What decade did you start work in? And how was it for you?

[Cowley]

I’ve always been very aware that there are lots of people that are quite a lot younger than me on the forum (and quite a few that are older too).
I started work at 16 years old in an HGV garage in Exeter as an apprentice in 1989 just after I’d done (badly) my exams.
Looking back on it after thirty years of work it’s interesting to see how things have changed in the past three decades...

For example I remember the self employed technician that used to turn up and fix various electrical problems on trucks who had a very early mobile phone in a kind of suitcase thingy that he carried around...
Also though I remember various practical jokes that were played on the apprentices (resulting in one instance of a young lad being hospitalised after having his foot run over) that just seem astonishing looking back at it all.

It’d be great to hear any stories - especially from people that started work in the 70s/60s, or even the 50s actually...
What sort of stuff or characters did you come across? Be it office work/trade-work/railway work etc? Anything really.

 

[DaleCooper]

I started work in 1973 (I think), among the things I remember are the 3 day week, high inflation which sometimes meant double figure percentage pay rises and final salary pension schemes (they didn't last much longer, I think they went in the 80s). When I retired I was grateful that the high inflation and interest rates at that time must have helped boost my pension.

One character I remember from those days was a horizontal borer operator who rode the moving bed of the machine like it was a fairground ride. I'll try and remember some more but the old grey matter ain't what it used to be (cue violins).

 

[Mag_seven]

I started work in 1986. In those days there were no mobile phones / email / smartphones etc. It meant that when you left work at the end of the day, that was it, your time was definitely your own!

 

[DaleCooper]

One for you Dale. Probably the best ginger mullet I’ve seen since I went shopping in Tiverton a couple of weeks ago...
The Chats - Smoko:[/MEDIA]

Your post from "Now Playing" reminded me of the smoke filled meeting rooms that were commonplace in the 70s and 80s, possibly even into the 90s. Do companies still have manager's dining rooms?

It must have been about 1980 when a salesman came trying to sell the latest bit of office machinery, an IBM PC. He told us it had a 10Mb hard drive, I asked what that meant in practical terms, he said "It's more than you'll ever need"!.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Started an engineering apprenticeship after my O levels in 1978. Best move I ever made, I couldn't wait to go to work back in the day, it was great fun. I ended-up with an HND in electronic engineering after six years day-release at tech. I've had my own business for the last 25 years, but Brexit has been a disaster, particularly the last 6 or 7 months. Nobody is investing at all.

 

[Mag_seven]

Do companies still have manager's dining rooms?

The company I started work for certainly did back then - it had table cloths, a bar and waitress service. (I wasn't entitled to use it I should add!)

 

[DaleCooper]

The company I started work for certainly did back then - it had table cloths, a bar and waitress service. (I wasn't entitled to use it I should add!)

I was offered the use of ours but being a good socialist I declined. I did get to use it when we had visitors, complete with silver service. I also dined in a very nice one at Stanton Ironworks.

 

[Cowley]

I remember absolutely cacking myself walking into work that first week as a young lad seeing all these grizzled old men (probably of my age now actually) laying into brake hanger bushes with a sledge hammer while smoking fags at the same time...
On my third day I got to work four minutes late and they took me to pieces! - “There’s no excuse. If you’re late again then you’ll be sacked.
Get up earlier you silly boy” etc.
Actually it did me the world of good looking back at it.

 

[Darandio]

Ahh, how could I forget. Left school in 1996 aged 15 and started work as a button marker at a clothing factory for £73 per week, never felt as rich before or since. Tools in hand were a pink coloured pencil and a cardboard template that matched the breast of a particular womens suit, had to put a dot in each hole where a machinist would then sew buttons. Life was so much simpler.

 

[Cowley]

The company I started work for certainly did back then - it had table cloths, a bar and waitress service. (I wasn't entitled to use it I should add!)

Waitress service!?
Blimey.

 

[peri]

1974 went to the employment exchange (now a chinese supermarket). Said I quite fancied printing because a mate had just started.
He pulled out a great wodge of index cards for apprentices and I picked one in the centre of town.
The building was slightly dilapidated, I could put my arm out between the window frame and the wall and see down into the machine room.
We were across the road from a pub and with hour long dinner breaks it was a struggle to stay awake in the afternoon.
"Charlies" across the road for sandwiches with cheese cut so thin you could read a magazine through it.
Cleaning the knife just below his armpit in between sandwiches.
"The past is a foreign country they do things differently there"

 

[Cowley]

Excellent stuff (staff), really interesting.

