The Moment you realised you're in the big bad world now

major bill · 02-09-2013 10:37pm #1

That moment you suddenly realise School is finished and you are now in the big bad world where you need to grow up

second day of Full time work for me.... having to get two buses home...sitting on the first bus in me dirty snickers and steel cap boots when it suddenly hit me like a tonne of bricks...this is now my life for the next 50 years

I'm out of school nearly 10 years now and how i would love to go back for a few weeks as the banter was brilliant and you didnt have a care in the world!!.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 02-09-2013 10:43pm

Arriving in Lebanon in 1988 and being issued a rifle, ammo, flak jacket and helmet.. Then seeing the first 'Landmines' signs, then the drive from the Israeli/Lebanese border to our area of operations and into a war ~ I was 19 years old.

wazky · 02-09-2013 10:44pm

When the Judge decided to put me on trial as an adult?

ballyharpat · 02-09-2013 10:46pm

Smoking a cig in the jacks about two weeks before the leaving cert, my GF was 4 mths pregnant at the time-realised, holy crap, I have to get a job and start bringing in some money......Funny thing is, no one ever talked about this stuff and it scared the crap out of me..........

Brego888 · 02-09-2013 10:48pm

Malia Fancy Frost wrote: »

Arriving in Lebanon in 1988 and being issued a rifle, ammo, flak jacket and helmet.. Then seeing the first 'Landmines' signs, then the drive from the Israeli/Lebanese border to our area of operations and into a war ~ I was 19 years old.

SilverScreen · 02-09-2013 10:48pm

All throughout college I still had the feeling of being insulated from the big bad world despite having worked part-times jobs as well for a few years.

I the moment I released I was in the big bad world was the first time I signed on the dole, a couple of months after I graduated from college over two years ago. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I had real responsibility in my life and I had to make my own way in life on my own terms.

shopaholic01 · 02-09-2013 10:53pm

When the bills started arriving with my name on them.

Legs.Eleven · 02-09-2013 10:55pm

I've been supporting myself financially pretty much since I was 21 but the first time I felt like a convincing adult was going to work in The City in London in my suity work clothes on the underground when I was about 26. First time I had a stable job and earned a proper full-time salary. Felt pretty good.

grumula · 02-09-2013 10:55pm

SilverScreen wrote: »

All throughout college I still had the feeling of being insulated from the big bad world despite having worked part-times jobs as well for a few years.

I the moment I released I was in the big bad world was the first time I signed on the dole, a couple of months after I graduated from college over two years ago. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I had real responsibility in my life and I had to make my own way in life on my own terms.

seconded
pretty much this exactly
everyone should have to eke it out on welfare for a year, it's a real eyeopener, i've been steadily employed for a good while now but im still frugal as fúck and get huge buyers remorse when i purchase anything over 50 quid that i can't fully deem a necessity.

The Backwards Man · 02-09-2013 10:57pm

My first time cooking for myself. What a disaster that was!

SilverScreen · 02-09-2013 10:58pm

The Backwards Man wrote: »

My first time cooking for myself. What a disaster that was!

Don't tell me you burnt your cornflakes!

somefeen · 02-09-2013 11:00pm

When I was dying with the flu and no one gave a ****.

Elbaston · 02-09-2013 11:04pm

...it was nam ..74.
they issued me some chopsticks and put me on the back of a rikshaw.
I wont go into details.

(superhero pose)

The Backwards Man · 02-09-2013 11:06pm

SilverScreen wrote: »

Don't tell me you burnt your cornflakes!

Na, I was cooking breakfast for a gang of people after a party, no cooking oil so used a tin of harp lager.

SilverScreen · 02-09-2013 11:08pm

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Na, I was cooking breakfast for a gang of people after a party, no cooking oil so used a tin of harp lager.

At least it wasn't Dutch Gold. That would have been a disaster.

shopaholic01 · 02-09-2013 11:09pm

somefeen wrote: »

When I was dying with the flu and no one gave a ****.

Man flu?

dubscottie · 02-09-2013 11:09pm

Elbaston wrote: »

...it was nam ..74.
they issued me some chopsticks and put me on the back of a rikshaw.
I wont go into details.

