What is your job? Are you happy with it?

[Sunnygirl07]

Hello All,

1. At what age did you start working?

2. How many jobs have you had?

3. Have you mainly had good relations at work with your managers & colleagues?

4. If you changed your job/career, what was the reason(s) for that? What job did you have and what new job did you get?

5. If you get/had any benefits at work, what are/were they?

6. At what age would you ideally like/love to retire?

7. Would you like/love to take a gap year from work for travelling? Or have you already done it before going to college/University or after graduating? I certainly would love to do it before I am 50.

8. Are you happy with the income your job gives you?

9. What and where (college, Uni) did you study to get this job, and for how long?

10. Have you ever been promoted at work (if you ever wanted it)?

11. Is your job what you were hoping to become in your childhood/school/student years?

You can answer only a few selected questions if there are too many of them :)

I've been working in retail with the same (good company) for 17! :) years now. I got stuck in a low-paid job a bit as first I stayed there because our son was young and it suited our family/life balance and for me working part-time when he was 4 (I've worked full time for 6 years). He is now 15.

So I've worked full-time for 6 years, 29 hours for 3 years, and 25 hours (4 days a week) for 8 years.

Now at 42, I would like to have a better-paid sitting-down job not on my feet all day. I would love to retire at 60 (God help us all to live a long and healthy life). I know it might not happen because the retirement age for women in the UK is 67 now and in 18 years' time, it will go up probably to 70-72-75.

Thank you

As my extra income sitting down I am interested in

1. Counselling

2. Family/Inheritance/Immigration Law

3. IT (possibly Business Analysis. I have to experience it to find out if it might be for me or not).

4. Marketing

5. Anything reasonable working from home

After school, I went to Teacher's College. Then I graduated as An English Teacher for foreign students in Eastern Europe in 2003.

Is anyone happy with their income from working from home & selling on Amazon?

Have you considered Marks and Spencer?

1. 21
2. 4 employers, 6 distinct jobs.
3. yes, although some better than others obviously
4. yes, partly design, partly circumstance- went from chartered accountancy to international development via asset management
5. good benefits- pensions, health insurance, share options , late night taxis etc- pretty standard in the companies I worked in.
6. when I get bored, tired or get dementia.
7. done it several times- actually on a break now doing a masters. I recommend it.
8. yes
9. Oxbridge undergrad and then professional quals- accountancy and CFA
10. Yes- I've always done jobs where there's quite a clear promotion pathway- it's basically up or out until you get very senior.
11. No but I wanted to be a journalist so glad I didn't do that.

re selling stuff on Amazon, I'm sure if I was Jeff Bezos I'd be pretty happy but I'm not sure his experience is entirely typical

@Otterses wow - that sounds like such a difficult job. I have a friend who used to do that job, and she gained qualifications etc to move up and was very good at her job. However, it was too stressful in the end and she's doing something completely different now.

@Sunnygirl07 I'm 60 and work 30 hours a week. I'm on my feet all day as work as a nurse. It's hard. I quite like the idea of working in M and S . I know it would still be hard physically but at least I wouldn't be as concerned with people bleeding everywhere or losing conciousness.

Still retail & still on my feet.

Going forward I want to avoid being more than now 25 hours on my feet.

My friend works in M&S also doing 25 hours 4 days a week.

She likes it but also would like some extra income sitting down like me avoiding retail and any other physical job.

We are the same age. Her daughter is 13.

During the 2020 lockdown, my friend was offered a local Food Hall instead of travelling to the capital by train to her clothes (ladies fashion) department.

She agreed and in October 2021 she has regretted her decision because of the yellow stickers' crazy demands now to do the job in 1.5 hours which often takes 2 hours. Christmas is the craziest and most stressful as they are very short of staff for twice as much to do.

Saving like crazy on staff after 2 years of lockdowns stressing staff unnecessarily.

My friend also would like to avoid cold conditions, fridges, freezers and go back to clothes even if it's extra travelling.

The robots' speed of working on food is too much for her (and would be for me). It's much more relaxed, calmer and warmer on clothes.

She is waiting for her transfer back to clothes when/if one of the managers leaves/gets transferred again :) because he was moved there as he created a problem while he was working with her.

My friend says M&S early morning food fill is really crazy speed and a crazy time to start at 5 am.

She is glad she mainly starts from 8-9 am or in the afternoon at 12-13 pm.

Also, before yellow stickers were done from 5 am and she could avoid them. Now they have to be done from 18:00 till 20:00 (if the store clothes at 18:00), if it closes at 20:00 - yellow stickers till 22:00 getting home by 23:00. getting home by 21:00.

Since October 2021 they have become family-unfriendly hours for her (when her husband works from 7:30-8:00 - 1700 and gets home by 18:00) and their 15-year-old son.

In early morning fill, they expect to fill 64 green food! trays/tubs in 1 hour :)

*During an early morning fill

If you don't achieve it - you are on productivity 'not performing' notes.

2 warnings and you are out. It's more like agism because it's mainly for young people.

Middle-age people 40+, 50+60+ should have easier targets say up to 50 trays an hour.

The same 'craze' has started with yellow stickers

Then they have a colleague survey but nothing gets sorted

1.5-meter long shelf 6 of them from top to bottom full of food must be checked in 4 minutes + stickers put on.

What job is your friend doing now instead?

At what age could you retire/could afford to retire as a nurse?

And at what age would you like to retire if you had a choice?

4
yes, partly design, partly circumstance- went from chartered accountancy to international development via asset management

That sounds good money! Well done!

Did you manage to have a family, and children, as well?

1. How long did you study and 2) how much did it cost you?

I understand you studied when tuition fees were £3000, not £9 000 a year, didn't you?

1. 15 on a market stall for £2.50 an hour
2. More than I could possibly count including temping, and odd stuff here and there
3. Always got along with everyone at work, always got on well with managers
4. Changed many times as never loved any one thing apart from what I'm doing now, which I've been doing for ten years. Mostly worked in public and third sector.
5. I did a lot of finance and fundraising stuff but now do freelance secretarial and moving around in marketing and business management using past experience while making money from my light freelance stuff.
6. I am self-employed now which comes with the benefits I want.
7. Never thought much about retirement. Main goal is to stay healthy enough to work a bit until I die (maybe a silly goal but aim for the moon....)
8. Yes had breaks, when had my child, before that during breakdown, benefits, and focusing on myself/my child. I consider this time in my life free from work as I rely on my husband for main income but still love what I do to get a bit of cash for myself, but it's nothing like the pressure of providing the whole income, it's like not working.
9. Because I'm part of a family my income is fine as it's just money for me and the house and for doing fun things and treats.
10. No studying, just experience, and yes I've been promoted for quality of my work via quality control responsibilities and a pay rise.
11. Used to want to be a teacher, lawyer, palaeontologist until I realised all those took more work and dedication than I have. I like to do different things all the time. Even studied law but quit halfway through. I'm a big fan of quitting things that don't work for you.

Or John Lewis they look good although sadly out store was closed down

What about sales development roles within food retail? Field based so a nice mix of home & branches, no restocking freezers. You need to be good with people & able to think on your feet.

I'm in a food retail environment - it feels one of the safest places to be at the moment.