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How many jobs have you had?

Stanley Edwards

Stanley Edwards

1967 Maserati Mistral.
R.I.P.
Forget the C.V. lies and bullshit. How many jobs since leaving secondary school?

On 10 hands I can just about remember 30+

Very varied they were as well. Anything from sorting rubbish to living the high life as a pretend expert at something I don't remember what I was supposed to be expert in. To today - I consider my life as an artist a job even though I don't have to get up until I want to. It's still work.

I have mostly freelanced on 3 month contracts. Actually, no - that is wrong. I have mostly been unemployed on 6 week contracts.

How many jobs have you had?
 
Packing strawberries on a farm
Kitchen Porter
Office Junior in a city council
Debt Recovery Admin Assistant in city council
Customer Service Advisor for a telecoms company
Customer Service Advisor for an insurance firm
Customer Service Manager for a major supermarket (although it is 'manager' in the job title it wasn't actually a management job)

I have done some very boring jobs. The weird thing is I hate offices & call-centres but now all my work experience is in those places I have more chance of getting this type of job than anything else. I recently applied for a job as a credit card adviser :facepalm:
 
same here. probably had 20-25 different babysitting/nanny/camp counselor jobs. And probably 10 or more restaurant positions. as well as barista/counter help, Retail (cashier, stocking shelves, etc. various places) Personal care attendant (3 different clients) House cleaning (5 or so different companies) hotel cleaning (4 different hotels) house painting (3) seasonal jobs including hotel staff, roadside farm stand, vineyard worker, farm worker. Was self employed as a gardener/landscaper. Now teach art, also have volunteered several places from nonprofit office work to gallery sitting, etc.

Wow, I hadn't even realized it was that much! Can I retire now? thanks. :)
 
Trying to remember all mine.

Early working life was within a business family, so general deliveries and stuff. Not really paid so, it doesn't count and I wasn't interested.

Various YTS stuffs (they count). Museum cataloguing, youth club and stuff.
Selling advertising shit on comission (that doesn't really count).
Packing cassettes at a factory. Early games and music.
Photographer. Hated it.
Lots of self-employed business attempts.
Lots of voluntary stuff (they count).
Internet Consultant ;)
Web Designer.
Internet Marketing Advisor ;)
Internet start-up advisor ;)
Online branding advisor ;)
Freelance web designer (it's going downhill now)
Fruit and veg delivery guy :( Oh dear!
Wine delivery guy.
Waste recycilng plant operative. Shit :( What happend?
Branding consultant ;)
Plastics factory machine operative :(
Freelance web designer :(
Artist! Yay! 7 years and still sort of surviving.

Lots of very short term in between. Loads I can't really remember also.

Best jobs I've had I just fucking well blagged and did very well at them!
 
24 hour garage fore court cashier.......pay was good but way 2 many pervs an pissed old tramps trying 2 communicate with me through glass
 
Lots. Hay bale hauler. Stock taker. Grass mower. Brush and tree clearing. Front end loader driver. University course handbook writer. Blood and guts clearer at slaughterhouse. Ice maker. Psych lab tech, etc.
 
there was even some dude that came in once a week 2 stock up on his top shelf magazines blleerrggghhhh he was one messed up dude the kind that dribbles ...he used 2 pay by debit card coz they were soo expensive and then roll them up one by one and shove them up his coat sleeves ect it repulses me even thinking about it yuck :(
 
bear01 said:
24 hour garage fore court cashier.......pay was good but way 2 many pervs an pissed old tramps trying 2 communicate with me through glass
Click to expand...
God, when I worked in a petrol station, it was terrible pay. The owner sacked any one that complained that they got less than minimum pay. He liked me though, as I only stole food and goods - and not petrol or cash.
 
ohhh i remember wen we had an alarm on the till that would go off wen u had more than £500 cash in it and u had 2 count out £250 in notes roll it up tight and put it in this canister with a number on it then write down the number of the canister on ur shift log sheet whatever an deposit the canister through a small hole in the floor which led 2 a safe.........but being blonde i put the canister down some where and started talking and serving some1 nxt day wen they had totalled up the takings it was £250 down id logged it in but hadnt dropped the canister an my boss was like??????? then it suddenly hit me i had stuck it in with the polos in a plastic sweet dispenser omg if ant1 had bought polos from there they would have clapped eyes on this canister full of cash............oh the shame of it :(
 
