And welcome to the English Like a Native podcast.
My name is Anna and you're listening to week 44, day 5 of Your English 5 a Day.
The second season.
Wow, 44 weeks.
It's such a long time, but it's also flown by.
Have you been with me from the very start?
Maybe you started listening at the beginning of season 1.
Maybe...
You started listening when I wasn't even doing the five a day.
This podcast has evolved so much as will you if you continue to indulge in the habit of dunking daily into the English language.
So why do that with me?
Well, one thing is for sure.
You will always, always have my real voice.
There'll be no AI slop here, just true human vocals.
Sometimes I will change my voice to give you a slightly different character sound, but it will always truly originally come from my vocal folds.
And that's my promise to you.
And will you promise me something?
That, even if you can't listen to my podcast, that you will Continue to listen to something in English, whether that's music, another podcast, a YouTube video, the radio, anything.
Just keep going because when you stop, your progression doesn't pause.
Your language doesn't wait.
It actually regresses.
It decreases.
It goes rusty.
And frankly, you've worked too hard for that.
So keep going.
I'll support you all the way.
All right.
So today is Friday, which means we're bringing together all the vocabulary that's been presented to you this week in one big story.
Now, today's story is called My First Summer Job.
This isn't my story, but I will be reading it as if it were my story.
So listen carefully.
The summer I turned 16 was different from any other.
For the first time in my life I had a taste of real freedom and a proper job to go with it.
In England, when you turn 16, everything changes.
You can leave school if you want to, but before you do you have to sit your GCSEs, the General Certificate of Secondary Education.
These exams are a big deal, and back in 2001, when I took mine, they felt like the gateway to adulthood.
The exam period runs through May and June and once you've finished your last paper, you're done.
No more classes, no more turning up to school, you just leave.
Normally, the school term drags on until the third week of July. but not when you're taking GCSEs.
I finished my final exam around my birthday in late June, which meant I suddenly had an entire extra month of summer stretching ahead of me.
It was brilliant and also slightly terrifying.
What was I supposed to do with all that time?
That's when my mum had an idea.
Why don't you get a summer job? she suggested.
After all, at 16, I could now work legally with a proper contract.
Payslips, national insurance contributions, the works.
Before that I'd done a bit of babysitting for neighbours, but I was just paid cash in hand.
Nothing official.
This would be different.
This would be real.
The thought excited me.
Yes.
A long summer sounded amazing, but I knew it could also get boring quickly.
Plus, earning my own money felt very grown-up.
So, somewhat embarrassingly, I found myself trailing around town with my mum going from shop to shop, asking if anyone needed summer staff.
This was 2001, remember?
The internet existed, but it was still quite new.
Nobody had smartphones.
We weren't constantly connected the way people are now.
Applying for jobs online wasn't really a thing yet.
Most people were still figuring out how to install basic software on their home computers.
Nobody was submitting applications digitally.
You could still walk into shops, even big chain stores, and hand over your CV or simply ask if they had any positions available.
I don't think that would work nowadays.
They'd probably just tell you to check their website.
We tried everywhere.
Different shops, different businesses in the city centre.
Some places were tricky because of my age.
I could technically work in a pub, for instance, but only collecting glasses or washing dishes not serving behind the bar.
We focused mainly on retail.
We even tried an estate agent, though looking back, 16 was probably far too young for that sort of work.
They wanted someone older, more qualified professional, Probably someone with the gift of the gab, who could charm potential buyers.
It was mortifying, honestly.
My mum doing most of the asking while I stood there awkwardly.
But, I have to give her credit, it was incredibly proactive and eventually it paid off.
We walked into a well-known high street chain that sold skincare, body and beauty products.
It's still around today actually, and I genuinely like their products so, in hindsight, it was quite a cool place to work.
My mum asked the question she'd asked a dozen times before.
Do you have any summer jobs available?
This time, the answer was yes.
They could take me on for three weeks working in the stockroom.
It wasn't glamorous.
I wouldn't be serving customers or working the till on the shop floor.
Instead I'd be upstairs in the stockroom sorting through stock, putting price labels on things, that sort of work.
But I didn't care.
I was thrilled.
I had my first real job.
I started a few days later.
There was another girl who'd been hired around the same time to do the same work, so at least I wasn't alone.
The stockroom was directly above the shop and because it was summer, and quite a hot one at that, it wasn't always the most comfortable place to be.
We'd be up there sweating whilst handling boxes and bottles all day.
My colleague seemed nice enough at first. but I soon discovered something troubling.
She was stealing from the shop.
