Your first job?

[Locky]

The tattie howking thread got me thinking about the first time I started working and earning my own money. 

 

My Mum worked in an Italian ran cafe and the owners brother had a restaurant next door looking for a pot washer and got me in. It was a month before my 14th birthday which seems quite mad to think.

 

£3.50 an hour cash in hand which I used to save up for my first season ticket. Used to get free scran at the end of the night and a lift home usually too. Always had Italian football on in the kitchen and used to get pizzas during my shift if they overcooked them or ****ed them up. Loved that wee job.

[hughesie27]

Pizza Hut Express in The Gyle when I was 16/17. It just shut down at the end of last year. £4.21 I think my first pay rate was.

[maroondevo52]

My first job was at St Cuthberts in Fountainbridge delivering milk with a horse and cart, I remember going along Gorgie Road and all my mates taking the piss and calling me Steptoe.

[ArcticJambo]

First time I got paid by anyone other than my parents was for picking up rubbish, for three days when I was 8/9 yrs old by the Hudson's Bay Company. 

 

Back in Blighty it was by the local newsagent, for my Sunday paper round, did that for a little over a year back in the time when the News of the Screws was was thicker than a hardback version of War and Peace.  Sometimes I flicked through it before I climbed to the third floor of a tenement in Malborough Street.  Straight down the muzies to spend it on Asteroids and Galaxian. Good times.

[Der Kaiser]

MacKays in Penicuik stacking shelves.

Then Scotmid when he sold it to them.

 

Pretty sure he promised to build a sports centre as he built his supermarket on top of the old Penicuik fitba ground.

 

Still waiting......

[Mikey1874]

Cataloguing North Sea oil surveys. Official secrets act but there was more oil than publicly stated 40 years ago. 

[Sharpie]

My first job was delivering fish for Mac Fisheries in Newington Road. My first real job was apprentice motor mechanic. That was a scam because they had no tradesman to train me so I was cheap labor. It paid off though I was a big boy anyway bu I done all the heavy lifting, by he time I was seventeen I was very well upper body muscled it paid of in Guards training because  there were less muscled guys aroud to taunt and bully.

 

 

[J.T.F.Robertson]

 

Apprentice structural engineer with Redpath Brown, right beside Easter Road. Only stuck it for a year or so.

Childishly, would gob as I walked by on my way to work. (that taught them)

 

[Victorian]

Delivering milk on a Saturday for £3 a shift.  

 

First actual job.  Apprentice in Ferranti (mechanical technical).

[superjack]

My first ever was selling macaroon and chocolate bars going round folks houses in tweedbank whenni was 13. It inly lasted a few months as the guy who delivered the sweets to my house fell out with the guy who made them.

I then got a job washing dishes in a hotel in Melrose, for the sky high wage of 75 pence an hour. On the other hand, my mother got plenty of new crockery and cutlery.

[Jambo314]

Paper round aged 12/13, canny remember how much the pay was as over 50 years ago😀

 

First official job after leaving school was an apprentice spray painter for a small company in West Silver Mills Lane, again, long time ago and no recollection on what the pay was🙃

[Jambo-Jimbo]

Sunday morning paper round aged 12 or 13, occasional grouse beatings when it was the season aged 13/14.

 

I started my first and only ever proper job a week after leaving school aged 15, for the Ballantyne Sportswear Company at Caerlee Mills, Innerleithen and stayed there for the next 32 years until it shut down in 2010.  We made high end cashmere jumpers etc.

First take home wage was just over £14, I felt as rich as feck.

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Jambo-Jimbo

[The Gorgie]

Landscaper.

[Harry Potter]

2 paper rounds about 12 years old, 70 p for the morning and 50p a week for the evening.

At 15 worked in lows, mon and thurs evening and saturday, 7.50 a week.

Rank hovis mill when i left school, 35 pounds a week.

 

[John Findlay]

Janny's helper, Pirniehall primary school aged 10, 1973. Used to take the milk round to the infants classes in the morning, hand out classroom keys to the teachers in the morning, and pick up any litter(there was never much of it), got 50p every Friday afternoon, and on top of the 60p, my dad used to give me, I was loaded for a 10yr old.

[Herbert.]

When I was 16 I worked In a barbers, Got 50 a shift plus the tips jar so would usually be £70+ for the day that was 17 years ago now. Working 2 days and my bursary from college I felt loaded.

[hmfc_steve]

Started as Ferranti apprentice Aug 76 .. stayed there till early retirement last Dec .. 45 years !

[Pans Jambo]

9 hours ago, Mikey1874 said:

Cataloguing North Sea oil surveys. Official secrets act but there was more oil than publicly stated 40 years ago. 

Really? Well I find that surprising 🙄

[William H. Bonney]

Paper round.  £10 a week. Mainly spent on sweets and comics. 

I sold bacon door to door for £35 a week but jacked that in after a few days. 

I did a lot of labour work with my cousin in Birmingham plastering but my first real job was Mr Bonis.  £3.10 an hour. 

