Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Andy@w.c.s on May 08, 2007, 07:13:51 pm
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Hi All
Just curious as to find out what brought you into your life as a window cleaner? ;D
my own set of circumstances were that after several dead end jobs ,once again i found myself out of work, :'( and the then girlfriend' s mother suggested that i go window cleaning, so of i went on a Sunday morning and canvassed and by the end of the day had about 20 customers this was back i 1982 " not so many of us around then and work was plentyfull" :D
Previous jobs included
army as a junior leader
shelf stacker in a supermarket
stone masons mate ( really like that job ) 8)
Shed and fence panel maker
i also work in a factory as a sander
all i used to do all day was sand pieces of wood to round of the edges ::)
Ive also made paving slabs for a local company
As a self employed guy ive tried allsorts from making fresh pasta ,interior plant display for offices,chaufering fence spraying allsorts
But the one thing in all the years has been my window cleaning ,
Its alway given me a good wage and a stress free life :) :) :)
Thanks for reading I look forward to reading your previous life stories
Andy
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Left school went to carpentry college got sick to death of that,trained as a computer engineer and then the company moved to reading and i couldn`t handle the travelling after 2 years.Dad had the business for over 30yrs offered me a job and the rest is history as they say.
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Wow! Andy what a mixed life you've had ;D ;D
I spent many years in the Army (RMC) and then I was a security engineer for 15 years before I became a W/C and I must admit W/C is the less stressfull of them all.
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not as crabbit as i am now ;D
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University to study Economics - got degree but hated economics
Went into insurance - hated it
Started insurance brokers - hated it
Supermarket manager - hated it
Construction Foreman - hated it
Window Cleaner - ;D
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Heres mine..
Left school at 16
Labouring.
Working for a concrete firm filling air holes up on concrete blocks. :'(
Working with my dad painting and decorating. ;D
Short term job fitting racking up in a ware house. ;D
Booking clerk. :-X
Glass cutter and double glazing fitter. :-\
Van driver. :-\
Painting and decorating. ;D
Powder paint sprayer. :-[
Back to painting and decorating. ;D
Metal fabricating and engineering. ;D
Car valeter and caravan cleaning. ::)
Window cleaner. ;D ;D ;D
That’s my 25 working years life and the only regret I have is not working more with my dad before he died as he was a good laugh…
Bazz...
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Joined the army and left in 85
Had various little jobs....
Went to canada for 6 weeks
BR as customer service
BR Annoucer at Victoria (London)
BR Information Controller
BR Computer/ Networks
Left to go freelance computing
various short term contracts - computing
Ran a Y2K testing lab for various insurance companies
Computer security posts for various companies
Left to go live in The Gambia, then started working for an American company doing computer security.
Left The Gambia to go to Thailand teaching diving (2 years)
Came to Holland with the new girlfriend...the rest is all new
Cheers
Dave.
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Wow GUYS
My life has been so tame :-[
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Left school at 15
6 months in a warehouse,
2 years in a pottery, had enough so I joined the army.
9 years in the army as a metalsmith (welder/fabricator/balcksmith/tinsmith) then I left.
3mths financial advisor (very good wages, but very long hours, very stressful and a lot of excessive travelling) so quit!
20 minutes in a factory. I had to walk out as it was so boring (beyond belief and sooo... repetitive)!!!
1 year onsite welder/fabricator
2 years back in pottery simply because I wanted to save up a deposit for my mortgage and could earn twice what I was as a welder.
Got my mortgage and back to welding for 6 months.
Fed up with long hours giving it all back to the taxman so changed career and went window cleaning for someone for 3 months and decided to work for myself back in 1998
No regrets, still self-employed window cleaning! Would I swap careers again, hell no!!!
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Well left school 16
Painting decorating apprenticeship 3yrs on the same sit :'(
worked for my uncles cleaning co as a dogsbody >:(
Work for rmc mixing concrete building mortars, hated the hours >:(
Did six months bar work what a laugh and alot more besides ;D
back to painting and decorating for a while ???
built my rounds part time at first and here im four years on 8)
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Paper boy ;D
Butchers
left school
supermarket
b&q
gargage
left college
cavity wall insulation
part time w/c
chemist delivery driver
full time w/c
now a dancing bear ( see avatar) ;)
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Went into coal mining after leaving school. Fell out with boss after 10 yrs so packed in. Got set on window cleaning at 20 quid a day and hated it so went back to pit.
