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Did you have a job as a teenager?

  • 12-06-2020 08:56AM
    #1
    Posts: 0


    After reading about Jacinda Ardern working in a chip shop after school, aged 14, I had a babysitting job aged 13 and was left in charge of a baby.

    I think working as a teen even at 14 is good for you and that 14-year-olds should be allowed to work?

    It give great confidence and freedom to have your own money that you had to work for.


«1

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭Wuff Wuff


    yep,

    worked in a pub at 14 sorting bottles for returns on a saturday and sunday

    used to get about amount each day for about 3 hours work or could get it done in 2 if i pushed myself.

    then same place as a lounge boy when i turned 16


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,394 ✭✭✭mojesius


    I had a job as a lounge girl when I was 14-16. Then worked in clothes shops/newsagents until college when I started working in restaurants.

    I think 14 is too young, I feel like I've been working forever and I'm only late 30s. I would probably encourage my kids to get a PT job at 16 and certainly through college, nothing too mad but just to teach them the value of money and give them a wider perspective on life. In particular, learn about the joys of serving the many lunatics within the general public (see 'cries of retail' thread in Ranting & Raving forum for reference).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,750 ✭✭✭fleet_admiral


    Lounge boy in a mad kip of an area. If you saw a dog with a tail it was a tourist


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,441 ✭✭✭Cork Trucker


    Worked in a sports shop at 15 unpaid. First paid job was a pound shop at 16.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 538 ✭✭✭Sonic_exyouth


    mariaalice wrote: »
    After reading about Jacinda Ardern working in a chip shop after school, aged 14, I had a babysitting job aged 13 and was left in charge of a baby.

    I think working as a teen even at 14 is good for you and that 14-year-olds should be allowed to work?

    It give great confidence and freedom to have your own money that you had to work for.

    Paperboy from 13
    Shop work from 15
    Brief spell of unemployment when I was doing the leaving, and that was it


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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    mojesius wrote: »
    I had a job as a lounge girl when I was 14-16. Then worked in clothes shops/newsagents until college when I started working in restaurants.

    I think 14 is too young, I feel like I've been working forever and I'm only late 30s. I would probably encourage my kids to get a PT job at 16 and certainly through college, nothing too mad but just to teach them the value of money and give them a wider perspective on life. In particular, learn about the joys of serving the many lunatics within the general public (see 'cries of retail' thread in Ranting & Raving forum for reference).

    That is a really important point have to work with the public or with older people and talk and engage with people other that your family or other teenagers.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,858 ✭✭✭Church on Tuesday


    Coal mine at 13 and I was damn glad for it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,039 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Coal mine at 13 and I was damn glad for it.

    no recession there


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I had friends in school whos parents did not want them to have a job, but as far I can see the ones who had a job when young certainly before 18 got on much better in life so there may be some connection between working before someone is an adult and general success in life, maybe its just life skills or being out and about before fixed behaviors and ideas develop.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,994 ✭✭✭sullivlo


    Yep, a few.

    Babysitting - fairly standard.
    Shop worker - worked in the local Eurospar for a few months.
    Shipping clerk - a bit more complicated than the standard teenagers job...

    Shipping clerk - started as a cover for the receptionist who went AWOL. I was really bored so asked if I could help the office staff. They discovered I had a knack for it so they asked if I would be willing to work on the Saturday shift. I was 17 when I started, and I did it until I was 21 or 22. Mostly Saturdays but after a few months I did the Sundays too. I also did the summer holidays too. It helped that my uncle was the manager, but I enjoyed it.

    Had some great experiences, and some great stories for interviews as "examples of times you fixed a problem" kinda thing.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    Summer jobs only, I never had a part time job during school or college term.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,315 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Delivering leaflets from maybe 14/15
    Helping in a restaurant kitchen 16/17
    Pub 18 onwards.

