, summers spent hoeing whilst letching over sunbathers
Posted 1 year ago # -
paper round, bmx was not the best as i had the longest route, still have chunky thighs as a result
glasses lens making factory, tiny glass splinters in my fingers
then in uni summer hols
working in a nappy factory- breathing tiny fibres
working in a paracetamol factory, 12hr night shifts never got headaches
working in a coffee factory, coffee in my hair in my snot under my fingernails, hot sticky sweaty horrible everyone was constantly wired
best was working for the council with a mate cutting the grass in teh parks and perving at sunbathers
ultimate best was biking instructor at camp americaPosted 1 year ago # -
Log bagger...Sunday mornings at a garden centre, one very large pile of cut logs usually frozen together, and a stack of plastic bags to fill. Couldn't open the bags with gloves on so had to get freezing and cut hands. At least I had a nice shed to warm up in afterwards and peruse my 'literature'.
Paper rounds, dish washer and cafe kitchen boy were a doddle in comparison.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Worked at a dog kennels for a while in school holidays. Cleaning crap out of kennels, walking the dogs, avoiding getting bitten and so on. I had a slight phobia of dogs for a few years afterwards after a couple of staffies bit me.
Cold-calling for some kind of sales event. I remember I rang one Swedish guy - turned out he was in the army in some way and wanted to know how I'd got his number. That lasted 2 weeks.
Data entry at Manchester airport for 2 days. I learned how much they buy those watches in duty free for...
Stuffing envelopes at a hearing aid wholesaler - did that for a month.
Wrapping presents at Currys in Knutsford one Christmas.
Worked as a shelf-stacker and nut rebagger in a hardware warehouse - basically they took in wholesale packs of nuts and bolts, then rebagged them for retail. By hand. Mental. Managed that for a month.My sister worked at an ice cream factory. Apparently it put her off ice cream for about 3 years.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Paper round.
Breaking down boxes (often full of mouldy fruit) for recycling at local greengrocers - it's gone now.
Carpet shop - that's still there.
Garden Centre - that's gone.
Site labourer one summer - daren't look, but the first few batches of mortar I mixed were a bit poor...Posted 1 year ago # -
Strawberry picker (1 day)
Worked on a farm pulling cabbages (many weeks in summer hols for a couple of years)
Site labourer for Mc Alpines at Sellafield (2 weeks)
chopper of fruit, beer fridge filler and ice getter in a cocktail bar (2 months)Posted 1 year ago # -
The usual paper round, cashier jobs at numerous one stop type shops, supermarket shelf stacking and warehouse. But the worst have to be Mc D's most often on fries, getting burnt by hot oil. After uni, I spent 18months making tampons on a production line. I made it as best I could, I looked after my own machine, start to finish, and was most often the best number producer in the factory, she ran sweet lol!
Posted 1 year ago #
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