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Can YOu Remember Your First Day At Work

...and I've now fixed the 'Thread Title' for you too...
I can't say that I really remember my first day .... although I know I didn't like the work place I was at very much ... I didn't seem to fit in somehow and after a short time just up and left.

I did always want to work with children though and also in a hospital, but was told that would not happen because of my poor eyesight...
Wrong I now do both as an Early Childhood teacher and Play-specialist, so like Graham I have my cake and eat it, not may folk can say they enjoy going to work and get paid for 'Playing'

Chris/Pom
 
My first job was Errand Boy at the Coop Fish, Fruit and Greengrocery shop (Branch 66) in Balsall Heath Road. I was 13 or 14. I worked from 5 to 6, after school, every day except Wednesday and all day Saturday 8 till 6. The shop was completely open to the elements on two frontages and of course no heating.
Life was full of 'characters' then. The manager was 19 years old and totally useless and there were a couple of women assistants. Despite my youth and the fact that I was only there a few hours a week, I was the only one who cared about the business; so much so that when the Manager was sacked, I did much of the bookwork with the knowledge and support of the area manager. When a new manager arrived, she built the trade up considerably and my hours increased as my duties broadened, even to getting up at 4 in the morning and going to the Coop warehouse to buy the stock which would be delivered later. I became very well known at the warehouse and quite knowledgable about vegetable buying. I loved the job, which was the best paid job around for a youngster.
When I left school and was looking for a career, a couple of the big bosses came to try and persuade me stay; they promised me a progressive career, but I chose to go in a different direction, my mother said that a government job (as an engineer on Post Ofice Telephones) for life with a pension was the best way to go..... I wonder? The Post office was full of more and bigger 'characters' than are around today - great times.
Ted
 
I left Burlington Street School in 1964,on the same day i got a job in
a Glass Firm in Burlington St to start on the Monday.I was only there
6 weeks and it closed down,nothing to do with me.
I can`t remember what the firm was called now.
So i got a job in Woolworth`s in New Town Row wages were only
£3-10s a week.
Carol
 
My First job was as an apprentice at the Co- op works dept in Woodcock St in the joiners shop
 
I remember it well, after an interview in London I went to work for a public relations firm in Francis road by the five ways island. I hated it and only stayed a couple of months. The only upside was at lunchtime when I used to escape to the Acropolis cafe on Broad street and the Kardoma cafe in the town centre. My wage was £4.17s.6p
 
I started as an apprentice hairdresser at fifteen in Clarence Road Four Oaks. It was hard on your feet all day and breaks were timed. I earned £4.00 per week and Mom had half. Thank goodness for tips or I wouldn't have gone out!! This was 1968 by the way!
 
My first day at work was in Woolworths in the Bullring,i worked there for a while before i
left school on a Saturday, and then went full time, on the sweet counter, ground floor
my wage was about four pounds a week.You were never allowed to sit down although
there was a little stool behind the counter, if you had no customers you had to make yourself look busy,move the sweets around, anything,marvelous job.
 
Blimey Liz you must have had the same boss as me. Clean the glass polish the trollies fold the towels. I always laugh when someone says Pick and Mix I remember the sketch Jasper Carrott did about anthrax in the pic and mix.........sorry......lol
 
Oh there was no slacking for sure, suprised we weren't made to dust the salted peanuts
you can only tidy sweets so much, and it never looks any tidier.
 
I remember my first day at work LH Durrant of Harborne my mom got me the job and I had to wait in the shop till I got sent out with an electrician and I hadn't got a clue what I was supposed to do while I was there but I was put with a very nice man who had a lot of patience with me and all for the princely sum of £2.1s.and 4d which I gave all to my mom every week and had a £3 back happy days LOL
 
I left school in July 1968 (aged14) I I had to wait till my 15th birthday in August to start work at Littlewoods in town..I worked on the mens shirts section and every Friday our manager came and took one of the shirts..he would wear it over the weekend and bring it back washed on Monday ..we had to sell that shirt on the Monday or else..cant believe we used to do it as well
 
My first job was a factory worker when i left school
it was a little factory which had a work force of eight and it was up our entry and behind our house it was called wilkingsons [ george ] was is name he had alot of bussiness,s it was involved with is brother inlaw he had a big house up the rd from
noel gordonds house and he was involed with the die casting company
down long acre nechells and he had a fancy good shop down angeleys st
by farm street is mrs used to run that
i was a aluminuim die caster [ bench ] and we would make the foot ball studs for the foot ballers in alliminuim by the thousands
i must admit he was a great boss and he looked after is work force
i don,t surpose he is around today he always had a senior service fag in his mouth
but i will take my hat to him because he taught me one of hell alot of things
which i carry now a wealth of experience through him ;;
best wishes astonian ;;;
 
I left school at 14yrs my first job was at Charles Wades in Pritchett St adjascent
to New John St.my job was get rivits red hot in a muffler then pass them to the riviter
to rivit girders together.My wage 50 shillings a week.used to bring my wages home the end of the week give it to my mom and she would give me back 2/6d for pocket money
 