She was quite talkative and told me openly that she'd been slipping small items lip balm eyeshadow, things like that into her bra throughout the day.
The managers would check our bags when we left, so that was her way around it.
I didn't know what to do with this information.
I certainly didn't want to be a grass, and honestly, she scared me a bit.
It was easier to just keep my mouth shut and get through the three weeks without causing any trouble.
Then one day, I got told off myself.
I'd brought in a lip balm from home, one I'd already bought and had been using from that very shop, and a manager spotted it in my bag.
Be careful.
Careful, she warned me.
We might think you've stolen that.
I wanted to laugh or cry.
Here I was being cautioned whilst my colleague was literally stuffing products down her top.
Every shift.
But I said nothing.
What could I do?
It was just a summer job.
I wasn't going to take any risks.
The work itself was fairly random.
Some days we'd be pricing stock, other days we'd be sent to clear out old storage spaces.
One day my colleague and I were tasked with sorting through a back office that was full of mess.
Old files, junk, random bits and pieces that had accumulated over time.
It was dusty, tedious work, but...
It turned out to be quite fortunate for me.
As we cleared the room, I noticed there were folders, ring binders and other stationery that would actually be useful for school.
I was planning to continue my studies in September, so these things would genuinely come in handy.
My colleague, despite her shoplifting habits, was actually quite kind.
She spoke up for me and asked the manager if I could take some of the stuff home, since I'd be going back to school soon.
They agreed, so I walked away with some free supplies.
Every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose.
The best part of the job though, came when one of my managers started sending me out on errands around town.
At first I thought they were all shop-related, but I gradually realised that some of them were personal tasks for her.
She'd send me off to buy a bouquet of flowers or pick up various items that had nothing to do with our shop.
She was basically using me as her personal assistant.
But here's the thing, I didn't mind.
She'd give me a huge pile of cash and send me off into town and that felt incredibly cool for a 16-year-old.
The fact that she trusted me with that much money was quite flattering, actually.
I'd wander around the city centre, ticking things off her list, feeling rather important.
Thankfully I never got robbed or lost anything and honestly, anything was better than being stuck in that hot stockroom all day.
Did I enjoy the job overall?
Not particularly, actually.
It was hard work.
Lots of standing, lots of lifting, even if the products were small.
It definitely made me realise that I wanted to pursue more education rather than go straight into work.
Not that there's anything wrong with working in shops, but it just wasn't for me.
The one thing I did enjoy was the staff discount.
I spent quite a lot of time browsing the shop floor, planning what I'd buy with my wages.
A bit counterproductive, really, earning money only to spend it back at the same shop.
The highlight of the entire experience, though, was the day the whole team went to the pub.
Not just me and my stockroom colleague, but all the managers and the other women who worked on the shop floor.
We all headed out together after work one day and I felt incredibly grown up.
The only problem was, I was 16.
I wasn't really supposed to be at the pub and I had no idea what to order.
I'd never really been to a pub properly before.
My colleagues took pity on me and bought me an Alka-Pop, one of those fruity fizzy drinks with alcohol mixed in.
I sipped it slowly, trying to look casual, feeling like I'd just crossed some invisible threshold into adulthood.
By the end of the three weeks, I'd earned a decent amount of money.
Being the saver that I am, I didn't spend much of it straight away.
I tucked most of it away, feeling quite pleased with myself.
Then a friend announced that she wanted to organise a holiday to Greece, and suddenly a big group of us were going.
The problem...
I had to use almost all my wages to pay for it.
I resented it a bit, honestly.
All that hard work in the stockroom, all that heat and tedium, and now it was all going towards one trip.
But at the same time, I felt proud.
I'd earned that money myself.
I'd paid for my first proper holiday without asking my parents for help.
Hmm.
Looking back now, that summer job taught me quite a lot.
It wasn't glamorous and it wasn't always fun, but it gave me independence, responsibility and a glimpse into the working world.
It also confirmed what I'd already suspected that I wanted to stay in education and pursue something different.
And I'll always be grateful to my mum for for dragging me around town that day, even if it was mortifying at the time.
Without her asking those awkward questions, I never would have found that job.
Sometimes the most embarrassing moments lead to the best experience.
And that was the summer I turned 16.
The summer of freedom stockrooms, stolen lip balm and my first taste of what it meant to pay my way in the world.
That brings us to the end of today's episode and to the end of week 44.
I do hope you enjoyed it.
If you did, then why not leave a little comment, a like, a rating or review, depending on wherever you're listening?
And if you have any friends that are learning English, then remember to recommend the English Like a Native podcast.
Until next week, take very good care of yourself.
Goodbye.
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