Saturday Question: What Was Your First Job, Did You Buy Scent?

/ AustralianPerfumeJunkies

.

Portia

.

Hello Fellow Fumies,

At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.

Over 100 responses I will draw a Secret Scent Sample Pack (from my collection)

Last Weeks Winner: Carolyn Kubea

eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with your address please

Saturday Question: What Was Your First Job, Did You Buy Scent?

Maybe because we recently did the Inner Teen Mood scent 4 post. It’s been playing around my mind a bit lately. Memories of my teen years, how I came to be who and where and what I am. You all know how much I love discovering things about you all, so here’s a piece of me. Please share a piece of you in the comments.

My Answer:

Even before it was legal for me to work I spent my Thursday nights and Saturdays (after sport) sweeping up hair, making coffees, washing heads and selling tobacco products at a local hairdresser/tobacconist. The one thing I wanted more than anything was financial freedom to choose what I got. It was $5/hour (cash in hand) and at the age of 13 having $40 or more per week PLUS my pocket money from Dad for house chores (which I did soooo grudgingly, what a shit kid i was!) I was the richest kid I knew. The joy of being able to take myself to the cinema or McDonalds (which was my first proper job when I came of working age) without having to beg for money was a big incentive. Having enough to buy my choices in clothes, though Mum enjoyed clothes shopping with me so much that I rarely had to pay.

On the naughty side, by 13 I already looked like an adult so I could buy booze and cigarettes Being able to buy the people I loved gifts was another amazing thing that I’ve never lost the joy of. So I didn’t buy scent for myself but I did buy it for my Mum a little later on when I was old enough to be a Squirt Bitch at the department store. Those early days she got a soap, some powder with a big puffer and/or lotion from our local chemist (drug store) that would come in a boxed set, boxes were best because easiest to wrap. My Dad was easy, he wore Tabac Original and that always came in a sensible pack of scent, soap on a rope and deodorant.

My Saturday Question to you is:

What Was Your First Job, Did You Buy Scent?

57 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What Was Your First Job, Did You Buy Scent?”

  1. First job age 10 performing with ABT. Worked throughout my teens in both ballet and operas and later children’s theatre. I was wearing classics (Chanel, Door, Guerlain) even back then so yes, I bought scent. But many of my full bottles were gifts from family and friends. My Santa list always included several bottles of perfume.

    Like

  2. Going to switch it around to the first job where I did buy perfume, in college. It was minimum wage, so it must have taken me a while to save up for that classy bottle of Cristalle.

    Like

  3. My first (paid) employment was at 14, a Saturday job and later on summer holidays was in a chemist. My oldest sister got me the job as she had worked there some years previously. It had a great perfume section and it was there that my perfume education expanded rapidly. Up until then I knew of Yardley, Coty, Max Factor, Lentheric, Prince Matchabelli and Avon. I was the kid in the candy shop. I wore a different scent every day. The pay was crap but it was enough to let me buy cigarettes and pay money off items of clothing, though my mother still bought me stuff. I stayed there for a few years until I left school and skedaddled off to London. My ideas were way too big for the small town I lived in🙄 Of course I bought perfume! I paid some money off each week for whatever took my fancy. I bought perfume for my mother and my closest friends, nothing expensive but it was the thought that counted, haha. My first major outlay on perfume didn’t happen until I went to London and started earning proper money. The chemist on the corner beside my house had Fidji Parfum. Nuff said.

    Like

  5. Long story short, Saturday job at 14, and yes, I definitely bought perfume. And cigarettes. And a couple of years later I added alcohol. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I was naughty. But I survived to tell the tale😉

    Like

  6. My first job was at a Hilton Hotel as a maid. I was highly unsuited to it as I was a messy person who had a problem fitting into the time expectation for cleaning each room, the folding of the toilet paper, the exactness of the bed making.. we were also tested by management who would do things like leave a little lipstick on a mirror to see if we noticed and cleaned it. I managed to switch myself to the laundry room which I enjoyed, massive machines and wranglers to do the ironing (scary). EVERYONE in my family now had HIlton towels which just seemed normal at the time as employees were stuffing them in their bags to take home every night! (I would never do this now). The towels were a beautiful quality. I loved working there, it was like a mini city of gossip and hilarious goings on. I did not buy perfume, I saved all my money to buy a plane ticket to the UK.

