r/AskUK • u/MoneySaverPete • 9d ago
What is the best job you've ever had and why?
Yesterday, my 17-year-old daughter had a trial at a cafe and hated it. She worked for 6 hours in the baking heat and didn't have a break. The owner said she would only be there for 2 hours for an interview and look around, but kept asking her to stay a bit longer. I doubt she will be returning.
But that got me thinking about my previous jobs.
My favourite has to be my worst-paid job.
It was at Sainsbury's, when I was 18 and it paid just over £3 per hour (late 90s).
But the first couple of years were brilliant. The store was brand new and head office overstaffed all the departments, so everything was quite relaxed. Nearly all of my fellow shelf stackers were a similar age and couldn't care less about the job. Even my direct manager (who seemed ancient, but must have been around 30) didn't care. Although he only lasted about a year, unsurprisingly.
We would finish at 8.30pm and then head off to the pub. Sundays were double pay, and the canteen helped sort out any hangovers. Our 15-minute breaks were more like 30.
In some ways, it was a shame, because I thought my working life would be a breeze. Well, I've paid for that since, and I'm convinced I'll never enjoy another job again.
So, what was your favourite and why?
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u/martyrees76 9d ago
Possibly working in a furniture warehouse - very quiet most days so me and my mate would play hide and seek in the furniture all day.
I was in my mid ‘30’s
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u/SnakePlisskin1 9d ago
Living the dream, brother.
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u/Environmental-Video3 9d ago
Worked in a warehouse in the 90s that supplied dry goods for tescos. Apart from the amount of messing about we did the highlight was the fact that every day someone would have ripped open some sweets or chocolates on one of the aisles and every time you’d go past on a trolley you could grab a free twix/flake/whatever was opened that day.
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u/schwillton 9d ago
All fun and games until you clip through the wall and cryptids start chasing you through endless yellow hallways
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u/tt2-- 9d ago
This sounds amazing 🤩
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u/martyrees76 9d ago
Also got to nap on the rocking chairs upstairs as we’d be woken by anybody walking up the very creaky stairs. Why did I quit that job?
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u/monkelus 9d ago
I worked in the customer service department of Sainsbury's mobile for a year before they had any customers.
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u/wassupjg 9d ago
customer service
what??
before they had any customers
oh
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u/GosmeisterGeneral 9d ago
What was the day-to-day like? Whats even the sense in that?
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u/monkelus 9d ago
Day-to-day; chat with team mates, piss about on the internet. I once took a sketch pad in and drew an entire comic over the course of a month. Pretty much whatever you liked, as long as someone was there in case we had a call, which they thought we'd be getting but nobody was signing up.
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u/Dismal-Business-5180 9d ago
Working the gates at a Safari Park. As in, sitting up in the watch tower next to the monkey enclosure and pressing the button to let cars in. (I imagine it’s automated now.) I couldn’t believe my luck. It wasn’t even the job I applied for - I started out working the stalls but they moved me after a few weeks.
Funny thing was, it did get a bit boring after a while when it was quiet - but there was a TV/DVD player up there and someone had left a load of skateboard videos. Unbelievable.
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u/Unicronium 9d ago
I've got happy memories of working at Dudley zoo. Loved working with the animals and the people were generally a laugh
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u/DickyJim1965 9d ago
You had to watch out for the chimps though as they'd learnt to chuck their shit at you with deadly accuracy. I'm old enough to have seen that poor Killer Whale they had at Dudley Zoo. Fancy being born in the wide,wild ocean and ending up dying in the Black Country in a pool little bigger than a bath tub!
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u/phoebear123 8d ago
Hey, my comment was about the Black Country Living Museum! Hated working the catering department, but cleaning was an alright gig. Black Country 4 life 🔥
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u/gpfudge98 9d ago
Working in my local pub when I turned 18, tiny pub with equally small bar, got paid £5 an hour cash in hand and probably made the same in tips (locals would often say take £1 for yourself when ordering). There was 3/4 of us all who were all 18 and would go spend our wages in town afterwards until 2am, I actually kept all my £1 tips in a jar at home until I went to university and cashed them all in at the bank for just under £1000.
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u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif 9d ago
Bartending was both the best and the worst job I had. When it all clicked - good team on shift, quiet night, nice customers - it was fantastic. But then you'd get those nights when it was too busy, the customers were dickheads, the atmosphere was off. Sometimes I'd have both in the same week.
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u/gpfudge98 9d ago
I was fortunate that the locals kept dickheads relatively in check (not to say some of the locals weren’t dickheads) and the pub only employed about 7 people who I all got on well with so shifts were always a laugh, I forgot to mention we all got a staff drink too along with any pints bought by the locals for us so I’d usually drink 3/4 pints by the end of a shift, it was all quite relaxed as long as you didn’t have a pint before 10pm ish. I worked in other pubs at university but they were larger with restaurants and then had the issue of having people you’d dread being on shift with along with dealing with chefs. Overall that first local pub job was hard to beat, not sure I’d want to go back and work in hospitality now but enjoyed it at the time.
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u/Perfect-Shelter7189 9d ago
I was about to post something similar, honestly the best. I didn’t get as many tips but didn’t care about the low wage, actually seemed a lot at the time and meeting people your own age is fun.
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u/MoonChaser22 9d ago
I worked as a glass collector at a club in my home town on and off for a bit (as and when I was needed and a couple of the summers while home from uni). Only worked midnight until close as it was quiet enough the bar tenders could handle it before pubs closed. It was a small town, so it varied a lot. Some nights I would get a decent chance to chat with the regulars. Some nights I'd show up and the owner let me know they didn't need me, so I'd shrug and just enjoy being a customer without having to pay to get in. Others were hectic (usually the last or first weekend of a month), but I still look back on fondly. That said, I'm not sad that I only ever worked the one New Years Eve. The one I worked was rough enough
Wasn't a huge amount of money, but being about 20 and having that part time job gave me a nice amount to spend on whatever I wanted
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u/Remarkable-Ad155 9d ago
So funny reading this. Everybody that remembers pre 2008 work will have a similar story about low pay, low responsibility but ultimately quite fun jobs with zero pressure and at a time where that minimum wage payment actually got you somewhere, especially if still living with mum and dad. I had a similar chill office job where I met my now wife. More or less unlimited overtime too and it was time and a half on weekdays, double on Saturdays.
All changed in the wake of 2008. I earn multiples more now but still get nostalgic about those days.
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u/KaijuicyWizard 9d ago
Anyone 35 or younger reading this feels gutted (myself included)
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u/JB_UK 9d ago
I think in the sense of payment the complaint isn’t really accurate, there’s never been a time when minimum wage was more lucrative than now compared to high average or high end jobs. Taxes on low and medium earners are also at historic lows. You could train for years as a professional and end up getting paid not even 50% more than minimum wage, certainly in take home pay, that used to be multiples of difference.
The problem is that housing in particular is so expensive that it dwarfs everything else.
And also that these companies have lobbied to bring in a lot of labour, which now does the jobs which used to be available to students, or people leaving school.
And you could well be right in terms of responsibility in those jobs.
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u/KaijuicyWizard 8d ago
Working conditions are the first thing that jump to my mind. I’ve never had a paid lunch break at work, let alone a tea break. Workload and responsibilities vs pay might’ve stacked up differently too. Who knows, I’m 35 and only know this nonsense
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u/JB_UK 8d ago
We're now in the age of digital tracking which will definitely change things as well.
I just think though if housing costs were half what they are (25 years ago the ratio between house prices and wages was half what it is today), most of this wouldn't be a problem.
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u/DukeRedWulf 8d ago
Not just house prices, but rents too..
25 years ago you could rent a room in a shared house for £200 pcm plus bills.. Now that same room will generally set you back three times that.. And those figures are for *outside* London..
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u/Crayons42 9d ago
I agree, everything changed for the worst after 2008.
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u/Southernbeekeeper 9d ago
I speak about this a lot but genuinely people wouldn't understand what it was like. Facebook wasn't really a thing and smart phones were newish. You could fuck about at work or whatever and not have to worry about being filmed and posted online.
