Your story – Heather Scott

What was your first job?

The first job that I had was when I was 18 working in Liptons supermarket in Talbot Green while I was waiting to join the WRAF. I needed to do something while waiting for the position of air traffic control to open up again, it was going to be about twelve months so doing nothing was not feasible. At the time, and where we lived, transport being difficult, getting something temporarily was not easy. I applied for and was offered a job in a dental practice in Bridgend, but the wage was so low and requiring two buses to get there, by the time I had paid for fares there would have been little left so that was out. I considered getting a job and living in Cardiff with an uncle and aunt, but because of where they lived and the job requiring early and late shifts my father vetoed that. So I tried the employment exchange in Talbot Green, they sent me around to the small local supermarket and I was immediately offered the job which I accepted.  I was paid just under £10 which meant I wasn’t payed enough to pay tax but paid a small amount of NI, out of this I gave my mum £1.50 each week and  some went into a savings account.  It was Monday to Saturday with half day closing on Wednesday, late night shopping until 8.00pm on Friday and one other half day off a week. Getting there was the main problem as there was no public transport going in that direction, but we were living on the farm at that time which was attached to Hensol Castle Mental Hospital and a bus was provided to transport the majority of the staff to and from work, not many people had cars back then, so I was able to get the staff bus out in the mornings and back in most nights but Friday night and Wednesday afternoon didn’t fit in with the times. Wednesday afternoon wasn’t much of a problem as I could get a bus from Talbot Green bus station to Miskin, the closes stop to where I lived and walk the last few miles to the farm, but Friday was the problem as the buses had stopped running by the time I finished, so again my dad cadged a lift for me with a private minibus which went past every evening. I had great fun working at Liptons, it was only a very small supermarket as back then, at least in Wales, they were a relatively new way to grocery shop and therefore not a very big staff just the manager and deputy, two in butchery, one on cooked delicatessen, two on the tills, a lad up in the stock room and myself and another young lass who was the daughter of the person on the deli., we tended to do everything else like filling shelves or serving the fruit and veg. stall. We got told off by the manager because we used to sing while we were working, especially near Christmas, but when we stopped the customers complained to him as they seemed to enjoy the atmosphere we created, as it was only a small place you got to know quite a few of the customers who were regulars.  I remember once while working I found a £20 on a pile of cereal boxes, it was quite a lot of money back then more than two weeks wages for me, I took it to the tills to see in case someone came in asking about it as I was handing it to the girl and explaining where I had found it some man came up said that mine and snatched it out of my hand, no thank you or anything, apparently he had asked prior but that wasn’t the point, I could easily have pocketed it and not said a word so a thank you was the least he should have done.       When I left there to eventually join the WRAF the gave me a large black and white panda with a red bow as a leaving present.