A Think Tank this week has said that teenagers and students in the UK
are no longer interested in having a Saturday job. This tends to mean
that they have nothing on their CV when applying for employment. I
suppose the demise of reading a daily newspaper (my son delivered
newspapers in the snow), and the High Streets not doing well, will mean a
lack of Saturday jobs.
When I was 14 and living in Kuwait, I got
myself a job as a cleaner for two American engineers. The two men were
very untidy and I would face a sink full of burnt pans to start my
cleaning session.
On my return to the UK I took an exam to
enter college aged 15, with the 18 year olds. My 18 year old class
mates seemed very sophisticated to me, all wearing the latest fashion
and lots of make up. I got a job in The Scotch Wool Shop in
Southend-on-Sea, Essex. I had to refold the beautiful jumpers after
customers took them off the shelves to try for size. I had never had to
stand up all day before and ended my first day feeling really weak and
ill.
My next job was for Woolworths where I had to wear a green
overall, smelling of body odour. Yuck. I sold cigarettes, shampoo,
sanitary towels (lady's would whisper they wanted ST's and a plain paper
wrapping. I had to restock from an enormous warehouse above the
store. This involved carrying boxes of shampoo sachets and displaying
them. Some of my friends worked in Marks and Spencer and I was a little
envious as the job seemed easier and more prestigious.
When I
reached 18, I had been in full time work in The City of London for two
years and worked at the weekends as a waitress or barmaid for extra
money. Being a waitress was very tiring and the staff food, left a lot
to be desired, a tin of cold beans eaten from the can.
I found
being a barmaid quite pleasant, even though we had to add up drinks,
sandwiches, crisps for a party of 10, in our head. No fancy tills to
work it out for us then.
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