    Payment allowed me to enjoy my teenage years a bit better, with money for drink, etc.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,704 ✭✭✭Hoop66


    I worked as a "henchman" (basically waiter) at the mediaeval banquets at Warwick Castle when I was 16. Best job I ever had, there was wine, serving wenches, etc...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 154 ✭✭Flimsy_Boat


    Babysitting at 12

    Bakery at 17 for less than min wage where I was treated horribly and sexually harrassed by 22 year old woman (and I'm a woman).

    Barista in college.

    Odd jobs after college until I got into medical school.

    I have loads of debt. My parents are millionaires but didnt give me a cent after the age of 21. I'm bitter about it as I have had to go on the dole at times. But soon I will be a doctor.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,913 ✭✭✭Badly Drunk Boy


    I didn't get my first job until I was 17, and it was a summer job, then I only had summer jobs until my post-university proper job. I've always been fairly low maintenance (even now when I have money) so I could save from the summer jobs to keep me going for the year. I remember when I was in college I used to sometimes give my older sister loans, even though she had a full-time job.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭antimatterx


    I worked in my uncles shop the odd time, or gave out leaflets for the shop during the summer between 13 - 15. It wasn't consistent, but I was happy to have the work. From 16 - 21 I worked with my dad on building sites whenever work was available, it was nothing permanent just when work was available. My only permanent job was a teenager was Christmas in Pennys' when i was 19.

    I'm 24 now and I work in a office as a software developer. I'm glad for the job I have now, as it's a lot easier than dealing customers, and working on sites.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭antimatterx


    Babysitting at 12

    Bakery at 17 for less than min wage where I was treated horribly and sexually harrassed by 22 year old woman (and I'm a woman).

    Barista in college.

    Odd jobs after college until I got into medical school.

    I have loads of debt. My parents are millionaires but didnt give me a cent after the age of 21. I'm bitter about it as I have had to go on the dole at times. But soon I will be a doctor.

    I don't understand parents not funding their kids education, especially if they can't afford it. I feel it's the responsibility of a parent to get their kids through college. My parents paid for mine, and I will pay for my kids when the time comes.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    Hoop66 wrote: »
    I worked as a "henchman" (basically waiter) at the mediaeval banquets at Warwick Castle when I was 16. Best job I ever had, there was wine, serving wenches, etc...

    Scantily clad busty wenches?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,495 ✭✭✭✭eviltwin


    Did a bit of waitressesing, baby sitting. I found it challenging, I was 16 and people would not go easy on you at all. Getting yelled at and insulted by customers when you don't have the skills or confidence to deal with it isn't good for a young person imo. It put me off that kind of work for life.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,704 ✭✭✭Hoop66


    Not particularly scantily clad, but one or two of them were certainly busty...

    * flashback*


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,707 ✭✭✭storker


    Lounge boy then barman in a local pub from 13 - 18. A great job for taking the glamour out of alcohol.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,787 ✭✭✭✭Mr. CooL ICE


    First job was as a paper shredder for two weeks. I literally sat in front of a shredder and shredded piles of financial statements(anything older than 4 years) over and over. Boring AF. Also covered holidays for a porter for a week here and there in the same place.

    Did two summers working on building sites while also working as a glass collector in a pub at the weekend.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    eviltwin wrote: »
    Did a bit of waitressesing, baby sitting. I found it challenging, I was 16 and people would not go easy on you at all. Getting yelled at and insulted by customers when you don't have the skills or confidence to deal with it isn't good for a young person imo. It put me off that kind of work for life.

    The skills and confidence comes from dealing with it, its a conundrum. No one should be abused or taken advantage though.


  • Posts: 24,713 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Worked on our family farms from primary school age, helping with all farm jobs and driving alone by around 10 and was regularly doing full days work in the tractor by 12/13 etc. From 16 I also worked in other summer jobs in construction etc while still working on the farms too in evenings/weekends.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,305 ✭✭✭nibtrix


    I started delivering leaflets at age 11, got paid a penny a leaflet. Used to absolutely walk the legs off myself and be happy if I got a fiver or a tenner a week.

