What's everone doing today?

[Michael Rolls]

Where did THAT come from? 

Granny’s comment about the price of her suit.
Mike

[Michael Rolls]

Going by the price I'd guess at Saville Row. I probably started work 15 years or more later and that was 2 weeks wages for me even then.

Not Saville Row. It was the Fifty Shilling Tailor, although it had been a long time since they had sold anything at that price. This was 1954
Mike

[zoony]

   I left school at 14, first suit was Army uniform, second were two 'sylum attendant's suits (provided) and I had a couple of mix n match ones for stage wear (provided) but I've never bought one that I can remember. Was toying with the idea for being buried in but only considered it momentarily..

[klondike]

Not Saville Row. It was the Fifty Shilling Taylor, although it had been a long time since they had sold anything at that price. This was 1954
Mike

I notice that Poundland (I think the only national poundshop left) have stuff at higher prices now. I wonder how long it will be before there is nothing on sale at £1.

[zoony]

I passed what used to be Nat West Bank the other day. Lovely old, two-story 20s-built building taking up the corner of a block. Been empty a couple of years but now has a big banner proclaiming it to be a new PoundLand or some-such. This is small, wealthy town/village, very middle-class but obviously hurting. Not sure it's virus-related though, more just a general decline..Very sad.

[Jacqueline]

There a a couple of old Bank building empty in town, lovely building like Zoony says, I would love to convert into a house as right in the middle of things, but I doubt you'd get planning although nobody seems to want them for anything else.


My dad used to go to Hepworths to have suits made, you don't see many tailors these days.  Generations of tailors in my family though.

[Michael Rolls]

Just thinking. That first suit cost three weeks wages, hence having to buy on hire purchase
Mike

[zoony]

We were a very different people before credit cards..

[biglouis]

For my first intervew (the Civil Service) I wore my school uniform but with nylons instead of ankle socks. At that time (1959) it was considered quite acceptable to go for a job interview wearing school uniform because a young girl was not expected to have "office" clothes. My grandmother came with me because it was a part of Liverpool neither my mother or I knew.


Because grandpa had been in the diplomatic service I asked my gran what they were likely to ask. She said that they would be bound to ask me something about Liverpool so I should study up  some local landmarks and features to talk about. She was correct! They asked me to imagine I had a friend coming to stay and I had to show them around the city. Of course I mentioned the Liver Buildings and their history and the Mersey Tunnel (which in its day was as revolutionary an engineering project as the channel tunnel). I mentioned a few other cultural things like the Art Gallery and museum and that we would end up taking a trip on the river Mersey. That made them smile.


My gran also warned me they would be bound to ask what sports I enjoyed. "But gran I hate sports!" "Dont tell them that! They want to know that your competetive but you can also work in a team." So I found a way to talk "around" it by telling them which sports we played and the fact that we had 4 competetive houses. I added that I also represented my house in sport, drama and music and that I enjoyed the competitions.


It was true that I enjoyed the music and drama but I HATED sport with a passion.


Interviews then were very formal and I can remember calling all the men sir and the woman miss as if I was still n school.


I got the appointment but left after 6 months and went into librarianship because it was not for me.

[zoony]

I enjoyed reading that BL.. It explains something more about your attitude.    But I got a bit stuck at the interview in a schoolgirl uniform but with nylons which in 1959 would indicate suspender belt etc.. I can see why you might have impressed the panel..

[Michael Rolls]

Now I think about it, I went to the interview for that first job wearing my school uniform (but not wearing nylons!😁). Actually, it was all I had. Getting the job created a bit of a panic when I, and mum, realised I had to have a suit.
For the life of me, I can’t remember the actual mechanics of paying for it. I worked in Kingston and the shop was ten minutes walk away, so I must have walked down in my lunch hour. Obviously I paid in cash  - how many 16 year olds had bank accounts? Probably paid once a week,  but no idea how long it took to pay off.
Mike

[GrannyMac]

I left school at 15, but went to Commercial College for a year before starting work.  It was real 1960s, we had a common room where we had lunch, with a record player. My mum was a good dressmaker and she made me a couple of pencil skirts which were all the rage. I had a Saturday job in a shop, I got 15/- and bought clothes with it.  We were mainly female, with just a couple of boys in each class, it was a fun time.

My first job after that was in the rates office of the council. I remember the male staff were headed for promotion, and females had to leave if they married.  We weren't expected to have ambitions! It was really old fashioned, with sloping desks that faced the office manager.  The female staff were issued with nylon overalls, not exactly glamorous!

[granny moss]

Good morning everyone....I have had a fairly good night....The Birthday cards are finished, and Jenny said they are very pretty....Years back I used to make about 40 cards for Easter...and 40 for Christmas...plus all the Birthdays !  Not anymore....only about a dozen birthdays and no others......Xmas cards I buy !......I used to do large cards with enhancements.....very enjoyable....but too fiddly for my poor fingers now     


I did the funeral  cards for my sisters in law, and we use the same family for the job....The director offered me a job to do the cards for his clients....

I do not do commissions. I am a free spirit !.....gmx

[Sheila]

When I was leaving school I went with a friend for an interview at Levers in Port Sunlight.  We had tests one of which was a maths test.  I am normally very honest but knew that my friend was not good at maths so completed my test and put it where my friend could see my answers!

We both got jobs and I was put in a department where good maths was important.  I sat next to a man who was doing exactly the same job but he was paid more.  I learned to look around me before I stretched to reach something in a filing cabinet!

[biglouis]

a schoolgirl uniform but with nylons which in 1959 would indicate suspender belt etc.. I can see why you might have impressed the panel..

Yes I wore a "sussy" belt with nylons as tights were not yet available widely - that was the 1960s. I had just turned 16 and considered myself far too grown up for ankle socks. However my skirt was well past my knees so there was nothing visible to excite the panel! 


I had a part time job in a Greek take away which I used to pay for things like nylons, make up and leisure clothes. In those days women wore suits, plain dresses and blouses and skirts for office jobs. With my first pay packet I bought myself some blouses and skirts for work and wore them turn and turn about.


I can recall debating whether to tell the panel about my part time job in what was basically a chip shop as my friends in school (who worked in department stores) had looked down on it. However I did tell the panel about it, along with what skills I believed I had learned from the work.


Ironic that my first job was about selling and I have come back to selling at the end of my life!