[Dick Dastardly]

My first job was working in Sports Division on a Saturday. It was a small concession in the back of Jeanster at the time. I think both of those companies have gone out of business now. 

[kila]

Sunday papers. Loaded my bike up with two massive bags and pushed it until they got light enough to cycle. Used to always find a magazine or two that had slipped out at the end of my round, with an unhappy customer calling the shop.

 

My bike gradually buckled over time from the weight of the bags, especially the handle bars. EEN during the week was a quicker and much lighter round and my mate did it but the cash for the heavy Sunday papers was close enough especially from working one day a week.

 

Quite a few houses had letterboxes unsuitable for a chunkier Sunday paper with a high chance of ripping unless put it though in chunks. **** that though, I couldn’t have cared less back then and ripped papers were common.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Working in a pub . I loved it. Still feel it was my best job , but worse pay. But met a whole bunch of new pals , we would go out a lot after each shift and still manage to get in for the early shift 

( could never do that now ) . Used to enjoy seeing perfectly respectable people come into the pub and watch them deteriorate into a drunken mess later . Loved the freedom of having my own money to do what I wanted with it. Great times really . Used to get some abuse if you refused someone a drink , one time I recall someone Calling me a “ fat p***” ! I just said to my colleague  

 

“ did he call me fat. ??? “ 😂.

 

( I wasn’t I was just quite muscled actually right rugby players build ) 

Edited August 9, 2022 by JudyJudyJudy

[Dick Dastardly]

14 minutes ago, JudyJudyJudy said:

Working in a pub . I loved it. Still feel it was my best job , but worse pay. But met a whole bunch of new pals , we would go out a lot after each shift and still manage to get in for the early shift 

( could never do that now ) . Used to enjoy seeing perfectly respectable people come into the pub and watch them deteriorate into a drunken mess later . Loved the freedom of having my own money to do what I wanted with it. Great times really . Used to get some abuse if you refused someone a drink , one time I recall someone Calling me a “ fat p***” ! I just said to my colleague  

 

“ did he call me fat. ??? “ 😂.

 

( I wasn’t I was just quite muscled actually right rugby players build ) 

You know the best reply to being called fat is? Every time i shag your mother (or in your case father) she gives me a biscuit. Best to only say it when the bouncers are around though 😂 😂 😂 

[joondalupjambo]

Very first work was delivering papers for a shop in Comely Bank 50p a round and I kept the first 50p I was ever paid, still have it to this day.  Circa 1970 right at time of decimalisation.

 

Then a table clearer and dishwasher in Henderson's vegetarian resteraunt in Hanover Street at night and packing shelves and deliveries from David's grocers in Learmonth Avenue around that.

 

First real job, left school on the Friday and started work on the Monday as an apprentice technician in an Architect's office at Caroline Park House, Granton on 6 quid a week.  Weekly task was to wash the owners Porsche!!!  I carried on at Henderson's at night and the grocers on a Saturday morning to supplement my wages.

[JudyJudyJudy]

7 minutes ago, Dick Dastardly said:

You know the best reply to being called fat is? Every time i shag your mother (or in your case father) she gives me a biscuit. Best to only say it when the bouncers are around though 😂 😂 😂 

Still game !! 😎

[Don Dan]

Rankins the fruit shop in Nicholson Square. 
I got to learn my onions there😊

Then then got a job in St Cuthbert's (co-op)

On Gracemount Drive stacking shelve. 

[The White Cockade]

Saturday paper round round Mortonhall

First real job trainee computer programmer at Lothian Region down Warriston’s Close in 1980

Left in 1996 wish I had stayed though as I’d be retired on a decent pension now instead of stocking shelves at the Co Op 🙈

[John Findlay]

51 minutes ago, joondalupjambo said:

Very first work was delivering papers for a shop in Comely Bank 50p a round and I kept the first 50p I was ever paid, still have it to this day.  Circa 1970 right at time of decimalisation.

 

Then a table clearer and dishwasher in Henderson's vegetarian resteraunt in Hanover Street at night and packing shelves and deliveries from David's grocers in Learmonth Avenue around that.

 

First real job, left school on the Friday and started work on the Monday as an apprentice technician in an Architect's office at Caroline Park House, Granton on 6 quid a week.  Weekly task was to wash the owners Porsche!!!  I carried on at Henderson's at night and the grocers on a Saturday morning to supplement my wages.

James Borthwick's?

[Carl Fredrickson]

Morning and evening paper rounds - £2 a week for each. Eventually bumped the evening one as I was struggling to get someone to cover the Saturday to allow me to go to the football. 

 

First full time adult job was working in the offices of the Water & Drainage Department of Lothian Regional Council in Cockburn Street in the mid 80s. Best work location I have ever had.

[JudyJudyJudy]

1 hour ago, joondalupjambo said:

Henderson's vegetarian

Used to love that place. 

[Dick Dastardly]

1 hour ago, JudyJudyJudy said:

Still game !! 😎

Is that where it's from? I could never remember. Its a classic line. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

Just now, Dick Dastardly said:

Is that where it's from? I could never remember. Its a classic line. 

