Has the Bob-A-Jobber become extinct?

Pighead

Well has he? Pighead can remember knocking on at least a million doors asking strange people "Do you want your shoes shined?" or "Can I mow your lawn Mr?"
The man of the house used to love seeing us little woggle wearing workhorses knocking at his door . 50p would see that his garden got mowed and tidied and his flowers got watered. Expoitation at its best!

I remember cleaning Stinky Seanies old boots thinking "I can't wait til I get older and kids are knocking on my door begging to do the weekly jobs my wife will have set out for me" But there has never ever been a knock.

Is Pighead too young to be Bob A Jobbed?(29), have the Bob a Jobbers been disbanded because of safety fears and if they are still around how much do they charge these days?

So many questions, any answers?

chillywilly

ye those wer the days!! i remember a guy tried to pay us in coca cola....we gracefully accept:P

Rabies

Pighead wrote:

Is Pighead too young to be Bob A Jobbed?(29), have the Bob a Jobbers been disbanded because of safety fears and if they are still around how much do they charge these days?

Yup, stopped on safety fears.
I remember doing it as a kid. Weeding a garden or doing some other crap job for 50p.

c - 13

Extinct due to the majority of kids being handed over money by their parents due to the current econoic situation.

Probably has something to do with the "I'm so going to sue you" nation that we are becoming

Distraught Parent: "Oh little Johnny lost three of his fingers and a leg in a failed lawnmower start attempt, now he can never become that olympic sprinter gold medalist pianist that we always groomed him to become.", court case ensues.

Shame really.

Mr Magnolia

Bob-A-Jobber called to my door once, I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti ssssstttthhh





I let 3 young lads cut my grass during the summer, I'd 2 broken ribs and wasn't fit to do it myself. They were looking for a tenner, I gave them 15 as the lawn was wild.

magick

well yes and no

the trade is still around but has been replaced with more cheaper and efficient Eastern Europeans.

for example massage with a happy ending used to cost 30euros, years ago now its half the price!

The Hill Billy

Maybe it is just me, but I feel that there is a very uncomfortable undercurrent to Pighead's desire to have eager young fellas calling to his door.

Pighead

Rabies wrote:

Yup, stopped on safety fears.
I remember doing it as a kid. Weeding a garden or doing some other crap job for 50p.

But how come we were allowed to do it? Did nobody fear for our safety? Or was danger only invented in the 90's.

If peace of mind is whats needed surely a stun gun or a sword could be given to the scouts instead of simply disbanding them.

Pighead

Hill Billy wrote:

Maybe it is just me, but I feel that there is a very uncomfortable undercurrent to Pighead's desire to have eager young fellas calling to his door.

You make Pighead sick Hill Silly. That statement says a lot more about your horrible little mind than anything else. The post has been reported to the Mods Admins and my local Garda station.

Nice one Hill Billy, thanks for ruining Pigheads Friday morning.

Rabies

Pighead wrote:

But how come we were allowed to do it? Did nobody fear for our safety? Or was danger only invented in the 90's.

Safety? That word was only created in the early 90's. We lived in world of cheap child labour. With economic trends the way they are now, the scouting organisation has moved to India.

Hilly Billy wrote:

Maybe it is just me, but I feel that there is a very uncomfortable undercurrent to Pighead's desire to have eager young fellas calling to his door.

Reminds me of that episode of Family Guy when the son is delivering the newspapers

The Hill Billy

Hill Billy apologises for hurting Pighead's feelings.

connundrum

Pighead wrote:

But how come we were allowed to do it? Did nobody fear for our safety? Or was danger only invented in the 90's.

I blame the media. No one knew of abductions, murders, sex crimes etc till the media came along. The media has taken away my right to pay a young lad €1 for €5's worth of work.

Rabies

connundrum wrote:

I blame the media. No one knew of abductions, murders, sex crimes etc till the media came along. The media has taken away my right to pay a young lad €1 for €5's worth of work.

Exactly, the little bastards would demand E7.65 now. If they didn't get it, expect your house to be petrol bombed.

r3nu4l

Hey, Hill Bill changed his avatar! :eek:

I too was a bob-a-jobber and had the badges to prove it. Yep, fear of the man with the dirty rainmac, mega-tub of vaseline and questionable intent has destroyed bob-a-job

While I was a leader of a troop of bob-a-job scouts we stopped our scouts doing it after an incident involving a suggestive remark made to one of our scouts by a pervert... Funnily enough the same perv had his car windows smashed and tires slashed for three weeks in a row until we had a word with the same scout!

