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Views #499 | Low Intermediate 4

First Job

Mark talks about his first job back in New Zealand.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Ruth	Todd

Todd: Hey, er, Mark, could you tell me about the first job you ever had?

Mark: I think it was when I was at university, well my first long term part time job was when I was at university and one night a week I used to work for 12 hours from 6 pm ‘til 6am in a printing factory and we were actually making television guides to be distributed throughout the whole country.

Todd: So you worked from 6am, I mean 6pm ‘til 6am?

Mark: Yep, overnight. I felt that it was probably better to work just one long block of time than rather have a part time job 2 or 3 nights a week. So I kept that up for 2, 2and a half years until my final year of university. Then I decided that study on Friday was more important than the part time job, but for 2 and a half years I really enjoyed it.

Todd: So for this job what exactly did you do? What were your duties?

Mark: We used to take the TV guides from the printing presses and bundle them up and get them ready for distribution to the various convenience stores and gas stands and bookstores throughout the whole country and then make sure that each or the shops and regions got the right number of guides.

Todd: So a job like that would be manual labour, versus say a customer service job where you are always talking with people. Which type of job do you think is more enjoyable for a young person?

Mark: Because of the hours we worked, it was all overnight, there was a combination of other university students and also quite a few housewives who were doing it for extra income, so we actually had quite a good team. There were probably 10 to15 of us. We used to enjoy a good laugh while we were doing it as well.

Todd: Sounds fun!

Mark: It was tiring, especially lectures on Friday mornings but we used to stay awake. I don’t think I ever slept in the lecture afterwards.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

long-term or part-time

My first long-term, part-time job was when I was at university and I worked at a printing factor.

Something you do 'long-term' you do for a long period of time. If you work in a place 'part-time,' you work there less than 40 hours a week, usually between 20 and 30 hours. Notice the following:

I don't know if I'm ready for a long-term job yet.
It can be hard to keep a part-time job when you are in college.

overnight or long block of time

I thought it was better to work overnight, or one long block of time, than having it two or three nights a week.

When you work 'overnight,' you start work late in the evening, and you work through the night until the morning. A 'long block of time' means many hours in a row. Notice the following:

Most of the time I work overnight, so it really causes problems with my sleep schedule.
Because you are getting your hair colored and cut you will need a long block of time.

bundle them up

We used to take the TV guides and bundle them up to get ready for distribution.

If you 'bundle something up' you package it into groups of a certain number to prepare them for distribution. Notice the following:

We need to bundle up the rest of these flowers tonight.
It's easiest if you just bundle everyone's orders together and deliver them that way.

extra income

There were other university students and a few housewives who were doing it for the extra income.

'Extra income' refers to money that you earn in addition to what you already make. Notice the following:

I definitely miss the extra income of renting a room out in my house.
Although it added some stress to my life, it was very nice to have some extra income.

good laugh

We used to enjoy a good laugh while we were doing the work as well.

A 'good laugh' refers to a long, hard laugh. Notice the following: