“I think many people need, even require, a narrative version of their life. I seem to be one of them. Writing memoir is, in some ways, a work of wholeness”
Sue Monk Kidd
For anyone new to Bite Size Memoir, this little exercise is intended as inspiration for anyone to spend 5 minutes here and there, to record some personal memoir in small manageable bites.
This prompt has now closed - Read the round up of submissions here!
There’s a prompt every week and some constraints to keep it small (with full details at the bottom of this post). Feel free to dip in and out without the need for commitment. If you have your own blog and want to participate, please incorporate links to and from your post to encourage readers to blog hop.
This week’s prompt is “First Jobs” – I’ve deliberately left that plural because to debate which of my ‘first jobs’ was actually my first, is a whole philosophical exercise and the important thing is perhaps more, what is significant about the early experience of work and its shaping of us.
As usual I’ve tackled it in two ways to provide examples and there’s a reminder of the rules at the bottom.
“Accept who you are and revel in it” – Mitch Albom
My 10 x I remember statements:
I remember being small enough to sit inside the bonnet holding a torch while my Dad worked on something.
I remember the ‘washing up’ chart on our kitchen wall.
I remember that cleaning the whole house took 4 hours for £5 pocket money.
I remember my hands blistering, packing daffodil bulbs one summer.
I remember the older women wore rubber gloves but didn’t warn me. They didn’t laugh but they didn’t want me ‘permanent’.
I remember others getting the well paid potato picking jobs but you had to ‘know’ somebody.
I remember the TSB share issue and bunging any old postcode on the incomplete applications.
I remember bar work in the local pub and knowing the regulars orders before they got their coats off.
I remember waitressing and A unintentionally lining up a row of peas in a large cleavage!
I remember spilling scalding gravy in a man’s lap and his horror as I tried to wipe it off!
My 150 words prose
Excited but sure they’d soon find me out, I was a 1987 graduate trainee for British Gas ‘Productivity Services’. One of four women, plus a ‘right Sheffield lass’, in a department of fifty, mostly middle-aged men.
‘Induction’? More like ‘baptism of fire’ to catch me out – passed like a rugby ball around a main-laying gang; in agony because I wouldn’t ‘piss in the trench’ like the rest of them; running up and down cellar steps chasing the speed-walking shop steward, stop watch in hand, supposedly rating meter reading for bonus schemes – not a word all eight hours til we parted:
‘Tha’s not bad for a lass..’
I cried all the way home with exhaustion and pride.
Sara helped me out of bed to face the office the next day. A quiet new respect – they’d all heard the union report. More than equal?
It got better after that!
I could write much more about my first job at British Gas – there were several intakes of graduate trainees in the late 1980’s deliberately recruited to help shift the culture following it’s privatisation (including the young men in this photo – not responsible for ‘fitting me up’ in those early days). Consequently we were a strong and resourceful bunch and some of my best times were spent on residential courses or partying with these independent quick thinkers. But having avoided the traditional female departments, my time in (and out of) the office was often much more testing than the actual work.
What do you remember?
Here’s how you join in:
A REMINDER OF HOW THE BITE-SIZE MEMOIR CHALLENGE WORKS
- Each Friday I’ll suggest a topic by 2pm UK time (BST) via my blog and Twitter (using the hashtag #BiteSizeMemoir – You don’t need to be on Twitter to participate.)
2. The challenge will be to write about the topic using
either
10 x “I remember statements”
or
150 x words (No more ! – Prose or poetry if you want to stretch yourself)
Either will make you pick and choose your words carefully whilst keeping a tight focus for time’s sake. You might want to write more, to keep at home, but please only submit one option within the limits for sharing (i.e. 10 statements or 150 word prose/poem)
3. The Deadline for sharing your ‘Bite’ will be 2pm (BST) the following Thursday. You can share in either of two ways:
a) Post your response in the comments section of the current topic – I will find it and cut and paste to the compilation of responses. (You may not see your comment appear immediately but don’t worry – I will find and share it)
or
b) If you have a blog you can post your response on your own blog with a link back to this post, and then also provide the link to me in the comments section. I will then link your contribution back to your post, in the compilation of responses.
4. It would be great if you felt able to include the country the events took place in – I won’t enforce this but I think it provides a significant context for other readers. As an example look at the compilation for “School at Seven”
5. I will aim to compile responses and share them via another post before the next challenge is issued.
A few rules:
- If you need or want to be anonymous that’s fine – When you post a comment just put ‘Anon’ or a nickname in the name field. It does ask for an email address as part of spam filtering but only I will see it.
- Please keep others anonymous to protect their privacy and dignity – change names or use initials etc.
- If you’ve got an axe to grind, please do it somewhere else.
- If you stumble across this after the deadline, do feel free to contribute and include your blog link in the comments section of the compilation, so others can read it.
June 12, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Well Lisa, I’m flying in by the seat of my pants once again, cutting it mighty fine this week! But I made it! Here’s the link to my post, hope you like: http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/2014/06/12/bite-size-memoir-number-6-first-jobs/
I enjoyed reading about your job at British Gas and love your pic! Love…’that’s not bad for a lass’ A baptism of fire for sure, but you passed with flying colours, great stuff 😀
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June 12, 2014 at 1:14 pm
Plenty of time to spare! That Suzanne at Wanton Word Flirt is usually begging an extension!
But she beat you into the office today! Thank you!
Being ‘not bad for a lass’ reminds me of another comment about not sweating much ‘for an ‘hefty bird’ – Must think of a prompt!!
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June 12, 2014 at 1:16 pm
That makes me feel a lot better, thanks Lisa! I don’t know why I’m always running so late with everything…drives my family mad 😉
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June 12, 2014 at 1:18 pm
My guess (being a bit similar..) is you love a bit of adrenalin too !
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June 12, 2014 at 1:19 pm
Ahh…think you might have caught me out Lisa, how very perceptive of you … 😉
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June 12, 2014 at 12:25 pm
I went to Reiterbund Saarbrucken to muck horses and perfect my German. Until then my stable experience was Thelwell ponies in south west England with jolly jodhpur girls cleaning tack and making pancakes on the range.
The German set up was a different world of over 50 horses, indoor dressage and separate show jumping arenas, two exercise paddocks, a bar and restaurant !
Thirteen boxes to be mucked out by 9.00am everyday (with incredible hangovers) and then the horses to be brushed and cleaned. Hot afternoons loading muck or unloading hay from wagons. Free time with great friends at beer festivals, BBQs and galloping through the woods..
The horses insisted on speaking German but the people wanted to practice English. Still, my German was good enough to know my faux pas calling a client’s young girlfriend, his daughter.
And I came back incredibly fit and strong, to my best rugby season ever!
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June 12, 2014 at 12:27 pm
Thanks Simon! What about the sewage coming up through the floor in all that heat – that’s the bit I remember from this tale!
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June 13, 2014 at 6:21 am
What a great look at horse jobs across the pond. We have to muck stalls in the west, too, but gratefully my horses were pastured. Sounds like a great season in life!
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June 12, 2014 at 5:50 am
Thought I’d go with my first “real job”! http://wantonwordflirt.com/2014/06/12/big-money-little-glamour/
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June 12, 2014 at 1:48 pm
Money earned the unsanitary way! Thanks for sharing this little eye opener!
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June 13, 2014 at 9:15 pm
To be honest I did not stick with the job very long, several months and I was ready to be done smelling those washrooms and breathing dust!
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June 14, 2014 at 10:04 am
Oh, eeuw ! I’d forgotten about smell..
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June 12, 2014 at 1:36 am
Mine is up, Lisa! So love you guided me back to long ago.
http://thisgirlclimbstrees.weebly.com/extra-fun-bits-with-words/i-remember-my-first
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June 12, 2014 at 1:37 pm
More green food! Isn’t it amazing how many links and themes you can find between very different experiences!
Thanks Ellen – a fab first job. I would have loved it (and got fat on popcorn!)
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June 11, 2014 at 12:18 pm
Was going to flunk this challenge, Lisa, as none of my memories felt worth a story, so I’ve splurged on the I remember statements instead:
I remember not having the energy for both a proper Saturday job AND clubbing till two in the morning. Although it meant less money for clothes, the dancing won out.
I remember being commissioned to help a neighbour’s son with his reading but his mother’s chatter got in the way.
I remember poles and theodolites on the hillside with my dad.
I remember losing a registered letter when delivering the Christmas mail.
I remember swimming off my fury after a day in the bread wrapper factory.