Nowadays scout units tend to have big fund-raising events instead.

Pighead

Rabies wrote:

Exactly, the little bastards would demand E7.65 now. If they didn't get it, expect your house to be petrol bombed.

Jesus, todays kids sound like a horrible bunch. They can't all be tearaway scallywags, can they?

Pigheads memory isn't the best but I'm almost sure I was a nice wee kid, manners, good posture, respect, the lot. Is there no more little Pigheads left?

cooperguy

Twas stopped about 8 years ago. Child safety and all that

Mr Magnolia

Pighead wrote:

Is there no more little Pigheads left?

Maybe you and B should finally get busy and create a litter of little bob-a-jobbers

Pighead

r3nu4l wrote:

Nowadays scout units tend to have big fund-raising events instead.

By the way what was the deal with the monies earned? Did us bob-a-jobbers hand over all the cash to our leaders or was it a 50-50 transaction. Surely Pighead got something for washing Farmer Fauls cows back in the 80's.

User45701

i never did any of that i used to wonder why someone would do it, what was it that you needed the money for? at that age surley u where not drinking or smoking?

im assuming u mean kids s in 8-10ish?

Pighead

User45701 wrote:

i never did any of that i used to wonder why someone would do it, what was it that you needed the money for? at that age surley u where not drinking or smoking?

im assuming u mean kids s in 8-10ish?

Yeah it was about that age alright. The money would have been wisely invested in stock such as Wham Bars, Blackjacks and White Mice.

User45701

ah the old munchies, i didn't relay get into my munch until i got my brand new pc a long time ago,

i remember my first pc state of the art at the time lol

Wang (anyone remember them) 2mb ram windows 3.1 (i don't remember what the HD was tho)

Anyway when i finally upgraded to a dell 16mb ram (don't remember HD but it was windows 95 i think.....

ive always been around pcs i only got big into munch around then i was about 10 but what i would do was buy 20 packets of chickateas for 2 pounds and that was me done for a good hour or so, then i had to borrow money to buy more

i didnt relay have to earn money i just kinda took my mas money but if i had a choice between sweats or pc i would have chose pc

5starpool

Pighead wrote:

Yeah it was about that age alright. The money would have been wisely invested in stock such as Wham Bars, Blackjacks and White Mice.

Ah the classic penny and ha'penny (I vaguely remember those) sweets of yesteryear. Mr Freeze's were another worthy investment during summer too.

r3nu4l

User45701 wrote:

i never did any of that i used to wonder why someone would do it, what was it that you needed the money for? at that age surley u where not drinking or smoking?

im assuming u mean kids s in 8-10ish?

Bob-a-job was started by the Scouting movement. The money collected went towards camping equipmentand troop events or uniforms for kids whose parents couldn't afford it, that sort of thing. I think a portion went to Scouting Headquarters, can't remember. But inevitably a number of kids kept the money and spent it on bars and sweets

Ruu_Old

5starpool wrote:

Ah the classic penny and ha'penny (I vaguely remember those) sweets of yesteryear. Mr Freeze's were another worthy investment during summer too.

And if you were lucky enough to have the number 7 on it, you could get another for free (depending on the shop keeper) or a clip across the ear for asking for one.

Ah memories of busting my back picking stones, I can't remember getting anything for it. I am sure I will remember later.:)

edit: User45701, I remember I got a few punts alright and bought Sim Ant (floppy disk of course of the 5 1/4" kind) for my WANG 386, 6 MB RAM, 100MB hard drive (I always had to compress the damn thing )

Nevyn

Bob a job was the way boy scout and girl guides would fund raise and do some work in the community and yes it has been stopped due to insurance and saftey concerns.

CuLT

Best thread tags ever.

layke

I thought a Bob-A-Job was something you get from your GF?

zynaps

I hear White Mice, Chickeetahs, Wham Bars and Blackjacks. As a (part-part-freelance-)part-time Bob-A-Jobber very now and then eh... back then, I'm glad to hear that others invested as wisely as I did, perhaps with the added options of Desperate Dans (until teeth were wrenched free), Toffos (ditto), tenpneeeee bags (which would be rigorously unit-tested to ensure the 'ten' part was, as a quantative description of the contents, accurate or understative, but never exaggerative), Bikers and Cadet cream soda (of the always-exploding kind).

Which reminds me, I picked up a pack of Fruit Salads in Centra round yon corner last week. I'd forgotten how hard they get when it's cold...

