Here’s a fun game: what was your first job?
Mine was a classic of the genre: at 16, I went to work (after school and at weekends) on the checkouts at a local supermarket. I can still remember my wage (£3.32 an hour), the checkout code for Maris Piper potatoes (1014), the pain of having to start work (quelle horreur) at 6.15am on a Saturday – and the pervasive sense of mindless, crushing boredom.