I remember expecting to improve my German at the pickle factory but ending up speaking Spanish instead.
I remember eating constantly through the half hour for lunch and going back to university half a stone heavier.
I remember putting flies in the pickle jars, but I’d deny it if it ever came to court.
I remember having more money than I’d ever had in my life, despite we foreigners and girls being paid at a lower rate.
I remember resolving to work harder at my studies in the hope of landing a less mind-numbing job.
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June 11, 2014 at 5:34 pm
This is what I love about ‘I remember..’ Glimpses into all sorts that speak of a brave and rebellious nature – How on earth did you get fat on pickles though?!
All such valuable stuff – that last one rings true with me and daffodil bulb packing – amazingly mind-numbing after a few hours and there were women there who did those seasonal jobs every year. I realised then what studying was really about. Thanks for not flunking then and now, Lisa x
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June 11, 2014 at 11:07 pm
If those first jobs were mind-numbing, then understandable that this prompt was tough. Although I always thought those black things in pickles jars were peppercorns. Vinegar is a great disinfectant, but I’ll watch more closely now!
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June 11, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Me too!
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June 13, 2014 at 9:43 am
Thanks, both. Alas, Charli, there was a more conscientious girl further down the line who extracted the wildlife and, Lisa, how could we have eaten pickles during the break when the mere thought of them made us want to gag? No, we hitched across the border to the hypermarket in the Netherlands and stocked up on Nutella and delicious bread rolls.
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June 13, 2014 at 11:13 am
Yum – I can vaguely remember the first time I had nutella – probably bought from the NAFI when my Dad was in the RAF!
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June 10, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Here’s my first ‘proper’ Saturday job, as promised. It wasn’t what I expected, and had nothing to do with my first ‘full-time’ job… Thanks for prompting these ‘long-lost’ memories… http://lucciagray.wordpress.com/category/interaction-with-other-authors/bite-size-memoir/
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June 10, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Sick from handling cakes! Hard to imagine! Thanks for bringing this one up..
And thanks for sticking to the word limit ! I think it’s an important part of distilling it all down to the key points.
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June 10, 2014 at 2:54 am
Beer Koozies and Blinking Buttons
I held up my newest uniform for work. “Where’s the rest of it?”
“That’s it,” my boss laughed. “It’ll look great. Trust me.”
I didn’t trust him. But I did walk out of his office with my piece of fabric pretending to be a dress. I also carried a huge plastic bag of what my boss called “trinkets and trash”—beer koozies, blinking buttons, key chains, and bottle openers. People clambered for this stuff at the bars and clubs.
I smiled like the idiot I was supposed to be and handed out these goodies. Even with all the girls in short skirts and low-cut tops, I always felt half naked. Like some nice guy should offer me his coat. None of them ever did.
I cringed at some of the bar-hoppers. Others, I laughed at. When you are the only sober person at a bar, human behavior becomes particularly interesting.
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June 10, 2014 at 10:26 am
Oh Sarah! What a week this is turning out to be – Another young woman dealing with misogynistic humiliation. I love the line “I smiled like the idiot I was supposed to be..” Totally loaded with generations and generations of history. Amazing that it was only ‘yesterday’ – I hope it’s not still our ‘today’ or tomorrow. Thanks for sharing this – It’s brilliant.
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June 10, 2014 at 11:33 am
On behalf of the other 50 percent I unreservedly apologize for all grubby little arseholes you came across. As Lisa says I hope this will end. As father to the vet I certainly want never to have to holler at white van man as I did earlier for much longer. Sarah you bring out humour so well when fury at the indignity would be a natural response. No more page three is a start ( does that translate across the pond) but electronic castration is much to recommend it. Rant over.
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June 10, 2014 at 11:57 am
I feel the rest of you have also suffered – in some respects having to emasculate yourselves for fear of being identified with the idiot half!
I wish we could just embrace the differences and get on with it – there ! A psychologist says out-loud – there are differences. Probably have the BPS police after me now!
