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 dad was a train driver so we got free and discounted train travel. And sometimes free comics that had been left on the train.

My mum worked for an animal charity so not much, but she did sometimes foster cats so we got kitty snuggles. 😻

Oh and I had a housemate who worked for Starbucks. She used to bring home leftover muffins/cakes/sandwiches etc at the end of the day.
I didn't buy or make lunch for 4 years.

Free pens...Mum is a nurse and they were always given loads of pens from drug reps.
Free driving lessons from Dad which saved me a fortune.

Free doormats, carpet advice and tropical fish were the only perks to be had.

My dad was a lorry driver.. I used to go with him in the school holidays sometimes! Loved the fuss all the truckers made of me in the truck stops..always got given a quid or some sweets!

My mam cleaned for a wealthy family and would take us sometimes, they had a keyboard that we would play for hours!

They had a huge house and secret garden and I used to imagine what it would be like living in such a house! One day!

Perks??? Oh I suppose we got stuff from the staff shop where Dad worked. He got us both a Rimmel lipstick. I also joined there and they had Dr Payot face stuff so I bought that. Not exactly freebies though!

My Dad was a fireman and somehow stuff that didn't get burnt on a job used to end up at our house . We were the first people in our street to have a VHS video recorder after a fire at Rumbelows. I remember my Dad scratching the logo off the front! We also acquired the Pong video game!This was the 70's mind, you'd never get away with it now.

Travel. My dad worked abroad a lot and so we all individually got to go to wherever he was, just not all at the same time!

@HerRoyalNotness

one uncle worked in trucking and used to give us chocolates

I am assuming Yorkie bars?

Not a parent, but a family friend worked for a cereal company and used to give us a bin bag full a boxes for cereals, etc that my mum wouldn't buy for us. I think they were either free or vastly reduced in the staff shop. This was in the days of free toys in the packets too.

itstheyearzero

I got driven to school in a Bentley .

My dad worked in a steelworks so I got to go in the big rooftop crane. Even got to drive it a couple of times. No way on earth they'd let a kid up there now.

We got any welding free, he made a pretty cool sledge once but it was so heavy it sank in all but the deepest snow. I suspect sledges aren't meant to be made from steel. 😂

My Dad once visited a chocolate factory as part of his job and was given big bags full of chocolates to bring home.

My Mum worked in a cafe so if it was really rubbish weather when I finished school, I'd go and wait for her to finish work so she could give me a lift home. She wasn't allowed to let me have any freebies though, I always had to buy something.

@Wobblysausage

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

Oh my god Christmas was amazing. We used to get tablet (Scotland) and tangerines, as well as lots of boxes of chocolates that the kids would bring in as presents. Also, although my mum didn't work at my school, she knew all the dinner ladies there so I used to get the big bit of the pudding, you know, the one on the end of the tray

My dad worked in a really old school engineering company where pretty much anything that could be made from metal and plastic could be yours for the price of a pint as long as you could describe it to the guys in the fabrication shop. I got a majorette stick with coloured rubber stoppers and was the envy of my dance school

Dad was a city solicitor (private client/ tax). One year a client paid for flights and hotels to Florida for us all (family of 5) as he needed some advice and presumably couldn't be bothered to make the trip himself (or use the phone ).

So we went to Disney that year and visited the client in his Florida keys home. He had the whole floor of an apartment building and his "pool house" was an actual small house with room for the children and the nanny.

My mum also got a dress allowance from the firm in the 80s/90s as she was required to accompany him for client "do's"

Amazing really. When he died we had so many lovely letters from clients who had used him for 30 years

My Dad worked for BT so I had "internet" (albeit the old dial up kind) LONG before any of my friends

My dad brought blank forms home from work for me to fill out, I liked these. He also brought my mother chicken carcasses left over from a kitchen that she used to make stock for soup. His job had very little to do with the kitchen, that part must have been just his charm.

Was the first in my year to have a laptop ( 286 very heavy) and numerous 6 month old desktops
Never ever bought stationery, from pens, paper, pads etc etc
Never bought bleach, tampons ( the packs from vending machines) , toilet roll, office furniture
Lunches at IBM Southbank ( beautiful outside canteen overlooking the Thames ) meals were subsidised and excellent
Central London car parking ( Dad ran the security contract )

Dad worked as an electrician then facilities manager for IBM 80’s into late 90’s ( they would literally throw out almost new computers/ almost new office furniture leather chairs etc etc) no wonder they nearly went bust. Our school got a load of almost brand new lockers from Greenford site and the computer room received a few very fast 486 Pentium machines.

Was good when Dad worked for Mars late nineties …. Rice, dog food, sweets, stationery, toilet roll, etc etc would find its way home.

I didn’t buy a pen until I was 35, nor a computer until Dad retired and I was 28 ……

When mum married stepdad we had butter on Sundays… smelly margarine from Tesco’s (it stank) all through the week. We had chippy tea on Fridays too

My dad worked for Janssen and we always had masses of Johnson & Johnson toiletries in the house, the adult shampoo was called 'empathy'

My dad is a painter and decorator so ive had my whole house decorated to a very good standard for free 😁 plus ive picked up a few tips along the way aswell

I got to hang out with my teachers at the weekend....Great!

My DM was a teacher with responsibility for the school library budget, so I got to 'help' her choose the books I wanted to read for the new school year. I still remember going to the big warehouse and feeling thrilled by the stacks of pristine books, piled up on metal shelves. Definitely got my love of reading from her, as well as a bad/expensive stationery habit.

As part of the library gig, she also took the school video recorder home for the summer holidays 'for safekeeping'. Unfortunately, the school only had about four VHS tapes (this was the early 1980s) and they were all a bit edumacational.

My Dad was a fireman too. Great social room with big snooker tables, plus on the open days I would get to go up in the Simon Snorkel and have piggy-back rides whilst he slid down the pole. Mum was a primary school teacher, so I went to the "other" reception class (the other teacher swapped her kid into my Mum's class) instead of going to nursery before I went to my real infant school. Don't think you could get away with any of that these days.

Later on my (then future) MIL was a sales rep for Mars, never saw size 10 again after that, she used to bring round actual binbags full of chocolate when we were impoverished students. Amazed I have any teeth left...

My mum used to work for a Barton's the Bakers so cake bread loads of things
Also Tesco head office so 10% discount in store
Dad lorry driver loads of watch out watch out there's a Humphrey about stuff
Mint cracknel bars loads of different sweets

No wonder I'm fat...and old