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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
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.
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.
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 😀
Ran a booze-purchasing racket at school as I looked old enough early on! Very profitable. 8)
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.
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!
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?
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)
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.
'usher' in a multiplex cinema (easy work plus free films!)
Got a pic? some of these lookee likees are rubbish.
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.
Dag treader.
I win, or is it lose, not sure really.
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 attendant
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.
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.
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...).
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.
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 😀
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 america
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.
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.
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...
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)
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!
user-removed
Wow, that's a bit crazy - what a small world! The original newsagents definately isn't there anymore but maybe a new one. The old one was great, my cat used to go there and hang out for the day and I'd pick it up on my way home from school. And I used to get a free buttery on a Sunday. Probably raised my "salary" by 50%...
[quote=maxray]summers spent hoeing
Wow! Actual proper hoeing? Not just dressing like one? How much did you make at that?
Glass collecting at pontins holiday camp-end of season perk was free drinks all night, so i had shots of whiskey and was so ill have never touched it since.
Boxing spratts on a fish market. No perks!
Plus assorted paper rounds.
Stawberry picking! the ratty farm on the edge of town had an ancient double decker bus, they would pull up near schools on a Friday lunchtime so you could pile abord and go picking. They were really helpful too, writing faked letters from parents explaning why you had to skip double maths as you were taken sick. Upon arrival at the farm you were given some full and half punnets to fill, a few smokes, 2 slices of bread and a can of panda cola. You were almost always gauranteeed a fist fight as rival schools sent thier first, second and third hardest to mess up your weakest gang members punnets, making your first, second and third hardest seek retribution. We used to pick stawberries and make a stawberry, wasp and pesticide sandwich with the bread given. Happy happy days. We got about £3 for an afternoons work. I went back with some school friends during summer holiday and was given a copy of Razzle for my hard work. Best job ever.
Dandelionandmurdoch:
"Then, at 16, I got a job cold-calling in the evenings for a pathetic local double-glazing firm. I got paid £2.50/hr, lasted three months and sold not a single piece of knock-off, leaky, over-priced glaze."
You were lucky. I did it for £1 an hour, got imprisoned in some local nutter's house who asked me in to estimate a window then locked the door and screamed and yelled at me for ages and refused to let me out, did actually manage to sell a few lots of their rubbish tat and of course mysteriously my 10% cut of the sales couldn't be paid to me for some spurious reason. I have been left with an irrational loathing of double-glazing companies ever since.
Worst one though was in the kitchens in the local hosiptal, it was run like a boot camp by a bonkers supervisor who allowed no talking / smiling / breathing for the full shift. Hard work too. I only stayed on as a bet to someone who said I wouldn't last more than a couple of weeks. I may have been a bit of a mug on that though as we didn't actually bet for money.....!!