Loads in the ten years between leaving school and going to university, started with a carpentry apprenticeship but he went bust and I did a couple of different factory jobs and was a concrete layer (those printed concrete driveways) for the longest, with various labouring and other odds and sods thrown in, also some years as a barman. University did bar work and labouring in the summer, including that old concreting job, took a year out in the middle to stay on after our year in China and was a 'researcher' at Reuters (clipping papers and making the tea), after coming back to the UK to finish was able to get translating work. After graduation came back to China to work in rural development projects, then when that ended worked at a magazine writing about development and NGOs, then been freelancing translating for several years now with the odd editing job thrown in.
ETA: This was in the days before tuition fees, so life would have been entirely different if I had to start now. Free education should be a right.
 
Johnny Canuck3 said:
Lots. Hay bale hauler. Stock taker. Grass mower. Brush and tree clearing. Front end loader driver. University course handbook writer. Blood and guts clearer at slaughterhouse. Ice maker. Psych lab tech, etc.
Click to expand...

I did hay bale work on a couple farms. Mostly stacking them up in the barns and/or unloading them onto trucks. That is hard core work. The most grueling physical work I've ever done for sure.

wow, slaughter house!? That is even more hard core :eek:
 
keybored said:
Define "job".
Click to expand...

You serve time.

You may get paid. I think job just means working your hours for your reward. The reward may not be a wage, or salary.

Even casual work would count like Hocus Eye's reference to holiday jobs. Picking strawberries is still a job, but there is nothing to stop you not returning the next day. Just work for reward I suppose.
 
Ive never had a proper career I get bored and want 2 move on 2 something different. Once I was offered the oppotunity of a life time....2 train 2 becomea trolley dolley....6 weeks training at stanstead airport and then back 2 base for a high flying career with Brittania Airways....offered 2 me on a plate by the managing director dude himself :)
 
Miss Caphat said:
I did hay bale work on a couple farms. Mostly stacking them up in the barns and/or unloading them onto trucks. That is hard core work. The most grueling physical work I've ever done for sure.

wow, slaughter house!? That is even more hard core :eek:
Click to expand...

We were human bale gatherers. A baler baled up the hay, but he didn't have a machine to pick up the bales. So he drove a flatbed through the field, while us slaves threw them up onto the truck. Each bale is 75 pounds..

The slaughterhouse isn't that physically hard, but it's psychologically hard. Living in a farming area, I've done other work that I'd just as soon not talk about. :)
 
Johnny Canuck3 said:
We were human bale gatherers. A baler baled up the hay, but he didn't have a machine to pick up the bales. So he drove a flatbed through the field, while us slaves threw them up onto the truck. Each bale is 75 pounds..

The slaughterhouse isn't that physically hard, but it's psychologically hard. Living in a farming area, I've done other work that I'd just as soon not talk about. :)
Click to expand...

Re: haying, yes, I know! that's pretty much what I did too. Picked up bale after bale of hay, threw it into position on the stack or in the wagon, etc. rips your hands up and kills your back. I still remember the smell of over-ripe hay that would just permeate everything, especially in 90+ F heat.
And the fact that I sprained my ankle on the first day and everyone thought I was just faking because I wasn't tough enough to handle the job.
Which of course meant that I worked through the rest of the day on my bad ankle, I remember I had to literally crawl up the stairs to my room at the end of the day...and when it healed I had to go back and work the rest of the season just to prove I was tough and not faking the ankle thing. :rolleyes: @self


so, what are these unmentionable things you've had to do, living in a rural area? hmm?:hmm:
 
Miss Caphat said:
Re: haying, yes, I know! that's pretty much what I did too. Picked up bale after bale of hay, threw it into position on the stack or in the wagon, etc. rips your hands up and kills your back. I still remember the smell of over-ripe hay that would just permeate everything, especially in 90+ F heat.
And the fact that I sprained my ankle on the first day and everyone thought I was just faking because I wasn't tough enough to handle the job.
Which of course meant that I worked through the rest of the day on my bad ankle, I remember I had to literally crawl up the stairs to my room at the end of the day...and when it healed I had to go back and work the rest of the season just to prove I was tough and not faking the ankle thing. :rolleyes: @self


so, what are these unmentionable things you've had to do, living in a rural area? hmm?:hmm:
Click to expand...

