Child LabourThere is a special part of Hell I'd like to reserve for those arses that order every single Sunday paper. Do you know how heavy that makes the bundle of papers some poor kid (ie me) has to lug around? Funny how your papers always seemed to get mangled in your letterbox...
I loved my paper round, but, looking back, I was getting paid peanuts to ruin my back and cycle around in the cold and dark. How were you exploited as a child?
(
chthonic, Fri 17 Feb 2006, 12:05)
« Go Back
YTS FunI'd finished my GCSEs and was looking for a way to earn some money before I started my A-Levels. My search for any kind of job proved fruitless- there simply weren't any around.
So me and a couple of my friends decided to enrol on a YTS scheme to get the training allowance (training? hah!) I chose catering, not from a love of cooking or anything, but because my mate was on it.
Unfortunately the day after I enrolled we were put on placement.
I worked 8.30-5.30 Monday to Friday in a crap food outlet in a crap food court in a crap shopping "centre". There was nowhere to sit, and my occupation for the whole of this time was washing tea cups. Boring yes, but also disgusting as our clientele were mainly old ladies and tramps- mountains of sugar dried into the bottom of the cups, lipstick, chewing gum, fag ends....
My wages for doing this (in the early 90s) were: £30 a week. Which equals about 70p an hour.
After a few weeks I talked the YTS woman into letting me on the computing course instead. This involved playing a tetris-like game called "Brix" for seven and a half hours a day for the same money.
Which was pretty good training for the adult world of work as it goes.
(
faintpraise, Sat 18 Feb 2006, 17:47,
Reply)
« Go Back