Work Experience...

[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.

[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!

[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!

[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!

[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.

[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.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Work Experience...

I got stuck working in a solicitor's office for a fortnight. I HATED it. The three chav secretaries I was shadowing were only a few years older than me but thought they were it, even though they were all as thick as pig s**t. All I was allowed to do was photocopy and make tea, and they spent the whole time bossing me around and bitching about me behind my back (I could hear them while I was in the kitchen). Occasionally I'd be on reception which was terrifying as it was in a really rough part of town and all I'd get were the dodgy geezers and nutters coming in and yelling at me about their solicitors. It was all a bit much for a 15 year old!

It was certainly one of the turning points of my life. I can still vividly remember standing there in that kitchen, listening to them bitching on, practically in tears and thinking "I am so much better than this" and "I will NEVER EVER work in an office!"...and I never did.

On the up side, one of the solicitors gave me £10 at the end of the fortnight and I kept myself going by laughing at the door that made a farty noise every time someone went through it. Nobody else seemed to notice. It was also the first time I came across herbal tea bags. One of the solicitors always had orange herbal tea that smelled lovely so I nicked a bag and discovered how vile it tastes lol.

[sandie76]

Re: Work Experience...

First work experience I went on was to a Vets, went ok until I nearly fainted watching an operation. Decided it wasn't for me.

Second placement I went on (yes we got to go in 2nd and fourth year) was as a stablehand at a local stables. My friend went too and was the same place she kept her horse, so for the whole week, after mucking out, we got to go riding for free.

[angie-baby72]

Re: Work Experience...

i had 3 placements all in conjunction with the day release college courses i did over 2 years.. for travel & tourism i did 3 days in thomas cook.. then cut the end of my finger off so couldnt go back for the last 2 days, i didnt do it on purpose btw.. it wasnt that bad, honest. for office practice i did a week at the alliance and leicester regional HQ learning the important things like how to make coffee and deliver mail .... for computer programming they sent me to a factory to put componants onto a motherboard for 9 1/2 hours a day INCLUDING SATURDAYS.. my mum freaked out and said i wasn't to go because it had sweet FA to do with computers! needless to say none of these experiences have ever helped me in my career...

[darren]

Re: Work Experience...

First work experience I went on was to a Vets, went ok until I nearly fainted watching an operation. Decided it wasn't for me.

Second placement I went on (yes we got to go in 2nd and fourth year) was as a stablehand at a local stables. My friend went too and was the same place she kept her horse, so for the whole week, after mucking out, we got to go riding for free.

-----------------------------------------------
seems your seconf placement wet well.
you obviously made a good impression.
still go horse rifing at that same place.
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i did W E at garden centres mainly.
sometimes on a farm.
working with animals.
i was not squeamish about anything i saw.

[Lilacmoon]

Re: Work Experience...

I worked at the Lincolnshire Echo for a month in the summer hols of 85' .... as I figured I wanted to be a journalist? Sean Custis (NOTW) worked on the Sports Desk at the time!

I decided that it wasn't for me, and chose photography instead!

[Twocky61]

Re: Work Experience...

For me it was working in a bakery where we were allowed a free cake at tea breaks

Work experience was also known as YTS (Youth Training Scheme)

[marc]

Re: Work Experience...

No work experience when I was in comprehensive, 1978-83.

I wish there was.

Where would have I tried to go?

The colliery, the local one being Tymawr/Lewis Merthyr. The chances of this would have been hair strand thin. I probably would not have been allowed underground, so probably would have spent the entire time in the office area.

The railway, there would have been a better chance of this. Possibly a ride in the cab of a class 37 along some freight only branch line to some out of the way colliery.

Some years ago, there was a letter in the local paper from a concerned parent about his/her daughter being on work experience. They had to pay the train fare for her to go to "work". (This may have been refundable) The work she was doing in the office, would be charged to the client, but she was not getting paid. It was also stated that the work experience was compulsory if she wanted to go onto further education.

[George 1978]

Re: Work Experience...

I did work experience for an office company that was linked to the scheme that provides jobs to school leavers, ironically enough.

We had a booklet that the staff needed to fill in, and the Managing Director was having difficulty filling it in. The irony was that the same company was partly responsible for creating those booklets!

The highlight was when the supervisor told me to fill the top drawer of a two drawer filing cabinet. When it was open and was full of files, the cabinet toppled over and fell on the floor. There was a red Nescafe mug as well as other things om the top of it that ended up broken as a result!

[Twocky61]

Re: Work Experience...

Not exactly work experience being only fourteen; but I washed buses & coaches at a local coach company

Sunday's I worked there for a fiver all day though it wasn't about the money; I have always loved coaches & days out & coach holidays

One particular Sunday they asked me to wash and Hoover their week old double decker Scania coach as it was due out late afternoon, whilst they cleared off to the pub

So anyway..........

I thought sod it if I am going up on ladders to wash it

So I took the iggy key off the hook in the office & drove it to the bus wash. Whilst it was being washed I Hoovered the interior, emptied the chemical toilet & replenished the on-board hot drinks =machine & the individual packs of biscuits

Afterwards I reversed the coach back into it's parking bay & returned the iggy key onto it's hook in the office

They returned 3pm & were surprised how quickly I had prepared the coach

Even though I was under driving age it was private property & not the public highway so I was not violating any traffic laws

Of course if I had have dented the coach in their yard their insurance company would refuse to pay out

So anyway.....................

I told them I drove it through the bus wash

"Fk" said the owner as he inspected the exterior of the coach

No dents or scratches

He said come back when I am 21 & they would put me through my bus test