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Original poster

Your 1980s Saturday jobs

256 replies

Snooks1971 · 29/04/2026 21:08

I’m sure I’m not UR (!) to ask if you can share what your 80s Saturday jobs were.
Mine was WHSmith.The things I remember most:
nylon pencil skirt - horrendous
On the front till and selling Playboy magazine (dying having to look for the price to type in manually)
The woman who had worked there for 30 years still sniggering at the Smallholdings magazine
The designated fountain pen area - under glass 🥰

OP posts:
Funnywonder · 29/04/2026 21:19

Primark in Belfast. Horrible scratchy maroon and white dress type thingy we had to wear. There was a cigarette kiosk, a pick and mix counter and a jewellery counter. Nothing like today’s Primark. Travellers used to come in and try to haggle over the price of a £1 watch. Oh and its Pree-mark by the way. I don’t care what ye’s call it in England😆 We had to check for incendiary devices after every shift. Us. The teenage Saturday workers. Unbelievable.

SuitcaseAndSecrets · 29/04/2026 21:18

Why just 80's? Some of us are older..

SpanThatWorld · 29/04/2026 21:18

Ryman
Grey polyester skirt and waistcoat (size 14) and red polycotton shirt (size 10). Presume they just pulled any size out of the cupboard.

Went into the stock room one day and came out to find that I had missed Princess Diana buying wrapping paper.

Original poster
Snooks1971 · 29/04/2026 21:17

Creepybookworm · 29/04/2026 21:13

Boots....nasty white nylon zip up dress that was supposed to look medical. The start of 3 for 2 and the litre bottles of cheap bubble bath flying off the shelves. The Natural Collection. Being told to dress up in a clown costume to hand out Christmas catalogues. All the old women who worked there who were really slow on the tills so I got put on instead in school holidays, robbing the old ladies of their sit down. Having to press the lid of each jar of baby food after the baby food poisoning scare.

So 80s 😓😓😓

OP posts:
DilemmaDelilah · 29/04/2026 21:15

My Saturday jobs were in the 1970s. I worked in a cream tea cafe in a small village just outside the city. I used to walk 3 miles there and back every Saturday and Sunday, although the owners quite often gave me a lift home. I earned 75p per hour.

Then later I worked in Jean Genie for a bit. And I did lunchtimes behind the bar in the same village once I was 18. And I worked in a rather nice restaurant as a waitress.

Creepybookworm · 29/04/2026 21:13

Boots....nasty white nylon zip up dress that was supposed to look medical. The start of 3 for 2 and the litre bottles of cheap bubble bath flying off the shelves. The Natural Collection. Being told to dress up in a clown costume to hand out Christmas catalogues. All the old women who worked there who were really slow on the tills so I got put on instead in school holidays, robbing the old ladies of their sit down. Having to press the lid of each jar of baby food after the baby food poisoning scare.