Work Experience...

[Techno]

Re: Work Experience...

It was voluntary in my school as far as I can remember. I was desperate to leave and get a job. I applied for the local newspaper but got sent to a bookshop instead. I was quite disappointed but looking back, there was only one newspaper and probably only one position but there were loads of schools and probably loads of people who wanted to do it so it was inevitable that all but one person would end up disappointed.

I had to meet the manager first. I had no interview clothes so I went in a jumper and I remember him telling me not to go to an interview in a jumper.

Most of it was stocking shelves. I didn't really serve anybody. There was one occasion when I had to look up a book on a microfiche and I had no idea what to do and just panicked. They would use a PC to do that nowadays.

I remember sneaking up to the stockroom and sneaking a look at "The Joy of Sex" . I also sat in a meeting with the store's buyer, and the sales rep was enthusiastic about a new paperback called "Neuromancer" by William Gibson but he didn't like the cover. Sci-fi fans will realise the significance of that...

I also met David Owen, now Lord Owen, who was leader of the SDP at the time because he came in for a book signing.

[moonvisage]

Re: Work Experience...

crikey,i forgot about work experience.I went to a home for the disabled with a few school mates.It got to the stage were we totally forgot we were in school,and just went there every day.We noticed less and less staff after about 6 months or so,and one staff member said the home was laying off full time staff,and getting us kids to do the work,which in all honesty,they really did seem to be doing.A few girls worked there with us,and they really got a load of work to do,all adult type work,where they would have to clean up people with soiled bodies etc.

[Teejay]

Re: Work Experience...

...the poor kid was sent to a diy shop to ask for a 6ft falopian tube. How cruel. LOL.

LOL!! I had a mate who was sent to the cake shop whilst on work experience. She asked for a creamy q**m.... LOL!

[kazboot]

Re: Work Experience...

not real naughty by todays standards,we strayed off from the group and went for a swim. Unfortunatly we left our clothes too close to the water,end result was we went home with less clothing than we went with as it floated off.

lol!

[frame]

Re: Work Experience...

Yeah come on we're all dying to know what happened!

Not real naughty by todays standards,we strayed off from the group and went for a swim. Unfortunatly we left our clothes too close to the water,end result was we went home with less clothing than we went with as it floated off. My friend fell asleep in someones garden and was'nt found until the house owners got home from work,(later found out he suffered from narclepsy) as we were all from the same bunch we got excluded from any further activities. Paris the following year was out of the question!

[branny]

Re: Work Experience...

We never had the option. Don't know why. Probably not a bad thing when i see the merry dance the pupils were led at a certain supermarket i worked at when at college. The butcher used to have them rolling mince into meatballs and hanging them on meat hooks. We used to send them to FADS for a tin of tartan paint. The bloke in FADS must have known what was happening because he sent them back with the message "we've only got striped". Then there was the usual bucket of steam, left handed screwdriver, long stand etc but the best of the lot was when one of the strip lights broke and the poor kid was sent to a diy shop to ask for a 6ft falopian tube. How cruel. LOL.

[Richard1978]

Re: Work Experience...

At school I did my Work Experience at the local library, which was mixed.

Some of the work was very boring, checking that all the books on a shelf were in the order of the Dewey system was the worst.

The only real perk was being able to request books for free.

[ridski]

Re: Work Experience...

I did a two day Work Shadowing thing at the Sock Shop in Oxford Circus, which involved pretty much following some woman around while she ran the store. That was ****.

Better though was a two week work experience gig I did at what was then Westminster Cable. I got to work on some promotional posters for them, go out on service calls across the rooftops of central London, and learned how to program teletext. I used to think it was soooo cool that they had TVs in every office with MTV playing all the time, or CNN during lunch hours. Loved it there.

I also got a placement in a school as a Media Resources Officer's assistant, running copies and duping videos for teachers. That summer, the MRO left and they hired me full time, and I basically alone in this office all day with not much to do. I pretty much spent my days writing a book, which I then printed and bound, and pirating movies that I rented and liked. I think I made a couple of magazines for some club I was in, too. But it was summer, and I was getting paid 113 quid a week, which was big bucks for a 17 year old back then. Lots of beer money, let's put it that way...

[Derekflint]

Re: Work Experience...

I resisted like mad - ended up having two or three meetings about it with the teacher in charge.

'We'll find you something...'

Oh no. My way or nothing. Did a week in a gun shop cleaning shotguns, and on one occasion wound up clinging to the side of a Mitsubishi Shogun as it went across a field on the way to demo some trap guns.

[kazboot]

Re: Work Experience...

At some point, we want the full story!

Yeah come on we're all dying to know what happened!

[Marine Boy]

Re: Work Experience...

...We went to Scilly Isles but that led to disaster.

At some point, we want the full story!

[frame]

Re: Work Experience...

I along with a handfull of others were excluded from schemes such as this as we we were deemed a bit too disruptive. School trips to france also. We went to Scilly Isles but that led to disaster.

[rossobantam]

Re: Work Experience...

same here...no-one did it at my comp (1977-82)..was never even mentioned

[HG]

Re: Work Experience...

Perhaps.

I remember some people doing it, just cant remember why I didn't.

[kazboot]

Re: Work Experience...

I didn't do it either HG. Perhaps we are too old!