Metropol

I've been reminiscing about my first job tonight, after hearing the sad news that my first boss died last month. I was 14 and was paid £5 a week to bottle up the bar and clean the cellar at a pub which I consequently frequented as an adult until it closed last year.

So, what was your first job?

Delivered The Topper free newspaper in Nottingham. By the end I was doing what I assume most people did, and just delivered to the known "hot spots" and binning the rest.

I got a 'proper' Saturday job shortly after my sixteenth birthday (most places wont touch you until then) at The Entertainer (a toy shop) in Nottingham.

My first job would have been as a Paperboy, delivering to my local area. I was far too polite at the time, so should anybody fail to turn up, I would smile, nod, and deliver their newspapers too.

Working in a food processing plant which smelt abhorrent. I lasted one day.

i worked in a factory pulling off the labels from tin cans for them to be relabelled (you known, baked beans, spaghetti hoops, soups)

Some of the premium brands near the use by date were turned into super market value brands.

was very hard work for a 16/17 year old, i worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week but i took home over £200 a week, can't even remember what i spanked all that money on!

Washing, refuelling, changing gas cylinders, filling water tanks and pumping out toilets for a hire boat company every Saturday. Possibly the most enjoyable part time job I had!

Inserting bingo cards and TV guides into newspapers.

Packing flat packed furniture in a factory. It was a moving conveyer where each person had their own piece to put in. The factory held a prized contract for Argos (so prized that when they lost it a few years ago, the factory went bust). 'elf n safety would have had a field day with the combined risk of RSI, twisting whilst holding heavy panels, and the pressure of it being a moving line so you couldn't work at your own pace, but you know what? I lived to tell the tale.

First job:
Newspaper round, delivering the 'Herald Express' around Paignton.
It took an hour to do my round, six days a week and I was paid the grand total of £2 a week for that.

Next job:
Saturday 'do it all' person at a hotel in Paignton, including cleaning, moving beds, using one of those floor polishing machines, other odd jobs as required, portering when the coaches finally arrived etc. Never less than a ten hour day and often nearer twelve.
Fixed wage of £10 a Saturday.

Mind you, those wages date me somewhat...
(paper round 1981, hotel 1984)

First job was delivering the Herald & Post for tuppence a copy.

Next one was working in my aunt and uncles hardware shop for 50p an hour.

Worked for two days at a popular high street clothing store during the Boxing Day sales.

Hated all 8 hours of it.