Did You Have A Saturday Job ?

[sussex 5,776]

First job was helping the old Yiddish fella on his cloth stall , had to be at his store room at 5.30 behind the London hospital Whitechapel , load his Thames 15cwt van with about a hundred rolls of various cloth , up a down a narrow staircase that was at the most acute angle you could believe while he sat smoking a cheroot ...then down to Romford market , load the stall out , be there all day running around getting teas , cigars food then load the cloth back in the van , back to the shop up that bloody staircase , normally finished about 7.30 ...for the sum of 30 bob ..( £1.50 ) ..during the school holidays I did Wednesday and sat ..then my old man bought a pub in Bow and I started working in there , did the first two hours 5to 7 every weekday , Saturday night and Sunday lunchtime behind the bar ..£10 a week at fourteen I thought I was minted ..

[gnasher16 29,664]

 

 

Started at 8 helping my cousin deliver groceries on a trolley, the sort of trolley you made yourself out of wood and wheels nicked from scrap prams and push chairs. My aunt had a corner shop and the older customers would leave her a shopping list and then on an evening the two of us would load up the trolley with boxes of groceries and deliver them to the customers. Then at 11 I got a Saturday job on the market on a carpet stall, progressed to Currys where I used to assemble bikes ready for delivery. When I'd finished assembling them I took them for a spin around the upstairs warehouse area. First time round on a new Raleigh Chopper I almost wrecked a Phillips 26" TV. The manager paid me at around 5:20pm on a Saturday and by 5:30pm just before the tackle shop closed I would have converted my wages into bait and fishing tackle.

 

Had a paper round at 13 too.

 

In fact I worked in some capacity for almost 50 years without a break until I retired to France aged 55. 6 months later I ended up as a self-employed mole trapper and am still at it.

What a nice little read.....did Currys sell bikes at one stage then i never knew that.......if its not rude to ask mate what part of England was you in and what part of France did you retire to ?

 

Hi Gnash,

I am from a village near to Barnsley and other than a few years living in Leeds in the Revie era when my Dad tried to escape the mines have lived in the Barnsley area most of my life. Currys in Barnsley were one of the biggest branches in the country. I worked there as a Saturday lad for about four years. After leaving school I went to work in a textile company and after about four years realises that it was about to go bust as many around it already had. I saw a job advertised for a trainee manager at Currys and was interviewed by my old boss who had been promoted to regional manager. Got hired on the spot even though there were at least ten applicants and worked all over the north of England covering for the store manager's holidays and sick leave. Also did a bit of debt collecting on their behalf. Imagine debt collecting in Moss Side, Manchester. That was me in the late 70's to early 80's.

 

When I was a Saturday lad Currys sold bikes as well as electrical stuff. By the time I re-joined it was all electrical. In those days it was still a family owned business and had a nice feeling to work there. Then Stanley Kalms made a sneaky takeover buying a load of shares on the QT and it became part of the Comet / Dixons and now PC World empire. Not so good a place to work now. I kept in touch with a couple of my former colleagues who have ended up in the Dixons shops.

 

We moved to the Charente area of France just over four years ago. Other than the shooting which I miss I wouldn't want to move back.

 

Good for you sounds an interesting little tale.....i know that area of France a little bit as i had a little place in Limoges a few years back,never actually lived there but spent the odd week it was very scenic..........Currys selling bikes still cant get my head round that.....must be a northern thing !

Edited June 7, 2016 by gnasher16

[socks 32,253]

 

 

One of the worst things I could imagine is being called a lazy c**t....

You lazy C**t .......

It's not got the same effect from a dwarf...infact it's kinda funny...☺️

Fukc me sorry giant ......

[mr scent 665]

Started cutting grass when I was 13 , got a proper job at 14 pushing trollies for a supermarket for 1.69 an hour lol . Haven't been unemployed for a day since then thank god

[Lab 10,979]

 

 

 

One of the worst things I could imagine is being called a lazy c**t....

You lazy C**t .......

It's not got the same effect from a dwarf...infact it's kinda funny...☺️

Fukc me sorry giant ......

Oh stop it.....I bet you say that too all the guys. And some women.

[dytkos 17,536]

Sat and Sun paper round at 13, 5 Bob a week, farm before and after school at 14, milk round at w/e, £1 a week and a Sunday lunch in the farmhouse lol

 

Cheers, D.

[J_Edwards 70]

I worked in some way since I was 12, even if it was scoring for the cricket team for £7. It bought me an Airfix model!

 

My mum got me a part-time job in a garage when I was at sixth-form, and I drove lorries for a well-known haulage company at weekends when I was at uni.

