Originally Posted by
Witton Park
Mike I started work in 1983 aged 18 and I worked as a "Trainee Manager" at a footwear firm in Rossendale.
40 hours a week Monday-Friday with a 1:00pm finish on Friday.
I started on £50pw.
I was expected to work my share of over-time. The shop floor staff were paid by the hour or piecework. I wasn't.
In 1988 I started work in Rochdale at another company and during that time was asked to attend some management meetings which often went on after work hours, and then started in a sales role, which often meant earlier starts, later finishes and over-night stays, all without additional pay.
I don't want to go on, but it has been more or less the same all my working life. I have either been self-employed where I have worked for less per hour than my staff much of the time and at times put in 60 hour weeks.
Between 2003 and 2009 I worked for a German company and that involved over 100 days per year in the Far East or mainland Europe, losing 6-8 weekends.
I also visited customers around the UK starting sometimes before 6:00am and finishing after 8:00pm.
I don't expect sympathy, or a pat on the back. But I do object to certain "virtuous" professions being paraded as something special
Many of us do above and beyond what we need to do, in many jobs, in employment, self-employment and voluntary work.
But in some of the jobs I have done, I might lose that job if I adopted 40 hour attitude. I doubt a nurse would be in that position.