    Like

    • WHOA Narth,
      I love this story.
      Everything was much more Lassez Faire a few years ago. Theft was considered PERKS!
      The world has changed. Much of the fun has gone.
      How lucky were we to be a part of that lucky era?
      What year/s were you in the UK?
      Portia xx

      Like

      • I was there from 80 to 82 with a chunk of time taken out in the middle to do the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life which was hitchhiking across the US. Nothing happened BUT SO DUMB. And yeah I hadn’t thought of it that way but you are right, theft was considered perks !! A different time.

        Like

  7. As a disabled person I had problems getting into the job market, and by the time I did, essentials like a proper “uniform” for work, saving for travel and money for wine and the occational night out seemed more important than perfume. So for many years I had no more than two or three perfumes going at the same time, most of them French and bought on holiday there or picked up at tax free. Even products like Charlie, Blue Grass, 4711 or EA Eau Fraiche were never anywhere near cheap over here, so the mainstream French perfumes would be the standard for perfume and seen as a luxury.

    Like

  8. Thanks Portia for sharing some more of you. My first job was waitressing which I did not like. I remember some guy giving me a tip and I had to put the ten dollar note in my shoe. From there to working in a video store. Remember videos? Which lead me to my next job in a newsagent. I give an enabler pin to my boss John and his lovely wife Karen because they gifted me Chanel No5 in a beautiful gift pack for my 18th. I knew then it was a pretty bloody special gift, and scent even though perfume wasn’t a big part of my life. It wasn’t until many moons later, working in the wine industry (i’m still in wine) that I felt I had some financial security and so could indulge in perfume again. I’d love to gift/buy for others but no one in my family is really chuffed about perfume- I’m working on one of my nieces so fingers crossed 😉❤️

    Like

    • Oh Melanie,
      I did food and bev service for a few years too. It’s bloody tough work and people are not always heaven. A really good learning curve though, for me anyway.
      CHANEL No 5 a your first fragrance is amazing. How lucky you are.
      Good luck with your niece. You know she’ll be chatting on the equivalent of blogs in 20 years remembering your perfume stash and how you threw her down the rabbit hole.
      Portia xx

      Like

  9. My first job was at Taco Bell as a college student. I was fired soon though not for the wrong reason. The manager was a jackass and she fired me simply because I would ask for more hours in order to meet college expenses. She was barely giving me any work hours. I dont remember exactly whether I used any job income for perfumes. But that job happened in first semester and I got into perfumes during my first semester, too. But I do remember I did not have much personal expenses and I did not engage in any expensive college vice such as going out to eat, drinking, or any such thing so my greatest luxury was really perfumes just as it is today 🙂 At that time, my family was supporting me so I probably bought most perfumes from personal expense allowance. An international student does not qualify for grants and loans available to citizens and tuition and fees are also higher for international students that even student job earnings cannot cover them. So you have no choice but to rely on family help for undergrad education in America.

    Like

    • Send all your students over here! Tuition is cheap but living expenses are high. My friend in New York has one child in uni and the fees make my eyes water.

      Like

      • Cassieflower, tuition is higher for international students in the US. It is low for citizens and permanent residents at public universities though private univ charge same to citizens and international students.

        Like

    • The idea of paying exorbitant amounts for education makes me really MAD! Yeah, I get that private Institutions can be expensive but there should always be a good free option. A government should look after ALL education and medical. Any government not doing that is a pile of shit. OOPS! End rant.
      Portia xx

      Like

      • No free options P! Even public universities have massively raised their prices. Cost if a public education is now in the six figure range. Many many US students are coming out heavily in debt. And the public universities are harder to get into now because they are ” cheaper” than the private ones which cost 75k per year!!! ( Public’s range from 25k to 30k in my area)

        Like

        • Sickening. I think it’s pretty much the same here. Bastards! Here in Australia the people making the decisions ALL had FREE EDUCATION. It’s been the last 25 years that’s seen it skyrocket as those who were lucky enough to get it free seek to lock out the very people they once were.