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June 10, 2014 at 1:46 pm
I try and adopt the Caitlin Moran philosophy in How to be a Woman that it’s all about being polite to each other. If we could just empathise a bit more…
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June 11, 2014 at 4:17 am
It sounds like the cigar girls back in the 1950s. And not a safe element either, especially with the booze. Much easier to take a stand when men are sober. Much easier to be around better men. But that’s not always the case and I’m glad that job is behind you! Gives you good material for writing, though. 🙂
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June 12, 2014 at 5:30 pm
Lisa: Yah, it was pretty bad but I took the job and kept it for a spell. I was earning a lot more than my earlier jobs. (I had such short-lived jobs when I was younger I can barely remember them or what I did there so went with this memorable one.) Nothing compared to Tui’s horrible experience. I’m glad I wasn’t with her because it might not have been eggs we were throwing. 😉
Geoff: Thanks for your heartfelt apology on behalf of the half (who are not all bozos and, btw, sometimes the girls were way worse). I am so happy sometimes that I don’t have daughters. I do not envy you what you’ll have to deal with as a dad. Also, I just want to say that your compliment really hit me (in a good way) and I hadn’t thought about it like that. I appreciate the comment very much.
Charli: Ha! Oh my gosh, cigar girls. Yes, that’s kind of what it was like. Without the cute, little hat. 😀 (Was it a pillbox or something?) It does give me great material for writing. It really does…
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June 9, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Darn…I missed this one. Fun reading these. My first job, at 14, was cleaning bathrooms and emptying bedpans in the nursing home my parents owned….maybe I will do a BSM on this anyway, just for me 🙂
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June 9, 2014 at 7:16 pm
You’re not too late Jeanne – Doesn’t close until Thursday and I’d love to hear about bedpans!! 😄
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June 9, 2014 at 11:14 am
Here we go; so many memories. Thank you, once more, for the prompt Lisa. https://geofflepard.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/working-it-out/
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June 9, 2014 at 3:54 am
A few thoughts and my selected bite: http://carrotranch.com/2014/06/09/bite-size-memoir-no-6/
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June 9, 2014 at 7:45 am
It’s trench warfare ! Good to know I wasn’t alone with this – a good story looking back but every one of these days required a big deep breath before starting!
Thanks for all these thoughts too. I always want to add more to mine when I’ve read everyone else’s but I do also wonder how much my ‘example’ influences others..
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June 8, 2014 at 1:20 am
Of course I also was paid for babysitting and cleaning house but my first real job is here:
http://morgandragonwillow.com/2014/06/trouble-with-a-capital-t-bitesizememoir.html
Thanks for the memory! 😀
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June 8, 2014 at 7:32 am
Yay! I’ve been excited all night wondering what this was going to be about. Drooling now for something sugary.. Great to meet you at last – of course that friend of yours, Tui is always talking about you!
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June 7, 2014 at 6:15 pm
Oh bloody hell – this has stirred up so many memories – from being covered from head to foot in creosote to cycling into the back of a bread van.
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June 7, 2014 at 8:38 pm
I can hardly wait !
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June 6, 2014 at 8:45 pm
Love the topic! This will be a fun one to write.
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June 7, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Hi Cypress – Hope you’ve enjoyed your travels. It’ll be great to hear your take on your early days of work!
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June 6, 2014 at 5:11 pm
Another excellent prompt. I appreciate your comments re: which job was the first? You have given me pause for thought. Looking forward to another set of mini memoirs this week.
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June 7, 2014 at 9:28 am
Thanks Sue. I hope your computer glitches are sorted now and you can fling a few words our way! Lx
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June 6, 2014 at 4:24 pm
I like this one! I was thinking about Saturday jobs! I had a few of those…
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June 6, 2014 at 4:53 pm
I was hoping you might ! Phew !
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June 6, 2014 at 3:07 pm
I never would have thought of chores as my “first job” – but they sure were! Love the prose version – that sounds like a longer story worth telling!
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June 6, 2014 at 4:10 pm
It was quite a shock – I was a bit naive.. but a fast learner!
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June 9, 2014 at 2:52 am
I want to hear more of your prose version! The picture is grand and it looks as if “80s hair” was a thing across the pond, too. I have so many jobs to pull from–my “chores” had to do with my dad’s logging business or my mom’s small general store. But my first “real” job was for the Bacon Ranch. It lead me down a strange path of non-traditional jobs, waitressing and freelancing until I went to college with three kids in tow–then I had a “real” career. Now I write! You’re right–trying to figure out which is “first” is not easy.
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June 9, 2014 at 7:13 am
What we’ll do to relieve boredom! Thanks Irene – a good chuckle to start my day 😄
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