Pocket Money

My DC all went out and found themselves jobs, from delivering papers to working in a supermarket on Saturdays, working in a clothes shop (Saturdays), waiting on and bar work at college/university.

They could have scraped by with their grants etc and what we paid for rent, food, fees etc but they liked to have a bit extra.

In fact, I think it stood them in good stead and gave them a good work ethic. It didn't seem to affect their results and they have (so far) had good careers and are versatile too.

Worked in the cash desk of an electrical and tv rental shop after school and on Saturdays. Great introduction to clerical systems and to dealing with members of the public. Never looked back.

In 1960, aged 17 and at school doing A levels, I took a Friday evening job at a coffee bar , the first in our small town. This was against my parents wishes but my boyfriend (now husband) was away at uni and I wanted some excitement. Looking back I’m horrified to remember that I was the only one in charge but fortunately the customers were all around my age and there was never any trouble. The milk frothing machine always defeated me though so no one ever got a proper cappuccino . The pay was 7s 6d for three hours.

While at College I did supply teaching, office and factory work . One summer my boyfriend and I set up a window cleaning business ( half price for pensioners) but gave up after a week when I refused to go up the rickety , wooden ladder we had borrowed.

I worked in a bakers from the age of 14 and my mother was a single parent so I helped with bills even then. My daughter work d in Woolworths and Debenhams when she turned 16.

My first Saturday job was at a hairdresser's when I was 13. From 8 till 6 for £1.00! At 14 I worked in a pie and mash shop, clearing tables, filling the salt and vinegar bottles, washing and drying up along with two other girls. I did this on Saturdays to start, and later it was twice a week after school till 6.00pm and all day Saturdays and the odd Saturday night till 10.00pm. They always paid for a taxi home if I worked Saturday night (quite a rough part of London in the 70s.) It didn't harm my education - I got 10 'O' Levels - where there's a will there's a way! I also got friendly with one of the younger girls who started there a year after I did and we are still friends 49 years later, and I am godmother to her daughter!

Potato picking at a local farm with one of my sisters at 12. Saturday job at a hairdressers when I was 14. What I paid in bus fare to the hairdressers was the equivalent to what I was paid!

My eldest GD couldnt wait to start a job, waitressing at the local pub 4 hours Sunday lunchtime, so that she had her own spending money to spend as she wished.

I had various jobs during school and uni holidays- fruit picking, shoe shop, cafe, M and S, cinema usherette and nursing assistant with mentally/ physically handicapped

I worked on Saturdays at Boots in the Kings Road, Chelsea at 15-16 years while at school. Then at a laundry during the summer holidays aged 17 I think, which was hard hot work. Did some leaflet delivering and tried to sell double glazing to people who lived near London Airport (late 1960s). Also worked in a pub when old enough.

My niece had no problem getting a part time job when she started sixth form college but she has an October birthday was was a little bit older than some. She ended up working at Decathlon, working various shifts for approx 20 hours a week, more at holiday times. Most sixth form college courses are part time nowadays so even though studying for A Levels and a Btec, she had plenty of free time - obviously she had ti fit studying in as well but she managed her time well.

Of course, the pandemic affected much of the time and she was delighted to be furloughed for the first lockdown but she then worked in the shop since last July. The pay is poor though, around £6 an hour and did not increase when she was 18 which surprised me. She is currently looking for a better paid job with more hours as her courses have now pretty much finished ( no exams this year again, grades based on teacher assessments) and she is not going to university but will be looking for a degree level apprenticeship next April so needs a “proper” job until then.

I think student jobs are much harder to find than in the 1970s when I was at school, I worked on a Saturday and some school holidays from age 13 ( not legal but it was in a greengrocers with my grandma) in a variety of shops and offices, right through school and university until I started my career. I changed jobs quite a lot and was very independent.

My first DGD, now almost 30, started by delivering newspapers at 13 and later worked behind the counter until she graduated from University. She then took on bar work until she got a job that involved using her qualifications. DGD2 found herself a job in a chippy while still at school and, while at 6th form college, has done the same in another chippy in which she is going to work full time for a year after A levels. Her brother did the same and is now working part-time in a pub kitchen while he does A levels. Their cousin, DGS2 (16 in August) has a paper round and his boss is taking him on to work part-time in the shop during the summer.
Sorry to bore you with this record of my GCs' employment, but it does show that the work is there for teenagers who make the effort to find it.

I lived in the middle of nowhere when I was a teenager but there was a pub nearby so I worked in the kitchen and as a waitress. I did my higher education when I was working full time and went to night school. I also took on additional part time work to fund it.

Then I took a year out to do my post grad but had to be careful about what type of work I took on doing that as there was certain work I couldn’t be paid for. But I did have a bursary for that.

I was a waitress in a cafe churning out hundreds of cream teas, then a waitress in a department store restaurant, I picked black currants and strawberries, worked in a greengrocers, delivered the county advertiser, even once a milk girl, running up and down with the milk from the van.
We have a family business so children and grandchildren have all had weekend or holiday jobs.
When my daughter was at university she always had jobs.
My children definitely have their faults, but none of them are work shy.