          Like

          • What’s changed it in the States is that there used to be a reasonable cap on the amount of money a student could borrow. This kept the cost of college down. However, in recent years the cap was eliminated so students can borrow as much as they want and colleges naturally raised tuition. In my state the resident rate for public university is 29k per year. Five years ago it was 23k. So even the “cheapest” colleges are no longer cheap. It’s really sad.

            Like

          • Exactly Portia and Brigitte. Every nation should offer few basic services to every citizen, education and healthcare being primary ones. I just do not get it how the US can spend trillions on wars but struggles to offer education and healthcare to its citizens. It is just bonkers.

            Like

  10. Hello, all. My first job was while I was at school, part time in a newsagent, and we had to wear black pants and a very orange tunic. I enjoyed it as I was 14 or 15 and it was in the local now-Westfield shopping centre. I really liked being there early or after the centre closed; it was like another city with its own population and life. I used to like watching the centre ‘wake up’ in the morning and the crowds gradually increase.
    I don’t remember buying a lot of ‘real’ perfume from this job, but I would definitely indulge in a few metal spray bottles of Impulse! And Body Shop’s White Musk would have got a turn, too.
    I have often thought that I miss the days where a new Impulse scent was a topic of conversation; times of simple pleasures, good friends, supportive family, long school holidays, and lots of enthusiasm for the future.
    As I progressed through part-time jobs, I remember buying Ysatis and Arpege at my local Piaf Perfumery. An Australian company gone now and missed. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

    Like

  11. I was fourteen when I got my first part-time job as a tutor. Obviously, I didn’t make much money, so no perfumes, but then again, I considered them to be an unnecessary luxury. Fast-forward five years, I spent my first big salary on a cocktail dress, my first cell phone, and the Beatles Anthology. I think the first bottle I bought with my own money was Clinique Happy.

    Congratulations, Carolyn!

    Like

      • Hi, Portia! Sorry for the late reply, so many things to do before New Year!. Unfortunately, Happy doesn’t work for me anymore: is it the reformulation or I’ve just learned to detect the notes I dislike all too well, I’ll probably never know, but I can still remember how marvellous Happy seemed the first time I smelled it.

        Like

  12. When I was growing up, we didn’t have any jobs for kids. I mean, paying jobs. To “educate” us, we were taken to a couple of weeks farm work in summer at 12-13 (no pay, our accommodations were probably more expensive than we could earn). Then we would work 4 hours/week at the factory at 16. I don’t think we were paid there either, it was rather to teach us to work, or whatever was the idea.
    My first paid job at 21 was as a translator in some marketing company, part time since I was still in University. As I was in a monogamous relationship with Lancôme Climat by then, I could have gotten another bottle of it with money I earned there but I wouldn’t remember.

    Like

  13. It is likely a sign of my misspent youth that I can’t remember what my first job was. I did a lot of different things starting at thirteen or so: working in shops, giving tours of the historic – by US standards – town I grew up in, waiting tables. I hated it all . And I didn’t start wearing perfume until I was almost forty!

    Like

  14. Ignoring the part-time jobs I took in school and college (paperboy, basketball referee, etc) my first real job was as a computer operator, working shifts. I was often alone in a warehouse at night for 8 hours at a time.

    I was but a callow pimply youth who might occasonally don some Pino Silvestre or Blue Stratos after shaving, but I did not wear fragrance to work. I had it in my head that it was special, for a night out, but even then I didn’t wear anything that was actually special. I certainly didn’t lash out for a new perfume, not with the money I was being paid.

    Like

  15. My first paying job was a part-time job at a local family-owned bakery when I was a high school senior. I was 16 at the time and had to get a working permit! I got nowhere near the baking and that was a wise decision; however, I was surrounded by the yummy smell of baked goods while working the counter as the kitchen was through swinging doors, quite a departure from Tatiana, my sister’s bottle from which I used to sneak spritzes 🤣. I did not buy perfumes…I spent it on clothes.

    Like

Comments are closed.