If the terms of payment were more generous (for example, I worked 9-5 for a month or so depainting bedposts, sweeping floors and the like in my uncle's panel-beatery/garage for a month or so, getting paid £20 a week. That's about... nothing an hour), I'd have invested the money in more PD games for my Atari ST. There was a nice mail order company in the UK called LAPD that'd post the floppies out in the most exciting bubble-wrap envelopes ever...

ferdi

Pighead wrote:

Yeah it was about that age alright. The money would have been wisely invested in stock such as Wham Bars, Blackjacks and White Mice.

Ah, now there is a culinary delight thats been sorley missing from my diet for the last 10 years!
http://www.oldestsweetshop.co.uk/images/sweets/White-Mice.jpg

Pighead

Thanks for you answers lads, it seems pretty clear that the bob a jobbers are indeed extinct. Its a damn shame if you ask me but then again as has been mentioned already theres the whoile safety thing to worry about.

Hopefully with the advent of chip technology and anti-pervert sprays, the Bob A Jobbers shall one day make a glorious return into our gardens and woodsheds. Until that day Pighead shall struggle on.

BlueSpiral

I remember going bob-a-jobbing a few years back, we went around asking if we could wash people's cars in the middle of winter with cold water and fairy liquid. think I got about 10 pounds out of it. I was 9/10 at the time, and I had never had that much money in my hands before. I treasured it until I got to the shop where I bought a big bag of 1 penny sweets.

Pighead

BlueSpiral wrote:

I remember going bob-a-jobbing a few years back, we went around asking if we could wash people's cars in the middle of winter with cold water and fairy liquid. think I got about 10 pounds out of it. I was 9/10 at the time, and I had never had that much money in my hands before. I treasured it until I got to the shop where I bought a big bag of 1 penny sweets.

Must have been a fcuking huuuuuge bag! Thats 1000 penny sweets.:eek:
Pigheads guessing BlueSpiral wears dentures these days.

BlueSpiral

No, not these days, but maybe some day, one can only dream. I got a big bag of 100 sweets, then spent the rest on a little present for my mammy.:)

Ruu_Old

BlueSpiral wrote:

I remember going bob-a-jobbing a few years back, we went around asking if we could wash people's cars in the middle of winter with cold water and fairy liquid. think I got about 10 pounds out of it. I was 9/10 at the time, and I had never had that much money in my hands before. I treasured it until I got to the shop where I bought a big bag of 1 penny sweets.

The poor shopkeeper, if he was like the chap in my hometown, he would be counting every single penny sweet make sure I didn't get one or two too many.

Sparky

I washed cars for £3 each.
I made £50 out of one street one day. Some people would give a fiver note because it's all they had in change or as an extra for such a good job.

I also learned how mean some people were. In the innocence as a kid, one person said they didn't have the change to give me, but to pop around in an hour. Anyways I did and he said I didn't wash his car at all. Infact he said he never saw me before.
His car got mud cakes splattered all over it come Saturday night.

Oh he knows I had done it, but had no proof I actually did do it.

sunnyjim

I remember one occasion where I was polishing Ms Fitzgeralds Glasstop coffee table. For some reason, when I rubbed the damn thing, it came loose (I blame the glue) and came down onto the floor....

After 30 mins of profuse apologising, I came away with £2

And dont forget those Roy Of The Rovers bars. One day I was at a shop during lunch where us lads met the girls from the local Cross and Passion. I got one of those damn bars and it broke my front tooth.

My reaction wasn't very masculine...:mad:

DublinWriter

zynaps wrote:

I hear White Mice, Chickeetahs, Wham Bars and Blackjacks. As a (part-part-freelance-)part-time Bob-A-Jobber very now and then eh... back then, I'm glad to hear that others invested as wisely as I did

As an ex-inedepentant rogue bob a jobber, not affliated with the Scouting Movement of Ireland in any way, shape, or form, I can honestly say that it didn't merit the €8K in dental treatment I've had done in the past 4 years for the above reasons.

Terry

I too was a bob a jobber back in the day. i once spent a saturday polishing peoples shoes outside the local newsagents. half the money went to me and the other half went to the scouts.
i went freelance after being thrown out of scouts when i was about 12. various things such as washing cars, mowing lawns and even doing the dishes for a family one sunday afternoon after they had eaten sunday lunch.
these days the local kids call around with a lawnmower and mow my lawn. i give them €5 each (there are 3 of them usually).