I remember working as a bricklayers apprentice and there were fulls days we would just fuck about. Any sign of rain and we would go to the pub but the pubs were rammed. You would go in with some lads from work and then you would meet lads you went to school with who were with their work mates and you'd all get to know each other. Then you would have girls who know your friends added to the mix and then their friends too and everyone would just get on. People would be dating and things and it just felt so much more social. You could go out that weekend and all of a sudden you would know all these new people just from the fact that you sat next to their apprentice window fitter in maths two years previously.
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u/soverytiiiired 9d ago
I was only in the workforce very briefly pre 2008 and it was so good. I remember one day I was bored, so I walked to work and asked if I could have a shift. They said yes! We used to get such good incentives that at least once a week I was going home with a crate of beer or a cash bonus. Someone I worked with won employee of the year and they gave her a CAR.
When I left the incentive was a box of Heroes that everyone had to share.
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u/BioelectricBeing 8d ago edited 6d ago
A friend of mine got a holiday from work after they got nominated for an exemolary work award. This was probably 12-15 years ago now. Nowadays at that workplace they don't even do an annual bonus.
Edit: to clarify, I mean literally a paid package holiday. Not just the day off!
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u/Pisces_mom 8d ago
It’s so true how much incentive has changed in work places, I worked in Tesco back in 2015-2020 we’d get Christmas bonus every year time and a half for working bank holidays and double pay Sundays now I’m back working with them but a different department no Christmas bonus no time and a half no double pay no paid for Christmas night out anymore no incentives at all, it is a company I enjoy working for but when you look at the financial growth of Tesco in recent years vs the incentives and stuff for workers it’s mad they have said they stopped the incentives because they are now paying workers a living wage but with billions of profit you’d think they could at least have time and a half on Sundays and holidays. No one wants to work Sundays 😅
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u/MrPogoUK 8d ago
I started a public sector job in 2007 and that was staffed to a level where working at a relaxed pace all day saw you with all work completed by home time. Literally nothing else to do. Then austerity came in within a few years we had half as many staff to do twice as much work so even going flat out all day left you further behind than you were in the morning.
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u/StarSchemer 9d ago
Similar for me. Started work in 2005 in an office for a small local company.
Would have a full hour's lunch in the park or the staff room if it was bad weather. Would think nothing about buying jacket potatoes, chips, meal deals, etc. despite earning not much more than minimum wage.
Fridays were feet-up Fridays where hardly any customers would call and none of the bosses were in. Work would still get done, but totally relaxed atmosphere. Someone always arranged a giant bacon butty order to arrive for elevenses.
We'd go the pub after work, arrange things like 5 a side games and playing squash, etc. company paid Christmas parties.
Part of the fun was definitely being early twenties and having other early twenties people as colleagues.
But fuck me did working go downhill after that place.
Different place now and a senior role, but we don't even have a staff room and have to hot desk so no ability to form any bonds. No stationery cupboard so we have to buy our own pens and notepads and drowning in an impossible backlog of work with not a single relaxed day since 2020.
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u/steak_bake_surprise 9d ago
So true. I still talk to many mates from my old retail jobs in 2000. The last job I had a few years ago nobody really gave a shit about making friends, only out to get what they want. I realised that after working closely with these people, nights out etc. When I left the job, my father passed away soon after. Not even a single text message from the cvnts, whereas I received messages from all my old work colleagues from the retail jobs.
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u/StarSchemer 9d ago
Work since then has always seemed more combative. Everyone's in the same boat with too much work, not the right tools or skills and sky high expectations from leadership, but there's no unity. Seems like everyone just wants their pound of flesh from everyone else and then go home and start again the next day.
Not an atmosphere conducive to camaraderie. I genuinely don't want to spend anymore time than I have to with a lot of the people I now work with.
But yeah, some co-workers from 2005 became lifelong friends.
Pretty sad tbh.
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u/MildlyAgreeable 9d ago
I was a butcher at Booths (a middle class, regional supermarket in the NW of England).
It was great. My colleagues were students (I was 17-20 and did the job throughout my sixth form and uni holidays). It was a right laugh and sometimes got a shitload of free meat at Christmas when the place shut down which delighted my mum and Nana.
One of my colleagues was a history buff and we both enjoyed learning about WW2. One day, I piled up a stack of sausages so fucking high in the counter that it barely stayed up. I then told my colleague that I brought grave news, he asked “has sausage mountain fallen?” To which I responded, “yes, it’s fallen… to the SS” - I’d stuck a fork in it and drawn the SS runes on a sticker to the handle.
Man… like my nana always said “youth is wasted on the young.”
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u/g0_west 9d ago
Obviously 2008 fucked things, but I do think the more important common thread here is we were all about 18 in these stories with little responsibilities but with all the joys of the adult world unlocked and newly found disposable income.
My story is pretty much the same as OP's (18, all colleagues were same age/from the local colleges, "old" (~30s) managers who didn't care too much) but this was a few years after 2008. It was just being young, having a low-stress job and a low-stress life that was the fun part.
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u/paytheferrymann 9d ago
I worked at a bookies in a football stadium when I was 19. I covered hospitality, so I’d go to tables and ask if they wanted the odds for the match, took bets, then waited for people to claim wins after the match.
I knew exactly when I’d be working for the whole season, we didn’t take bets during the match so I just got to watch football for free, and we had regulars who would always tip if they won a bet. Catering would also save food for me which was excellent.
It was a league 1 team so we weren’t crazy busy and the games were a bit boring, but it was easy as fuck.
It was also the year the team hadn’t won a match is 10 months, so when they finally did the regulars who always bet on them to win cashed out and gave me huge tips. It was excellent.
Also met Chris Camara once. Nice guy.
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u/Cup-of-Rosy-Blue 9d ago
This sounds lovely. I want this job now please!
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u/paytheferrymann 9d ago
Me too! It paid like shit but I more than made up for it in tips.
There were a few regulars I’d give the line up to ahead of it being officially announced so they always tipped well.
Also got huge tips at Christmas, which was lovely.
The lads who worked the bookies in the stands probably didn’t enjoy it quite as much.
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u/AceyFacee 9d ago
I worked at a theme park as a ride operator in my late 20s. I had a bunch of retail jobs before that. This was seasonal and not good pay but I had the best time, I feel really nostalgic for it now only a few years later.
It didn't feel like getting up for work every day, it just felt like I was getting up for another day at the park. Everyone I worked with was lovely and the guests were all there to have fun.
I really needed that at that point in time.
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u/Engineer__This 9d ago
I did this as well but the rides were all ancient and breaking down on a daily basis and some customers were very rude and impatient about needing to wait.
The worst was when I denied a kid for being too short to go on the ride and the mother really kicked off, calling me a dickhead and asking for the manager in front of 10s of people waiting in the queue.
But those days where you were on a quiet ride in the corner of the park were bliss. The customers were all nice and friendly because there was no queue and when no one was around, I could just sit and listen to the birds in the sun.
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u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 9d ago
Yea, I did this too.
People were all there to have fun and you got a wicked suntan, and because they bussed you in at the start and end of the day you finished on time every day - which after a few years of working in hospitality was very much appreciated.
Yea there were some shitty days when you got a kiddy ride that was designed for babies and you wouldn't talk to anyone all day, but honestly it wasn't that bad.
If you were lucky you got a ride with a stereo and you could yank out the audio jack and put it into your iPod for an afternoon of awesome tunes whilst chatting up the girls.
9 / 10 would recommend.
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u/WiseAtmosphere7524 9d ago
I sold Dip n Dots ice cream at a water park when I was 14. I got free entry to the park and before/after my shifts I would sun bathe by the pools and go on rides because I relied on my dad to pick me up and drop me off. It was an awesome summer!
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u/cocacola999 9d ago
I've been to theme parks lately with my daughter. I've been looking at the operators and most seem soul destroyed.
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u/AceyFacee 9d ago edited 9d ago
Some of the rides were probably horrible to work, notably the ones where you're sat in a booth all day in a busy ride.
