Don’t you hate those pushy, annoying sales people who are SUPER annoying friendly??
I used to be one of them :(.
It wasn’t by choice, I worked at a sunglass shop during my university holidays and my boss was a dip shit!
She thought the more that I haggled her customers the more they would buy her sunglasses.
But with some worth $300 a pop – it was not as easy as she thought – and this was back in 1997!

This is me during my first year of uni – with my $350 RR Oakley – sunglasses! Got them dirt cheap though! Also notice the beer poster on my wall – all class peeps all class!
Everyone that walked in the door I had to speak to, annoy and almost BEG for a sale – it was cringe worthy!
In saying that I used to get great specs at cost + GST – which is DIRT CHEAP.
Just so you know, the mark-up on sunnies is about 300 per cent!
One place I never had to beg for customers was the cinema – a job that I got paid $4.20 an hour for when I was 16.
The perks were free movies every week, all the popcorn I could stomach, and spying on EVERYONE who came to the movies!
However, I did have to wear a bow tie, a waistcoat and stockings…
But I did enjoy earning money to put petrol in my 1977 Ford Escort!

This was my first car (except it was granny, pale blue – how cool is it?) My parents gave it to me – I know right, they are amazing!
I also had another job when I was a high school/uni – it was at a family friend’s orchard (in NZ).
I used to thin apples – a BORING job of taking apples off a vine so more can grow bigger.
Kind of like natural selection but not really because we selected the apples that went :(.

When I was thinning apples I had a Discman… and it sucked when it fell off from one of these high ladders!!!
I had another orchard-type job in my final year of high school – PACKING APPLES for export!
Talk about BAT-SHIT BORING – but I made money to get booze freedom!

I used to private board with a vision impaired 80-year-old in my last year of high school, and to escape her at nights, I used to work at an apple packing place a bit like this! Image source
One of my favourite jobs was working at Para Rubber (The NZ version of Clark Rubber) while I studied at uni.
The only downside was that I worked EVERY Saturday and Sunday.
For those who have been to uni – you will know this took some commitment because I used to party every week from Thursday to Sunday like it was 1999 (even though it was only 1997).

I used to get over my hangover by a big feast of Burger King (as it was known in NZ in 1998) Image source
My boss was amazing, as were my colleagues, one in her 50s, and they used to re-live their lives through me!
In fact their eyes would dance listening to my weekly dramas updates!
At Para I also worked with a trainee-doctor – sadly he and his father died tragically in a yachting accident about 10 years ago – but that’s a whole other blog post.
BUT if you wanna know about foam, o-rings, pool chemicals, gumboots, washers, rain coats, spa pools – then I’m your girl!

I was very excited when I entered search engine terms and this came up – this is the EXACT shop front, in Palmerston North, NZ, that I used to work at – owned by Paul and Sheree!
From a young age I have always worked.
In fact – at just eight-years-old I used to crack walnuts and collect pine cones for my parents just to make a buck!
I want my children to learn that you have to work hard to get what you want in life – things just don’t magically appear.
What do you do to teach your children the value of hard work/money? What did you spend your $4.20 an hour on?
WHOOP WHOOP – here’s to me finally hanging at the “Lounge” – this week it’s being hosted by Kim at Falling Face First
And of course – thanks to the lovely Grace at With Some Grace – I am also flogging my blog