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Original poster

What was your first job?

46 replies

ALemonyPea · 15/09/2018 11:05

Off the back of the thread in AIBU, what was your first job, how old were you and what was your hourly rate of pay.

Mine was working as a chambermaid (room attendant nowadays) in a swanky hotel. I was 16 and my mate Ashleigh got me the job. I earned a smashing £2.50 an hour. This was mid 1990s.

OP posts:
AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 15/09/2018 11:16

Bar work - I was 18 and earned £5.92 per hour

Next job was down under earning double ph for very similar work

IndigoSpritz · 15/09/2018 11:18

A large UK insurance company. I lasted less than a year.

foxyknoxy30 · 15/09/2018 11:19

My first Saturday job when still in school was in 1990 aged 16 ,was working in this posh bakery /cafe loading and unloading the dishwasher .I worked 9-6 and got about £14 which included a share of the tips. But the the bonus was I could eat their food for free which was lovely.

spaceraidersrock · 15/09/2018 11:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RedDwarves · 15/09/2018 11:26

Waitressing.

Earned $20AUD an hour on weeknights, $25 an hour on weekends. Cash in hand.

somewhereovertherain · 15/09/2018 11:28

McDonalds at 16 £1.80 per hour.

Batmanthedude · 15/09/2018 11:34

Harvester as a dish washer at 15 which was illegal and used to have to hide during inspections. Warned 60 a weekend which was for 3 shifts, so hardly anything per hour

SLoisachtal · 15/09/2018 11:35

Saturday girl in Woolies, I think I started when I was 17. No idea was I was paid, but it was in £Sd Grin

PJBanana · 15/09/2018 11:36

Waitress at a posh hotel where I lived. I was 17 and earned about £5.50 an hour in 2009.

Hated it, I lasted about 4 months!

AamdC · 15/09/2018 11:43

Apart from banysitting, i had a few shifts in the local pub dishwashing, but although they promised me regular hours after working xmas eve amd news years eve i didnt hear. anything elseHmm i i then got a job as a care assistant in a nursing home whilst doing my "A levels" for a whppping £2.10 an hr. This was 91-93

ICantBelieveIDidThis · 15/09/2018 11:47

Saturday girl at Woolworths.

Received less than £20 a week.

Theseptemberissues · 15/09/2018 11:48

15 at a local hairdressers on Saturdays and the odd Sunday sweeping hair, making coffees etc. £15 a day for working 9-4 and my hair done for free once a month. I loved it Grin

TrippingTheVelvet · 15/09/2018 11:48

£3 an hour early noughties in a shop

AamdC · 15/09/2018 11:50

Would they do whatevet you wanted for yoyr hair These or was it just a trim?

Neweternal · 15/09/2018 11:50

Hairdressers £15 plus tips (extra £10 often) 1991 I was 15. Really hard work though and I couldn't study etc on top of that. Personally I wouldn't want my DC doing that.

whifflesqueak · 15/09/2018 11:51

Kp turned waitress turned bartender.

10 years later I’m still here. I love it.

Get paid a pittance though.

ShotsFired · 15/09/2018 11:52

Corner shop where my big brother worked.
3 hrs on Sat and Sun, £1/hr.

Looking back I suspect it was all highly illegal as I was only about 13 and they had me hauling in the milk cages and whatnot.

PhilomenaButterfly · 15/09/2018 11:53

Does YTS count? Filing clerk, 16, £25pw, so that's 71p ph.

Hairytangerine · 15/09/2018 11:55

Crawford the bakers in the Almondvale. Hardest job I have ever done. Serving cakes, chips, butties all day for £1.61 an hour. Adding it all up in my head the. Washing dishes. It was awful, my mum would make me go. My experience at the bakers got me a job in a kitchen in a nursing home which was a walk in the park compared to Crawfords. Then got a job in care side and applied for nursing so all worked out.

beeefcake · 15/09/2018 11:55

Cold calling- irritating good people in their own homes trying to flog them new conservatories and UPVC windows.

Got £3.50 an hour but did once get a £50 bonus for selling a porch.

SLoisachtal · 15/09/2018 12:36

Just remembered that a good friend, Vicky, used to work in a tiny tobacconist/sweet shop, during the time I was at Woolies; her boss was a lovely older chap called Les. Sometimes, during the Summer holidays, if I wasn't at Woolies and she wanted a day off, I used to do the odd day working for Les. The benefit from that was, not only cash in hand, but a free pack of 20 cig ciggies!!

SLoisachtal · 15/09/2018 12:38

Sorry, that should say just ciggies!!!!

TheresSomebodyAtTheDoooorrr · 15/09/2018 12:47

I mixed the paint in B&Q when I was 16 Grin for £4.23 an hour.

FTFF · 15/09/2018 12:52

Shop assistant for united colours of Benetton at 15 I was paid £3.20ph, I was there for 3 years and was paid £4.85 ph when I left.

TheresSomebodyAtTheDoooorrr · 15/09/2018 12:52

And I just remembered my best friends first job Shock ! She worked for a company that was called 'The Wandering Goat' or something like that. It was a travel company. This was back when Twitter was just becoming well known, and her job was to embody this bloody goat, and pretend to be it on Twitter. Apparently the owner thought as she was so good with animals she'd know exactly what a goat was thinking.

She spent all day tweeting stuff like, 'enjoying a tasty patch of grass just outside of Athens!' Towards the end the goat turned quite aggressive, got into all sorts of drunken scrapes ...