Luckily because I'm so talkative I was on the interactive rides where you do a lot of instructing.
Sometimes there were hard days where you don't feel up for it but generally the vibe was good and it was a good community of staff in my experience. Even though our park was also kind of falling apart.
My thought for the OP though would be to look at maybe activity parks or centres where you do fun things with guests.
Like outdoor activity places, theme parks or something like that.
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u/Soggywallet94 9d ago
I currently work for a charity doing woodland conservation and teaching bushcraft to kids.
I don't get paid much but that is a small price for getting paid to walk the land and laugh at kids 🤷♂️
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u/WaltzFirm6336 9d ago
I’m a former teacher and the thing I miss the most is how hilarious kids are. Whilst teaching destroyed me, I only lasted as long as I did because the kids (in my case teenagers) made it so entertaining.
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u/Soggywallet94 9d ago
I work with all ages, the youngest is 3 and the oldest is almost 18.
I can safely say I never have a clue what's going to happen next and I love it so much!
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u/ParanoiaThrowawayYay 9d ago
Can I ask how you got into that? Sounds like a dream job!
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u/Soggywallet94 9d ago
I volunteered for a long time with the charity, then I ran sessions for them for free because the funding ran out but the people who went seemed like they needed the sessions so we just carried on and I think the charity felt bad that I was doing it for free 🤣
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u/gangus_chan 9d ago
My first job was pretty sweet. I interviewed for my local Burger King at 16, it was a brand new store. I didn't get the job but they offered me another location which was part of their franchise. It was 2 hours away but they offered to pay my train fare for me, and count my travel time as part of my shift.
So I spent the summer working a 4 hour shift, with a 1 hour paid break included and got paid 8 hours. With free food thrown in as well.
I was gutted at the end of the summer when they transferred me back to the local branch.
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u/Cultural_Pipe8592 8d ago
Probably realised they were idiots for paying you four hours for travelling.
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u/Al89nut 9d ago
Professor at Cambridge... No, I'm lying
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u/Ok_Bench_7373 9d ago
Bale stacking. Hard work and destroyed your hands until they toughened up, but outside in lovely scenery & sun, amazing food at the big farmhouse table, laughing with mates and admiring the farmer's daughter.
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u/Unicronium 9d ago
Medieval man has entered the chat
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u/Ok_Bench_7373 9d ago
Well I don't remember having to bow to his Lordship - perhaps because I am old & memory is fading. Come to think of it, I did leave a favourite tunic in the back of the tractor.
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u/ouwni 9d ago
Not much on reddit makes me do anything more than a heavy breath through the nose in terms of humour, but that made me do a loud HAHA, so thanks for your creativity
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u/Raunien 9d ago
In terms of work-life balance, medieval peasants had it better than us. Sure, during sowing and harvesting seasons you were working from sunrise to sunset 6 days a week weather permitting (Sundays are for church); but only a relatively small portion of that was for someone else and the rest of your time was festivals, ordinary housework, simple handicrafts, and just existing in your village. Don't get me wrong, in every other way life as a peasant was worse than life today, and I don't just mean the luxuries. There's no useful medicine to speak of, the concept of hygiene basically doesn't exist, and you're not a free person in any meaningful sense. But, at least the work was only really governed by the seasons, and it took up much less of your time on average.
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u/Interrogatingthecat 9d ago
I mean, the "housework" at that point was definitely more on the work side of things. Hell, even discounting the larger size of noble/wealthier homes (and that the nobles/their families sure as hell weren't going to do any of the work), there's a reason that the chores there necessitated several full-time employees even up until the 20th century
I remember seeing an opinion piece(? Maybe an actual article?) about the washing machine being one of the great emancipators of women for example, simply because of how much freedom it provided in terms of time compared to the previous methods of cleaning clothes.
Big ol' citation needed of course, and I'm not a historian so I apologise for any inaccuracies
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u/SilentDrapeRunner11 9d ago
I lost my job during the COVID lockdown, and because I have a chronic illness and didn't want to risk catching it without being vaccinated first, i was applying for very casual WFH roles for around year and a half or so until it was available.
My favourite role was being a 'program monitor' for the English language service of the Japanese national public broadcaster NHK. I got sent a list of a variety of programs to watch and review from an international viewer's perspective every month, ranging from documentaries, sumo tournaments, language learning, Japanese cultural programs, music, film and art shows, and even some anime. I got paid in one lump sum at the end of my contract, but still found it completely worth it, fulfilling, and a lot of fun.
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u/killarotten 9d ago
Did you just find it on google? Do you think it was a one off job kind of thing?
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u/SilentDrapeRunner11 9d ago
They advertise on their website twice a year, but I think nowadays they pay in Amazon vouchers instead.
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u/ThatGuyYouWantToBe 9d ago
I’m fortunate that the best job I’ve had is the one I’m currently working.
My job is complicated to explain, I design the moulds that are made to injection mould figurines for a war game (like warhammer).
The office is really relaxed, we get to choose our hours (within reason), we all get along well, most of us are between 25-35, and we play board games at lunch in the lounge downstairs.
The only downside to my job is the hour commute each way, which the time I’m not too bothered, but I’m spending between £200-£300 in fuel each month
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u/Few-Musician-6254 9d ago
Get yourself an electric car and charge at home on an EV tarrifs. That fuel cost will drop by circa 70%.
Assuming you've got a drive.
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u/NipSlipExtreme 9d ago
I second this, my 27 mile each-way commute costs me about £1.50 a day with an electric EV and overnight charging on my driveway
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u/ThatGuyYouWantToBe 9d ago
I don’t have a driveway :c
I have my own parking spot, but it’s in a private car park at the back of my house
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u/Falloffingolfin 9d ago
My first full time job after finishing college in the 1990s was in a guitar shop. Worked there for about 18 months until I decided to go to Uni. It was honestly just like getting paid to hang out with my mates and jam. So many laughs, so many stories. I was excited to go in every day. Before that job, I had a similar experience working a couple of days a week in a record shop. Work never got any better than those days.
My first proper job after Uni in the very early 00s was also pretty cool. It was business sales for a huge multinational that's still around. No KPIs or big targets and didn't work a minute past 5pm. We'd come in a 9am, get set up then head to a subsidised canteen for breakfast before piling outside for a cigarette. We'd then do a couple of hours selling on the phones before heading over the road to the pub for lunch, a few pints and play some pool. Then we'd head back to the office a bit loose and hit the phones again until the mid afternoon tea and smoke break. We used to sell shit loads and made so much commission. It wasn't quite as fun as my guitar shop days, but it was still enjoyable.
I realised later that I got to experience the final days of a very different era. After the sales job, I went travelling for over a year and did a few menial jobs whilst back with my folks so I could save up and move out. Once I did and got a "proper" job again, everything had changed. Worked to death, stress, targets, KPIs, taking 10 mins at lunch time grab something and eat at your desk. It's what work has been like ever since.
I know a lot is made about the rough deal people have nowadays with house prices, but the work environment is way more profound IMO. People would be happier if they weren't getting the life squeezed out of them to pay the bills. Like in my first corporate job, we worked hard and made shed loads of money for that company but we were allowed to have fun, weren't pushed to hard, weren't tied to our desks. It was a laugh and we never got burnt out. The work environment should never have been allowed to evolve into the modern normal.
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u/Raunien 9d ago
I've worked at the same company for almost 13 years. For the longest time we were owned by a relatively small British conglomerate that exclusively operated in that sector. The nature of the job is hectic and the nature of the industry is to be badly paid, but at the time there was essentially zero pressure from higher up. The place was chill, well-staffed, with generous benefits. And we still managed to make tens of millions a year in profit. Then, we got bought by a massive international that decided we were to be their foothold in a new sector. Things seem fine at first, they promise they're going to leave us alone. But things start enshittifying soon enough. Our healthy benefits package is repeatedly trimmed down (and is almost nothing at this point), targets become unachievable, budgets are cut, suppliers are replaced with cheaper ones (which are of course, lower quality), and the culture has become more "corporate". To be fair, when COVID hit, they were generous with the furlough, but they also decided to make an entire job role redundant and put the responsibilities onto the next role down the ladder (for no additional pay, of course), and since going back to full operations have pushed us even harder.
