I’ve had an extremely long and rather colourful work history, starting a young age I had to learn to be self-sufficient. There was barely enough food to eat at home and definitely no money spare to buy anything considered remotely luxurious..
It all helped though and it helped me mature a lot, mainly in terms of finances it really taught me the value of money and that money isn’t easy to come by so don’t simple spend it frivolously. I won’t list all the jobs as I had as some were temp and lasted a few days or in some cases a few hours…I’ll mention those that I find interesting, or somehow relevant in my development.
I think it’s something Asian kids generally lack, working, earning money and learning some respect for the value of money. Kids here don’t have to contribute to their own studies or cars..they just get given money for free!
How many of you have had part time jobs? If you look at the catering industry here, or manual labour, security guards or factory workers and so on they are mostly foreign workers. All of these jobs are considered to ‘low’ for locals. You know what? In UK I’ve done ALL of those jobs.
Job 1 – Paper Round
This is a pretty typical ‘job’ for most kids in UK, any kid with a bike can do this job and there are two main types – Daily Rounds or Weekly Rounds.
Daily rounds consist of delivering local or national papers twice a day, either in the morning or in the afternoon (before or after school) and generally slightly older kids get these are they take a little more responsibility. I think it paid up to £15 a week if you did both morning and evening 7 days a week.
I started when I was 14 doing the once a week free local newspaper Berrow’s Worcester Journal. Which earned me about £3-7 a week depending on how many papers there were and how many advertisements..
The tough part was the paper and the ads came separate….so I had to stuff EACH newspaper which 1 of each of the flyers (up to 6-7 different flyers).
And the papers were pretty big so it was heavy..and I lived on a steep hill! Thankfully my Mom used to help me sometimes, epecially when it was bad weather – rain, shine or snow we still had to deliver.
Job 2 – Charity Books
This was similar to the newspaper delivery, but you knocked on the door and actually had to talk to people. The job was selling charity books.
The books sold for £3.50 and I got 50p I think for each one I sold…that was a tough job.
Job 3 – Computer Store Assistant
This was my first real job I think, how I would consider it anyway. Working in a retail store as an assistant, I got the job by being a complete geek and impressing the guy with my computer knowledge so he hired me on Saturdays to help out.
My first experience wearing a shirt and tie for work too, I just worked on Saturday and got paid £2.50 an hour or about £20 for a day of 8 hours.
It was a pretty fun job as I loved computers and lasted quite a while, I didn’t earn that much though as it was only one day a week. I was just about turning 15 when I had this job I think.
My first foray into what would end up as my final career too.
Job 4 – Door to Door Double Glazing Canvassing
I got this job immediately after finishing my GSCE’s at secondary school, the proper name is Canvassing as we weren’t actually selling, we were just setting up the sales appointments with the poor suckers customers.
This job was great fun, it didn’t pay well unless you were good a it – so you had to learn to be good at it. It helped a lot with my confidence as I was pretty nerdy and school, very tall and very skinny…so this job helped me get some confidence in myself and helped me become a lot more articulate.
It was a pretty tough time to be doing Double Glazing as the industry already had a terrible reputation from the 80’s from being extremely hard sell and very pushy.
The good part was driving all around the county from town to town, having plenty of cash and competing with a bunch of other lads. It was a very motivating environment, the managers were excellent in training and playing games etc to get everyone to perform better.
If we managed to book an appointment it was called a lead, so we competed each day to see who could get the most leads. If the lead turned into a quote we got paid £15 and if it was a sale we got paid a percentage (so for big sales it could be quite a lot of money).
The basic salary was around £70 a week, which was very low. But some of the best guys would earn over £1500 a week from all their leads and sales.
I think my best was about £300+ in a week, which was a huge amount of money for me back then!
The company I was at was Zenith Staybrite (Just Staybrite then) and our main compeition was Coldseal.
You can see the actual job here.