    Babysitting 1 or 2 nights a week from around age 14-18.

    Child-minding 4-5 days a week in summer at age 14 & 15.

    Worked in a kids play centre in an amusements the summer I was 16, that was the best job ever. Went down the freefall slide 50 times a day :D. I think that was £2 an hour.

    I took off the summer after I did my leaving cert but since then have always worked full-time, even while in college.

    I'm glad that I've always worked, it gave me a huge amount of independence as a teenager and young adult. My parents didn't have a lot of spare cash, so things like weekends away with clubs, or kit needed for sports or hobbies would have been a stretch. I was always proud that I could cover some costs myself without having to ask.

    While 11 is a bit young, I think all teenagers should get some kind of a job, even if it's 1 saturday a month or a couple of hours a week. When you learn the value of a euro by actually earning it through your own hard work, I think it can change your outlook on spending.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Does anyone think working as a teen did them some harm and they would have been better not working?


  • Posts: 17,728 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Saturday job from 4th year in school. Worked full time hours in summer from aga 16 ........ worked 24 hours/week when in 1st year in college before I got a better paying job for the rest of college.

    eviltwin wrote: »
    ............. Getting yelled at and insulted by customers when you don't have the skills or confidence to deal with it isn't good for a young person imo. It put me off that kind of work for life.

    That's a great point, I was two years or so into the part time working gig when I got a job in a service station shop and some customers were as you described. I used tell them to go fnck themselves but at 16 I probably wouldn't have.

    I never encountered a customer that fancied it once I played them at their own game.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,140 ✭✭✭James Bond Junior


    Had a summer job from about 13, washing cars in a car dealers.

    Spent a while washing cars in a service station, until about 15, then shop work from 16 to 19. Moved into working in a pub then at 20 and that kept me going until I was about 24 or so. Worked the summer holidays and the odd weekend in between teaching jobs until I got a permanent teaching job and then gave it up. Never claimed a cent of dole money, even during the depths of the recession which I'm proud of.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭antimatterx


    Had a summer job from about 13, washing cars in a car dealers.

    Spent a while washing cars in a service station, until about 15, then shop work from 16 to 19. Moved into working in a pub then at 20 and that kept me going until I was about 24 or so. Worked the summer holidays and the odd weekend in between teaching jobs until I got a permanent teaching job and then gave it up. Never claimed a cent of dole money, even during the depths of the recession which I'm proud of.

    I was unemployed for a few months last year, I regret not claiming the dole, it cost me the guts of a grand. Now I have to work like a sucker, while half the country gets 350 quid a week for sitting on their arse.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,948 ✭✭✭Sunny Disposition


    Always kind of worked from a very young age and ended up labouring in London in my mid teens, different times, everyone grew up faster then, I was in business myself not long afterwards.
    Was quite well off so I didn't want my own kids working at weekends while they were at school, but I didn't want them being little bollockses either so they had to work at summer and Christmas. Got the lads helping blocklayers, tough work which I felt they needed. Their sisters worked long hours in a local hospital, which my wife arranged.
    These days it wouldn't be legal to do what I was doing in my teens and rightly so, but it's important to give young people a taste of work too.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,794 ✭✭✭Aongus Von Bismarck


    Yes. I worked part-time in a department store/hardware shop from the age of 15. I also worked some weekend nights in a local pub to supplement my income. Started working on building sites during the summer between the ages of 18 and 20, while also working as a contract barman in pubs/venues around Dublin.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 82 ✭✭Risingshadoo


    I worked in a poultry products factory. Two consecutive summers. First one was packaging. Easy peasy. Second one was on the line, pulling the guts out. First few days, i was sick as a dog. Yeah. Wouldn't do it again.

    But i prefer factory work to retail. Jesus i hate dealing with the public. Thankfully in software now.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,495 ✭✭✭✭eviltwin


    mariaalice wrote: »
    The skills and confidence comes from dealing with it, its a conundrum. No one should be abused or taken advantage though.