The good thing about work like that, was when the day was over, you'd go to the bar and have a few beer, and not think one iota about the job.

One of those things involved the process of getting chickens out of those giant chicken barns you see, into those chicken-crate trucks that take them to the processing plant.

It's a bad thing. I did it for maybe two nights. Apart from the general evilness, the level of dust and ammonia in those barns was enough that I was gasping for air like an asthmatic for about a week after.
 
In roughly cronological order and including all those that I've not forgotten about:


Farm labourer in Argyll

Bracken clearer in Argyll

Paper mill worker in Aberdeen

Furniture shop assistant in London

Carpet cleaner (1st time) in London

Plumber’s assistant in London

Car wash assistant in London

Radio factory worker in London

Carpet cleaner (2nd time) in London

Forestry labourer in Argyll

Leather-goods delivery driver in London

Car spare-parts delivery driver in London

Newspaper production and driver in Glasgow

Fish factory worker in Iceland

Trawler deck hand in Iceland

Lock-keeper in Argyll

Lighthouse-keeper in Scotland & Isle of Man

Building-site worker (1st time) in The Hague

Potato picker in Greece

Building-site worker (2nd time) in Greece

Building-site worker (3rd time) in The Hague

Roof construction worker in Hamburg

Scaffold erector in The Hague

Plastics shop assistant in The Hague

Building restoration worker in The Hague

Milk distribution worker in The Hague

High building window cleaner in The Hague

General handyman at nursing home in The Hague

Warehouse assistant in Dutch National Archive

Primary school janitor in The Hague

Neighbourhood warden in The Hague

Early retirement.
 
Lock&Light said:
In roughly cronological order and including all those that I've not forgotten about:


Farm labourer in Argyll

Bracken clearer in Argyll

Paper mill worker in Aberdeen

Furniture shop assistant in London

Carpet cleaner (1st time) in London

Plumber’s assistant in London

Car wash assistant in London

Radio factory worker in London

Carpet cleaner (2nd time) in London

Forestry labourer in Argyll

Leather-goods delivery driver in London

Car spare-parts delivery driver in London

Newspaper production and driver in Glasgow

Fish factory worker in Iceland

Trawler deck hand in Iceland

Lock-keeper in Argyll

Lighthouse-keeper in Scotland & Isle of Man

Building-site worker (1st time) in The Hague

Potato picker in Greece

Building-site worker (2nd time) in Greece

Building-site worker (3rd time) in The Hague

Roof construction worker in Hamburg

Scaffold erector in The Hague

Plastics shop assistant in The Hague

Building restoration worker in The Hague

Milk distribution worker in The Hague

High building window cleaner in The Hague

General handyman at nursing home in The Hague

Warehouse assistant in Dutch National Archive

Primary school janitor in The Hague

Neighbourhood warden in The Hague

Early retirement.
Click to expand...
That sounds like you deserve some sort of prize.
Did you move voluntarily each time or were you pushed?

D
 
Johnny Canuck3 said:
The good thing about work like that, was when the day was over, you'd go to the bar and have a few beer, and not think one iota about the job.

One of those things involved the process of getting chickens out of those giant chicken barns you see, into those chicken-crate trucks that take them to the processing plant.

It's a bad thing. I did it for maybe two nights. Apart from the general evilness, the level of dust and ammonia in those barns was enough that I was gasping for air like an asthmatic for about a week after.
Click to expand...

re: the beer, absolutely. same with house painting, cleaning, restaurant work, landscaping, etc. But I can see how one can get used to doing a job like that and years just pass by in the blink of an eye. Because you're just lulled into submission: too tired to do anything after work besides have some beers and/or smoke a joint and sit in front of the tv, and every day becomes just the same.I think fear of that is why I never stayed at one job very long lol.

sounds awful about the chicken factory :(
 
Did loads of kitchen porter/food prep jobs then accidentally eneded up with employers insisting I was the cook rather than the person chopping veg/loading the dishwasher :eek::(:mad:

Two years of EFL teaching abroad

Came back to England and bafflingly ended up as assistant manager in a posh ladies clothes shop

Then concession manager of same posh ladies brand in a House of Fraser

Another year of sporadic EFL teaching

Consultant for online company who wanted to move into online retail while simultaneously teaching EFL/English lit

Housewife. :mad:
 
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