(superhero pose)

I know someone that was in nam in 74..
Rathfarnam. Think it was 74 he was given chopsticks with a takeaway.

tony1980 · 02-09-2013 11:09pm

somefeen wrote: »

When I was dying with the flu and no one gave a ****.

somefeen · 02-09-2013 11:12pm

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Man flu?

It was only boy flu at first. But when I got out of bed, went to a chemist, bought and then mixed my own lemsip it was only then that it could be considered man-flu

questionmark? · 02-09-2013 11:19pm

somefeen wrote: »

It was only boy flu at first. But when I got out of bed, went to a chemist, bought and then mixed my own lemsip it was only then that it could be considered man-flu

If you had the ability to get out of bed, you sir did not have man flu. :rolleyes:

beks101 · 02-09-2013 11:19pm

Meeting a work contact in town with her kids in tow, making appropriately cooing noises about how cute they were, how old are they? etc...and her asking "do you have any yourself?"

NO I DON'T HAVE ANY KIDS MYSELF BECAUSE I'M STILL A KID MYSELF, STUPID WOMAN! :mad::mad::(

somefeen · 02-09-2013 11:20pm

questionmark? wrote: »

If you had the ability to get out of bed, you sir did not have man flu. :rolleyes:

Like I said, it was only boy flu at first.
My condition quickly deteriorated once I became a man

The Backwards Man · 02-09-2013 11:23pm

beks101 wrote: »

Meeting a work contact in town with her kids in tow, making appropriately cooing noises about how cute they were, how old are they? etc...and her asking "do you have any yourself?"

NO I DON'T HAVE ANY KIDS MYSELF BECAUSE I'M STILL A KID MYSELF, STUPID WOMAN! :mad::mad::(

Would you like a lollipop?

work2013 · 02-09-2013 11:24pm

SilverScreen wrote: »

the moment I released I was in the big bad world was the first time I signed on the dole, a couple of months after I graduated from college over two years ago. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I had real responsibility in my life and I had to make my own way in life on my own terms.

ONeill2013 · 02-09-2013 11:33pm

the day i discovered the price of razor blades when i moved to college, now i look like a viking

Penny Dreadful · 03-09-2013 9:36am

questionmark? wrote: »

If you had the ability to get out of bed, you sir did not have man flu. :rolleyes:

I agree.

My mother always said if you're feeling sick and think you have the flu and see a €5 on the ground by the front door and stop to pick it up you only have a bad cold.
If you see €50 and still think "I'll die if I bend down to pick that up" you have the flu.

Really annoys me when people walk around complaining of "dying of the flu". If you have the flu you're not walking anywhere.

03-09-2013 9:39am

Was waiting for work for two months after I finished university.. Had to overdraw the dole by an extra month so I could eat. Writing the letter and paying it back was probably my first real world experience after study.

MonaPizza · 03-09-2013 9:56am

Malia Fancy Frost wrote: »

Arriving in Lebanon in 1988 and being issued a rifle, ammo, flak jacket and helmet.. Then seeing the first 'Landmines' signs, then the drive from the Israeli/Lebanese border to our area of operations and into a war ~ I was 19 years old.

Didn't know a lad called Roche did you? Can't remember his first name...think it was Paul. Knew him by his nickname "blocker" (he was a good goalie). He would have been there about the same time......though maybe 22 or 23 in '88

emmabrighton · 03-09-2013 10:00am

The day I brought my son home from hospital knowing that was that baby's PRIMARY CARE GIVER.

danniemcq · 03-09-2013 10:01am

Getting a phonecall not from the bank but from the group they passed the debt onto. It was only a couple hundred quid but at the time it was a horrible feeling.

The constant hanging up i did, ignoring calls, excuses, saving their numbers so i knew they were ringing, refusing to answer unknown numbers, broken promises to send money etc it was quite scary.

I eventually gave myself a kick up the hole and sorted it all out.

In all fairness who in their right mind gives a student with 0 history of savings and nothing in the bank a credit card when they never asked for one!