    I think younger staff are an easier target. I'm fairly sure the people who gave me grief would have dealt with it differently if it had been an older or more senior member of staff.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 958 ✭✭✭Neames


    Now this was a long time ago.

    I worked in a bar serving drinks from the age of 12. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. I needed the money and really appreciated the job and the things I was able to buy.

    It also gave me a good insight into the way drink can affect you. So when the majority of my pals started under age drinking, I never touched a drop under age.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    eviltwin wrote: »
    I think younger staff are an easier target. I'm fairly sure the people who gave me grief would have dealt with it differently if it had been an older or more senior member of staff.

    But that is an argument for a place to be well run and good supportive supervision for the younger staff not an argument that they should not be working. That is where parents come in to it making sure that their teen is not being exploited, its not making sure that the teen never has to negotiate any obestical themselves before they are an adult.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,000 ✭✭✭Stone Deaf 4evr


    mariaalice wrote: »
    Does anyone think working as a teen did them some harm and they would have been better not working?

    Absolutely not, I was practically counting down the days till I could get a part time job, which paid for mountain bikes, guitars and videogames (and later booze) that I hadn't a hope of getting at home. It sounds like desperate old fashioned tripe now, but I firmly believe that a part time job / learning the value of what stuff costs and where money comes from is a skill worth learning.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 81,219 ✭✭✭✭biko


    Odd jobs during the summer. Mainly selling ice cream at a miniature golf place.
    Good times.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,707 ✭✭✭Bobblehats


    Painting & decorating / Labouring / picking strawberries.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭theteal


    Yes, chanced the arm and popped into a pub on the Long Mile Road on the way home from my last JC exam, started the following night. 15 years old although I did say I was 16. £2ph. I'm sure the smoke didn't do my lungs any favours.


  • Hosted Moderators Posts: 17,426 ✭✭✭✭Conor Bourke


    Babysitting as an early teen
    Odd jobs/housekeeping in a neighbours B&B at age 14/15
    Was economical with the exact truth about my age at 15 and got a job for 6 months in the kitchen of a deli doing some light cooking/food prep and a lot of heavy duty cleaning. Hard work but I loved it.

    Waitressing/Housekeeping the next summer, loved it even more.

    The summer of my leaving I had three jobs at once- hotel, summer camp and the B&B. Jacked all three in then to work as a healthcare assistant just before starting college and kept that up at weekends/holidays for the next few years, it was great. Was making crazy money for a person of my age, kept me in the best of clothes, holidays, makeup, hairstyles and eventually got myself a wee car with my savings.

    All of those jobs involved long hours, a lot of heavy physical work but I never minded too much and it gave me the impetus to put in the effort at college to do better for myself. I could see that there was nothing wrong with any of those jobs at the time but I didn’t want to be doing them for the rest of my life either.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,511 ✭✭✭✭Dial Hard


    Yep. Babysat from 11 or so. First real job was in a hairdressers in Garfton St when I was 14; 10 hours a day on my feet for 45p an hour. I know that sounds like the start of a "When I were a lad" joke but it's the truth.

    I worked every summer after that, answering phones in a cab company, lounge girl, Champion Sports.

    I think all kids should work during the summer once they hit second year or so. I know it's a lot harder to get jobs at that age these days, though.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,633 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    Yes from 15 and was oy ever out of work for 3 months.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Basically worked every summer from 2nd year in a school until college. Then I worked all year around

    Got my first job with re-occuring hours when I was 14. Working in a stall in the amusements.
    "Burst two balloons to win a prize, three darts for a pound"
    I'll never forget that phrase :)
    Worked that job over two summers, 2nd and 3rd year
    Worked 12pm until 11pm every day, with a single 1hour break each day. Earned £3 an hour

    Got a job working in a cafe when I was 16 over Christmas in 5th year. Decent money, but wasn't very good. Making sandwiches, washing dishes. Bit of everything.
    Worked in a supermarket stocking shelves the following summer after 5th year. That was enjoyable. I turned 17 while I worked there, and was the only member of the summer staff who was allowed to drive the forklift. For whatever reason I was trusted by the owner, and no one else was.
    After my Leaving, got a job lifeguarding, which I worked as for the next four years throughout college.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Absolutely not, I was practically counting down the days till I could get a part time job, which paid for mountain bikes, guitars and videogames (and later booze) that I hadn't a hope of getting at home. It sounds like desperate old fashioned tripe now, but I firmly believe that a part time job / learning the value of what stuff costs and where money comes from is a skill worth learning.