 

I think my mum saw me grafting for it, so she used to give me quite a bit of pocket money too. My brother is in his mid-teens now, and he's part of the mollycoddled generation. He can't even cut the grass because of his hay fever, so he sits upstairs on his computer watching my mum and dad do it. He will never need a part-time job because of hand-outs from grandparents, and a mummy and daddy that still wipe his nose! My mum and dad have the attitude that you should be enjoying yourself as a kid, not working, so he just gets everything on a plate, and consequently has no idea about the value of money, spending far too much money on ridiculous things. What 14 year-old kid can buy a £200 hoody? I can't imagine him going far, and will most likely end-up working for his mum.

[terryd 8,050]

grand parents got me to garden on the veg plot every night for an hour. Or cutting bracken down or hay with the scythe. Any attempt to sneak off never went well lol

[treecreeper 1,136]

always had atleast one job from being about 12, before I left school I had three jobs was washing cars at a car garage after school Wed and Friday, then Friday night worked in local members club sat day in my mates mams chippy then most sat nights at the club if there was a do on. In the summer holidays used to labour for me mates dads building firm, usually involved shifting or smashing shit.

[LaraCroft 863]

From 12 I was working at the local riding stables on saturday and sunday - mucking out 10 stables, tacking up etc, bringing in and out of fields, and walking alongside the younger learners. In return I got a free 1/2 hour lesson on the first saturday of the month !

From 14 I was helping with the morning milking for the neighbours farm 5 days a week before school, and in return I kept my mare in their field. Alongside 30 bullocks. Trying to get her in and out was a steep learning curve in animal handling !

At 15, I was using the school computers to design those folded A4 pub menus, that are just laminated paper. That paid my way. Once I had learnt how to spell desert !

[tatsblisters 7,955]

Paper round at 13 and at 15 the old man got me and a couple of mates in the summer shutdown for two weeks at british steel aldwark on 12 hour shifts seven days on the year of the hottest summer on record (76) looking back now that was some fekin summer we were all bolloxed by the time the fortnight was up and i can say i did the full two weeks and never had a day of unlike my mates who knocked a couple of shifts.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

I had a Saturday job, Sunday job as well throughout the year, all week during the Whit week and Summer school holidays (though I did have at least one day a week off). I worked in an arcade as a change giver and bingo card checker, rising to the heights of relief caller!

[secretagentmole 1,701]

From 12 I was working at the local riding stables on saturday and sunday - mucking out 10 stables, tacking up etc, bringing in and out of fields, and walking alongside the younger learners. In return I got a free 1/2 hour lesson on the first saturday of the month !

From 14 I was helping with the morning milking for the neighbours farm 5 days a week before school, and in return I kept my mare in their field. Alongside 30 bullocks. Trying to get her in and out was a steep learning curve in animal handling !

At 15, I was using the school computers to design those folded A4 pub menus, that are just laminated paper. That paid my way. Once I had learnt how to spell desert !

So you served plates of sand after the meal then?

 

Sorry I like to see people get their just desserts!

[Lloyd90 509]

Worked on the markets with my old man when I was big enough to walk, by time I was 13-15 used to get dropped off with a van full of carpets and do a full day working market and he'd get a lift off his mate to a different market where he'd dropped his other van, then would get a lift back.

 

On weekends used to wash dishes in local restaurant, ended up working for other blokes on market, worked in pub for a while whilst waiting to go upto RAF Cranwell for Air crew selection. Spent 18 months working odd shifts and running about 10 mile a day and boxing. Fit as I've ever been, turned out I had eye condition that fecked chances of RAF and I still kick myself today that I let that fitness slip cos its bloody hard to get back to.

 

At moment been in uni 2 years, had a job from day 1. Seen LOADS of students sat on their arses complaining they're skint, have no money etc. I used to work past em daily as I went to 1 of my 2 jobs.

Plenty of people willing to bitch n moan but not many willing to get off their arses and go get a job! (Although I have met some who are some of the most hard working people I ever seen!)

[PeskyWabbits 464]

I was a petrol pump attendant. I have always been interested in cars and I though this would be a way in to the industry.

It was just exploitation sadly. Taught me about human nature though.

The garage owners also sold cars, new and second hand. And they were merciless. Wouldn't touch a used car unless they could get a clear £1000 profit, and would say things like 'just fit for scrap' to trade ins.

But what really upset me was, there was a car crash just down the road, the driver staggered bleeding (just minor thankfully) to the garage. But they wouldn't let him in, or call an ambulance.

And someone had a flat tyre and couldn't undo the wheel nuts with their tiny wrench. Every car had a wheel brace and a service bay next door but they turned him away.