Greg and I were talking about this at work the other day, so I decided to make a list and see how many I've actually had. They are in rough order. Some of them were not undertaken for very long, but all have earned me money at some point in my life.
1: Empty bottle collecter/sorter, Argyll Hotel, Iona. It should have never been a job that somebody was specifically employed to do, but the person who employed me was trying to win me over so i got it. Much needed pocket money when I was young.
2: Hall cleaner, Village Hall, Iona: I cleaned the hall after discos and other events. 3 pound 50 an hour. and I got to play my own music while I worked. And got free booze if it was left over.
3: Relief Deckhand, Iolaire, Iona. My favourite job ever. Spend all day on the water, drive a boat, get paid well, and have good banter with whoever you are working with. Brilliant.
4: Vending Assistant, Sodexho, Edinburgh. My 1st job not on Iona. I worked in the Standard Life offices on George St, and had to go around and refill and clean all the coffee vending machines. At lunch time I went and helped with the washing up, and sometimes I worked late in the staff shop which was good because I got free sandwiches. During this time I also worked for 2 days as a Kitchen Porter at some restaurant/bar near Ryan's bar in the West End but it was too hard work and I quit after two days and never got paid.
5: Deckhand, R.Tucker Thompson, New Zealand. I never got paid for this, but got my accommodation and food paid for and an allowance so it counts I think. Also a great job, although I was shit at most of it. Worst bit was going up the rigging untethered to furl sails in a big swell, best bit was ferrying passengers to shore in the RIB. I will never forget this one.
6: Bakery assistant, Paihia, New Zealand. I got this job because the woman who helped me get job number 5's husband owned the bakery and so she was obligated to find me work after the ship buggered off to Fiji. The pies were delicious, and I piled on the pounds as a result.
7: Fruit Picker, Gisborne, New Zealand. I didn't do this for very long. Oranges were OK, but we did one day of Lemons and they were horrendous. You had to use a stepladder to reach most of them, you had to cut each lemon off the tree because if you pulled them it damaged the fruit, and the lemon trees had thorns so my arms at the end of one day looked like I was a self-harmer. On top of this, we worked out we earned 1.50 a day. Candidate for worst job ever.
8: Vine Pruner, Gisborne, New Zealand. You had to trim off all the old dead branches from the vines and then keep 5 or 6 and tie them to the adjacent fences. I was slow at first but I sped up. I remember working with a cool French guy who taught me lots of French swear words, most of which I have now forgotten. Most people didn't work when it rained, but I did. trooper.
9: General Assistant, Argyll Hotel, Iona. The job I did before and for the first couple of university summers, before graduating to the kitchen. Consisted of scullery (washing dishes), pots (washing pots), chambermaiding in the morning and laundry. For at least one summer I also painted the annex (listening to Stevie Wonder non-stop) and did gardening. A job with a lot of good memories, and different people.
10: Bakery Assistant, Sainsburys, Stirling. I did this for a while in 1st year of uni. In the winter when I was staying in Dunblane I commuted on the bike. I hated the uniform, and disliked the job. I was shit at slicing bread, and the meringue towers were always difficult to pack.
11: Betterware Salesman, Stirling. I delivered Betterware catalogues in Riverside, Stirling, and then a few days later went back and picked them up along with any orders. If someone ordered something the area rep came round a week or so later and then I delivered it, all on my bike. I did it more to aleviate boredom during the winter holiday rather than make money.
12: Cash and Carry assistant, Booker, Stirling. I loved this job. I mainly stacked shelves and served customers, towards the end I was supervising tills a bit too. Because it was a C&C they didn't care too much about tidyness, so you could leave packaging around and it was OK. We used to have pallet truck races, crisp box stacking competitions etc. A good laugh.
13: Commis chef, Argyll Hotel, Iona. It was hard work, but good. I liked breakfasts the most, I was my own boss and liked making the fry-ups look good. It also taught me how to cook a lot of food too.
14: Mackerel Merchant, Iona. We caught mackerel, and sold them to the hotels. 1.50 a fish, gutted. Beer money mainly.
15: Customer Service, Scottish Widows, Edinburgh. An inbound call centre, I was trained to deal with pensions calls. Mostly old people who didn't understand their pension or financial advisers unhappy about something. Sitting down all day, depressing, unhealthy, no prospect of career advancement, I think this beats the Lemon picking to the worst job I have done. NEVER AGAIN.
16: Whelker, Iona. Lucrative, but back-breaking, literally. If you found a good patch and the weather was nice it was easy money, but if not.....its tough. The summer of 2007 with Nat and Stewart was brilliant.
17: English Teacher, GnB Academy, South Korea. My current job. I love being in the classroom, but don't enjoy the other aspects of the job, the phone teaching and pointless paperwork, and the fact I am inside all day. But I've been doing it for over a year and will do it for another year or so, so it can't be that bad!
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment