Was your weekend job when you were young the best job you ever had?

A highlight of early employment was working on a farm stacking straw bales one summer. I'd ride my bike across farm tracks from the village where I Iived, put in a shift, and at the end of the day the farmer came out with beer for us all. First time I'd done physical labour with a gang of people of all ages & backgrounds.

Also worked for a Christian Wholefood Cooperative in a job I obtained through a church youth group. The work was partly serving in the shop and partly repackaging dried goods. I developed an expensive taste for banana chips, cashew nuts & Bombay mix. We were paid peanuts for packing peanuts, strangely enough all the church members who had set the thing up moved to much larger houses shortly afterwards.

Had a few stints in packing factories. Again, a great chance to meet a wide range of people. My supervisor in one was a former school dinner lady from my primary who had bullied me a lot for being "posh" & found that as a teenager I wasn't such a pushover. The seasonal staff were mainly university students and we all took great pleasure in subverting all the rules. My sister & I became legends on the local parents' dinner party circuit as we lasted a full summer, conditions and treatment of casual staff was so bad (like prison, being allowed to have the radio on was a privilege often removed) about three days was the average service, and one person who joined when I did disappeared never to be seen again after the morning break on the first day.

I went to University after serving in the Army so from then on my income came from the TA. My degree should really have been in site recces & communications rather than Classics as I expended far more energy on being a troop commander than studying...

I think the paucity of weekend and summer work for school aged people people these days largely comes from the need of university students to work so much to afford to live. My partner's teenagers are having a really difficult time finding anything, especially as they want to go for things they see as "glamorous" like bar and restaurant work. We did suggest the local bakery, but the mornings were seen to be too early. That they would then have from shortly after lunch until the next day free really wasn't enough of a draw!

Hi Matthew, thank you for this vivid and insightful response. Your church experience reminded me of The Sopranos quote about the Mafia: "I mean, what happened to this thing? For God's sake, we bend more rules than the Catholic Church." I love that you stood up to a bully. Bullies do seem to pop up in warehouses a few years after school. Would you be happy to contribute to my podcast? It will shared on podcast platforms and my website watchingworkingliving.co.uk/

Many thanks, Paul! I'd be delighted to take part in your work.

One of the big things for me about getting the weekend jobs was that I was at an independent school a long bus ride from home. While the school community was quite diverse I largely only mixed with people from my own kind of background as all my sports and clubs were school-based.

We were not a wealthy family by any means, especially after school fees paid, but it was an eye-opener to be around people who lacked the privileges I had. I think I developed a sense of empathy & understood the value of education and opportunity a lot more.

I will always remember Zombie and Speedy (aka Derek & Avril) the Motorcycle Club (possibly even Hells Angels) members I worked with. To see two leather-clad bikers packing all sorts of felt, wool and wood to make up craft kits at John Adams Toys was quite a thing!

Hi Matthew, please can you email me at watchingworkingliving@gmail.com and we can then agree how you will provide the podcast audio contributions. Thank you

Hi Matthew, please can you email me at watchingworkingliving@gmail.com and we can then agree how you will provide the podcast audio contributions. Thank you