Job 5 – Waiting
During college I couldn’t keep a full-time job and I tried canvassing part-time for a while but it wasn’t pratical. I went back to Staybrite a couple of times during holidays but it wasn’t so fun so after that I changed direction a bit as waiting was one of the easiest jobs to get for short term, the staff turn-over rates were very high, it was hard work, quite fun and you could earn quite a lot if you got good tips.
If I remember correctly my first waiting job was in a independently owned Pizza place, the wages were atrocious and illegal as the boss ‘paid’ us with our tips (which was wrong) rather than paying us a basic salary and tips on top.
We used to get £35 a day or around £3.50 for a 10 hour day (which sometimes ran to 12 or more hours). We got to eat free pizza and pasta though…and although the boss was an idiot and the chef was a really cool Spanish guy.
I worked at this place for quite some time.
I had a whole string of waiting jobs after this from when I was 15 all the way until I was about 23. The longest I worked at one place was full time during my gap year at Cafe Rouge – I was there for about 9 months until Uni started. Before that I was doing telephone canvassing for double glazing, the same as I did previously but on the phone..I was team leader for an independent firm. Basic salary was £90 a week + commission. I stayed there for about 6 months until they went bust and disappeared without paying us! I also went out a couple of times to help fit the windows which was fun.
After the canvassing I joined Cafe Rouge and by the end I was bar manager, but left to go to Uni. My main purpose of the year out after college and before Uni was to save money…if not I couldn’t really afford to go and study as student loans were being introduced and straight grants were being cut back. I managed to save over £3000 that year!
I also did Silver Service waiting, this is banquet type waiting where people are having company dinners or events (Worcester Rugby Club or Racecourse) and you serve large tables from serving dishes.
I probably had more than 20 different waiting/bar jobs.
If you want to read a great blog about the life of a waiter try Waiter Rant.
During Uni
During University I used to work every time there was a holiday (summer break, easter and christmas being the main ones) to get extra money to support myself through my studies.
I did a whole variety of jobs during my 4 years of study as I joined up with a bunch of recruitment agencies, as that was the easiest way to get short term work. During some breaks I could have 5-6 different jobs in different industries.
I didn’t go for any waiting jobs as they didn’t pay so well as the nasty tough jobs which paid up to £7 per hour.
Some of the jobs I did were:
- Factory Job at Cosworth making engine blocks (This was extremely hard work, very noisy and dirty and I got burned a few times). I operated the Shot Blaster.
- Security Guard at a small supermarket (Most boring job EVER, not allowed to talk to anyone..and I knew the people stealing stuff – so I let them get away with it).
- Building Site Labourer pulling huge electric cables in wet mud for the new Worcester University
- Stuffing envelopes at Kays (graveyard shift Midnight-5am but paid well).
- Selling mortgages, well re-mortgages to be exact. I had good experiences in telesales so I was pretty good at it.
- At Bosch making water heaters and boilers, this was my favourite as it was walking distance from my house, the food was good and cheap and it paid well and had frequent over-time. It was tedious as hell though – screwing the same screw in the same position for 8-10 hours a day (Some of the guys had been there 20 years – imagine that).
- Chinese food delivery driver – this was probably the easiest job, lots of food to eat, driving around all night and getting tips
I also had a couple of jobs during term-time, mostly computer related stuff as that was what I was studying.
There were some really nasty experiences from agencies too were people just hired an agency worker for 1 day because they had a job they didn’t want to do (like cleaning a deep-fat fryer appeared to have NEVER been cleaned – I just refused of course). I turned down a few, like working in an old-peoples hope cleaning up old peoples poo…
I continued the Chinese food delivery after I graduated and got a job as it was easy money and I could earn about £70 in a good night if it was raining and I got good tips. It was what helped me pay off my credit card so I could move over to Malaysia 🙂
You better be happy, a whole post about me!
Have any of you guys actually had any jobs before you graduated, other than ‘promoter’ in the shopping mall or something fairly mundane, clean and easy? Any of you had any nasty jobs?