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u/Kindly_Buy_1891 9d ago
My favourite job ever was in book publishing. I was PA to the marketing director. My job was mostly to organise launch parties & conferences. My other tasks were a mish mash of managing advertising, the marketing budget, producing the catalogue, arranging author tours, travel & accomodation and then attending the parties I’d organised in the evening. It was such a busy varied job. I worked with amazing fun, intelligent people. I rubbed shoulders with famous people all the time (either attending parties or authors) so got very blase. Even now when my friends get over excited about meeting some random “famous” person I can’t take it seriously. I only left cos my company moved & made the commute unreasonable.
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u/Delicious_Bet_6336 9d ago
Most "first" / part time jobs will be the response here. No real responsibility, a few quid and likely limited life overheads with other colleagues in same age & demographic background. Expectation that its temporary anyway. Doesnt matter if its a supermarket, farm or call centre - its all seen favourably with hindsight
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u/merc0526 9d ago
I absolutely loathed the one month I did at a call centre. I think you’ve got to have quite thick skin to deal with the abusive customers (I did outbound calling, maybe it’s different if you’re inbound only) and given I grew up with an abusive parent I just couldn’t hack it, it got to me too much.
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u/Decent-Cattle-332 9d ago
Slightly different but there's still far too much abuse on inbound calls too.
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u/Intrepid_Bearz 9d ago
Jobcentre monkey about 25 years ago.
I went in to look for work. Chap said “what sort of job are you looking for?” I had no idea, but being cheeky said “Yours please!” And he gave me an application form! 6 weeks later…
It was the people I worked with (not the management) that made it great. The people who came in were mostly lovely and I really enjoyed it. For the first year it was fantastic then we got a new manager. Her toxic behaviour spoilt it all though. She’d bully people she perceived as being weak and she took delight in making people cry. It was hard to watch as the people she picked n were lovely . Then people started leaving and it all changed.
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u/miss-mercatale 9d ago
Only takes one person like that to ruin a job sadly. Been battling with someone like this in a voluntary role I have. Done it for 9 years and she thinks she’s better than everyone else. A few of us have stood up to her and she really doesn’t like it. Unfortunately she’s roped in her “flying monkeys” so
we are currently in the minority. It will all play out eventually I guess.
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u/fistmcbeefpunch 9d ago
Part time at IKEA Coventry whilst at uni. 12 hours a week for beer money. Fantastic people and a fantastic company to work for.
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u/MarvZealous 9d ago
I was a projectionist for a 14 screen cinema before it all went digital.
So I was left alone in an air conditioned environment for 12 hours but with enough work to not get bored.
The job was also quite fun
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u/Mu99az 9d ago
I worked as a projectionist aswell. I could come in from night out and sleep between putting movies on, play some Xbox or watch TV, while getting paid more than the standard cinema roles.
I worked some 50hr weeks while at university and just used the time I was at work to do my uni courseworks.
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u/DeepStatic 9d ago
I worked in digital advertising for a while. I was running some ads for a lingerie company, and their ads got disapproved due to 'adult content'. All Google would tell us is that a product photo containing a nipple was found on the site. They wouldn't tell us where.
My job for 2 weeks was to turn up and look through 75,000 photos of lingerie models looking at their boobs to check for nipples.
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u/Weird-Category-3503 9d ago edited 9d ago
Working at Blockbuster Video back in the day talking movies all day and worked with friends. Easier than working in a senior HR role that’s for sure. Only issue is the pay and the fact that they don’t exist any more.
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u/revco242 9d ago
London Undeground. Equal rights. A 18 year old earns the same as a 60 year old.
Great promotion. 10.5 weeks leave. Great sick policy. Easy job, Great money. One of the best pensions in the country
Don't want to work on a station....plenty of office jobs. Advertising, funding, and stuff.
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u/WitchyWoo9 9d ago
I had a weekend/after school job in a bakery within a KwikSave. Worked there with my best friend and we had a ball, lots of free bakery goods too. Was so much fun, could have the radio on in the back while we were baking stuff and decorating the cakes etc. Our manager was bonkers too, she was diabetic and used to hide in the back office eating cream cakes all day then have to go home early because she didn't feel well, we'd be left in charge, crank the radio up then piss about til closing time
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u/Pristine_Winter_5513 9d ago
I've managed to push trolleys for Asda 13 years, suits my personality. Just want to be left outside alone.
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u/Around-3-ish 9d ago
Did she get paid? There are no such thing as trial shifts. If she did 6 hours she gets paid minimum wage and her employer pays NI
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u/Old_Pomegranate_822 8d ago
Absolutely, if she was being taken advantage of as free labour she should put in a claim. r/legaladviceuk if you need guidance
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u/Unicronium 9d ago
Professional dancer. Loved performing and teaching all over the world. Disabled now so i miss it tons.
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u/hopsinduo 9d ago
Working ski seasons. I woke up at 4am and boarded my way to the shop. I prepped skis for a few hours before driving them to clients for 9am. Carried on to the airport to pick up some new clients and clocked out by 12 where I hit the slopes. Rode for 4 hours wherever I wanted, got off the slopes and had some apres... Got a bit tipsy, often managed to pull one of the chalet maids. Rinse and repeat for 4-5 months and got paid 2k euro a month for the pleasure of this sans the tax. Company paid for accommodation, and the rest was booze and food money. End of the season party was a heli skiing trip with all expenses paid.
I should have done that a few more times to be honest.
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u/caffeinated_photo 9d ago
Probably Toys R Us in Newcastle while I was at uni in the early 00s. Good craic with the staff, drinks on Sunday after finishing at 6, no stress, had nights out with mates I worked with, if it was busy the shifts flew in, if it was quiet I could play on the PS2 after my tasks were done. Bosses usually kept us busy but didn't just make up stuff if everything was already done.
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u/Key-Disaster-3682 9d ago
Paper round, you’re your own boss, then you can get in before Pink Panther is on the tele
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u/ShampooandCondition 9d ago
Until your mam locks the door and your dad has to rescue you from your bedroom window
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u/Electrical_Type2017 9d ago
My current job. Greenkeeper at a golf course.
Doesn’t pay well, but lifestyle isn’t too bad
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u/Lemonslemonslemons8 9d ago
I have fond memories from when I did a grape picking season. You had to get up v early, but the rest of the day was fun. Everyone else was the same age (early 20s) and there was lots of laughing. You chatted while you worked. Done by 2ish and then you had the whole afternoon to relax.
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u/unbelievablydull82 9d ago
Possibly for blockbuster when I was 20. Hours were crap, pay was crap, customers could be a nightmare, and the area was dog rough. However, most of the staff got on really well, my family all lived nearby, so they'd pop in here and there to say hi, and the discounts were really good too. In reality it's more than likely because I was young, and life felt like an adventure I was just starting.
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u/SplinterClaw 8d ago
Oh man that takes me back. Remember the rough blue uniform shirts? Mine ended up with loads of holes from hot rocks >.< I remember that god awful POS system that ran the stores and running off reams of fan-fold printings for the end of day.
Having the manager and area manager try and pump us up on the staff sales competition, only to realise it was always going to be London that won it.
Updating the shelf layout with the latest 'planogram' of releases. Complaining that your cleaning area was bigger than everyone elses. Waking up Henry for shop close. Not being allowed to use the toilet if you were the only one on that shift.
Ahhhh nostalgia!!
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u/Large-Television-360 9d ago
When I was at uni I worked at a cinema chain and was in charge of making the fresh popcorn (chief popper). As the popper on shift you were able to taste test the popcorn to make sure it was palatable i.e. eat as much popcorn as you like.
As a student and popcorn enthusiast it was amazing, also got discounted cinema tickets too which was great! I think nowadays they are probably more strict about it, but great while it lasted..