Pea-picking and fruit-picking at the local farm. I think I got 2/6 ( half a crown ) for all day Saturdays and had to save some of that each week and got saving stamps from the post office on a Monday.
This was before I left school. Then thrown in at the deep end on a surgical ward to train, within 2 weeks of leaving school 2 months short of my 16th birthday.

I worked in Woolworths as a Saturday girl and in the school holidays from 14 until I went to University. Loved it. I believe the hospitality industry are looking for people so there may be opportunities there for your granddaughter muse.

Both my dds had Saturday jobs while doing A levels, and both still did well and got places at their chosen universities.

One did a whole Saturday on lifeguard duty at the local pool. The other did just a morning on reception/answering the phone at an upmarket estate agent - she earned the same as the other, very unfair, but there you go.

I was at boarding school as my parents lived overseas, so my first job was when I left school after A levels. I saw a small ad in the DT (the only paper the school got). The ad was by Harrods and they were looking for summer staff. As my parents were bsck in England and we were living in commuter land, they said yes and I spent several months as a junior in the Budget Coat dept.

I wasn't allowed to sell because I wasn't 18 until the end of August, but I packed coats up, took overseas visitors to the Banking Hall if they wanted to use Travellers Cheques and trotted up and down between alterations and the customer. Sometimes I would deliver coats to hotels and central Lindon addresses on my way home, and the buyer would give me 6d for a bar of chocolate for being obliging!

The following summer I worked in the pay office at Harrodsas I was at Uni then Then I worked in Selfridges, in the sub-basement putting the price on Christmas cards, quite the most boring job I ever had,

The following year I worked as a Waitress in a restaurant in the lLke District, before returning to Harrods in the accounting department. Thdn I started ny first career job.

The job in Hammersmith was a summer holiday job

muse

Riverwalk

Regarding your GD - as she's only 16 it will be difficult for her to find a part-time job.

What jobs does your DD think she can realistically apply for?

You can work from the age of 16 as that school leaving age.

www.studentjob.co.uk/ages/jobs-16-year-olds.

Thank you for the student jobs link. I’ve sent it to my daughter and my two teenage grandchildren.

My first part time job was as a paper girl for extra money and at 15 I had a job as a Saturday girl at Boots. I was very dismayed just after 16 when my father found me a full time job at Lyons in Hammersmith in the invoicing office. There was no choice though and I had to go. My father also found me a Sunday morning job at a local shop. The owner was very creepy and tried to touch my breasts. I was mortified and embarrassed but fearful of my father’s reaction. I had to tell Mum but asked her not to tell Dad. I think she must have done but I didn’t hear anymore about that job, thank goodness.

I’ll never forget the older lady who came into Boots every Saturday. She was very unpleasant and complained every week about one of the staff. I used to see her on Sunday mornings at church when she was just so pious. I couldn’t believe someone who professed to be a Christian could be so unkind. That and other family matters made me into an agnostic/atheist.

I worked in a care home, as care homes go it was probably quite good.
It was summer 1979 and I used to cycle from whichever friends house I had stayed at to the home for a 7.00 am start.
I was often a little hung over?..

I had a strong stomach and dealt with a lot for a 16/17 year old however the straw that broke the camels back was a male resident who left something so long in his commode I had to chop it up to get the lid on to transport to the sluice.

Sorry.

My parents would not allow me to work whilst at school. More or less went straight into a job when I left at 18. Now school leaving age is 18 I believe unless you go into a job with training like an apprenticeship it can be very hard to get a job at 16. Even a shelf stacking job at Sainsbury’s requires 3 different levels of application, form, watching a video and asking questions on it and then the interview I’m not surprised if teens are put off. My 3 found it difficult as we were in a recession when they were looking, wouldn’t call them workshy, they’re all employed now and very hard working.

I did babysitting at that age. No mobile phones to contact parents in those days enjoying a night out so if the baby/toddler cried it made me anxious hoping it be able to settle them!

Best money was for the council. I’d put my name up for delivery election cards or leaflets (can’t remember). Anyway it was two weeks of work. A lot of walking & it rained a lot! My friend did one half of the street and I did the opposite or on a single row of houses we alternated, posting in every other letterbox.

Then I got a Saturday job in our local grocers. A family business.

I did all sorts of jobs while at school 2 evenings I cut out batman type capes worked in market Saturday's selling jewelry I loved the atmosphere I was 14/15 .left school at 15 by which time my parents were retired I worked in woollen mil!s and factory ,s until I was 20 then sat entrance exam for nursing passed and retired from that 40+yrs later .

I washed hair and swept up in a local hairdressers at 15 and then worked in various cafes (seaside town) from about 14 onwards - sometimes two or three jobs at once.

In principle we stopped our children's pocket money at 16, they were supposed to work for their own spends. However, some of them were playing team sports at a high level, and worked very hard between their training, matches and school / college work. So we discussed it with them, and agreed on a basic allowance to recognise that.
I would want to find out why your DGD is "work shy". Part time jobs are valuable experience, and a decent reference from one goes a long way. After this strange year, I imagine some teenagers lack confidence in going in to work places, and I wonder if anyone can help or advise her.