Great sharing; this gets me into recollecting the good old days of working during the summers, and doing some other menial work (some of which are bone breaking). Used to be a labor moving old manuscripts (you know, which weigh like 2-3kg) in college. Bad job. Good pay.
I think the 3rd paragraph is not a fair generalization on Asian kids.
I had my fair share of waiting jobs, being a promoter, resident’s adviser, office work, technical job, and even an excavator operator before I finish school.
I guess I do fall into the category which hasn’t worked those sucky jobs other than to earn a little bit of extra pocket money. Mainly because as I would guess with most Asian families who can afford to pay for their child’s education, the first thing that they would say is, “Concentrate on your studies”.
Another thing is with all the sucky crap that you hear about poor quality of education in school, most kid’s free time is eaten up by tuition classes.
For me I had done some very general type of work before. From folding envelopes (a few thousand of them) to cleaning cybercafe machines and eventually cooking in a cybercafe (when cybercafe really was a cafe!). Quite interesting though 🙂
been on the same boat buddy.
well not as many jobs as you had but quite a few “different” ones.
my family runs a restaurant, so thats twice the fun! been in that business for years. trying to get out of it.
i agree on Malaysian kids being lazy. come over to the states and see how much “easy money” you kiddos can make =)
tho the same attitude still applies here, you earn what you work for.
@KY – I think its unfair towards people like me (and similar people) but on the whole its quite a fair statement. People rarely want to work here.
Worked as a waiter, an outlet worker printing photos which was so boring I left within 4 days, and being a teacher.
The last one kicked @$$
yeah i remember my very first job after graduating from high school a promoter in a shopping mall which i almost wanted to quit hehe. I agree with u that kids need to learn the value of money as they get free money from their parents who are busting their ass earning the dough.
hey, I did my fair share of work from my secondary to uni days…as a waiter, factory worker, forklift operator/driver, internet cafe operator…
I do agree with you that kids now lacks the appreciation for money. why? Their life style have gotten better…whatever suits their fancy, mommy and daddy can afford…
I was once a clown (literally). So now, I count amongst my many *ahem* skills “putting on clown makeup”, “balloon sculpting”, “scaring little children”, “walking funny” and “speaking in extreme pitches”
i am not sure if mine actually counts. i studied in cardiff, uk (about 2.5 hours by train to the west of central london; if arriva is EVER punctual) and over my time there, i did a little to ‘experience’ the hardships of life. of course mine was nothing compared to the angmoh here.
worked as a note-taker in the uni for students who have troubles coping in lectures, especially dyslexic ones. they pay extremely well. i earn at least 8pounds for a 50mins lectures and transportation was endorsed completely. i just had to sit in the lecture hall and scribble some notes for the student.
of course i have worked in the millennium stadium during football matches (via an agency). of course that would include being a cashier, serving beer and lager (to fuel further violence there), cooking hot dogs etc. i will usually pick days where they pay double or triple.
of course, no job description would be complete for a typical chinese if they don’t engage in some plate washing jobs (sai tai peng). did that once and hated it absolutely.
of course call me a spoil brat but i wasn’t working for the money anyway. it was just for me to supplement my commodities so that my purchases will be guilt-free
I think some generalize Asian kids are rich, because
1) Asian parents fund their education unlike most Western parents (the reciprocation being that Asian kids take care of their parents in retirement)
2) those kids that goes overseas are visibly rich, especially Indonesian and Koreans that drive their Porsche’s and Benzo’s rolling on 20’s (or is it 22’s these days)
I’ve done the whole door-to-door thing too for 3 months, 6am-11pm. Brutal, man. I sold restaurant discount cards, which needs a lot of convincing and chutzpah. I got RM8 a card.
I’ve done time at Delifrance, where we pick up rolls off the floor after we drop them and put em right back on the trays 😀 But we get to bring all back the day’s unsold breads and pastries. I think it was like RM15 for the entire shift.
