Can you remember your first day at work ?.

Fresh from college, still with an ideal image in my mind of how teaching should be, I was sent to a school that was known as 'Bash Street'. I was dropped into a pokey class that was as isolated as it could be, across the hall away and from anybody else. There was a constant smell of the canteen all day, I don't know which is worse, cabbage or strawberry jelly for 300. The class overlooked a railway and was used as target practice for the local yobbos with air riffles, so one of my daily jobs was sweeping glass out of the reading area and patching the elderly panes with cardboard and tape. The carpet area had what was known in the school as 'the black hole of calcuta' a wierd dark stain that would not shift even with intensive cleaning and a change of carpet! Vile, got out in the end and something met someone lovely there x

 

I started an apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering at a small company called Roberts & Armstrongs in North Wembley.
Great company they made all sorts of things from the running gear on the old speaking clock before it went digital in the 80's, to prototyping bubblegum wrapping machines.
It was a real old school company, you could see the running gear where the overhead belts used to run. they still had pillar drills dating back to 1910!
First day I turned up with my overalls and boots, walked through the car park past 7 citroen D Specials (the owner collected them) into the turning shop. There was a row of highly polished brass tubes with tags soldered on them on a pegboard and I remember running my fingers over them. This trashed the whole batch! They were housing's for repeaters on under sea cables. They would have been coated in plastic and xrayed. Any imperfection and they were scrapped. my fingerprints were enough to scrap them...
Not many of thise companies left unfortunately.
Oh well.

 

Yes, It started with a train journey to a unfamiliar destination where I was greeted by a big scary Sgt Major and put on a bus with a load of other nervous looking lads..
First day involved having head shaved being issued with a pile of kit and 5 mile run in brand new boots.... I can still remember the massive blisters now!!! :-[

Happy days

 

Yeah, working for a car valeter in 1985. I became quite good at it before changing to a better career, peeling potatoes for a chip shop. Happy days.

 

July 1987 I rode my BMX for about 4 miles to my first job - in a car spray shop, and then back each day.

The guys in the prepping area where I was were friendly enough and helpful as was the sprayer - but the panel beater was an unpleasant kn*b.

My first job was make the tea, then go up to the bakers and get everyone a doorstep sized piece of toast with butter (still the best way to kick off a cold morning).

On day one we had the bailiffs and local electric come and shut down the power (as soon as they left the panel beater went up and did something to the switch which got it all back on again). Then I had to help strip down a car they were painting (read - ringing, it was the only car we sprayed completely - a canary yellow Ford Escort - that if the police came around, we were to walk away from and deny all knowledge of).

All over the wall in the entrance were god knows how many years worth of page three's from the Sun, lovingly maintained by one of the prep guys.

I learnt a lot there - it was a summer holiday job and I worked there weekends when in term time (I was only 15) - how to mask up cars, how to use a DA sander properly, hand sanding etc. I also learnt how to sweep floors and effectively sit at the bottom of the pile - the biggest thing it taught me was ambition.

Worst job - by a mile - was taking the masking tape off a Granada that had been left outside masked up for the full summer - lesson learnt, don't leave masking tape on too long!

 

My first real job other than helping my uncles out roofing Ect
Was at a wearhouse picking items all day 6-2 ad one 30min lunch, it was a real zombie job.
I hated it I did Wednesday to Friday and Sunday.
Then monday to Tuesday was at collage doing electrical installation.

That job really put the fear of failing career wise into me, talking to people in there that have worked there for 20 years and you could tell they hates every moment of it.

Lucky about half a year down the line I got my apprentaship
My first was a little bit different, got asked how fit my mom was Ect.
Quite odd questions lol but really enjoying my job.

 

Walked out after an hour and went to the Job Centre and signed on. Then became a full time party head and drank and drugged my life away until i nearly self destructed.

Glad to say that life isnt like that anymore.

 

my first ever job was working at the local M&W shop up the road from my parents house. I used to start work at 5.30am and have to bundle the newspaper suppliments into the Sunday papers. (long boring job).

On my 2nd day there it was 6am and the store opened - moment later two rather 'drunk' off their head people came in demanding that I sell them bottles of vodka.

being as i was 14 I was not allowed to put the alcohol through the till so I rang the bell for my manager to come out - she refused saying i had to get rid of the 'drunk' people or call the police.

nice - so day 2 - 14 yrs old - left to remove the 'drunk' couple out of the shop ... they stayed in the shop for 40 minutes asking every one who came in to buy them drink ... but as i explained - the licencing would not allow it until midday and i was not allowed to put it through the till.

eventually the left - the standing around in silence did not agree with their 'levels' and off they went.

moments later my manager came out of her office and said 'i think we handled that very well' .... i never did like her.

 

Working in a Architects office in the copy (dungeon) room. No windows, no ventilation just 8 photocopiers, 4 A0/A1 printers/photocopiers going off all day, the heat was unbearable, the smell no better and everyone was a pretentious (makes hand gesture).

Still I got paid in cash and bought my first car - Pug 205!

 

My one and only job, in my dads Barbers shop, spent 12 months just watching over his solder before he would even let me pick up a pair of scissors, my first cut was a number 1 crew cut, didn't go well as the guard came off and he got a bald streek up the back. Dad taught me everything, no collage, had to shave a balloon every morning then when I got the hang of the cut throat I had to shave him every morning for a year, its a job I love. Must be 29 years later I now own the place.

 

Pater owned an engineering company so I used to work there during the school holidays.

On my first day in non father related work I was at a printers in Leeds, in the newly refurbished IT offices. I was rather bored and ended up playing with a biro and a laggy band - i had the laggy band between finger and thumb and wound the biro round and round within it - then I let it go - the result was ink all over me and all over the freshly painted walls.

 

As a self taught gynaecologist my first day was rather clumsy , it never went on long but after half an hour i was ready for another go :-[

Practising alone in my bedroom later i became a bit better , the pictures and magazines helped they were so graphic i felt i was in there doing my thing .

 

Yes, the bloke tried to kill me and another apprentice by making us stand by a valve which he then opened. The pipe contained pure ammonia.

When he'd finished dragging us out into the open and waiting half an hour for our eyes to go back into our skulls and the uncontrollable coughing had abated (a bit) he said:

"now, if you ever smell that, f'in run"

Could have just told us?

 

can't remember the 1st day really but i remeber they played the usual practical jokes on new starters, i don't do hot drinks and they were all mad on tea and coffee, after a while i got fed up of the boring long wait/left handed hammer blah blah and ripped open all the teabags i could find and mixed them in with the coffee......i like to think i invented coftea.....it certainly took some stirring to try and stop the tea floating to the top.

 

On my first day working as a pipe fitters assistant in Holland the chap I was working with pointed to the other side of the workshop and said in faltering, heavily accented, english "go and get the big bastard" - so I pootled to the other side of the workshop and fetched back with me a large chap who was rather annoyed at being summoned - although not as annoyed as the bloke who had meant for me to fetch back a bastard file.