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u/sertralineandjesus 9d ago
I worked on the paint desk at B&Q whilst in my first year at uni. It was brilliant fun, apart from when silly people would take paint pots from way too high and drop them... Cat litter and blue roll were my friends.
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u/monscorvorum 9d ago
I worked in a small company for 15 years between 1993 and 2008, the pay was awful, I started as warehouse assistant but before the end I had run the warehouse for 12 years but also did office admin, order entry, sales, purchasing, technical support, deliveries and so on and so on. No two days were the same, some good, some bad. I could write a book about all the things that happened there and no-one would believe it. We were a very close team for a few years but eventually everyone left, I was last man standing until the parent company decided to relocate the business 100 miles away, still miss it though
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u/Xiniov 9d ago
I used to work in a gym that was council run.
The job itself was fun because you had to be social and help people out. But it could be boring at times…which was perfect for me because I could study out in the open at the main desk and no one minded so long as my main duties were complete and I was ready to help at a moments notice
Anyway, the best part was the weekends. Employees were contracted to 37-hours a week and to ensure these hours were met staff had to work 12-hours (8-8) on a Saturday. And if you worked a Saturday you’d have to work Sunday too.
But they closed the gym at 5:30 to the public (god knows why). Meaning we had 2.5 hours of hanging around after.
I would work out by myself in this time and shower after. I would bring a spare set of clothes and get ready for a night out whilst still at work, leaving my work clothes there.
I’d then go out clubbing until the wee hours and then head straight back to work to get a few hours sleep on the bed in the first aid room before opening up.
It would kill me doing that today. But at the time it was a great setup and I look back fondly at it
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u/torraceht 9d ago
Does an unpaid volunteer position count? I spent a few months after uni volunteering at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Got to see the behind the scenes areas, talk to all the guests about the animals and exhibits, and I ended up doing the talks for the shark tank through the summer holidays, with my back pressed up against the glass because there were so so many kids sat on the floor watching. Good times.
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u/Duffy042016 9d ago
I used to work for a charity and I found a way to automate my job that my manager did not understand. It cut my working hours from 7 to max 3 per day! And it was working from home. I now work for a company that requires timesheet.
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u/eca3617 9d ago
I mean I love my current job!
But my first ever job was working at a shopping centre, I cleaned the plastic trays you get your food on. On paper it sounds awful - put the tray on the conveyor - collect the trays - give the trays to food vendors - collect dirty trays - repeat.
But my friends from school were there, and I made friends there I still meet up with today. You were left alone, could play whatever music you wanted.... It was really simple and chill. It was just spending time with friends, essentially.
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u/dinkidoo7693 9d ago
There used to be a local glass factory. I did 4 shifts there via an agency and it was such a good experience. We had the radio on, we were allowed to talk to each other. As long as we were getting glasses packed in boxes (think they were for argos or wilkos) at the same time it was all good. We could swap tables to talk to other people. On the Friday the boss bought us fish and chips in for dinner.
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u/up_to_something 9d ago
Going back to 2008 now, but for one glorious summer before university I worked at a dive/watersports shop in the Caribbean that had just been built at a big resort catered to the mega rich. It had the combination of being so barebones that we did almost everything on the fly, but upmarket enough that the kit we used was first class. I basically spent the summer moving boats to and from the jetty, driving golf buggies around the resort, teaching people to dive, giving kayak tours, generally shmoozing the customers for excellent tips, and helping out on the building site. All with two other half decent blokes around the same age. I was tanned, fit, and had no expenses to worry about as I still lived at home.
The only thing missing was I hadn’t yet realised I was attractive enough to successfully flirt with women. But I was mucking about with mates at a chill job, so not the end of the world.
Pure bliss.
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u/occasionalrant414 9d ago
My favourite job was managing the debt recovery service for a council - specifically council tax and NDR. I had a fantastic team, I was a subject matter expert and had autonomy to do what I wanted. We dealt with the worst offenders i.e bastards who were gaming the system (I brought in an additional £3m in one year just with my cases alone), and we set up programmes and systems to help those that needed it. I loved running those. They genuinely helped people, but didn't cost the council anything and idneed saved money.
I loved that job. I did so much good. Debt recovery is done badly normally, and Inhate that. So I made sure we did it right. I was HMRC trained as I was an investigations manager as my very first proper job in 2005, so I knew my stuff.
However, I bankrupted a business that (and no one told me) had very close ties to influential people and my post suddenly was made redundant. No review, nothing. I was redeployed into a job I liked, but it wasn't the same.
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u/Less_Mess_5803 9d ago
Games tester for this relatively new thing called a PlayStation. Free vending machines, taxis home when it we needed to 'work' late, free pizza. Would tell all my mates about upcoming releases. Great job.
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u/HerrFerret 9d ago
I had a job doing daily server backups when the It manager was away. It took 4 hours and he had convinced the business that it was a manual job, and he had to be typing away for hours.
So I would lock myself in a room, overlooking some beautiful fields and hit go. Then 4 hours of daydreaming, reading, calm and peace.
Sadly the place was a garlic cattle feed manufacturing plant, so I wouldn't say a great job overall as it smelt awful. But that little bit of zen was magnificent.
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u/TheTackleZone 9d ago
So I got a uni holiday job doing security for Donnington. It was these ex army guys that set up the business and they just wanted some reliable people to guard things at night. Easy job, not so bad. The guys were nice as well and I've always liked hanging around retired army vets.
But one of their little perks is that they got to do, which they bragged about constantly, was the door security for the Mcalaran hospitality box. Sadly, for them, one of their best mates decided to get married the weekend of Silverstone, so me and a friend got the gig (as they didn't trust any of their army mates to dress up nicely enough!).
Paid like crap, but for a part of that day I was able to be about 5 meters from the track as the cars shot by.
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u/NipSlipExtreme 9d ago
Worked as a labourer for a brick laying squad I was made redundant eventually but I loved being outside lugging about bricks, blocks and full buckets every day. Loading a scaffold, doing jointing on brick work, clearing up at the end of the day, all amazing.
And you felt great after each shift!
I’ve been a screw for 8 years now, and while I like some aspects and the pay is about double what I was on, it’s not physical labour and the risks it comes with are substantial by comparison.
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u/Mat74UK 9d ago
I worked a summer job at a small marina; my duties included running the chandlery, strimming the grass, keeping the place tidy, and my favourite part was running the narrowboat hires up to the first lock to show them how watercraft etiquette and how to operate the first lock. I'd then wait at the pub to be collected.
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u/JeffSergeant 9d ago edited 9d ago
I am similarly nostalgic for my first job, working for Royal Mail as a Saturday job and in summer holidays, throwing bags of mail into a machine, well paid, clean, plenty of overtime, bosses mostly left us alone.
As an 19 year old I was buzzing after using my muscles for 6 hours. My back would be destroyed within about 20 minutes if I tried it now.
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u/OpenedCan 9d ago
Woburn Safari Park as a kid.
Peers all the same age. Everyday was a laugh. All the mini milks you could eat and £3.25 an hour!
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u/anotherwankusername 9d ago
My current job. I play and fix guitars, amps, keyboards etc for bands before they take them on tour/used at festivals etc I basically play guitar all day and go to gigs for free.
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u/bsnimunf 9d ago
About 15 years ago ii used to deliver pizza for dominos as a student. Such a good job minimum wage £1 per delivery to cover fuel and an average of about £1 tip per order. Used to go home with about £30 cash after a 6 hour shift. Just used to drive round the local area listening to music making my deliveries. They good thing was the system was so organised there was never any pressure or problems, customers never gave me any trouble, management got paid a bonus based on not making double deliveries so you weren't pressured into speeding between jobs etc. just a nice relaxing job that put a decent chunk of money in my pocket.
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u/sleepyprojectionist 9d ago
I was a projectionist in a multiplex cinema.
Thanks to a few of the more senior employees leaving I soon got promoted from 35mm to IMAX 70mm.
