Work Experience...

[Mulletino]

Re: Work Experience...

My brother didn't pick one of the choices so got to watch videos all week at school. So me and my mate decided we'd do the same, except it backfired and there were two placements left on the list and we had to take one each, both working for the council, as groundskeepers in different parks.

I must admit it was quite funny the one I went on, as it was summer and all my jobs were outside (like weeding the artificial cricket pitch, or weeding around the bowling green) I got an awesome tan. Everyone thought i'd been on holiday when I got back to school. My mate's one sounded more fun though as he got to drive some tippers.

[Twocky61]

Re: Work Experience...

I done my work experience in about 1982,during a rather hot summer . It was a way for the school to punish those who could not afford to go to France or Spain as a week long field trip..

The school should have a fund so those parent's who could not afford it could still send little Johnny/Mary on the foreign trip; just like with free school meals

[battyrat]

Re: Work Experience...

Work experience in the part of Wiltshire I lived was kept for those people who could not afford to go on a French or Spanish Field trip during the year. So instead of letting us continue normal lessons or have the time off we were sent like slaves to work for various companies chosen by our careers teacher. Some got shop work, some factory, I got the farm. I left school in 1983.So perhaps I was one of the unlucky ones to get an early taste of what was to come back in 1982. Certainly free labour for the lucky employer and no experience for the poor kid who had to endure it.

[Moonraker]

Re: Work Experience...

I did not know there was work experience in 1982. I left school that year. We never had any work experience.

[battyrat]

Re: Work Experience...

I done my work experience in about 1982,during a rather hot summer . It was a way for the school to punish those who could not afford to go to France or Spain as a week long field trip. Those of us whose parents could not afford to let us go had to do Work experience instead. I was forced to work for 2 weeks on a local farm up to my neck in cow s*!t. I was covered in the stuff every day.
I started at 6.00 am in the morning and finished around 6.00pm at night and done everything asked of me including mucking out knee deep in excrement cow pens. It was that foul. I had to walk in 5 miles and walk home 5 miles every day of it. Got nothing for the work I done not even a thank you then was expected to write an essay lasting many many pages at the end to give to our careers teacher and French teachers. It was more like free slavery for the farmer and he must of been laughing all the way to the bank as he got free labour. I even had to bring my own food which by the time we got to dinner time was not even edible and had gone off. Dinner time was the only break I got in some 12 hours of hard labour.One of the farm hands gave me an ice lolly on the last day which I fed to a cow. I hope the ruddy beast chocked on it.

What did I learn. never trust a teacher again, and most farmers have wallets tighter then a ducks ****.

[staffslad]

Re: Work Experience...

There was no work experience when I left school in 1978. We did get to visit a business of our choice for a single afternoon, just to be shown around. I went to our local Lucas factory. For some reason most seemed to want to go to the local cake bakery.

[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

[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!

[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.

[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)

[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!

[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.

[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...

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.

[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.