What did you do before you joined up?

[MrMasher]

Reading True Black Jack's thread about falling entry standards made me think of what I did before I joined up.

I had to wait for around a year before I could gain entry so I carried on with my summer job after I left school and I ended up full time.
I worked in a cafe/bakery/ice cream parlour. I started on the dishes as a summer holiday worker and ended up working my way through the rest of the jobs (including making the ice cream dishes mmmmm!) until I ended up doing all the cooking. Eventually I was left on my own in the place running it during the winter months.

In no way related to any of my previous job experiences I joined as a rigger!!

What about the rest of you? Does your previous work relate to your trade now?

 

[Tigger]

Me, I was at college studying electrical and electronic engineering, I then failed OASC ! Then a riggers life for me.

 

[FairyGoodGuy]

I had to wait a while to join up as "There are no avionics placements a present!!" or so I was told at the CIO.

So got a job as a Service Advisor and Delivery Driver for a VW/Audi main dealership, I got to drive the full VW/Audi range having only passed my test a year previous. Had a few near misses behind the wheel of an Audi S2 and Corrado VR6 but driving Golf GTis round all day was the best. The job was ace but the money was crap.... but I was only young.. hey ho.

 

[Kernow]

I don't know if you could relate mine at all to what I do now. Left school at 16 and joined straight up as in my home town unless you wanted seasonal work or go into a factory then there wasn't much else.

Did have part-time job learnign a trade as a butcher's assistant, cleaning machines down, butcher's blocks etc (for £1.50 and hour). Not recommended for the faint hearted when scrapping bone and sinew off the band saw. Knee deep in blood and sawdust. A few stories to tell, that would put many off meat for life. Lets just say when I watched some of the programme on supermarkets and re-wrapping food it brought back some fond memories.DT_Xtremez_34:

 

[Statty Queen]

I too had to wait a year before I could join, and I had a few odd jobs, my favourite was working in Argos. It started as a Saturday job, but I was offered full time, just as I was about to board the train to Newark Station!!!

I suppose in a way, it is similar to my job at the mo. I work with numbers, and while working in Argos, I was on the tills, which was basically the same as tapping on my computer keyboard all day long!!

 

[Yossarian]

Does your previous work relate to your trade now?

Not one bit.....

I worked in a bakery. It was a French bakery that made croissants, pain au chocolat, apple and raisin Danish pastries, and french bread.
I mainly made mini croissants for the airlines at Manchester airport, Singapore airlines was the biggest customer.
I'd start work at between 2 and 5 in the morning, (depending on orders), work in the bakery until about 6am doing the croissants and bread (they had to be made to be used on the day as they didn't stay as fresh as the other products), then go out on the road doing deliveries until about 8 when we'd go back and make the more sturdy pastries (like Danishes) that would last until the next morning.
I'd get finished for anywhere between 10am and 2pm, again depending on orders.

It wasn't too bad actually, it paid for my scooter and you got as many free bakery products as you could handle, but you did get sick of them quite quickly. (And like Kernow's experiences, I've seen some horror stories that would put you off pastries for life!)

It was pretty much the only full time job I had as I had to wait 6 months between college and joining up at age 18.
I also worked part time as a barman (illegally at age 17) and a bike shop mechanic. (pedal bikes).

 

[ajay]

I ran a tropical fish / pet shop. set me up perfectly for air traffic !DT_Xtremez_35:

 

[True Blue Jack]

I dropped out of college a year into my 'A' levels, dossed about doing various office-based Young, Thick and Stupid placements until a mate told me he wanted to join the RAF and asked if I would give him some moral support when he went into the CIO.

I filled out an application form just so he could copy it. 3 months later I was on a train to Swinditz. The RAF saved me from a life of drudgery.

My mate did so badly on the aptitude tests they couldn't offer him anything. Ironic, really.

 

[gemarriott]

I left school and had about a year to wait till I was 17 so my old man got me a hjob in the steelworks as a sweeper up. As I was too young to work shifts the pay was crap so I wangled a move into the directors kitchens and spent a year as a kitchen dogsbody and commis chef.

Stood me in good stead for being a plumber, I could read foreign menus on detDT_Xtremez_30:

 

[tourettes]

Dont laugh too hard, but before I joined up I worked for a bridal magazine!

 

[Kernow]

I don't know if you could relate mine at all to what I do now. Left school at 16 and joined straight up as in my home town unless you wanted seasonal work or go into a factory then there wasn't much else.

Did have part-time job learnign a trade as a butcher's assistant, cleaning machines down, butcher's blocks etc (for £1.50 and hour). Not recommended for the faint hearted when scrapping bone and sinew off the band saw. Knee deep in blood and sawdust. A few stories to tell, that would put many off meat for life. Lets just say when I watched some of the programme on supermarkets and re-wrapping food it brought back some fond memories.DT_Xtremez_34:

Mrs K has told me to change what I have put as my previous vocation does relate to my present one, apprently I was a cnut before I joined and am still a cnut now.

 

[3Chordwonder]

Finished A levels then did the following jobs:

Junior in accountants office
Computer operator for a finance company (sacked for taking the **** out of the boss !!)
Local Govt Officer looking after council land ownership
Social Worker in Armley Jail/Wakefield Jail
RAF...

Varied as you can see

 

[beer]

I spent a glorious year working in a large well know Pork processing plant in West Lothian. I progressed from 'shovelling sh1t' to being promoted to the 'black pudding/haggis' department. Left after feeling the need to 'challenge' myself - joined up as one of the original 'FLM's' and eventually 'Sooty'.

 

[wolfy]

I left school and became an apprentice technician with one of the many GEC sites in Stafford, spent best part of a year at Stafford TEC before joining up as a TG 3 tech.

 

[docbombhead]

Left school worked as an apprentice mechanic for 4 years.
Worked in Sonys which was s**t for a year then gota job as a civvy MT fitter at St's before joining up.

 

[roverboy]

1985 - Looked into joining up as an apprentice

1986 - Got offered an apprenticeship with Marconi Instruments and took it

1988 - Gained an ONC from Marconi but got put in a cr@p job putting resistors into circuit boards so left

1990 - Got fed up with working for another sh!te company, so went back to the CIO to join up as a fairy (L tech AR). Got told that trade was closed but was offered Armrer or Aircraft Lecky. Obviously was too intelligent for knuckle dragging, so opted for a trade that could be adapted to other walks of life and joined up as a DE as I already had industry experience and an ONC.

 

[Man in Black]

I managed one year 6th Form at school doing retakes and work experience in an engineering plant. Achieved exactly the same grades on my retakes and learnt that I didn't like getting my hands dirty and smelling of oil then joined the RAF as a P & A Clerk (now Pers Admin).

 

[Wonky Tonka]

I was a dept manager for a bingo hall when I applied to the RAF.

Like FGG, there were no intakes of fairies for about a year after I got accepted, and as I was getting bored with the bingo job (having been there 4 years) so I left to work for IBM building PC's for a few months before I joined up.

The job may not be dierectly related to being a fairy, but it did give me a little insider knowledge when it comes to saving a few bob upgrading my PC.

 

[Goaty]

Came from a farming family so did lots of tractor driving and then worked in a slaughterhouse providing an essential service killing defenceless cows and sheep. Always avoided the pigs as they made too much noise.

Top training to become a plummer.....

 

[Stax]

Washed plates in a Motel for a while, stacked freezers in Bejams and eventually stacked shelves in Liptons. However I originally joined as an Air Photography Operator, biffed that course and became a Stacker! "Its all just a little bit of History repeating"