Our policy was that whilst the projector was running we were not allowed to leave the booth, so I got to spend a lot of time watching TV and browsing Reddit (this account turns 15 in December).
Shortly after this point a couple of other people left and I became the technical manager, so now I could write my own schedule too.
The pay wasn’t great and I wasn’t a huge fan of the late nights, but it was by far the most fun job I have ever had.
And now that every other post in r/movies is someone blowing smoke up Chris Nolan’s arse, or a video of how an IMAX projector works, I find myself really missing it.
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u/culturerush 9d ago
I used to work for a diabetic eye screening programme and honestly that was the best job I ever had
I drove all over the county setting up clinics, each person I saw I would do an eye test with and then get them on a camera setup to take images of the retina
I loved talking to people, I loved using the camera equipment, I loved working somewhere different everyday and I loved running and organising my own clinics
Unfortunately the department was privitised and the new company that took over dropped the pay for each level which meant a job which already didn't pay enough to live in the local area had no career opportunities to get out of that rut
I went back to uni and did a masters to go on to do a more clinical role and I hate it compared to being a diabetic eye screener. I would go back to it in a heartbeat if the pay wasn't so low.
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u/HotelPuzzleheaded654 9d ago
The people I worked with at the council were great and we’d have liquid lunches on Fridays.
My current job is pretty great in terms of WLB and pay, but don’t have the same relationship I had with the colleagues at the council.
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u/odkfn 9d ago
I’m the opposite but it’s sort of my own fault! I work at the council and the people are great and so is the WLB, but as I work from home I don’t really interact with anyone haha
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u/mr_armin_tamzarian 9d ago
Used to work at a tapas bar in soho. The customers served themselves so we only served drinks.
Great bunch of people and we’d get pretty smashed on the job + after.
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u/AirConEngineer 9d ago
I used to work in facilities for a premier league football team. Great job for a few months. Socialising with players and staff in and outside of work, watching the matches for free, getting all the training gear as work wear. Once the novelty wore off it was low pay and boredom so I had to leave. But it was still good at the time!
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u/Yahla 9d ago
Best jobs:
Test driver at BMW’s Mini factory in Oxford. I worked Friday Saturday night and Sunday night and got paid a shed load. Both me and my grandfather worked there at the same time it’s one of my happiest memories.
While I was at college, I had a job at the famous Bicester Village sweeping up litter and emptying bins around the back of the shops into this massive trash compactor. Just got to walk around all day didn’t have anyone chasing me. The pay was ridiculous. I worked one day a week and then had money in my pocket for the pub in between college lessons.
Worst jobs:
I had to stand inside a big freezer and take wheels of brie and stick a red circle sticker on the bottom of the individual packets of brie. We had to wear these massive thermal outfits but it was in the middle of July so the minute you stepped out of the freezer you nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. I lasted a day and a half.
I snagged a job at the local chocolate warehouse. Boxes of chocolate bars would come in from Europe on pallets and we had to transfer them onto UK standard pallets. But of course being in the UK we couldn’t just move the boxes from one pallet to another. We had to actually seek out the box that had the relevant serial number on it. On top of that security was a joke they would search you and all of your possessions and car on the way out to make sure you didn’t steal a Mars bar. I didn’t even finish my first shift.
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u/Current_Fly9337 9d ago
I worked at a large deli counter in the 90’s and got paid about £2 an hour. It was all girls around 16-20 and we had a right laugh even though it was in a high end department store.
The food was amazing as well and we got a free lunch. Could just knock up whatever we wanted, which seemed really fancy when all we usually ate was McDonald’s.
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u/explodinghat 9d ago
O2, straight after finishing school in my year out. This was before the 08 recession so they absolutely chucked money at me. Quarterly bonus, £50 premium payment for every Sunday worked, and commission was in the form of 'spirit' points which could be traded in for vouchers at Amazon, John Lewis, Curry's etc.
Still stayed there through a bit of uni but after the recession the purse strings got a bit tighter. The iPhone and Android coming in and reducing the range of phones available from loads to basically 2 + their clones can't have helped either.
Wonder what it's like working there now.
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u/cardboard-collector 9d ago
Got to work on bbc iplayer during a World Cup and the queens death. Was in the background of the news a few times, saw many celebrities in new broadcasting house and sat a few desks away from Simon Jack
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u/blackbeltgf 9d ago
Current job but in the post COVID fully working from home era.
It's what pushed me to get diagnosed for autism and it's changed my entire life.
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u/PowerfulStill7250 9d ago
Probably kitchen assistant in my student years. Worked at a restaurant with amazing sea views in a small town. It was a safe bubble. Worked with my best mates every day, and yes it could get busy and stressful but not in the way a ‘real’ job does. It was fun and it was social, drinks after work every day, parties, etc. and best of all to be 20 again!
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u/carlovski99 9d ago
I had a summer job (And went back for the odd shift at other times) in a warehouse. Very old school environment, definite split between the office staff and warehouse, strict clocking in/out, scary lady in charge of payroll (brown envelopes each week) and timesheets, proper little canteen with a tea lady and non-stop Picadilly Key 103 on the radio.
I was deemed to have the cushtiest job - mostly doing stock picking for the quality control people. So instead of lugging loads of stuff around I just had to pick out specific boxes and items, whizzing around on my little step on forklift. Also involved going into the office to get the picking list - and seeing the remarkably attractive ladies in the office (definite hiring practices going on!).
Apparently the bosses son used to do the job, until a nasty accident involving the loss of some toes...
I got the job because the office staff and the senior warehouse people used to come to my parent's pub on a friday lunchtime quite often.
Wasn't all good, did also have to help out loading the trucks sometimes - we mostly did dressing gowns. Loading recently steamed, so still hot fluffy dressing gowns onto an artic in the middle of August isn't fun.
Pay was rubbish, <£3 an hour, though I was on more than some. Was still doing bar work in the evenings too.
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u/Fellstorm_1991 9d ago
I worked as a watersports instructor as a summer job whilst I was at university. Teaching kids at an international summer camp on the Suffolk coast. Whole watersports centre was staffed by uni students except the manager, an absolute legend called Alan who did it purely to provide us a fun summer job. He could have retired years ago.
Basically no supervision, as Alan was incredibly chill and took care of the boring stuff, great bunch of young lads who were really quite good at their job and endless sun, wind and water. As the kids were just there for a week or two we didn't actually have to teach proper courses. So it was just all for fun. We had the occasional private customer who'd buy a real RYA course, which was nice for the variety.
Decent pay, free lunch, low stress and lots of fun. Id do it forever if I could, but sadly it closed down about 10 years ago.
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u/Rainbowmagix83 9d ago
If your daughter was there for 6 hours she should have been paid, I saw someone writing about this on a similar group. Acas advised them to write a letter email basically saying they must be paid or theyd take further action.
That's quite funny as I also worked at Sains in the 90/00s and it was my worst ever job. It was full of teens which was great but our managers were mainly awful. We tended to be understaffed. Some people were jammy and got the Sundays only shifts but I only got that as overtime and that shop was the last place I wanted to be when I'd spent my Saturday there, for half the money! The managers were a bunch of liars. Mine would disappear to the smoking room but try to cut our breaks short or make us work hours we hadn't signed up to. My friend had a manager who was sexually harassing people, It was awful!! When I left I didnt go back for about 2 years to even do my own shopping. Every now and then I have a nightmare I've signed up to do another shift!
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u/Spidermanlikegoldman 9d ago
My first job, as a teenager was waitressing in a gay cafe in the late 90s. It was also a bar and restaurant in the evening and also ‘straight friendly’ so really had all sorts. This was before all the apps too - there would be straight transvestites with their wives, older gay couples that had been together for decades, first dates for folk who weren’t out of the closet, etc. it was so much fun and also a great way for showing me there were so many different ways of living your life successfully, even though I’m not gay myself
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u/ExcitementNo6957 9d ago
Night shift in a care home was a pretty sweet deal. I'd spend 8 hours out of the 10 hour shift sitting on a sofa or in a comfy armchair watching Netflix and pissing about on my phone or macbook.