Did reply to this thread post #41
After a few weeks at Littlewoods My Mom got me a job at A.E Harris in Northwood St..I was 15 yrs old and used to work the hand press..The Boss was called Fred Harris and he sacked me 7 times in the first 6 months..every time i got the sack ..old Fred would turn up the next morning at my house and tell me to get back into work at 8 am the next morning..wages were really good at the time and if i worked all week and Saturday morning till 12 I could take home about £6 ..Looking back now life was a lot easier then... even though as 15 yr old kids we worked hard
 
I left school (Perry Common Comprehensive) at nearly 17 (1976) and started a Toolmaking / Mechanical Engineering Technicians Apprenticeship at Peerles Stampings Ltd, Priory Road, Aston.

Because Peerless was considered a small company at the time (about 200, by todays standards a medium to large company due to the decimation of manufacturing) it did not have an Apprentice Training School so I had to go to Brooklyn Technical College's Workshop for the first 36 weeks of my working life, not the factory.

As the College did school terms this meant I finished at Perry Common Comprehensive in June, and did not start at Brooklyn until September. I was able to "sign on" for those seven weeks, and got £7.49p from the dole (all of which had to be payed back through increased National Insurance contributions as soon as I started work !!!!).

This meant that I was on holiday for the summer of 76 which if you remember was the most fantastic summer !!!! and with £7.49p to spend (Mom would not take keep until I was earning a wage) the most money I had ever seen ! it was fantastic.

When I started at Brooklyn I meet some of the most fantastic friends and some absolutely great tutuors who were all Mechanical Engineers of long standing who taught me the early part of my craft extreemly well. I remember 1 lecturer Stan Swingle, a fantastic Engineer and Techician who must have been approaching his mid 50's at the time, what a great Craftsman he was. He used to give 4 of us a lift to the Hawthorn Road and he had a little 1100cc Triumph Toledo which used to struggle badly to get us all up the hill on Dyas Road but he still gave us a lift every night, what a great bloke he was. His training and that of the Craftsmen at the factory set me up for the remainder of my working life and I have never had a day on the dole since (touch wood) although unfortunately I am desk bound these days and do not touch a precision machine any longer.
 
My first job at 15 yrs old was at W Canning's in little barr st, i worked on a drilling machine hated it i wanted to get on the lorries they had 2 stroke commers.
but it was,nt to be.
regards dereklcg
 
maggieuk said:
I left school in July 1968 (aged14) I I had to wait till my 15th birthday in August to start work at Littlewoods in town..I worked on the mens shirts section and every Friday our manager came and took one of the shirts..he would wear it over the weekend and bring it back washed on Monday ..we had to sell that shirt on the Monday or else..cant believe we used to do it as well
Click to expand...


Snap, me too! I was an August birthday and left school at 14 and had to work 'on the quiet' until the 16th, August, which I always thought was odd, as I'd had a Saturday and holiday job, in the same place, since the age of nine! (and no, it wasn't working up a chimney!)
icon7.gif
 
hi Zac i remember when i had my first wage packet.from Charles Wades in Aston.
all 10 shillings of it gave my mom the wage packet she gave 2/6p back.but you
could buy a lot for that much in them days.
regards.
 
My first job was at Atkinsons Brewery, just after Christmas 1952 as a Junior Shorthand Typist, we had to sign a book when we arrived and if you were a couple of minutes late a red line was drawn across the book.
I had learnt to type at school but had never used carbon paper before and just couldn't get it right. I shared an office with an older girl Christine Hassell and the "office manager" Ron Jowitt, they were very nice to me and showed me the ropes. I also had to make tea for the brewers and I wasn't much good at that either as I had always hated tea and had never made it before. All this for £2.2.6d per week after a couple of months it went up to £2.7.6d.
 
I just found this thread and thought I'd chime in. I don't remember my first day at work, beyond the fact that it was 1963, but I do remember my first wage packet.....my Mum saved it, bless her heart. I found it in some of her effects that I brought back from the UK after she passed last year. When I first started work I was an apprentice at Brockhouse Engineering, Victoria Works, Hill Top, West Bromwich. They were part of John Brockhouse Ltd, same address, who made a lot of different things. Some of the products I remember were semi-trailers, utility trailers, hydrostatic transmissions and mechanised street sweepers. They also did a lot of stuff for the DoD, had a big foundry and a drop forging operation. During the day I would work in one of the various departments, sales, engineering, assembly, inspection, draughtsman, testing etc., etc. on a rotating basis while doing my ONC three nights a week. Quite a hectic schedule, and at the time it felt like indentured servitude, but with hindsight it was a fabulous foundation for my future career and gave me skills I still call upon today. Even so, 1/7d an hour wasn't a heck of a lot to brag about!

s First Wage Packet, 1964.jpg
 
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