What perks did you have because of your parents job?

[SanFranBear]

My dad worked in Air Traffic Control and finished his career working at Heathrow. I was lucky enough to go on several visits to the top of the tower and see the incredible work that happens there... the radar screens, the dishes out on the roof and the best view of planes taking off in the airport. I cannot imagine that this would be allowed today (it was 30 odd years ago when I visited) and it was a genuine treat!

My mum managed a dry cleaners which was ace as it meant I could buy whatever really - most of my friend weren't allowed dry-clean only clothes

What sort of perks or treats did you get because of the jobs your parents had?

My father was a professional musician.
He performed at local events so our family always got free tickets or admission to events where he performed. We'd get free passes at sporting events, the zoo, museums, but the best ones were when he'd perform for visiting rock acts. He'd be "their" entertainment before or after their concerts. That was fun.

My mother worked as a bookkeeper for FW Woolworth's in the US. We got a lot of stuff at big discounts but the best one was that they gave her stock in the company. They've increased in number since she got them in 1980 many, many times and when the business was sold, the new company honored our Woolworth shares and give us more every year.

It's a nice quarterly dividend that we've been enjoying for over 40 years.

My dad worked for a building society. Lots of branches converted their upper floors into holiday flats which employees could hire for an absolute song. We went to some lovely ones .... then one of the big banks took them over and it all stopped. Such a shame.

My dad was fairly high up in customs and immigration. When we'd go visit him as wee kids he would meet us at the door of the plane and sweep us past the customs queues. We took a trip to Australia and Fiji as teenagers and we didn't have to wait in the absolutely massive queue at Sidney airport.
My mom worked in the office of a cleaning company that went bust. She was given 2 boxes of letterhead and we had paper to draw on for decades.

My dad was a chief engineer on a container ship. We were allowed to travel with him so if he was on a trip around the summer I would spend 8 weeks on the ship sailing to places like the Far East and Middle East. Amazing memories of places like Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

My dad used to work with someone who used to play tennis for England. He used to give my dad tickets to center court and court no 1 at Wimbledon and as a teen, I used to sometimes go instead of my Dad. Was brilliant.

Occasional lift home instead of getting the bus.
A hard boiled egg in the senior common room once a term.
First pick of the second hand clothes when my mum worked in the thrift shop.
PS. I genuinely appreciated all three of those perks!

My dad worked for Heinz. He used to bring home tins that the labels had fallen off, so we never knew what we might be eating!

My dad worked at a uni, not in the languages dept, but he had friends there so they let me into the language lab - where you could practise speaking any language in private booths with headphones. I ended up getting an A in French because of that extra practise.

Both my parents went on uni field trips and occasionally took us along so we got some interesting working holidays from it too.

@SanFranBear That sounds really cool.

My Dad was an engineer and worked all around the world.

I never went to any of the places because of school but when I was 15 I went out to visit him in the East coast of America. I went over Christmas and it was a really fascinating trip. Until then I'd only been to France and once to Greece.

It was heavily snowing, he was late to the airport and it was pre mobile phone so I sat and read a book and kind of hoped he would turn up, he did. My brother flew out a few days later when school finished.

We drove along Route 66, he had an automatic car which boggled my mind. We saw the White House and it was icey outside so we pretended to ice skate. We went to Bar Hollywood and when we ordered the food and it came we thought it must be going to another table, it was so big. My Dad had a friend whose daughter was at a local school and we picked her up one day, it was a proper American high school. We went back to their house with huge rooms and ceilings. We then all went snowboarding for the day. I'd never been and crushed on the instructor who said my accent was cute. I then twisted ny knee extemely badly so that was the end of that and my brother couldn't co-ordinate at all. The next day I woke up and couldn't get out of bed, I was stiff as an ironing board.

I had my hair cut in a sleepy Virginia village and we drove around oggling at all the over the top santa scenes in gardens. We also discovered Ben and Jerry Cookie Dough ice cream. I couldn't believe how much the same programme was repeated constantly on TV, that hadn't crept into the UK yet.

All in all I was amazed at how familiar the States felt, like you knew it from films and it was just like that.

My Dad when he worked in the UK used to bring stationary home. If I ever needed anything, he'd say I'll get it from the stationary cupboard, we have loads and loads.

I did once go and visit his office in Scotland when I was in my late teens. It seemed like a portacabin with lots of large tilting desks and I didn't understand a lot of it.

GriseldaChop - that sounds incredible. I am very jealous

My first car had a diplomatic license plate as it was bought by my dad under his name. It was a common loophole that meant loads of teens ended up with diplomatic immunity. Some of my friends used it to speed without consequences which I found appalling. I loved the convenient parking. You can literally park anywhere, anytime (within reason) and not get any tickets.

My mum was a dinner lady and she’d always bring home the left overs!

My dad's a vet - when I was growing up, unlimited cotton wool , wide range of promo stuff from sales reps like dog shaped post it notes and soft toys promoting flea treatment and things like that. Now I get millions of promotional pens whenever they've been to a trade show, not quite as exciting

MistySkiesAfterRain - what a beautiful story, we definitely see the world very differently as children.

These are all lovely!

We used to get pick of all the promo CD singles and albums that the radio station my dad worked at didn't want to play! Before they were released

My dad is a joiner. Free DIY, bathrooms and kitchens done at cost.

My mum was a secretary in a school. If we were off sick from our school, she was allowed to have us sit in her office and the teachers used to sneak us chocolate and sweets from the tuck shop.

Not parents, but a close relative was a fireman and a few times we were allowed into the station, and to get into the engine, and I even remember going down the fireman's pole once

My dad was in the music industry (well known but not allowed to hint) and we met a lot of top names from late 60s and the 70s. It seemed normal to me but my children love those stories! RIP Charlie Watts ⚘

Oh dear, mine us the most pathetic perk. My dad worked in the civil service and he used to bring a briefcase home every night. (I never saw him do any work from it so I don't know why he had one! Lol. ) We never had pens at home but my dad always had civil service issue, black pens - cheap solid black plastic pens - in his briefcase. So I used to go and swipe them for my homework. Every so often he'd have a rant about it the pens always disappearing (must have affected his budget! Haha.) And we'd all say, sorry, then just go and take them again. Poor dad.

My Dad was manager of a 5 star hotel in London and we spent a lot of time there and got lovely rooms and food lots of weekends and every Christmas. He moved from there to run several other hotels and now owns his own and we had our wedding there. It got me used to the finer things in life which is not necessarily a good thing!

Mum worked in a nursery school in what was then known as the "deaf unit". I was allowed to go to work with her on inset days. And we used to go to the panto every year with the local deaf children's society. It was ace.

When I was a teen my parents owned a shop that sold high end designer clothes, shoes and handbags

Mine worked in heating for industries.

We had all sorts of things as he worked across so many companies. The best was when he worked at a huge catering factory and we ended up with massive catering sized buckets of jam and raspberry sauce.

We’d also get pads of paper to go by the phone (the old days) and A4 paper with the company headers printed on.

He’d also sometimes be given company mugs but they were always really obscure companies selling heating components with names like super-rad. Our favourite mugs as teenagers were from the delightfully named Schwank !

Doctor parents at a time when drug reps were allowed to give things out. Had loads of pens, post it notes, paper pads emblazoned with drug names. Best were an alarm clock and a mug with a face that changed colour when you added hot water.

Mum was a chef in a hotel kitchen, her work mates cooked our 3 course wedding breakfast for free.