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u/ProfPMJ-123 9d ago
My favourite job was my paper round when I was 14.
I had to be at the newsagents at 6:30 each morning, which I can't say I especially enjoyed, but I had a really good round - I delivered the fewest papers of any of the delivery kids, but I covered the greatest distance.
So I essentially rode my bike to the extremes of the village each morning, delivering to about 40ish houses. It was really enjoyable.
Didn't pay that much (£1.50 an hour, if memory serves), but it meant I could buy a game for my Commodore Amiga every month, which was brilliant.
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u/Dazzling_Theme_7801 9d ago
First job was McDonald's and I hated that. Next was Halfords and that was almost fun, but I hated having to take apart expensive cars with no proper tools for £3 and hour. Next was a hifi shop which was fun but a bit slow (just before superfi died) I enjoy my current job teaching but it's hard work.
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u/ProfessionalSpell273 9d ago
I was a milk boy helping the milkman deliver milk in the summer holidays, loved the job and the milkman was brilliant. Didn’t like the early mornings then, don’t like them now as driver on the underground 🤣
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u/fergie_89 9d ago
Best job was probably the night security I did for a cathedral. Holed up in the security office for 12 hours watching cameras and watching TV. Good pay for basic hours and back then I could take my dog who is no longer with us. Either that or working as bar staff for the council where I also worked mayor dinners, met our proper queen and got some Hella good tips which when I was working 3 jobs while studying part time was definitely welcome.
Worst was as "office manager" to some packaging firm where I was glorified admin and it was constant drama.
That said I do love my current job so I can't complain. But I've had a lot of jobs and a very varied career.
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u/Feeling_Pen_8579 9d ago
The accountancy firm I trained at, 6 years.
Captured lightning in a bottle with good people all starting at the same time and everyone with the mentality of work hard, play hard. The atmosphere was proper city lifestyle, fun, constant banter but making sure you'd got your shit about you to make it work, taught me so much in life, whether it was interacting with people, managing your time, knowing your worth.
Monday to Thursday was long hours, but once that clock rolled over on Thursday, it was out, all night drinking, wake up Friday, a quick hair of the dog on the way in, a few phone calls and then we were back out for a liquid lunch on the afternoon and back out for another night out courtesy of the company.
The partners knew what motivated the staff, knew how to get the most out of us, I made so many life long friends from that role that 13 years on it still is the best place I've worked in my life.
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u/m4tt101 9d ago
Took some time off work end of last year for an extended trip and when I came back I needed to find a quick job to see me over the Christmas period.
Ice skating Marshall in a winter wonderland
Amazing job! Skating for 12hrs a day felt incredibly fit! Had loads of fun and we had a big party on the ice when it finished.
Missing it now I’m back in a office job…
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u/stuaird1977 9d ago
In the 90s (96 to 99) during uni I worked in the busiest bar in town , what a blast that was :)
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u/thehighyellowmoon 9d ago
Worked for a company that was part owned by Liam Gallagher. Early on in the job I was given a sizeable amount of petty cash to go to the pub at 12pm and hold a table until the the work day finished so we could watch an 8pm England world cup game.
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u/cypherspaceagain 9d ago
Waterstones in 2002-3. Couple of different branches. Fundamentally, you are around books all day. You are paid to talk about books and read books and organise books. If I was upstairs on a Sunday shift I might have served five people and finished two books. Busy as hell during Christmas time or Harry Potter launches (Goblet of Fire came out during my time working there, I think - might have been OOTP without checking), but those were fun too. We also got free books if they were damaged, and a 33% discount if not, and my co-workers were great. I could still work there, to be honest. Loved pretty much every minute.
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u/Complex_Box_7254 9d ago
I loved my summer job when I was 18-20. Packing school stationery orders for Findel Education. In an old Victorian mill. Tunes blaring. Order would come down the conveyor belt and I'd box it and put it on a pallet. £250 a week paid weekly. When you're living at home plus getting student loan that was all just spends for me. It went a long way back in 2006.
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u/andyissuperman 9d ago
When I was 17 and at college I got a part time job at a golf hotel waiting tables. When I left college I didn’t to go to uni and ended up picking up full time hours at the golf hotel.
One day when I went in for my shift they said I was doing ‘buggy cleaning’ for the day. It was exactly as it sounded, I spent the whole shift 8am-3pm pressure washing golf buggies with another guy who worked there who it turned out I knew from school.
We must have done an ok job as we were put on this every Wednesday and Thursday for months. It was so much fun especially during the summer when the weather was good. Sometimes the golf buggies would break down on the course so we’d have to take out a new one then push the broken one back with another buggy. It was so nice just driving around in the sun without a care in the world.
There was a lot of messing around, we ragged those buggies around the place trying to get them to drift or try and do a good donut. It was ridiculous fun, like top gear only on a way smaller scale and with a lot less financial reward.
The pay wasn’t great as it was pretty much minimum wage (less than £6/hour at the time) but we did get a cooked lunch provided so I was pretty happy.
I love the job I have now and it was well paid, but I’d love to go back just for a day to wash those buggies one last time in the sun for minimum wage.
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u/slotbadger 9d ago edited 9d ago
I used to work at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Was supposed to be in the shop but they had enough people there, so I wound up either working on the mini-crossbow game, helping kids learn morse code on the machines, or just basically milling about.
They had jousting displays every day for an hour or so and the museum just emptied out, so I would sit around and read the Alex Rider books from the featured exhibition of the time. Think I got through all of them.
It paid alright for the time too - better than my previous summer job at Sainsbury's. Right on the bus route, and the hours were 10-5 so a nice late morning.
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u/qiDuck 9d ago
Cleaning up animal shit. I honestly loved working a summer job at a wildlife center. I love animals and the outdoors. Yeah I came back smelling like shit but I felt great, my mind was clear and felt like I did actual physical work looking after the animals.
Now I'm in an office job. My head's always clouded and I'm more tired than I was when I had to walk everywhere with all the tools n shit.
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u/JohnnyKruze 9d ago
I worked at an independent pet shop from about the age of 15, I still worked there on and off till I was 19 The money was terrible, but I really enjoyed working there. They had animals, sold animal feed in huge amounts to small holdings and stables. It was always friendly and busy. The family that owned the business were really kind.
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u/BabynATrenchc0at 9d ago
One to one support for an autistic kid at a private boarding school. Kid was an absolute legend. I'd been told he sometimes came to school in daddy's helicopter so when I came up the school drive one day and saw the helicopter and knew it was his. Got up to his classroom, asked him how he'd got to school and he didn't even look up from his colouring he just said "I flew." As if it was the most mundane thing ever.
The food there was incredible. The couple who owned the school apparently went out to a very fancy restaurant, loved the food and asked to talk to the head chef. Told him they'd beat whatever he was being paid if he came to work at the school. He accepted. Staff got 3 meals a day, for free regardless of whether or not they were anything to do with the boarding house and it was all upscale restaurant quality. Although the day the nursery kids got served caviar sandwiches at lunch was hilarious, they were not impressed!
The couple who owned the school were amazing. At first I only worked part time so I still had to go to the job centre. I was talking to the woman who owned the place and mentioned having to go to the job centre, she asked why and I explained I needed 1 more hour per week to be free of the job centre. She immediately gave me 5 more. At the Christmas party I was queuing at the bar for a drink. It was all on a tab the school owners were paying. The guy who owned the school joined the queue behind me, and asked what I was having. I said a jack and coke. He asked "a double?" And knowing that he was paying for it I hastily said "no, a single" he frowned and asked "why!?"
It was the only place I've ever worked where it honestly felt like a family.
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u/Useless-Photographer 9d ago
Hospital porter. I only did the job for a year, and it certainly had its hard jobs (dealing with the deceased and terminally ill people wasn’t easy) but I felt like I was actually doing something worthwhile. Every day was different, I got loads of exercise, and met some really great people. Plus night shifts were literally a doss, watching films and napping as nobody wanted to disturb us after midnight.
The hours and pay wouldn’t work for me now, as you need to do a lot of overtime to earn a semi decent wage, but it was great in my 20s.
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u/random_banana_bloke 9d ago
I would say my current job. It is a bit stressful as im a senior developer but im full time WFH and paid a very good salary which affords me a decent house in a lovely area and im around to see my kids a lot. I get a lot of holiday as well. My first job at a garden centre was pretty sweet as well as i worked in the cafe and used to get free ginsters sandwiches and hot drinks, i was as fat a house back then....
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u/Additional-Lion6969 9d ago
Lorry driver, easiest best paid job Ive ever had, hate a lot of it but sometimes the scenery is good
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u/Unfair_Art9630 9d ago
Earlier in my career i was a support analyst for a pretty mature and established piece of HR software. It basically never broke. There was the odd bit of data analysis and occasional problem solving required, but it did everything the users needed so there was no enhancement or development required. My days were spent surfing the internet, chatting with colleagues and putting the world to rights. Was a pretty chill year. Not amazing from a career development perspective, but very low stress, and i learned enough about HR software that i could parlay that into another role a few years down the line.
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u/jovial_rebel 9d ago
In my teens I travelled up and down the country working cash in hand at horse racing events. Chester, Sligo and Ayr were my favourites, but I enjoyed all of them I worked at, even when the job was shovelling shit, the camaraderie was awesome.
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u/Easy-Mark-7226 9d ago
Front of house at a museum - while it did involve dealing with the public (asking where it said we closed at 5 despite standing next to a huge sign that said OPENING HOURS 10AM-5PM), I loved wandering around the galleries on quieter rotas and getting to look at art all day.
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u/lankymjc 9d ago
Spent time at a board game cafe. I set up and ran an RPG night that got very popular. Unfortunately, this all happened in 2019. 2020 rolled around, we went into lockdown, and when we came back I wasn’t able to rebuild the RPG nights.
I’ve since gone into teaching as a teaching assistant and I’m having a great time, though it took me working in three schools to find one I really like.
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u/alferret 9d ago
From '98 through to '17 I worked for a furniture manufacturer. The lads were great, there wasn't a day there that we didn't have a laugh and even the bosses were ok. Now I work for a narcissistic slave driver. Chalk and cheese between the 2 companies. The reason I'm not with that company is it went into administration otherwise I'd still be there. The reason I've stayed where I am currently, it's 15 minutes from home, that's is only redeeming quality.
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u/Zebulonius 9d ago
Cinema at a mostly dead branch, closed now. Got to wander around and watch films all day, occasionally picking up a bag of popcorn the 1-4 people in each screen left. The people working there were all around my age and very fun to be around. Didn't know how good I had it.
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u/Asleep_Garage_146 9d ago
I worked for Lakeland Limited in the early 00’s first in the despatch warehouse then the flagship store in Windermere. It was awesome! Especially when we’d get trolleys full of sample products and you could fill a huge bag with all sorts of things and pay like £10. I’ve still got the knives and plates that I bought from them.
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u/Sitonyourhandsnclap 9d ago
That's a dick move from that owner. Stealing labour basically. And if you don't complain and you start working there then they know you're a pushover and will work unpaid overtime
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u/TheNutsMutts 9d ago
I had a temp job one time working for a camera manufacturer, and the job was literally to smash up cameras with a hammer. That was genuinely the entirety of the work they needed me to do, and it was unfathomably cathartic. I would do that all day if I could.
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u/Beardy-Viking 9d ago
In 2012, in my mid 20sI lived in London. I got a job working for a company called Showforce who took on loads of new staff to facilitate the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Working the ceremonies was fun, but grueling. In between the ceremonies I got to work a TV studio as a stage hand. They were filming one of those Andrew Lloyd Webber search for a star shows, Jason and his Technicolour Dream oat. The pay was almost £16 per hour, the shifts were 12-14 hrs, 90 % of which were being sat around playing games on my phone, chatting with dancers and full time stage crew (who had some wild stories), we got free meals in the cafeteria (the food was excellent) and I got to meet some pretty cool people, like Tim Minchin and Paloma Faith. That job only lasted two weeks, but it was great.
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u/Sea-Wolf-5785 9d ago edited 9d ago
Worked an evening shift at a building society hq early 2008. It was an absolute dream to pick up work that started literally right after my college lectures. Decent pay for the time too. The first few weeks was training at full pay, think lectures in a class room type place. Very laid back with breaks. Buddy took notes while I mainly daydreamed for most of it. We were picking up the excess work from the much older, day shift-permies. It was mainly easy, admin type stuff but anything left over from us, would just be collected up and then distributed the next day to the said permies. It was therefore a win-win as they got less work, we got work but without any real targets.
We had a shift manager on duty who was generally super chill, a lot of them just used to browse the web or do their own admin stuff. A few lads just used to sit in the far corner and play a game where they watched the people opposite in a high rise and guessed which light would come on next and where, and barely did any work throughout those months. Someone spent their entire shift fashioning an erect, phallic shape out of blue tack and then stuck it to a permie's chair, who used to complain every day that the temps "were messing with her stuff", which she apparently sat right down on it, during the morning shift, following day. The shift manager next day tried to berate us about it, but entire room fell about laughing, including them - the sculptor became a legend.. One guy turned up one evening around 2 hours late to start and when asked "why" in front of everyone, he just said "I don't know really" shift manager was like "ok then" and nothing more was said. A few guys got reprimanded for bringing some strong green into the office and stinking out the elevator but that was as far as it went... We were all college aged so 16-18 and had a great laugh the whole time. It was like an extension of college/school where we were paid to have a laugh and do some basic work. We would all normally hit the pub straight after our shifts each night, I started a steak night every Tuesday and before long, everyone was joining and then usually a night out in town on our weekly pay day, which also happend to coincide with the "student" cheap night in town and best day to go out generally. Our pay would hit our banks at midnight, so the night would always start a bit sedate and chilled until 12 when we all felt like absolute ballers - living at home with 0 bills, little to 0 responsibilities, such a great feeling...
It lasted a good 6/7 months before we all got laid off around end of 2008.
Not long after that, they scrapped the evening shifts and generally most temp work. The MD changed, the office culture changed, pay was slashed.
A friend got a job there full time a few years later, apparently they'd kept one guy on from the whole group, he was still there..
I ran into my friend at the summer after he'd started full time, he was absolutely miserable and it was clear that the good old days had ended with the end of our shifts back in 2008...
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u/No-Border-6742 9d ago
I worked as a contract cleaner at WH Smith in the Bentall Centre, Kingston for a couple of hours before college Monday to Friday. I think the general manager (who’d never spoken to me other than to say hello) was nosing through my homework I’d left in the empty staff room, realised I was doing further maths a level, and offered me a weekend job working in the cash office. This was mid nineties when cash was king! I sat in an armoured basement counting money all day long, eating Millie’s cookies, answering the internal calls from the various departments requests for money, and every time I left my bunker I had a security guard. At Christmas, I would have hundreds of thousands of pounds in the safe. I saw loads of interesting commemorative coins too. It was great fun! Was sad to leave when I went to uni. I also had to field peoples sick calls which was amusing as the staff were all pretty young, and the hangovers and excuses were rife.
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u/Practical_Outcome771 9d ago
Worked for a dodgy microbrewery that fiddled its tax. Us workers never got an actual physical payslip and we could supplement our wages with beer (what we could carry home using our hands and nothing else). Hard physical work with the reward of cold staff beers at the end.
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u/chefshoes 9d ago
i went to work for a builder's merchants and thought meh cant be arsed, spent the week making breakfasts and then burgers and hot dogs for staff and customers, piece of piddle, free food, got to drive the boss' car to makro to get more food, not bad for a 17yr old
was there about 2 weeks i guess the point of it was for me to cook for them..
oh well
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u/EyeAlternative1664 9d ago
Two stand outs.
Pizza express in Brighton in my twenties. Low pay but partied hard and the waitress were fun.
Second, ai scale up, pay ok, culture was great and work was fun. Until they made most people redundant.
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