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?

Yep it does agin and a very valid point too

I think the 'low-paidness' is very valid when working classes are being disparaged for being lazy/ feckless/ benefit scroungers- in a low-paid job you have to work twice as hard for half the money

my lowest paid job; £1/hr
my best paid job £18/hr equiv

I've actually never worked in a bar because as a (sheltered) teenager I was always afraid that someone would ask me for something I didn't understand like a "gin and it" or a "dubonnet" and I would look uncool for not knowing . I don't think I realised that they would be uncool to order a dubonnet in the first place

Actually in some ways it could be seen as worse - DH is salaried and often works through his lunch if he's busy and I doubt he thinks to take the 20 minute paid break he's entitled to. As someone who is paid hourly I would never do that, I take all my breaks paid and unpaid because I'm much more aware that they're mine and I damn well need them.

agincourt - yes, breaks being taken off - so if you are there for 10 hours, but 1 ½ is unpaid breaks, then you are working for 8½.
now, normally, short breaks are included in the working day.
law says you must have 20 mins minimum if you work for more than 4 hours.

I love reading the disparate jobs people have done! I have worked:

in a bakery
for a catering firm as a (bad) waitress
in a chocolate shop
in a funeral parlour (thankfully no-one asked me to arrange a funeral in the two weeks I was there!)
in a card shop
in an estate agents
in a call centre
in a nursing home
as a cleaner in private homes
as a data analyst of linguistic data
as a nanny
as a receptionist in a factory
as a secretary
as an administrative manager
as a teacher in a sixth form college
as a private tutor for 11+

and am now a university lecturer. I don't think I knew till just now how many jobs I'd done! Actually I quite enjoyed most of my jobs (although I was rubbish at the call centre because I used to get fits of giggles when talking to customers, and I didn't do much work at the nursing home as I used to love chatting to the old ladies).

agincourt teachers being unpaid at lunchtime is important because it means that they can't require you to work in it. When I worked in an office it was also obvious that lunch was unpaid as we had to bill our hours. Any office job where you can build up flexitime records hours worked. Most people only took the minimum time for lunch.

@noble there's a difference between valuing the experience that can be gained from an 'entry level' job and saying that only people who have (specifically) worked behind a bar, as a cleaner, in a shop or in a factory are 'normal'. Apart from anything else, 'entry level job' could be applied to a much wider range of jobs than those specifically mentioned by the OP (and actually, are those jobs even entry level? I'd characterise them as casual work, not entry level jobs).

Another poster mentioned about the arrogance of people playing at being working class. I was born working class. I grew up in a block of council flats, on an estate in Greater London. I don't think anyone gets any normality brownie points from doing till work or bar work to pay for the upkeep of their horse. Nor do I think anyone who was doing that sort of work to earn beer money was learning any useful life lessons.

Most people I know have done some sort or retail/customer service based job, but that was usually whilst studying.

My first job I was 12, and lied and said I was 15 to work saturdays in a Cafe, my mum didnt have much money so that was my way of getting some cash. £20 a week to my 12 year old self felt like I was loaded haha!

At 16 I started college and always worked part time from then until entering full time work:

Supermarket
Sports shop
River Island
TK Maxx
Office jobs temping during summer and christmas breaks.

I then got a full time job in an IT department as a PA and am now an HR professional.

I've done bar work, waitressing, shop work and factory, and I'm only 18.
Everybody should have to spend time in one of the jobs on this thread to learn some lessons about the real world. It has certainly motivated me to work hard and get my degree.

metabilis they are entry level in that they don't require any experience. Obviously other entry level jobs require particular qualifications. Unskilled might be a better description. People seem to be a bit particular as to how they are labelled on this thread. Casual work isn't right as many people on this thread won't have worked them casually.

done all of them except factory (unless you count schools..) Wouldn't mind a stint at a factory job

I have worked
in shops
in factories
picking fruit
waitressing (badly)
in the postroom
in offices

First job at 16 in school holidays. I think it has instilled a good work ethic in me; I have only ever been unemployed for a week vs my more middle-class husband (then boyfriend) whose parents paid his way through university AND subsidised his 9 months on the dole.

i do think it's important to work in a customer facing job. especially in a fast food chain or bar or shop.

i know a good many very arrogant people who would fare well with a stint in a shop.

@noble given my background I probably know as well as anyone that the sort of job being talked about can be lifelong. If you're lucky and stay in work (not that many factories in some parts of the UK now, and retail opportunities are drying up too in some places). But in the context of this thread and in particular the sanctimonious 'everyone should experience these jobs to know what the real world is like' statements, they aren't being envisaged as forever jobs. That's just one of the things that is not good about this thread.

do you class yourself as working class metabilis?

Xmas post
Cleaner
Nanny
Phone sex operator
Teacher
PA - alongside now retraining in psychotherapy
I'd do all again but only teach if private school/decent class size. PSO job saved life when in debt and gave me an OU degree in understanding male sexuality... and was good for my lack of self esteem.. u don't have to be size 8 to float a man's boat .

Not now (except I still am really, the posh people with whom I work will never be fooled. But it doesn't actually matter really. Being a girl is more of a drawback than being working class). Certainly in terms of my salary, very not. But I was certainly born working class. I grew up in a small council flat on an estate in outer london. I know from the real world.

Are middle class people not real? are they just an illusion ina pretend world?

well i never!

I should have said rancid old hag, not girl! My days of being a girl are sadly long long gone.

@Agincourt hey, it's not me saying you can only know about the real world if you do some kind approved work experience when at university or school.

I had a paper round at 14,
A saturday job nannying four children at 16,
Delivered Christmas post at 18,
Worked as a cleaner in a hospital when I finished uni before getting a proper job!
Worked in accounts for 12 years.
SAHM for 10 years (although worked lunch times at infant school for 5)
have now been a TA at same school for 2 years.
Am quite impressed with my list

@Agincourt hey, it's not me saying you can only know about the real world if you do some kind approved work experience when at university or school

in fact, nobody has said this
but that it gives people an empathy/understanding of situations different to MC, which is critical when applied to MPs- who are supposed to act on behalf of people whose lives they have no clue about

everyone thinks they are middle class now though if they work. It does my head in

From 16 to 18 I worked in our village pub as a waitress and then again when I was a student during summer hols as a barmaid.

The money was very useful essential however the down side is that almost everyone here still thinks of me as a barmaid!

My hardest 'work' was when I was a sea cadet - the Royal Navy was / is the most demanding 'employer' ever (although I loved my time with them).

Not on Mumsnet- here you have teachers, lawyers and doctors swearing they're Jenny from the block.