Yes thats where i first heard it anyway  

[Marvin]

My paper earned me £15 per week and my first part time job earned me £45 pcm. Something wrong somewhere. Once Glasgow Road Safeway opened in '88 I was earning £45-60 per week.

[EH11_2NL]

Paper laddie at 12/13 that paid for my first Hearts game (2-5 v Dumbarton ) then delivered the muilk for a couple of years then a postie from May 4th 1986 until May 4th 1992. First postie wage was about 60 quid. Looks like almost everyone here was a paper laddie at some point. Is there such a thing now as a paper laddie or a milk laddie (or lassie)? Haven't seen one in years!

Edited August 9, 2022 by EH11_2NL

[joondalupjambo]

4 hours ago, John Findlay said:

James Borthwick's?

No Borthwick's was, still is at the Orchard Brae roundabout. It was a small paper / sweetie shop at the bottom of Comely Bank Avenue, directly across from St Stephen's church.  

[ri Alban]

£35 a week, making sweeties. Then I got my apprenticeship and I was on mega bucks in my 3rd. Pissed it up a wall.

[Cruyff]

Apprentice Joiner £3.67 per hour as a 16 year old in 2003. 

[AndyNic]

Garden Centre. 1999. Hourly rate was £2.11!

[davemclaren]

First job while I was at school was walking the dogs round Powdehall, sticking them

in the traps and catching them at race end. I got to wear a white coat and bowler hat to do it in. 
 

First proper job was as a Trainee Technician Apprentice for Post Office Telephones. Lasted 6 weeks pushing cables down holes in the busy streets of Edinburgh before I decided it wasn’t for me and went back to school to get some more qualifications. Having to catch the 6:40 bus in the morning to

get to Hopetoun Street for 8  was a big influence in my decision as well. 

[Jeff]

6 hours ago, JudyJudyJudy said:

Working in a pub . I loved it. Still feel it was my best job , but worse pay. But met a whole bunch of new pals , we would go out a lot after each shift and still manage to get in for the early shift 

( could never do that now ) . Used to enjoy seeing perfectly respectable people come into the pub and watch them deteriorate into a drunken mess later . Loved the freedom of having my own money to do what I wanted with it. Great times really . Used to get some abuse if you refused someone a drink , one time I recall someone Calling me a “ fat p***” ! I just said to my colleague  

 

“ did he call me fat. ??? “ 😂.

 

( I wasn’t I was just quite muscled actually right rugby players build ) 

 

Agree re bar work. Best job I've had... If only the pay was better

[JudyJudyJudy]

2 minutes ago, Jeff said:

 

Agree re bar work. Best job I've had... If only the pay was better

Yep the only downside was the pay. I would have made a career out of it but you really had to get up the ladder and i wasn't too ambitious then.  One of my friends is an area manager of a well known pub chain and is on around 100 grand a year I believe. Took her years get to where she is now and hard work. 

[luckyBatistuta]

Paper round in Morningside 

 

Edinburgh Advertiser in Morningside ( was sacked after they showed up at my door to quiz my parents😞)

 

Ripping the arse out my 12mph milk float from Westfield Dairies around Morningside 

 

Post Office (15 years)

 

Black Cab (probably taken 5 years off my lifespan☹️)

[luckyBatistuta]

17 hours ago, Locky said:

The tattie howking thread got me thinking about the first time I started working and earning my own money. 

 

My Mum worked in an Italian ran cafe and the owners brother had a restaurant next door looking for a pot washer and got me in. It was a month before my 14th birthday which seems quite mad to think.

 

£3.50 an hour cash in hand which I used to save up for my first season ticket. Used to get free scran at the end of the night and a lift home usually too. Always had Italian football on in the kitchen and used to get pizzas during my shift if they overcooked them or ****ed them up. Loved that wee job.

Where was this Locky?

[John Findlay]

57 minutes ago, joondalupjambo said:

No Borthwick's was, still is at the Orchard Brae roundabout. It was a small paper / sweetie shop at the bottom of Comely Bank Avenue, directly across from St Stephen's church.  

👍

[Morgan]

7 hours ago, hmfc_steve said:

Started as Ferranti apprentice Aug 76 .. stayed there till early retirement last Dec .. 45 years !

Was it Ferranti at Crewe Toll, Steve?

 

If so, do you recall Tom McInnes?

[XB52]

Dish washer at the Tudor Rose restaurant up the town (no longer there) at 16. First proper job, the brewery at 17. Best job, retirement 5 years ago

[Салатные палочки]

Got paid £70 a week doing a training thing that lasted six weeks soldering components to chipboards for computers. Then we were sent to IBM in Spango Valley where all that training went to good use packing boxes. Double the money though. Lasted a couple of weeks there before I left for a job closer to home, packing more boxes. 

 

Stick in at school kids! 

[Kev1998]

Also ferranti 76.met a pal up in rose st the other night.hes still there aaaggghhh.

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

KP in a pub kitchen 

[Boof]

Just went to local general shop/bakery and started working. 50p for 5.5 hours in P7.

 

Not long after, it became official and my pay went to 10p/hour.