I got my first job as early as I could,with a covetable item to save for in my sights

I got my first job as early as I could,with a covetable item to save for in my sights

At the tender age of 14 and nine months I began working at a freeway roadhouse. But with an hourly rate of $5.25,buying a CD player was going to take a while.

  • byCara Waters

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‘Glamour in a packet’:How I learned stockings were the tip of a nylon iceberg

‘Glamour in a packet’:How I learned stockings were the tip of a nylon iceberg

Gossamer fine,in colours like ‘alabaster’ and ‘chateau’ – pantyhose meant different things to different women,and it was my job to help them find the perfect pair.

  • byFelicity Lewis
‘Is there anything else I can do for you,sir?’ My astonishing summer as a hotel maid

‘Is there anything else I can do for you,sir?’ My astonishing summer as a hotel maid

Of all the jobs,it is most astonishing that anyone let me be a professional cleaner.

  • byMichelle Griffin
I’m in a bit of a pickle,get me out of here

I’m in a bit of a pickle,get me out of here

Crossing the city to work in a factory on a revolutionary island was an eye-opening experience. There were no two ways around it:I was simply foul.

  • byJason Steger
They hired me because of my older sister. Turned out,I was not my older sister

They hired me because of my older sister. Turned out,I was not my older sister

The coffee chain probably thought they’d hit the jackpot when my older sister asked them to give me a job. I could be a Solange to her Beyonce. How wrong they were.

  • byWendy Syfret
Fluoro lighting,3am silence your own thoughts:What the graveyard shift taught me

Fluoro lighting,3am silence your own thoughts:What the graveyard shift taught me

With the logic of a barfly who pulls beers to fund a drinking habit,I sought a job at a service station.

  • byTom Cowie
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I was toiling to make the pitch perfect. Then the commandos choppered in

I was toiling to make the pitch perfect. Then the commandos choppered in

Fresh out of school,I’d been appointed groundsman at the country’s most prestigious military college. Rolling pitches was dull apart from one strange day.

  • byMichael Bachelard
Some jobs look better on paper. Being a hotel mascot is one of them

Some jobs look better on paper. Being a hotel mascot is one of them

After four years it was time for a fresh start. And that fresh start looked like a big blue and white costume that was dirty,unwieldy,and way too hot.

  • byDavid Swan
My government job was insanely boring. Thankfully,it was the peak of World Series Cricket

My government job was insanely boring. Thankfully,it was the peak of World Series Cricket

It was here that I learnt two invaluable truths about government red tape:one,it actually exists,and two,it makes for excellent cricket balls.

  • byKarl Quinn
A fancy party and I was the hired help. Farm handing had become too real

A fancy party and I was the hired help. Farm handing had become too real

It wasn’t my idea of fun. I believed school holidays were supposed to be a holiday. But 30 bucks was 30 bucks.

  • byTony Wright
I didn’t mean to work at an Irish bagel shop,homesickness made me do it

I didn’t mean to work at an Irish bagel shop,homesickness made me do it

Not for the first and not for the last time,I gritted my teeth and went with it,rather than trying to cross the cultural impasse.

  • byCassidy Knowlton