    I wonder what has happened culturally in our society, that you have to say 'It sounds like desperate old fashioned tripe now', when talking about earning your own money as a teenager.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,487 ✭✭✭Aisling(",)


    I started working in retail at 17. Had applied to loads of places from turning 16 but didn't manage to get anything.

    My niece is 15(16 in the autumn) and I can't think of anywhere that'd consider employing someone her age and none of her friends have part time jobs yet.


  • Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 78,456 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Beasty


    Started off working at a petrol station at weekends - probably about 13/14. Earning something like 30p an hour (remember Graeme Souness coming in one Sunday doing a bit of window shopping the BMW's - he signed for Liverpool the next day)

    Then got a job as a school cleaner - 2 hours every school evening at 50p (eventually 55p I think, but we are talking the 1970s) an hour (the adult cleaners were paid 80p). Was doing that at age 16/17, and was still working on the petrol pumps

    Then added to that with a job on the farm during the summer holidays, and gave up the petrol station job then. Think I was getting about 80p an hour then, but time and a half on Saturdays and double time on Sundays. There was also overnight work which paid double time

    So yes, had 3 jobs as a teenager


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 154 ✭✭Flimsy_Boat


    I don't understand parents not funding their kids education, especially if they can't afford it. I feel it's the responsibility of a parent to get their kids through college. My parents paid for mine, and I will pay for my kids when the time comes.

    Sometimes people are rich because they are miserly. There a few billionaires who have children and they are getting nothing. So I suppose it could be worse.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,157 ✭✭✭DubDani


    Worked afternoon/early evening & weekend shifts as a Cashier at a Petrol Station from when I was about 15.

    Loved the job. While my parents funded all the necessities of life it gave me the freedom to spend money on hobbies I probably other wise could not have afforded at the time (traveling, a 80cc bike at 16 etc.) and also allowed me to save a bit for when I went to study at University.

    Gave me a good understanding of the value of money, the fact that it has to be earned and I certainly hope my daughters will do the same once they are old enough.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,135 ✭✭✭Better Than Christ


    Started working on building sites during the summer between the ages of 18 and 20, while also working as a contract barman in pubs/venues around Dublin.

    Did you bond with your colleagues by mimicking their harsh working class accents and asking if they'd seen 'the match'?



    I didn't have a proper job until I was 18. I never needed one because my babysitting skills were in high demand and earned me a whopping £40 a week. My first proper job was in the parts department of a Daewoo dealership during the summer after my Leaving Cert. A fiver an hour - felt like a millionaire.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,230 ✭✭✭wally1990


    When I turned 16 I interviewed for Argos and Mc ds

    I was still In school and was offered 6 hours at the weekend by Argos and 20 by McDs (4 on Fri, 8 sat, 8 Sunday)

    I took the McDs job in a heartbeat (to me more money equals more pay whilst all my friends made jokes about me working in Mc Ds) (want fries with that........

    Same friends were unemployment/school age

    I must say it served me well.

    It got me good experience and grounding in an organisation dealing with management and seeing how a business is operated whilst dealing with cash, the public, improving customer service skills, multi tasking, team working, and then having the responsibility of opening and closing the store plus helping to arrange deliveries etc

    Whilst people 'laughed' that I worked there, I did learn valuable skills at a young age and don't regret it one bit

    I was delighted to be earning and have my own money, albeit I did absolutely blow it :)


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