The best part-time job was a computer lab consultant in college. Just dealin with fresh-out-of-the-farm guys who really didn’t know where the “Any” key was and surfing the web. Paid US$10 an hour before taxes. Enough for 10 cheeseburgers when McDonald’s have their $1 cheeseburger Wednesdays..
See you at badminton!
This is such a loooong post, and I can’t believe I actually read every single word of it. Can’t help but only imagine your interesting list of past working experiences. If only more kids these days experience even 10% of what you did in the past..
Hrmm…am guilty of being a spoilt brat. Although I’ve worked when i was younger, the difference between you and i is that you did it to survive and i did it to fatten up the CV.
All my jobs have been pretty cushy. My first job right after SPM was in an mnc issuing cheques…then i did a lot of selling smiles at industry exhibitions, finally my stint in a PR firm, then my only uniformed career so far which paid shit loads of money and failed…hahaha. Now back to PR and loving it!
This really inspire me to list down all my jobs too!I once work as a door to door saleperson,a road show saleperson,a shoe stall saleperson and some other random jobs(other than being a saleperson) that I happened to came across.
Well,I was an ‘asian kid’ myself(or still is),but I don’t think all of us lack of money vaule.To have our parent provide for us does not mean we won’t appreciate it.Mine wasn’t that rich but they did try to provide as much as they could.To see them working despite being almost of the age of retirement certainly taught me a lot about the vaule of money.
I’ve done the paper round thing. Only was on Wednesday after school and after doing it for two years I’d earned something pitiful like AUD$100 [that’d be about 40 pounds] and my father GAVE half of it to my younger brother to compensate him for the fact they’d canceled my brothers Friday paper round after six months. In spite of my complaints my parents just told me to shut the F*** up. (and people wonder why I call my father a B@$t@rd)
To get myself off the streets of Sydney [literally], I worked at Uni for two weeks cleaning all the walls [scrubbing them with rags and soapy water – we did have a scaffold on wheels to help reach the high places]. Two of us did that.
Then I was off to a factory for a year and a half before I earned enough to attempt one of my ill fated University Degrees [ill fated = never finished].
Before landing the dream job of being a musician / studio musician … which was helped out by me working in a Mens Wear store during the slower periods, and then into computer programming and database administering.
I think a lot of the problems with work is the people you work with. I hated the menswear as the boss wand some of the others I worked with were a$$holes.
Factory had good people, but was stupid boring work. [But, I needed the money BADLY to feed myself. I weighed something like 40kg … that’s about 1/3 of a current Dabido].
Working for CUSCAL was bad as it was full of idiots who didn’t understand IT or just overbearing a$$holes who didn’t understand IT. Bloody accountants who wanted 10/100 hubs to run at 1Gig and refused to buy us 1Gig hubs till we got the 10/100’s running at 1 Gig speeds! Plus there was also the incident where they wanted me to do something illegal and STUPID and I refused and I went through months of harassment and stress only to find that winning only meant I got to keep my job.
My current job is WONDERFUL! I love it. Playing with databases, writing programs, doing graphs, going to meetings where I get to hang out with people and talk to them. 🙂
And there is apparently a shortage of people who know the main product we use, so even if I lose my job, I’m almost guaranteed of getting a job somewhere else in the world … even if I’m crap at using the product [which thankfully I’m not] 🙂
Plus they PAY ME!!!! LOTS!!! HAPPY HAPPY! 🙂
hey shoalin tiger!
i’m not sure i’m categorized under the ‘lucky kid’ who get to be studying in the uk, or the ‘unfortunate one’ coz i need to pay for all my tuition fees of 7,570quids a year times 3 years of uni. yeap, nothing from my parents other than my initial rm30,000 for survival. bet lots of people could use tat money to get a brand new kancil and having it modified. hahah!
but i surely cherished those times [and still cherishing] of doing part time jobs, ie waitressing in Nando’s [have to deal with all those never ending hard work until 12 midnite…]and folding bloody men’s clothes in Primark [probably the most easiest job ever! and most boring one] and getting a placement in some financial institution in Newcastle.