I was offered the use of ours but being a good socialist I declined. I did get to use it when we had visitors, complete with silver service. I also dined in a very nice one at Stanton Ironworks.

Stanton Ironworks..? Dropping names like that makes me feel like you’re the man to contact if I ever need to change a lightbulb.

 

[NeilWatson]

1970s (just) - I joined Midland Bank in October 79 at a salary of £2167. I seem to recall that petrol had just reached £1 per gallon earlier in the year....

 

[DaleCooper]

Excellent stuff (staff), really interesting.

Stanton Ironworks..? Dropping names like that makes me feel like you’re the man to contact if I ever need to change a lightbulb.

I can't imagine why you would want a cast iron light bulb now that LEDs are so cheap - unless it's for a rough service application.

 

[Spamcan81]

Started full time work in the family business after I left school in 1969. With overtime my take home pay was £11 a week. I'd never seen so much money, even after giving Mum a third of it for my keep. Petrol was about 3/6 (33p) a gallon but I didn't learn to drive until the following year when a year's fully comprehensive insurance set me back all of £39. A cheap day return from Letchworth to London was just under 10/- (50p).

 

[Cowley]

I can't imagine why you would want a cast iron light bulb now that LEDs are so cheap - unless it's for a rough service application.

Yet again you slap me down with your quick witted type comebacks.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Started work at aged 18 in the chemicals industry as a lab technician. Various companies have paid for me and given me time off to go to university and do HNC, BSc (Hons) x 2, MSc, DIC . I am a lucky person. I remember my first PC. Had Lotus 123 and AmiPro on and a wait for it - 40Mb hard drive. 1980 pounds per annum was my first salary. I did get paid for overtime though.

 

[Grumpy Git]

When I worked in the toolroom, if you were lippy, you ended-up with a brush stave along the arms of you overalls with each end securely gripped in a 6" Record vice.

The money was good, nearly £38/week as a 16 year old and the first two yearly pay rises were both 15%, (due to the rate of inflation as already mentioned above).

 

[DaleCooper]

When I worked in the toolroom, if you were lippy, you ended-up with a brush stave along the arms of you overalls with each end securely gripped in a 6" Record vice..

Did they send you to the stores for a slung hammer, some 1" Whitworth holes and a long weight?

 

[Grumpy Git]

Did they send you to the stores for a slung hammer, some 1" Whitworth holes and a long weight?

Barrow full of steam!

 

[DaleCooper]

Barrow full of steam!

Don't forget a tin of compression.

 

[GusB]

Did they send you to the stores for a slung hammer, some 1" Whitworth holes and a long weight?

I recall being asked to go to the shop next door and ask for a long stand.

 

[Grumpy Git]

..... and to not bother lapping in the valves on your motorbike cylinder-head, just put some carborundum in the petrol.

 

[Grumpy Git]

I recall being asked to go to the shop next door and ask for a long stand.

Don't forget a tin of compression.

And a glass hammer.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Did they send you to the stores for a slung hammer, some 1" Whitworth holes and a long weight?

I got asked to go to the store room for a long stand.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I started work on 22nd May 1985.

I'm still with the same company, and only the honorary President has a longer continuous service than mine; he has 54 years...

 

[AntoniC]

I joined the Civil Service 14th November 1988 in Colindale NW London (next door to the Tube Station).
I left home in Southport due to issues with my mum and so did a Norman Tebbit (got on my bike and got a job) with help from a member of my extended family who told to me to apply for a job in London as the Civil Service needed people.
Starting salary was £7905 inc £1k London weighting.
My memories of the first day were
1) I am not going to remember all the names of my co-workers (60 of them) and
2) Its great to be away from a toxic atmosphere !.
31 years later I am back home in Southport and still working for the same Government Department and now earning £21,100 pa.
I have never been promoted and now wouldnt try because if I was I would have to accept a contract on worse terms & conditions !

 

[Killingworth]

Christmas Post 1963. Paid for 8 hours a day but worked little over 2 on first delivery, home for about 2 hours then back for another 2 hours at most on second round. 2 of us covering the full round with the regular man sorting up for us. I could have done both halves of the round in 3 hours and still had time for sorting. I felt it was very inefficient but was told that's the way it's always done. Don't rock the boat.

 

[Mag_seven]

I got asked to go to the store room for a long stand.

If ever asked to go for a tin of tartan paint, go away and come back after about 15 mins and say they didn't have any tartan paint but you brought back two tins of striped paint which can be crisscrossed with one another.

 

[Cowley]

Sky hooks.
Storesman - “Ok. Where’re you going to hang them from son?”