It was made very clear to me at an early age that work is good and that work is necessary. I never questioned this, rather I was brought up to snub those who were workshy and never pulled their weight.
As a growing youth, I had a couple of paper rounds, sometimes cramming in 3 each day which paid quite well and I was always on the lookout to do a round for somebody that didn’t come in that morning though was never late for school – again, priorities were made clear to me which I fully understood. This meant that I always had enough money for my hobbies and interests and usually paid for sweets with a fiver which often got me funny looks. Interesting to note that nowadays, I would be investigated by my school’s safeguarding team as having excess money could be an indicator of some sort of abuse going on – how times have changed.
As I approached year 5, my final year in school, we were allowed time off prior to our GCEs to go to interviews. In those days, exams were seen as less important and the nature or temperament of the individual was key which would be completely unthinkable now. At present, most schools finish teaching the syllabus by the end of year 10 (the old year 4) or early year 11 and each lesson until the exams is either revision or addressing misconceptions in what has been learned. During Easter break and any half terms, there will also be day schools to allow more time for revision as well as after school lessons doing the same. This is overkill in my book as there is no incentive to learn and behave during school time if there will be the same lessons after school anyway – behaviour often drops during this time for Y11 for this reason and they’re probably sick to the back teeth of the subjects by then.
I digress.
We had to produce proof of an interview to be allowed time off school. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and my parents backed me all the way. It was made clear to me that even though the work might be dirty, the money will be clean which is as honest a statement as is possible.
I duly applied for lots of apprentice type roles and I was fortunate to get a good number of invitations, as I said earlier, this was all prior to exams even being taken so the pressure was nothing like it is today.
I attended a number of interviews, some went well and some went poorly. One interview was in the centre of London which was quite intimidating for little old me. I got the wrong bus, got completely lost and turned up late. The terse lady at reception was less that understanding, gave me the huffy treatment and told me that I would have to wait 4 hours until the next session and even then, it couldn’t be guaranteed. I told her to “forget it” which took her aback and I proudly left the building.
Another interview was at a well known company where the interviewer was more interested in impressing me with his knowledge which made me just shut down however I do remember this part of it:
“So how would you come in every day?”
“I cycle everywhere so would use my bike if there was somewhere to put it”
“What if it had a puncture”
“No problem, I’d get the bus”
“What if there was a bus strike?”
“I’d ask my Dad for a lift”
“What if it were snowing and the roads impassable and it was impossible to walk?
“I’d stay at home like everybody else”
‘Prick’ I thought. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
A few days later and on my way to another interview. I didn’t know much about this company but it was in an area I didn’t know well though it was a large employer. Off the bus and walking up to the level crossing, the company was the only employer the other side of the train lines.
It was a beautifully sunny early evening and as I stood behind the barriers, I spotted a glinting gold, brand new TR7 convertible. This took my breath away, it was absolutely stunning. Then it struck me that the owner must work at the place I’m going to for my interview. My brain started to whirr and click as computations were being done. OK, he earns enough to pay for that and probably a house and I bet he gets girls with that car (I was 16 so please be kind!). I want those things, ALL OF THOSE THINGS! Having a couple of quid from paper rounds was one thing but this was on a whole different level, this was real money and a real chance of becoming an adult and taking my place. These thoughts and realisations hit me like a bus and it was quite an experience, it was clearly time to get my arse in gear.
So I did. Sitting in the canteen of this place with over a hundred other little sods of a similar age and a similar hunger initially took the wind right out of my sails. We all had a desk, a pen and a test paper. As mentioned previously, it was all about aptitude not exam results and everybody had a chance.
We were given instructions and there was a large clock to keep us motivated. I turned over the paper and the first couple of questions were easy but they were bound to get harder which of course, they did.
At the end, I thought “that was fun and not too bad at all”.
A week or so later, I got a letter asking me to attend a second interview. This was far more personal and very much in the field of what I wanted to do though there was no inkling given as to the nature of questions. The next day, GCEs began and I got stuck in to those. After these, I received a letter from this company asking me to come and speak to the nurse which I thought was odd but my parents seemed quietly happy with. Shortly after that, another letter asking me to attend to have my photograph taken. About now, I wondered how many steps there would be to find out if I’d got the job, my Dad said quietly to me that it was a cert but I didn’t believe him.
He was right. That job helped pave the way for my entire working life. It taught me how to behave in the workplace, when to speak out, when to shut up, how to carry one’s self and I met some amazing people.
There are a couple of reasons for writing this. Some kids get no support from their parents, they are not introduced to the benefits of working, instead they are expected to follow the family tradition of waiting for the dole to be transferred in to their accounts and to have absolutely no expectation of working, progressing or bettering themselves – I have seen this and it is thoroughly depressing. Another reason is that a fellow apprentice that went through this same process passed away a couple of months ago. Discovering this brought the entire episode back to me. Youngsters of that era, we charged off in to the future with eyes bright and not knowing a single thing that the future would have in store for us but we didn’t care – we did what we were told was the right thing and it was.
Thank you for reading.
© RatCatcher 2024