Spring Onion · 03-09-2013 10:05am

For me it was the birth of my 1st child. I was 29.

Up until then I knew I could take care of myself and would never starve.

A child changes everything about life.

stefan idiot jones · 03-09-2013 10:14am

Malia Fancy Frost wrote: »

Arriving in Lebanon in 1988 and being issued a rifle, ammo, flak jacket and helmet.. Then seeing the first 'Landmines' signs, then the drive from the Israeli/Lebanese border to our area of operations and into a war ~ I was 19 years old.

You can't just leave it at that !!!!

Tell us more, please.

Did you fire your rifle at anybody ?

Did you get em ?

positron · 03-09-2013 10:21am

When I was 22, I moved to a big busy city in India for work reasons, into rented accommodation etc, and the first evening there as I walk around to find my bearings of that busy inner city area, humid and hot as you would expect, dodging masses of people, street vendors and their make-shift setups, mountains of rubbish on the side of the road, cows standing around munching on this rubbish, bikes and three-wheelers cutting thru this human-animal river, I finally managed to find a decent restaurant which offered a temporary respite from the din of typical Indian city night. Food was delicious but I thoroughly missed my mom's delicious cooking and the my own corner of the our dining room at home and my cat and dogs at my feet while we eat etc.

As I finish the dinner and walk back to my rented accommodation thru all this chaos around me thinking how much I miss the calm and starlight nights of my village, I hear someone whispering in my ear:

"Sir, Do you want some fun? We have all types right there Sir. What do you like Sir? Tamil? Malayalam? Good Malayalee girls sir, New girls sir. Just 50 rupees sir".

That's when it really hit me then in then that I was truly a million miles away from home.

o1s1n · 03-09-2013 10:27am

The day other people started referring to me as 'The Man' to their children

vitani · 03-09-2013 10:40am

I flew over to the UK for an open day to a university I was considering doing a postgrad in. On the way back to the airport, the train broke down, and I realised I was at risk of missing my flight home.

Knowing that I would be responsible for getting myself home if I missed the flight was a real wake-up call. Before this, I always had somebody with me to ask advice or to take charge of the situation.

Fox_In_Socks · 03-09-2013 10:41am

Looks like I reached adulthood at a very early age. I was but a mere pup when I was released into the big bad world.

HalloweenJack · 03-09-2013 10:48am

When my flat got flooded and I had to deal with all the insurance company and repair people all by myself. That was the biggest adult moment of my life so far.

LoonyLovegood · 03-09-2013 10:52am

Getting my P45...it was an "oh crap, I'm actually an adult now"

danniemcq · 03-09-2013 11:10am

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Na, I was cooking breakfast for a gang of people after a party, no cooking oil so used a tin of harp lager.

just wondering.... was this in Galway by any chance?

Green Mile · 03-09-2013 11:45am

positron wrote: »

"Sir, Do you want some fun? We have all types right there Sir. What do you like Sir? Tamil? Malayalam? Good Malayalee girls sir, New girls sir. Just 50 rupees sir".

That's just 50 cent. Are you sure? Should I move over and live like a king?

positron · 03-09-2013 12:13pm

Green Mile wrote: »

That's just 50 cent. Are you sure? Should I move over and live like a king?

When I was 22.... which is 15 years ago. So work out the inflation and take out recent INR depreciation etc.

Okay, forget the maths, it would say if you were walk around that part of that that city today, I am sure pimps would offer something similar for say not much more than ten euros.

Pai Mei · 03-09-2013 12:19pm

For me it was yesterday when I arrived in college and had a teary goodbye to my parents

Sobering ****

The Backwards Man · 03-09-2013 12:25pm

danniemcq wrote: »

just wondering.... was this in Galway by any chance?

Na, those days are a bit of a blur now but I'm pretty sure it was Portrush.

heretochat · 03-09-2013 12:26pm

Being sent out to work as soon as I finished school and being told by my parents that my days of getting things off them for nothing were over and I had to start fending for myself...

Don't think I have stopped working since... And don't think I ever got anything off them after that either :eek: