Being "sent" to get stuff..

Degsy

Does anybody remember being used as a gopher by your parents when you were a kid?We were being constantly sent to the shops coz the folks were too lazy to go themselves.Many's the time i was also sent next door to borrow milk or sugar,ask for loans of drills etc.One particularly memorable day me and my eight year old sister were sent to get parrafin in a hardware shop several miles away on christmas eve...the joys of using kids as slaves!

Oh god yes "go get milk and cigarrettes" Every damn day for about ten years!

Ruu_Old

"Run in there and get me the Sunday World and 10 Major, will ya?" I could get my comic so all was well.

Lizzykins

I remember a friend being sent to the chemist and coming out with a brown paper bag. I can vouch it wasn't condoms!

trout

Very soon now, my kids will be old enough to 'get sent' for stuff.

When they go ... I will play with their Nintendo DS thingies. Oh yes! :cool:

Firetrap

Degsy wrote: »

Does anybody remember being used as a gopher by your parents when you were a kid?We were being constantly sent to the shops coz the folks were too lazy to go themselves.Many's the time i was also sent next door to borrow milk or sugar,ask for loans of drills etc.One particularly memorable day me and my eight year old sister were sent to get parrafin in a hardware shop several miles away on christmas eve...the joys of using kids as slaves!

Or maybe the parents wanted some quality time to themselves if you know what I mean.....;)

Max_Damage

Yeah, this used to happen to me aswell. I used to go to the shops, buy a load of sweets for myself, and when they asked what happened to the change, I used to say 'It's inflation!'.

Dun laoire

I remember the aul fella would send me to get a "message". It was always a loan from one of his mates. Haha, deadly. I also used to get the mince and steak in the buthers for my granny every saturday. I got 50p for doing it but only when i got back. I would spend the whole day in the pierrot in Dun Laoghaire. 10p klipso and 40p for 4 games.

Jesus Wept

Degsy wrote: »

Does anybody remember being used as a gopher by your parents when you were a kid?We were being constantly sent to the shops coz the folks were too lazy to go themselves.Many's the time i was also sent next door to borrow milk or sugar,ask for loans of drills etc.One particularly memorable day me and my eight year old sister were sent to get parrafin in a hardware shop several miles away on christmas eve...the joys of using kids as slaves!

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh god yes "go get milk and cigarrettes" Every damn day for about ten years!

Ruu wrote: »

"Run in there and get me the Sunday World and 10 Major, will ya?" I could get my comic so all was well.

Lizzykins wrote: »

I remember a friend being sent to the chemist and coming out with a brown paper bag. I can vouch it wasn't condoms!

trout wrote: »

Very soon now, my kids will be old enough to 'get sent' for stuff.

When they go ... I will play with their Nintendo DS thingies. Oh yes! :cool:

Firetrap wrote: »

Or maybe the parents wanted some quality time to themselves if you know what I mean.....;)

Max_Damage wrote: »

Yeah, this used to happen to me aswell. I used to go to the shops, buy a load of sweets for myself, and when they asked what happened to the change, I used to say 'It's inflation!'.

Dun Laoire wrote:

I remember the aul fella would send me to get a "message". It was always a loan from one of his mates. Haha, deadly. I also used to get the mince and steak in the buthers for my granny every saturday. I got 50p for doing it but only when i got back. I would spend the whole day in the pierrot in Dun Laoghaire. 10p klipso and 40p for 4 games.

I'm timing yiz all too.



GO!

Mint Sauce

often, for bread, milk, potatos, etc, was on first name terms with the oul dolls in the bakery, the odd time as well sent for cigerettes, with a note signed by mam saying they were for her


in the end my fee was to get something for my self as well

crosstownk

I remember calling in to see if a mate could 'come out and play', and his ma said he was already out and then asked me to go to the shops to buy her ciggies. As I was about 10 I felt I had to go but I got John Player Blue for her instead of John Player Red - so she sent me back to change them :eek:

Me Da used to send me for the evening paper - the Evening Press - it was only 10p!!!!

bullets

12 years of age and being sent up the road my my Teacher at Primary school
to get 10 Major.

~B

Wishbone Ash

bullets wrote: »

12 years of age and being sent up the road my my Teacher at Primary school
to get 10 Major.

~B

One of my teachers used to send me back to his house to get extra cigarettes. I think he smoked Senior Service. I was terrified of his wife!


Remember being sent out the back door to get a Swiss Roll when unexpected visitors would arrive? And being warned not to let them see you (as if it was our fault if they did :eek:).


And then there was the cheap intervention butter. It was limited to 2 lbs per customer so my mother would send three or four of us to get 2 lbs each. We'd being queing at the checkout and I'd be terrified that the girl would suspect that we were from the same family. :rolleyes:

DeadSkin

The-Rigger wrote: »

I'm timing yiz all too.



GO!

Worked everytime . Suckers we were, suckers!!!!

It was always smokes & milk too, used to have to get me Dad Woodbines and if they didn't have them 'twas Sweet Afton.

kerash

I used to go to the shop on my new bike for 10 benson and hedges for my dad! I would be always askin him if he wanted me to go, i was just delighted to go off for the cycle with my friend.

Anyway that was knocked on the head when he had a heart attack at 34:eek: he hasnt smoked since that day! It was polo mints after that! Oh and batch loaf!!:D

kelle

My mother would drive into town then get us to buy the messages as she hated leaving the nice warm car. I remember when I was 8-years-old having to buy cigarettes, she wanted 10 Silk Cut Purple (for her sister who we were visiting) but by the time I crossed the road and into the shop I'd forgotten and had to go back and ask her again. This happened 3 times before I could retain the information and get the cigs!

chopperbyrne

Thank fúck I only lived across the road from a shopping centre.

"Get A large sliced pan and a litre of milk in Dunnes, 20 Major and the Evening Press in the newsagents and a quarter pound of cooked ham in the butchers."

Every day!

orestes

The-Rigger wrote: »

I'm timing yiz all too.



GO!

Dammit, you beat me to it!

Was I the only one who was sent to buy smokes and was given a note by my parents to say it was ok to sell them to me? Apparently my mother thought teenagers looking to buy fags can't write or something.

It was astonishing how often I lost the change on the way home too. Honestly, it always just fell out of my pocket. Where did I get what sweets? These sweets, oh I still had some of my pocket money left over from last week, I swear.......

CrowdedHouse

I used to be sent for my Grandfather for 'Half a quarter(i.e 2 ounces)' of Murrays Yachtsman tobacco.
I remember the tobacco came in a large block from which the shopkeeper used a sort of guillotine to cut off the 2 oz. sections put in a brown paper bag and send me on my way.I usually got a few pence for myself too !

I found myself in a small country shop recently and what did I see only Murrays Yachtsman behind the counter.It's wrapped in foil now though. Having received a pipe at Xmas which I puff occasionally I just had to smoke some to remember Granddad.

BTW It's fairly strong stuff and not the easiest to prepare as it still comes in a hard plug which you have to cut of small bits and rub out in your hands.

Little did I think when I was getting it that I'd buy Yachtsman for myself about 40 years later

_feedback_

Good thread ... Imagine sending a kid in to the shop to buy smokes today?! There'd be a feckin tribunal over it ! !

I used to get sent for the smokes too, and used to get 10p for the work ! ! Mind you, the shop was only a couple of minutes walk.

One thin i remember getting sent for was a ladder from our neighbours who we never really spoke to... but because I was happy to be helping the ould fella with whatever 'work' he was doing, i merrily went along. They weren't too happy I dont think, but they gave it to me all the same... I made a new friend that day, when their son had to come with me to help with the ladder!

Funny though, it came back to bite me dads arse only a couple of months ago. He locked himself out of the house... I wasn't in town for a couple of days, so he couldn't ring me to get a key. He had to wander down to that same house and ask the young fella to take his ladder and climb in one of our upstairs windows!! Ha!

dobsdave

The note for the cigs only seemed to come in when I got to my teens.
It always seemed like the list got bigger after I had agreed to go for the initial item.
"40 gold bond.....and the independent for ur dad....and...and.."

The 50p that got me a mars bar and can of coke always made the walk home easier.

Degsy

Me and my sister aged ten were sent to the offy once with two empty guiness pint bottles and an explanatory note from my dad asking for booze.I mean ffs,i TOLD him we wouldnt get served and we didnt.He endded up having to go himself.

Curvy Vixen

I used to work in the local estate shop when I was about 14 and the amount of kids that came in with notes that said something like 'Could you give little Johnny a pack of ST's in a brown paper bag' were incredible!

Problem was, I was fresh off the boat from England and had no clue what they were on about and sent the kids home for months with notes saying 'Sorry we haven't got any' rather than ask someone. When I think now of the amount extra work I must have given the women of Sandyford I feel a bit guilty for not having asked someone!!

Degsy

Curvy Vixen wrote: »

I used to work in the local estate shop when I was about 14 and the amount of kids that came in with notes that said something like 'Could you give little Johnny a pack of ST's in a brown paper bag' were incredible!

Problem was, I was fresh off the boat from England and had no clue what they were on about and sent the kids home for months with notes saying 'Sorry we haven't got any' rather than ask someone. When I think now of the amount extra work I must have given the women of Sandyford I feel a bit guilty for not having asked someone!!

Eh,what are ST's?

chopperbyrne

Degsy wrote: »

Eh,what are ST's?

Going to hazard a guess at Sanitary Towels.

Degsy

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Going to hazard a guess at Sanitary Towels.

Ah!
Saw a bloke in lidl the other day,six foot four foreign guy with a skinhead and muscles popping out of his ears.He had three boxes of those things amd nowt else.Easy to see who wore the trousers there!;)

dobsdave

Degsy wrote: »

Ah!
Saw a bloke in lidl the other day,six foot four foreign guy with a skinhead and muscles popping out of his ears.He had three boxes of those things amd nowt else.Easy to see who wore the trousers there!;)

Are you sure it was a 'he'
Some of those eastern european women can look a bit manly.

Degsy

dobsdave wrote: »

Are you sure it was a 'he'
Some of those eastern european women can look a bit manly.

Not in MY fantasies!

Steak

a slice pan and a carton of milk and on Sunday the Indo was thrown in too.

ChewChew

ah lads. . . my ma used to send me for bleedin Senakot. . oh when I think of it. . hahaha

marti101

God ha brings back memories,going to the shops with a few pence thinking you were deadly as you were the one picked to do the message buying smokes yiu wouldnt do it now

Curvy Vixen

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Going to hazard a guess at Sanitary Towels.

Yep you got it! The phrase *whispers* sanitary towels couldb't be said in those days!! Thought they wanted 'saints'

Zee Deveel

Or bread. Would usually buy Brennan's Whipper Snapper bread which was particularly white, soft, and with this lovely chewy crust, and cost a fortune more than the stuff we usually got, and would pop into the newsagents and get the change in jellies. Good times...

oneweb

10 Blue for the da. And I'd get change of a pound. Those were the days, eh?!

The next door neighbour used to call us from her doorstep, still in her nightgown, when we were out playing to get one of us to go for sugar or the Irish Press (another distant memory) etc. We'd all rush over 'cos she usually gave us a few p afterwards.

There used to be a little corner shop in our estate and an oul wan called Nelly was nearly always behind the counter. The place has long since been demolished and a community centre now stands there.

Could you imagine sending someone to the shops nowadays, lol.

Great thread

mental07

Always got sent for the cigarettes! I didn't used to mind, then eventually it pi**ed me off!

orestes

oneweb wrote: »

The next door neighbour used to call us from her doorstep, still in her nightgown, when we were out playing to get one of us to go for sugar or the Irish Press (another distant memory) etc. We'd all rush over 'cos she usually gave us a few p afterwards.

The aul one whoe lives next to me used to do that too, only she used to stick her head out of the upstairs window and just call to any of the local kids who happened to be around. You tried that kinda thing these days you would get locked up :rolleyes:

The same aul one used to send me to collect her pension every week from the local post office then pick up her smokes for the week on my way back. My first regular job that, and that £1 a week was awesome to a ten year old

JIZZLORD

i remember being sent to the shop by a teacher to get her cigarettes, complete with a note to the shop keeper to sell them to me, and take the note when finished

Jay P

Till I was about ten it was The Sunday Times and 20 Carrolls. I got 20p for my efforts

larko

My "hell" was those damn butter vouchers. I used to go to the shop and have to try and get other stuff with the butter vouchers. Sometimes they would give me the groceries but sometimes not. I used to be sh1tting myself if they said no. the embarrassment:o

Also the bloody cylinder of gas. Empty one over to shop, get the full one in a trolley, bring trolley back. Keep the trolley money. I was an 11 girl lifting heaving gas cylinders. Angelas Ashes has nowt on me.:D

Captain Darling

I cycled two miles to the shop for butter and fags for my mother. Got to the shop, paid for them, cycled home and then realised i'd left them on the counter in the shop. Got me arse booted back to the shop.

LadyE

My mother still sends me to shop for things. Grr I hate it, because I cant say no!

I often say to my son "Run into the kitchen and get me this..." like my mam used to, but he looks at me like "ermmmmmm noooo"

My mam actually called me from upstairs to change the TV for her. And sent my brother out looking for me when I was plaing with my mates to make her a cup if tea.

Lazy beyatch!

Cormic

It was always for cigs for me. They never ran out of bread or milk but they were constantly out of cigs.

chuci

the evening echo, milk, 10 or 20 B&H or Jonny Blues and bread for my dads lunch the next day.never understood where all the bread went.i had to get one nearly every night. then every saturday (when i was old enough to cross the road) to the butchers to stock up on meat for the week. thems were the days. though to be fair my dad used always bring me back a cake from work and give it to me after the shop run so win win.

Shan75

I remember my Saturday morning Job was to take my Aunts dog for a walk up the riverbank.About a 3kms walk.Of course I had to walk the 2kms to her house first.When I'd get back she'd usually send down the road to the shop for ciggies etc.I was delighted with myself when she gave me a pound and this made the walk back home easier.

Loopy

Sent all the time.

The paper
20 Rothmans
Bread + Milk

And I often had to go into the chemist with a note asking for sleeping tablets for my mum.. which I got

She once asked my Dad to bring her home something to sleep and he came back with pillows - there was murder:D

L1011

As soon as the 'back shops' (which didn't require crossing a major road to get to) opened I was forever being sent to get stuff, usual selection - milk, bread, biscuits, tea, the papers. Got worse when they finally put traffic lights on the major road on the way over to the Worlds Biggest Londis (its about the size of a small Tesco, seriously) across the road.

Kinda stopped when I was a teenager but the week I turned 17 it turned in to "could you drive down town and get this...".

And I'm STILL asked to set up the Sky+. All the fecking time

edgesgirl

not me personally but used to "send" new glass pickers in the bars to get things, bucket of steam, heater for the ice,etc. and when we ran out of ideas we sent them off with a letter which they were forbidden to read which said "SEND HIM FURTHER".....happy days

Miguel_Sanchez

I used to be forever sent down to Hazelbrook Farm by my grandfather.

"Ah sure you'll be quicker on your own!" He'd say and I'd be off running with me tweed cap on me head.

MooseJam

don't need to remember I still am the gopher

Ann22

This an old thread, I enjoyed reading through it. I remember being sent to the shop mainly for matches, my father's John Player's ciggies, milk or bread. A man down the road sent my friend and me to the shop for him once - sure we were delighted to think we could be earning a few pence each, sadly he only gave us two empty mineral bottles to take back to the shop and said we could keep what we got. Think it ended up about 1p each bottle or something. Miserable f*cker.:mad: My husband was sent to the shop this one time when he was about 10 and when the shop keeper had his back turned he grabbed a bun off the counter and stuffed it up his jumper. Unfortunately he was caught, the bun was all fluff so he had to take it but go get the money to pay for it.:D Another time he was sent to the shop by a neighbour who gave him 10p to spend. He chose what he thought was some kind of chocolate ball thing, the shopkeeper said 'are you sure you want that? That's a hair net'. The poor child was too embarrassed to explain his error so he sadly took the hair net instead of the much wanted confectionary.:o

capedcrustacian

mayhaps twas living in the wilds did it but myself and my brother used to beg our parents to be allowed to go to the shop!! we would come up with all sorts of reasons to go, but very rarely were allowed