Do enjoy all my jobs as i’m damn lucky to meet super nice colleagues [though there’s suckers too as well, but were eventually fired or forced to leave the job. haha!] here in uk.
I love your post ST. I can feel what you mean, as I’ve started working at the age of 14. Some of them are: cybercafe attendant, waiter, direct marketing (the kind that goes to your table selling stuff when you’re eating at a coffee shop), amongst others.
This is something I feel that some kids lack understanding. The amount of pain, and hardships really defines your life, your values, and ethics. Even your perception of the world.
Alot of people don’t know how lucky they are.
Great post ST, Great post.
Not forgetting to mention: that the comments are real good reads too.
Sorry for the spam. This post is Dugg: https://digg.com/people/Some_of_the_Jobs_I_ve_Endured_in_My_Life
I don’t agree totally with the third paragraph. Although I’ve only worked twice during the break after form 6, I know many of my friends have worked through secondary school to get that extra pocket money. But most of them only get to work part time usually from 6pm onwards. Comparatively, I think the pay we get here is less. For part time work you only get paid between RM3-5 per hour without allowances and other benefits. If you’re lucky, you can get more. That doesn’t contribute much to paying for college. But I do agree that the value of money is not appreciated as much as it should be. From my observation, most work because they need the money to buy something. Not many would save the money earned. Besides, loans are easy to obtain when you go to college.
waiter at 15,promoter at 16, cashier at 17, phone operator at 19, guinea pig for research in uni at 20, tuition teacher at 21, still guinea pig for research at 22. Control patients for research trials earn good money. I was paid $300 for a 3-hour trial. =p
I don’t know how nasty this job is, but I was working part time at McDs for a short period of time, selling meal plans at university, and currently, a “shelf-straightener” (yes, that’s the official title of this job) where I walk around the fucken huge bookstore for 4 hours straightening and re-arranging books. $8.50 an hour though
and oh, at my family’s store MyNews.com. Was working there since I was 12 i think.
Gotta say I respect the whole work to provide for yourself since a young age. I gotta admit, I was never one to really work to support my expenses when I was young.
In fact, I never even did a shopping mall / supermarket job, only once did I work at a computer shop belonging to my dad’s cousin, to help them with the daily formatting, and repairing for the customers which was actually a non-pay job.
Most of the time only spent helping out at my dad’s hardware store, carrying cans of 5Litres ICI Paints, steel and aluminium sheets, plywoods, and stuff like that. I wasn’t paid to do it, but yea, was kinda spoiled as I normally got what I wanted (under good reason).
As always, when it comes to self support, I find that its always hearing more of the aussies, europeans, or even americans who tend to do it. Asian parents to some extent are rather more protective in some sense and discourage their children working outside experiencing the hard life.
Good post. Lots of interesting detail.
I’ll keep mine short, though. Usual lower-middle-class background, so, yes, paper rounds the first job when still only 11 (no “restrictions” on age back when I did it!), sang in the local Church choir purely for the 50p weekly “wage” despite being tone deaf. 🙂
Then, having screwed up getting into Uni – a very long story! – I became a motorcycle courier in the 1980’s, at the time of postal strikes and despatch becoming a huge industry. Could earn 300 quid a week, or more, and in the 1980s that was some deal. But the cost of running the bike etc. living the fast life, and losing comrades made it one of the most arduous and sometimes depressing jobs that you can imagine. Earned plenty – spent it all. 🙁
Impending marriage meant finding stability, so I took a Xmas job as a security guard at “a famous London store” – enjoyed it and worked my ‘nads off! – and ended up after a decade running all the Security and Facilities management for the store and it’s other outlets. Persistence and hard work more than natural talent or education, but also personal integrity played it’s part. On call 24/7, dealing with the many IRA bomb threats of the 90’s, and burning out eventually, but I loved my job and the responsibility it carried.
