to think that most of us have worked behind a bar/ in a factory/supermarket/ as a cleaner at some point, HAVEN'T we?????

[bejeezus]

Came up in conversation today in the office, that I have worked as a barmaid; my colleagues where and I was equally that non of them have...I thought EVERYONE had worked behind a bar at some point in their life???

Ive had variousjobsinmylife, including factory work, working in kitchens, dog kennels, cleaning, callcentres; and now Im a professional

it gotme thinking--i went to uni and worked holidays/ evenings and weekends...now i think about it, hardly anyone else did that!

Am reading 'Chavs' at the minute and the author makes that very point....very large majorityof politicians have never done that kind of job and so cannot relate to the working classes AT ALL. It really hit home, how very far removed from normal folk, politicians are these days

But,most of yous have done/do these kind ofjobs-right?

"highlights of my working life include a stint of selling double-glazing by cold-calling"

Last one, can't help myself :)

Cold calling - the devils very own occupation!

Did that trying to flog appointments for Mortgage Advisers for a while - and cringed and felt soooo sorry for the poor people wrenched away from their dinner and families while I tried to get them to think about one of the subjects they were trying to switch off from

To this day I'd have to be very desperate to go back to doing that.

And yet, I am filled with unreasonable rage when I get called by one nowadays, barely able to contain my anger at having my insignificant life disturbed by someone earning a living in such a painful manner.

I used to sell helium balloons on high streets and at carnivals dressed as a clown. Also had a paper round,Sat job in a cafe, cleaned offices, worked in a tights shop, was briefly a barmaid and worked in a greengrocers. As Librarian says, menial but incredible impact on my outlook, especially the balloons, where I learned I was probably of a cheerful disposition if I could stand in the freezing cold, dressed up stupid and holding 200 balloons, and still smile!

One more.....

'Brown or red sauce with that love?! - :) - I admire someone who can stay cheery through asking a repetitive catering question with a cherry smile all day long.

Working in the hotel bar (and reception and elsewhere come to think of it) I very quickly turned into a female Basil Fawlty.

People would insist on ordering a drink like a gin and tonic or coke and then disappear into the busy crowd of a function such as a wedding. Tiny bar, crammed with people and they've gone by the time I've got a glass and poised to ask 'Ice and lemon'?

Wound me up so much that in the end I would stomp out from the bar area, go stand next to them and ask in a very polite barely suppressed rage, through gritted teeth 'ICE & LEMON??????'

How I didn't get the sack from that gig I'll never know.

I have worked in

supermarkets - at various times in my teens and twenties
chambermaid - the hardest job I have ever done
in kitchens doing various jobs such as pot wash all the way up to cooking
sandwich shop
cleaning aeroplanes that was a baaaaad job!
cleaner of houses

I am now a professional.

But I have never done bar work.

oh and I have been a waitress and once had a job sticking labels onto wine bottles (now that was boring...)

We don't all say love

This thread is incredibly interesting - I've actually joined Mumsnet just to comment, after being a frequent lurker!

There seems to be an awful lot of reverse snobbery. While no-one would query that having Saturday jobs and working to fund your own studies gives you a work ethic (although such an ethic can easily be picked up while studying, by watching parents and of course in your first professional job) and exposes you to many types of people, it surely doesn't make you a better person than those whose parents support them for longer, as many here seem to be implying, whether they mean to or not. It is all down to circumstance and largely what your parents decide for you, and a job is not the only way to have responsibility and empathy for others in a different situation than you.

Also I think a large amount of posters are blissfully unaware that the job market has changed since they had these jobs growing up. As some have mentioned in regard to their children, part-time jobs are not easy to come by, especially for students who may only want hours during the holidays or during term time. for every applicant who requires shorter, flexible or more specific hours there are three who can work an indefinite number of hours indefinitely. Some of the shops, bars, restaurants and cafes I applied for during my gap year, university terms and holidays (I graduated last year) have told me I did not get them as they found applicants who specifically wanted to get into the hospitality etc. industries. There is absolutely NO chance of trying a job, not liking it, quitting and getting a new one the next day as seems to have been the case sometimes in the past.

Another point (oh I'm on a roll now!) - why is it seen as something disdainful that a posh person gets an internship given to them by "Daddy," but something to be celebrated if someone gets a more "menial" job, which are pretty much equally if not more sought after at the moment, through knowing someone in the business? Such as cleaning your friend's parents' restaurants, picking vegetables at your neighbour's farm, being trusted with a paper-round as your family have known the newsagents for years? I am genuinely curious about this, and have been for years!

I'm not reading the same thread as you, clearly.

I hate the word menial , its a bit dismissive don't you think?

I worked in a lab connected to a factory (quality control). Does that count? I was not mollycoddled as my parents couldn't afford it but I was not allowed a job while at school/college as I couldn't find anything considered compatible with studying and coming from a religious background (minimal hours, no nights, no Sundays, no "rough" people etc)

Do you not think there is a difference between getting a minimum wage job picking cabbages at a farm where a friend of a friend got you a job, and having an non-paid internship arranged by your well connected parents, with all rent paid at the time?

You weren't allowed to work with the rough people?

Who said

Did everyone on MN go to university? It seems that way from reading this thread.

I didn't

Paper round
Shop assistant
Pub kitchen
Pizza shop
Box office

And many customer service jobs since - I think it's made me a better manager and hopefully I'll be a pretty good PM one day. Vote blondered!

I think I may be the only one though

Not in the traditional sense. I studied PT when working - never went to university for 3 years.

Loads of people on MNare non graduates anyway.

Who said the 'menial jobs' are gotten through family connections?
Having probably never worked in any of these jobs, you are unable to see the difference in working for daddy- I think you just validated my point

rough people? serious?

I didn't and I have worked at most of the jobs on op's list

usualsuspect - yes, God I hate the word "menial" too, which is why I put it in quotes as I'd seen it used before in this thread.

GetOrfMoiiLand78 - I do see a difference if you add the unpaid/living rent free aspect, and I was curious to hear others' thoughts. Also the term "well connected" is ambiguous as they surely have to be connected in the field you want to go into for that to really mean anything. I do totally see your point though! I think I'm just playing devil's advocate in my head.

bejeezus - obviously I know that 99% of these jobs aren't through connections! But connections have been mentioned maybe twice, and a few times to me in real life, and I was just curious.

I've worked in a shop, as a waitress, as a turkey plucker (dear GOD, sick actually still comes up now thinking of it), filing in a GPs surgery and behind a bar, and am now doing unpaid internships on the money made from this, so I would like to think I am just contributing some questions from experience and not proving anyone's point!

Most people cannot afford to do unpaid internships- who pays the bills?

Its about going out and securing a job on your own merit, not because of your fathers position. It's about seeing the direct correlation between the work you do and obtaining the things which are necessary in life, and then the things you want in life. It's about negotiating bullying bosses and difficult work colleagues, and minimum wage and poor working conditions. It's about your position and your role and the control or lack of control that you have over any of that

X posted-so you know what the difference is then, surely