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?

endo you completely lost me with the apostrophes thing---i can hear it is a joke, but [blankemoticon]

Yes i have:
Worked behind a bar
Worked in a kitchen washing dishes
Waitressed
Worked in a factory

I actually loved working behind the bar and i quite liked waitressing, they shouldve made a documentary out of the small hotel i worked in, so much drama went on

I have been:

A cleaner
A shelf stacker
A check out operator
A bar maid
A filing clerk
A soldier
A recruitment consultant
A medical Secretary

I am hoping to retrain as a Social Worker or work with autistic children if and when I eventually get back to work. Most people I know have done similar jobs to the ones in my list.

I haven't worked in a factory but have:

Worked in a supermarket
Worked behind a bar
Waitressed
Worked as a life guard
Worked for a call centre
Worked as a hotel chambermaid

The lifeguard and call centre jobs were great and got me through university. I wasn't fit enough to chambermaid.

Very few of my friends worked though and most who did were waitresses in trendy cafes. DH has never had a minimum wage job because he could program from when he was 14 so has always been able to earn some cash doing that.

Yes, definitely - pretty much everyone I know has!

At school, I was a chambermaid/waitress in a friend's hotel, then a weekend waitress in cafe.

Through college and uni, I worked in bars, restaurants, WH Smith, Dulcis shoe shop, Ms Selfridge, Claire's Accessories, Virgin Megastore and an independent cinema. The worst ones were the chain shops where you just had to stand around all day, deathly dull and boring. Except Dulcis, which at least had sales targets to hit.

Bars and waitressing were exciting when it was busy - all mad, controlled chaos, especially if the bar was kind of trendy and played decent music. You could dance and enjoy yourself while serving drinks. Christmas was especially good. I always felt a thrill navigating through a sea of tables holding several plates of hot and fancy food as well

Yup, though not the bar work, was a waitress.

I always had Saturday/Holiday jobs (sometimes 2/3 jobs at once). First one was a paper round at age 13. Though I wasn't very good and was scared of the dogs on my round

I've done most of the ones you mentioned (except cleaner) whilst studying for GCSEs, A Levels & whilst at university (both in UK & studying abroad). I'm now a professional (or at least try to act like I am during working hours Mon-Fri )

My DH had a paper round whilst younger at school, but has never done any of those jobs or similar whilst at uni as his parents funded things for him (he acknowledges he was v fortunate!) & he's now a professional also.

yes, newsagent, pub, restaurant, shop.

I haven't done bar work, waitressing or in a supermarket. From 13-18 I worked in the same small shop (actually I still did the odd bit of work for them till I was 25 as I loved them so much), plus a bit of gardening, then after A levels I got a job as a psychiatric nursing assistant and did that every holiday till I graduated and got a full time job. But that was def a real job with lots of shit (both figurative and real)

i meant MC politicians, sorry mextabilis

I have never worked behind a bar, but have worked in a well known chemist, been a waitress (abroad and was RUBBISH at it) been a washer upper (again abroad), worked in a supermarket cafe and worked on the checkout at a supermarket. The last 2 jobs were when my dc were little, I worked evenings and weekends. I have also worked in offices doing IT work, finance and general admin work.

No . I have never worked in any of the jobs describes in the OP. I had an allowance given to me by my Father when I went to University

My first job was my professional one after I graduated.

I don't see why you would automatically assume that politicians had never done menial jobs.

I know that I did plenty when I was a student - bar, restaurant, factory, shop, market stall, office. I was a student among some fairly posh people, and they were not afraid to get their hands dirty. At lot of parents had the view that they were not well off for no reason - looking after the pennies (not giving it to children to squander) and hard work did them no harm.

My DS worked in a restaurant in a theme park last summer, and it really incentivised him to studying hard and getting a good degree.

Shit, I didnt realise how spoilt I was until now

But meta there arent many other jobs available to teenagersif you are talking about professionaljobsyou cant do them at what?12 years old, i think I got my first job

so maybe MC teenagers WOULD benefit fromworkingthose kindofjobs

Oxbridge graduate. From the age of 16 I have worked as cleaner, shop assistant, baby-sitter, au-pair, traffic-counter.

During university term time I did not work. I needed my energy for my studies. But most holidays I did one of the above.

Pre-children I was a senior secondary school teacher with post grad. qualifications.

I have worked as a bar maid (every Summer for four years while at university) as a shop assistant in a chain store (every Saturday and some afternoons while doing my degree) and in a toiletries factory for 12 weeks (between leaving the 6th Form and starting at university.)

I am immensely grateful for those experiences for two main reasons. Firstly, as I was educated in a single sex, private school, at 18 years old I was, no doubt, a well-meaning, but otherwise totally naïve, ignoramus 'posh' twit. I'm pretty sure that without having worked alongside men and women of a range of ages and backgrounds, I might well have stayed that way. Secondly, the wages earned in those jobs, allowed me to attend the university of my choice and not the one local to my parents' home.

I agree with those posters despairing of politicians who hold forth on socio-economic issues facing people who work in these type of jobs, without having any of the tiny degree of insight afforded by working in such posts; even part-time as a school or university student. I don't pretend to know what it's like to live, day in, day out, on a factory wage, but at least I've glimpsed some of the good and the not-so-good aspects of that kind of work.

Yep. YANBU

YANBU-everyone should at some point IMO.
I have been a chambermaid, shop assistant, picked fruit and worked in a snack bar/cafe.

I think I am about as middle class as you can get, and I have worked in bars/restaurants, in a convent, in a hospital as auxiliary, and did night duty bank shifts as care assistant to have money during university.
Most of my friends back home had summer jobs or weekend jobs to earn money.
Why is this becoming "class" thing. Very odd.

I went for a job in a really up its arse PR agency when I was not long out of uni. Since my exams finished I'd been working in a call centre, which was a source of patronising fascination to the over-privileged Sloane types who interviewed me. I distinctly remember one of them staring at me and saying in wondering tones 'I've never met anyone who worked in a place like that before.'

I didn't get the job. Obviously.
Apart from the call centre, as a teenager and student I worked behind bars and serving food in pubs, in a Chinese takeaway that gave me food poisoning, in clothes shops and selling ice cream.

I love the idea of a bar-type job being compulsory; a form of national service.

I worked in a shoe shop and m&s when a student /at school

I've worked in bars (several), cafes and as a cleaner, but never in a factory. I was also an M&S girl after school and on Saturdays, and this took me right through university.

I always assume everyone did similar - all my school friends did.

To be honest I'd love to work behind a bar. I think I'd be good at it