After leaving there, worked at a few other places – including one where I was “vetted” as Class One security clearance, in order to be Guard of Honour to the Queen (despite being a republican!) – and then having saved and bought our house together, sold it for a nice price, my wife and I decided to come and live in Malaysia, her home country.
But of all the things I am proudest of, is that as soon as I started working full time in security, I saved 1000 pounds, put it away for emergencies/rainy days, and still have never needed to touch it. My only debt was ever our mortgage.
Nothing succeeds like hard work and persistence, IMHO, and always live within your means, and save whatever you can – after 20+ years, it has given my wife and I opportunities here that we could otherwise have never dreamed of.
Sorry, rambled on a bit – still tip of the iceberg! – but being 43 gives you a nice perspective to review the mistakes, and successes, of the past. 😉
1. Computer teacher (programming/basic/wordstar) at 17 after spm.
2. Own biz with friend, didn’t work out so split.
3. Programmer for a month doing accounting program shit (bored so quit, boss hired me only because he thought I was cracking his software so he wanted to know more about me)
4. Programmer for a month doing surveillance/security camcorder software (don’t like working under Indian manager from India, pay too low, need to travel to Singapore occasionally, hated it, so quit)
5. Mobile software developer (won award from a microsoft mobile app contest) but i didn’t get to keep it, coz it was on behalf of a public listed company which I quit because I can’t stand nepotism and nosy unmarried women nannying me. Months later mass resignation follows. My work there wasn’t significantly useful in my opinion other than for showing off to the press so the boss could shore up company stock values or release press announcements. Basically a typical numbers company playing with stocks but hides behind the ‘technopreneur’ label.
6. Joined a startup with an ex-colleague heading, but boss was too ambitious, limited funds and parent investor does not agree with boss halfway. Bail out after I done my part and glad I did, found out the company is funded by money from organized crime syndicates, the family linked to another public listed company with organised crime, supposedly a money launderer under the guise of a mobile game developer. Found out ex-boss had death threats on him for his part in the company, so glad I bailed out before shit hits me as well.
7. Joined a telco hardware company, doing software after successfully helping them clinch a huge google api related project with one of the top 3 telcos. Fed up of the extremely messy office and extremely small working space, fed up with the corruption and extremely political colleagues, developed claustrophobia and quit. Big project is not necessarily a blessing, too much politics and palm greasing involved, and I have very limited hands/help, almost the entire project responsibility is put on me alone and colleagues are not cooperative because they could no longer have their palm greased after I joined the company. Previously they wanted me to grease their palms for getting me in the project but the attitude changed once the boss hired me full-time.
7. Did some freelance job for a youth portal owned by a press owned by a tycoon mentioned in the judiciary scandal, in record time.
Man my career path was full of landmines, decided to call it quits as a rattie and pursue my own business/projects.
Is it me or does IT jobs sucks donkey balls ? I guess I am not cunning/scheming/evil enough to backstab others to get ahead in the corporate game.
I was the Hospital cleaner/sweeper in Aberdeen while I was studying there. From the overtime I got during summer and winter, I managed to pay for my tuition fees and also an Amiga1500.
Then from time to time, I got paid drawing some sketches for one of my lecturers who was trying to write a book.
That’s a very impressive CV. I spent so much time attending interviews I was glad I finally got employed. That is one diversified CV.
Very nice post ST. I never did work when I was in school. Reason being, I was living in a small town, and parents feared that I would learn to love $$ too much to want to continue studying.
But right after SPM, when I was 19, I worked as a “Sales Ambassador” at one of those timeshare companies. Sold holiday memberships to people. It was unscruplous, unethical even. But hey, I was earning 2k a month as a basic, and about 300 in commissions. A HUGE deal for a 19 year old I tell you. My first paycheque, I bought a sofa set for my family. The best purchase I’ve ever made. 🙂 Job was tough though. Worked weird hours. Official work hours began at 6pm, but most days, we had to be in by 2pm for training. Then unsuspecting customers would start trickling in by 6.30pm to collect their free 3days, 2 nights stay at So and SO hotel. Yeah, it WAS free, but they had to sit and listen to us talk about our membership package for a good 3 hours. And sometimes even more. Work usually ended about midnight. I’d have supper with the bunch, and sleep at about 3am, waking up past noon the next day, living a skewed body clock life. Worked on weekends and public holidays too.
