A predominately outside and varied work life. How has yours been?

[felixthelogchopper]

7 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

If I asked him what his last three were he wouldn't have a clue.

Nor would I, tbh. I could probably guess. I won't spoil it though.

[eggsarascal]

2 minutes ago, felixthelogchopper said:

Nor would I, tbh. I could probably guess. I won't spoil it though.

I'm sure you could Al, let's see if Vesp can.

[Stubby]

9 hours ago, Vespasian said:

OK I love listening to peoples life stories.. or reading in this case..

 

Left school at sixteen with not a clue what to do..  got a job in the local textile mill.. best job I ever had to be honest.. three lads looking after about fifty women..  fetching and carrying for them for the most part..  I used to listen to em gossip when it was quiet on the work front.. certainly taught me woman are different than men..  better company by a country mile...   left after three years an found myself shy of a job..  I soon found I liked being unemployed more than I liked the idea of working.

 

Or unknown to me at the time it was that I didn't like working for anyone else, I just didn't realize it back then..  

 

Not minding being a dole dosser it took some time to force myself to get a job of some description not so much for the money as to pay for the weekend out.(yea I know its for the money, but my motivation was drink) well I was young I still needed to get pissed of a weekend..  to this end I did the odd job, helped out here and there and even found a job helping out the local window cleaner..  

 

I tried a bit robbing on occasion, when you end up dossin on the dole you tend to gravitate to a certain type of company..  my new friends were thieves layabouts and ne're do well's...

Used to rob scrap metal from were ever they could find it and spend the money as soon as they got it..  mostly on drink of a weekend.. I went along with em every now and then.. 

Trouble is robbing scrap metal is a lot harder than you might think, working all hrs in the middle of the night, the fear of being caught. the embarrassment of being caught..  to much stress for my liking.......................................................

 

 

I decided to try my hand at goin big.. why mither with scrap when you can rob somethin bigger.. decided to become a full time thief..   a few banks a couple of hits on a supermarket kept us in clover for while, but not long enough..  thats were it all goes wrong.. you get greedy.. 

during one armed robbery my friends gun went off accidentally, wounding this old lady in the leg..

 

The cops poured over the place and found a cigarette stub he'd thrown away as we entered the bank.. the grassing bastard sang like a canary..   lifted and jailed within the week.. did fifteen years for that.. how time flies...  I would of been out after nine but got involved in a scuffle that ended with serious injuries to an inmate.  we'll leave that one..    

 

Came out got a gardening round goin and have thought about getting serious into tree's since..  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norman , Stanly Fletcher . You are an habitual criminal who treats imprisonment in the same casual manner . I therefore feel constrained to hand out the maximum penalty for these offenses .  You will go to prison for 5 years . Take him down .....?

[Mick Dempsey]

Blimey! This thread took a dark turn!

[Mull]

Blimey! This thread took a dark turn!

If you ain’t done any bird, then fek off mate!!

[Mick Dempsey]

I suppose what always strikes me about these threads is how often people end up doing this job more as kind of accident.

 

Doing this that and the other till they see a guy climbing around and think, ‘that looks good, I’ll have a go at that!’

 

Also how many did poorly or worse at school. 

 

(Edit. Easter leaver at 16 not a single exam passed in case you were wondering)

Edited December 8, 2018 by Mick Dempsey

[Ratman]

As the title suggests, what have you done during your working life? I expect many on here have had as varied a life as mine.
I'll kick off with mine. In late 1975 I was kicked out of school at 15 for being a smart arse and thinking that school wasn't for me. Got a job on a farm for a year or so until my grandmother left me enough money to scrape a ticket to NZ. I remember it cost about as much then as it does now. Worked there for two years by overstaying my work visa, getting caught by immigration, and them being good enough to allow me an extension. Worked on sheep and cattle stations, with a fencing and shearing contractor, and even did a month in a slaughter house. There was always a job there if you were willing to work hard. Great place and great people.
Came home and didn't want the drudgery of returning to farm work so started an apprenticeship in a car bodywork shop. Still wanted to travel though, so took off around Europe on a motorbike. Got a job in Germany in another car bodyshop and stuck it for two years. Then had some time off the cars and went to work for six months in a stone quarry near Heidelberg.  Great money. Took off around other parts of Europe mainly exploring, and even doing some shelf stacking in a French supermarket. Returned to the UK and bought a house with a workshop and started a small body shop business catering mainly for the trade, and one private collector . The house with workshop in 1982 cost £12000. 
In 1985 a friend put in a word for me and I got a job through a contractor on a North sea offshore oil installation. The house was paid off within a year and it still allowed me two weeks in every four to continue my business. Got married and continued to work the body shop until a divorce made me realise that being stuck in a shed doing restorations and crash damage was not for me. I've always enjoyed fishing and lived on the river whenever I got free time. The next 22 years were spent on three different sporting estates as their fishing ghillie. The first place was a hard go as during the winter I was thinning woods on a self employed per ton basis. Luckily I had a good mentor on the estate who had done a great deal and showed me the basics so I didn't kill myself.  He just operated the forwarder as he was getting on in years. I did the same job on the next estate during the winters, before getting full time employment on the last estate. The winters on the last estate over 8 years or so were spent helping out with the shooting as a beater and picker up with my dogs. Funnily enough, it was the last estate who paid me through the most basic saw course, even though I never did any work in the woods except for my own firewood and trimming down the river bank. 
I now work as a driver for the NHS out of hours service. I reckon I'm a jack of all trades and a former master of one.[emoji57]
 
