1977 Saturday Job

Following my child slavery accident in 1975

I still had a yearning to earn teen money to spend on completely useless but oh so important trinkets, tat and 45's. So I decided it was time to start again to secure a position as a Saturday kid!

A mate of mine (a different one this time) had a job in a cafe on Lord Street and was certain she could get me in there too.

I was really excited and had all fingers and toes crossed (must remember .. no milk churns but at least now I had my corset)

My bestest mate 'J' had got a job in Matti & Tissot where they sold handmade chocolates and cakes .. so yummy .. but the down side was the staff wore white mop caps and frilly aprons! Oh no that was not for me .. in fact not for 'J' either as she quit and went to Debenham's Coffeebean (she still had to wear a geeky hat though!)

So to cut a long story short I did get the job and what a great job it was particularly as no milk churns were involved. The cafe was open from Easter until about late September as it was the 'Outdoor Cafe' now called the 'Gardens Cafe' so all depended on the weather.

We would start about 10.00 am. If it was raining I would phone up and see if I was needed. If you were 'needed' you could just end up just cleaning (if the rain persisted) and be there to serve the die hard holiday makers who would want a coffee or an ice cream.

The best thing though was to be sent home on a full wage if it got past lunch time and you knew the rain was not going to let up and we had played the hockey- cokey with the brollies all morning. The worst case scenario, however, was having to 'wait on at tables' in their other establishment which was dreadful, as I found out .... I think this was the first time I realised just how rude and very unappreciative the public can be, even though I was trying my hardest always smiling and being polite. These days they would be wearing their fish, chips and mushy peas!

Back to the Outdoor cafe. The daily tasks would be to put the tables, chairs & the brollies out. Making sure they were clean (bloody seagulls)

Set up the tea and coffee trays with polystyrene cups and plastic holders. Make the sandwiches and heat seal them.

Fill up the biscuit trays (orange, mint, fruit and plain Club, Kitkats, Blue Ribbons, Caramels & those individually wrapped biscuits you get in hotels etc)

Put out the packets of crisps and switch on the pie heater (pies heated and reheated ... !!)

Once established in the caff my main job was 'Ice Cream Queen' of course this job was not bestowed on me from the start I had to earn the crown. I started clearing tables, which actually I didn't mind as on the sunny days meant you were outside all day and chatting to the clientele.

When I eventually became 'Ice Cream Queen' I was the supreme champion at all things on the ice cream menu.... Knickerbocker Glory's, fruit salad sundaes, cones and 99's. With lots of practice I could hold 6 cones whilst adding flakes and raspberry syrup! Waytogo!!!

I loved it, it was great fun. On a sunny day the queue was endless, just a constant stream of holiday makers.

To see the kids faces as I handed them their Knickerbocker glory was priceless.

I would always try and make the concoction as wacky and as colourful as possible (if I had time)...

The recipe would start with a layer of fruit salad, then lime syrup, a scoop of ice cream, then more fruit, some chopped nuts (no asking 'does the person eating this have a nut allergy?' then), some raspberry (pineapple, apple or whatever sauce), 2 scoops of ice cream, more fruit followed by ice cream again, squirty cream, topped with nuts, raspberry and chocolate sauce, a flake and a wafer.

I have looked on the interweave for the correct 'layering' of a KBG and glad to see I was ok just to make it up as I went along.

I would like to apologise now to any parents whose children may have thrown up not long after eating one particularly if next stop was the Pleasure Beach

There is no doubt as a teen it was a great job and I worked there for a few more summers mostly 7 days a week in the holidays (particularly when I was at Poly).

Winter Saturdays I worked in a shoe shop......... I never had any money then as I just bought shoes with my wages (love shoes, you can never have enough pairs.....................



can you??......)