Quit after 4-5 months. I regret not saving $$ then. I was SO excited by all that cash I was earning, I blew everything. 🙁
Now I have a proper(boring) job, and I teach tuition on the side. I do translation work too.
I wonder what its like to be waitressing.
I did 3 months data entry job after my Form 5, and then another 3 months data entry job after first year in APIIT. Usually weekend will help out in my parent’s kopitiam.
Whow, and i thought my previous job is like in hell.
Apart of being sales promoter at optical shop and cashier in fast food restaurant after my GCE ‘O’, I got a job as a Tour Consultant after my Diploma course. Which lasted only 3 days.
Their reservation system is such a mess, worse than a pile of dung. Complicated tour packages, expects you to handle customer at the counter on your own without proper training or senior on your side.
Man, i swear that i will not work as tour consultant. EVER.
interesting post.
I did have nasty job when i was 15, dropping flyers, house to house.few thousand flyer that stack in ur bag,walking under hot sun to put those flyers into mailbox.
RM50-80 per day, depend on the how many different flyer on that day.
Now that job is occupy by bangla.
another nasty job, packing those real rewards point redemption gift, get them ready to ship to ur doorstep.
non stop running carrying weight in warehouse, sticking,cutting,insert docker, till u could smell cellophane tape on urself.
RM25 per day.
after those job i become sales assistant at versace,promoter,event supervisor,sound&light crew,graphic design,photography. all are part time basis because of study schedule.
Nasty job, but good experience of life.
I think it’s fair for you to say that in your third paragraph. Most of the Brits i know here work all sorts of jobs in btwn studies, take gap year off to fund their education etc. I have done a few part time jobs when i was in Malaysia but that’s nothing compared to what you guys do.
Unlike other “pampered” Asian kids, I actually WANTED to work after school and before entering med school but my mum just wouldn’t allow me! At that time, I just wanted something to do outside of the house and earn some of my own money like some of my other friends who worked in Swensen’s, McDonald’s, KFC, some became office despatch boys, some became sales assistants in shops/boutiques, etc (Agreed – all comfy jobs, not quite comparable to what Brit kids do).
I’ll definitely allow MY kids to work. Maybe not to the extent that they help fund their studies but to help them learn responsibility, brush up their social skills and develop some financial prudence. Hey, I will even force them to get a job (in between school & uni that is). I’ll stop their allowance and make them live with their pay.
BTW, Malaysian attitudes are changing. I have many colleagues whose kids do jobs before entering uni and while waiting for a proper one after graduating.
The Asia /i know is that of India, Nepal and the surrounding countries where children in most families work, unless the family is really rich. I have done so many part time jobs myself that I can’t even remember them all, but I think it would be fun to skip some of them and still have money.
Well dont know which part of the country you are staying in, but I come into contact with kids who work for everything even thought they are in school……..read primary school. This is in the Klang Valley.
My joblist is longish started when I was in primary 5. I’ll just put down those of significance.
1) odd job contractor (deliveries, cleaning, whatever needs doing)
3) laborer during the school holidays
2) banquet waiter during weekends and some nights(form 5)
3) to support myself through college I sold computers in the day and spun records at night (part time)
4) laborer during breaks (the pay is much better)
5) did some programming whenever they were available
6) to get my degree I had to save for a few years and still work as a consultant
On top of which I had to pay for everything, not withstanding my GFs degree when her parents stopped paying for her studies.
So, there. lol. I am not sore or anything because I have come to know so many capable (under payed) ppl in my work.
Its a good experience…..even though living hand to mouth.