 

Also to add, I was also recently offered a job on the outskirts of Cape Town which we were defo considering, but with all the riots and land disputes and government corruption etc out there at min, we’ve decided to put it on the back burner for a bit [emoji15] even the guy whos offered the job has returned home for a while till things settle. At nearly 40 yrs of age i do feel it would be a great opportunity to finish my working life in a better climate and also with less hustle and bustle on my doorstep........ we shall see.

[struie]

15 hours ago, Baldbloke said:

 

It was production platforms. Brent field, mainly Delta. However did sleep on an ex rig. Treasure Finder or Seeker. On a bloody Bell helicopter 2 or more times a day. Worked for a defunct company called AMOD.

 

not been on brent,mainly xploration rigs,but did work on the seeker roughneckn for afew yrs.all behind me now,20 odd yrs offshore,but during my shore leave worked in the forestry,line thinning,select,clear fell,back in the day o hand cutting,haha.good old days.

[aspenarb]

17 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I suppose what always strikes me about these threads is how often people end up doing this job more as kind of accident.

 

 

 

That's me Mick  

 

Was expelled from school for unruly behavior ( being a complete twat) which was a bit of a shame because I was actually doing well there. Got straight into engineering of varied sorts from the age of sixteen which evolved in later years to building and adapting forestry machines , was doing this for about ten years when a customer who was also a good friend of mine had a stroke, his wife was also seeking a divorce at the time. Long story short, he was running his own forestry business and I ended up having to buy it complete with machines and staff. So thrown in the deep end about thirty years ago, I took on all of his guys at the time so was in good company and able to learn fast Still here and enjoy it but its not in my blood.

 

Bob 

 

[Stephen Blair]

Fantastic life’s and stories guys.
Left school straight after my exams at 15, I was ok at school but hated the indoors and struggled with concentration and couldn’t wait to leave.
Dad got me a job with a Bowling green contractor the next day. I was there for 18 months which had developed into a 3 year apprentice ship.
In the middle of that I wanted to join the marines, so did a lot of running and press ups and headed off to Lympstone for the 5 day course, loved the physical but hated being shouted at so not for me.
Felt I was getting treated badly at work so for the first time in my life I raised my head and said no, I’d always just done what I was told.
So told the guy where to go after a 20 minute rant at him.’ Next day I was on a Posty, dad had made a call and at 3.45am I was off in the dark on my bike. Within a week I was working with my dad where we lived on site at a large sports centre where he was facilities manager. I did both jobs part time for a few months. 4am -8.30pm days. I loved it.
The job with dad turned into a full time greenkeeping job for 3 years where I did my felling tickets.

Usual me with my spontaneous over excitement at new opportunities, jumped at the first felling job I could find with a weeks course under my belt, left home with my life in BMW 316 and off I went to Argyl, it was brutal! I spent most of the day going for a hammer and wedge to get my saw out and I was home sick.
5 weeks later I was in a bed sit myself back in my hometown.
I blew my savings in a few weeks, my car was off the road and I just went to the pub with anyone I could find, I was low and with my parents moved away and retired I would just go from friends house to friends house just to be in part of a family. I soon pissed all of them off with my behaviour and found myself alone.
Got a job grass cutting and shovelling coal on the super tankers. 16 hour shifts shovelling and climbing 100’ ladders in the dark.
It’s what I needed, 7 days a week and some serious graft and I could make some money and get my mojo back and get my life on track.
Got myself a girlfriend too with a hard working farming back ground so found a table to sit round on occasions, birthdays and christmases.
Did a couple of them myself and didn’t want to do that again.
Then I had enough money and bought a harness and rope and a saw.
I was now strong as an oxe, had spent a couple of years hanging off steel ladders with a shovel so running up and down trees with a saw was easy.
I got a start with a company in Glasgow, learned what I had to 6 months later and the first storm I started myself.
That was 20 years ago. I have found anytime I have a physical task with a bit of thinking,it’s only time my brains not driving me nuts so tree work has kept me focused. There’s obviously 20 years of self employment stories, becoming a parent and dabbling in property in amongst all that too and a lot of machinery!