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The Retirement Thread

1 lurker | 172 watchers

TROSaracen Apr 2023 8:10am, 20 Apr 2023 26,580 posts	Quote Pin TROSaracen Anyone start work when they paid your wages weekly, you’d collect a small brown envelope of cash every Thursday, with a clear window showing some folded notes inside and a few coins rolling about. Never felt as rich since as those Thursday’s, always a great pub night followed too. Was a pretty rough place in East London and you’d always go up in groups of 3/4 as some guys were actually mugged for their wages. It was a paint factory in Canning Town.
macca 53 Apr 2023 8:18am, 20 Apr 2023 31,274 posts	Quote Pin macca 53 IPJ?
cathrobinson Apr 2023 8:26am, 20 Apr 2023 11,136 posts	Quote Pin cathrobinson I did a bit of casual work cleaning cars in my summers from uni at the garage my mum worked at and got cash in a brown envelope like that.
Velociraptor Apr 2023 8:26am, 20 Apr 2023 63,480 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor I had to have a physical exam when I started a holiday job as a hospital ward clerk for 8 weeks in 1984. The occupational health nurse wrote "robust" under the question about "physique" and ripped into me about how my nail-biting would exclude me from clinical roles.
Velociraptor Apr 2023 8:29am, 20 Apr 2023 63,481 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor And I got cash, £44.something, in a brown envelope, and my mother asked me how much I'd been paid and gave me a resounding slap on the face for insolence and ingratitude when I said it was a rude question. Which is only what she has taught me to believe.
um Apr 2023 8:33am, 20 Apr 2023 7,310 posts	Quote Pin um In the 80s we wrote a payroll system. Part of which was the analysis of what notes and coins would be needed to fill all those brown envelopes. I always thought that was one of the 'neatest' bits of coding I'd done. I wasn't so enamoured with the slightly tougher NI & PAYE calculations and submissions.
HappyG(rrr) Apr 2023 8:37am, 20 Apr 2023 46,392 posts	Quote Pin HappyG(rrr) Yes, money in brown envelopes when doing work on building site, and delivering news papers etc. I haven't got any paperwork from first jobs, as moving house and esp divorce, I was living out of a car for a few months and really only had a couple of boxes and bags with clothes. My tax affairs were a nightmare for about 5 years after that, 2001-2006 until I got myself settled. G
Ness Apr 2023 8:42am, 20 Apr 2023 30,623 posts	Quote Pin Ness My Dad was a managing director of an industrial paint company. In his last few years (so up to '92) he changed the production hours so the factory started earlier each morning but finished at lunchtime on a Friday. I think he may have told the staff it was changed so they could have the afternoon off. In reality it was so he and the other company directors could go and play golf! 🤣 His staff used to get pay packets, given out each Friday lunchtime.
EvilPixie Apr 2023 8:46am, 20 Apr 2023 42,477 posts	Quote Pin EvilPixie my parents used to run an employment agency They had to change pay day from Thursday to Friday as people would go drink their wage Thursday and not turn up Friday Dad was very impressed when he got his first Apple PC and (drum roll) it was in colour
Velociraptor Apr 2023 9:07am, 20 Apr 2023 63,483 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor I started work around the same time as Sigh. Having just been a student, I thought my official salary, £8,800 plus overtime, looked quite comfortable. Junior doctors also got a free room in hospital accommodation at that time, and it's not as if I had any time to spend money. Got my first payslip. Top line £8XX, less than expected because the overtime pay was derisory, but hey-ho. Bottom line just over £500. The same amount, it turned out, as my mother was getting for 37.5 hours a week as a home help organiser.

About This Thread

Maintained by Sigh

A place for baggy spaciousness: "The quality of time, soft attention and ease that we could enjoy 'doing nothing' "
(thanks to TheScribbler for the term (p1516)!)
( see also: neilthewriter.co.uk
and
darkangelswriters.com )

Retirees Hall of Fame

CumbriAndy

(17.04.25)
Dillthedog (27.03.25)
westmoors (27.03.25)
dobbers (26.02.25)
McGoohan (15.01.25)
Marmite (01.01.25)
Roobarb (20.12.2024)
gribb0 (20.12.24)
3M (18.12.24)
Jigs (25.09.24)
Synge (30.08.24)
Silvershadow (02.08.24)
Hibeedeb (02.08.24)
Winniefree (08.07.24, 2nd attempt)
EvilPixie (24.06.24)
Snail (21.06.24)
GregP (14.06.24) (after part retirement 31.03.23)
Fizz :-)

(13.06.24)
Jaks (15.05.24) (third time of retiring)
HellsBells (31.03.24) (orig. May 2018)
TROSaracen (07.02.24)(semi retired since mid 2019)
Hanneke (01.02.24)
Jenni-far-far (28.12.23)
FergusG (22.12.23)
Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs) (11.12.23)
eL Bee! (30.11.23)
Lip Gloss (22.11.23)
jda (28.08.23)
RFJ (23.08.23)
Sigh (28.07.23)
Schnecke (end of school term 07.23)
Sharkie (05.07.23)
Ally-C (08.06.23)
Rebel (12.05.23)
CogNoscensme AHA (07.04.23)
Windsor Wool (05.04.23)
Bob! (30.03.23)
Velociraptor (21.03.23)
Garfield (provisional, 27.02.23) (see p.699)
ThorntonRunner (20.12.22)
DrMags (30.07.21)
MaltDrinker (30.07.21)
DoricQuine (15.06.21)
Mandymoo (21.05.21)
Eynsham Red (06.05.21)
GimmeMedals (31.08.20)
Steve NordRunner (01.08.19)
um (May 2017)
macca 53 (31.10.17)
XB (07.07.16)
Flatlander (November 2011)
Helegant
Ness
SarahWoo
Rosehip
alpenrose
Johnny Blaze
annadav
K5 Gus
Curly45
LazyDaisy
Dave..M
jabberknit
Shades
Northern Exile
Nick Cook

[other names to follow, on request]

Celebrating reduced hours

Angus Clydesdale

(30 hours/week, term-time weekdays only, from June 2025)

B Rubble (2 days/wk from July 2025)
MadWelshWoman (2 days/wk from 1 August 2025)

[other names to follow, on request]

In the Waiting Lounge, with one eye on the door

GeneHunt59 (target: July 2025)
RRR-CAZ (September 2025)
Bigleggy (target: December 2025)

geordiegirl (target: May/June 2026)
HappyG (target: June 2026)
Runningbauble21 (target: June 2026)
MadWelshWoman (target: Summer 2026)
OverTheHillToo (target: approx. 2026)

Diogenes (17.03.27)
cathrobinson (target: 2027 onwards)
Hills of Death (HOD) (April 2026-April 2030)
Dave A (June 2030)
Gromit (July 2030)
Mushroom (December 2030)
CK2 (2030)

[other names to follow, on request]

Just browsing at the moment

Bazoaxe
Daz Love
Totriornottotri
DIY Diva

[other names to follow, on request]

Retirement Failures

Currently empty :-)

[other names to follow, on request]

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