Thursday 8 January 2009

Job Centre Plus

It was 1996 when I got my first job, I was still at school doing my A-levels, and working evenings in the produce department at Tescos, Saturdays too.

In 1997 I worked behind the bar in The Bridgewater in Worsley, mostly serving pints of Boddingtons.

Between 1997 and 2001 I spent every summer and most Christmases doing temp work for whoever my favourite agency sent me to. I have fond memories of being up to my elbows in beansprouts at Lenders Quality Foods, and typing up cheques at the RBS, nights spent in offices falling asleep over photocopiers.

In 2000 I'd been working doing filing and admin at Allied Bakeries somewhere north of Glasgow and the day after my last exam at uni in 2001 I went back there, still temping until I got my first proper permanent careerish job as a Production Engineer at Linn Products at the start of 2002.

I spent six and a half years there overlapping engineering, test, design and acoustics.

A few days after I was made redundant my favourite temp agency had me working doing admin at a local council centre for folk with learning difficulties and I started applying for jobs in London.

After a couple of months I broke free from Scotland and started at Roksan Audio as manufacturing manager. It was a year and a half before I out credit crunched out.

And now, aged thirty, I head to the Job Centre Plus to start claiming benefits.

*UPDATE*
Christ, that was an anti-climax. They sent me home with a photocopied sheet with the phone number.

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