Your 1980s Saturday jobs

[Snooks1971]

I’m sure I’m not UR (!) to ask if you can share what your 80s Saturday jobs were.
Mine was WHSmith.The things I remember most:
nylon pencil skirt - horrendous
On the front till and selling Playboy magazine (dying having to look for the price to type in manually)
The woman who had worked there for 30 years still sniggering at the Smallholdings magazine
The designated fountain pen area - under glass 🥰

Started in a mini supermarket where you had to prove yourself before going on the till !
Started off with just a sludge green tabard putting out stock .
Then after 2 / 3 months a check nylon overall to work the tills .

Boots the chemist. I used to look at the women working on the make up counters and think how very very glamorous they were. Whilst I was in my white nylon blouse and navy blue A-line skirt. Those women were a properly snooty bunch though.

I worked on one counter just over Christmas as a student and it was a political nightmare.
Jade, don’t talk to Clinique when you are on your break. We don’t speak to Clinique.
I can remember going in a few years later to the Clinique counter for some Black Honey lipstick. Terrified of the main lady.
Counter busy.
And she says…
We’ve got a new product in called Turnaround it will really sort your spots out.
Charming.
I am not sure what the training is like now but in those days, when there was more mystery, you just assumed Clinique staff were like derms because of the white coats.
Hardly anyone spoke to me I was just a temp flogging perfume.
And every day - you need more make up. It was literally trowelled on me.
Three layers of Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish. The sponge-on one it was like concrete.
And that was the end of my experience. Not for me.

Decades ago I used to glance at the staff at the make-up counters in Boots and wonder what it must feel like to have that much slap, that looked like it had been plastered on with a trowel. I wasn't tempted to find out, so kept a safe distance.

Did 6 weeks and it melted under the lights. I already had mild acne and by the end my skin was red raw.
Got told to put more foundation every day - I wasn’t selling the perfume dream with my zits.
I had a few laughs with one lady who as on my counter selling perfume. But that was it.
The counters were so competitive with each other.
It was all sales-driven, not customer focused at all.
It made me realise it was one job I never wanted.

Early 2000's - Homebase.
Truly awful bright green and orange uniform!
Clocking in using the old-fashioned machine with a card was so satisfying.
Using the tannoy to call employees to board cutting or paint mixing and the boys doing their best to make me laugh.
I remember a man trying to return a broken toilet seat without a receipt, that looked like it had seen at least 50 years of daily use.
I also remember living in fear of the 10% Off Days that ran back then, as the store would be utterly manic with hordes of people queueing up to get in before the doors opened.
I used to lift massive bags of pebbles/sand/cement like they were nothing (mostly for men who couldn't seem to bring themselves to do it despite being fully grown adults vs a 16 year old).
Cashing up and emptying all the note holders and putting the money into bags that locked with a little plastic clip with a code on it. Everything went into the safe. I felt very important being trusted to help with that!
I loved it and worked their over a period of years, returning in uni holidays, and only stopped when they couldn't give me enough hours after I left education.