Pit shut went into printers..Hated it
Moved north and went down pit. Couldnt make it pay any more and my mate canvased me some windows, now me and mrs doing work together.
One of my costomers said, sometimes I look at you in your shorts and listening to the radio and think how unstressfull your job is ::) Yeh right on ! keep on workin for the man to pay your window bills ;)
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Henry viii
a roman centurian
2 pirates and a llama
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Sales Person ???
Gardener ;D
Chicken Vaccinator :-X
Simon.
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Squeaky was a Trad W/C ;D ;D
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Left school at 15.
Window cleaned ever since.
At 20 assisted a freind with his decorating business one day a week for one year.
Enjoyed both but window cleaning more so.
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Hi All
Just curious as to find out what brought you into your life as a window cleaner? ;D
my own set of circumstances were that after several dead end jobs ,once again i found myself out of work, :'( and the then girlfriend' s mother suggested that i go window cleaning, so of i went on a Sunday morning and canvassed and by the end of the day had about 20 customers this was back i 1982 " not so many of us around then and work was plentyfull" :D
Previous jobs included
army as a junior leader
shelf stacker in a supermarket
stone masons mate ( really like that job ) 8)
Shed and fence panel maker
i also work in a factory as a sander
all i used to do all day was sand pieces of wood to round of the edges ::)
Ive also made paving slabs for a local company
As a self employed guy ive tried allsorts from making fresh pasta ,interior plant display for offices,chaufering fence spraying allsorts
But the one thing in all the years has been my window cleaning ,
Its alway given me a good wage and a stress free life :) :) :)
Thanks for reading I look forward to reading your previous life stories
Andy
Did a few things before window cleaning and it was quite varied too.
Building labourer.
Bakery hand.
Kitchen porter.
Coppersmith Assistant.
Print worker (that lasted 13 years).
Multi-drop driving/warehouse asst.
Nursing assistant.
Advertising/merchandising.
I came into window cleaning due to three redundancies in as many years. I had a couple of spells on the dole and didn't like it. For a while, I was probably one of those "cowboys" (albeit a tax paying one) that crop up on here sometimes.
I started window cleaning as it was better than the dole and just gradually got a taste for it.
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Chicken Vaccinator :-X
Simon.
Chicken Vaccinator?
Whaaat?
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Left School wanted to be a joiner but no apprentices in 1979.
Started in frozen food store, left to sell insurance, then Double Glazing.
Then played Bass Guitar in various bands Pro/Semi Pro.
Kids came along so needed proper job, worked in music shop selling instruments for 8 yrs. Owner retired closed shop.
Ran a Karaoke/Disco in evenings for 6yrs. Wife got peed off being out most nights.
Went to work in Tissue Manufacturing 13 yrs.
Started as labourer/van driver and worked my way up to Site Technician. Loved the job, company and people there. Energy prices crippled the industry, made redundant. :(
Worked for NTL, Telecoms/Broadband/TV installations for four months while planning my empire WFP window cleaning. ;D
Did my first day today, 9 x 1st cleans 7hrs and 400ltrs water. Aching in places I never new existed. Did I enjoy it? Loved every minute of it, including the rain. ;D
Wayne
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left school at 15
landworker 15 yrs
antique dealer 8 yrs
window cleaner 2 yrs
best job and most interesting was antique dealer-still do it part time,came into window cleaning as i wanted part time job to top up wages from antique dealing,window cleaning became full time after 6 months.
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Farming (U.K.)
Agricultural College)
Farming (Ireland, Denmark)
Travelling (Middle East, Med, Europe)
Various jobs whilst in Israel, street-cleaning >:( washing-up >:( labouring >:( sweeping Eilats Police-Station tennis-courts >:( re-fitting a 60' yacht ;D ;D
Landscaping ;D
Then onto window-cleaning after a mate had a round and offered me in, eventualy we couldn't work together and I bought part of the round off him. Never been so settled in my work.
Matt
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Henry viii
a roman centurian
2 pirates and a llama
;D
Me?
Anne Boleyn
Asterix the Gaul
Spanish gold-carrying galleon captain (twice)
Argentine Shepherd - got my own back on the Llama!
;D
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Chicken Vaccinator
Walk into a low shed about the size of an indoor football pitch that contains about 40 000 - 100 000 chickens. You and 3 or 4 other people then round them up and start stabbing them in the breasts with a needle. It stinks real bad too.
Did it for about 6 months when I was setting up the window cleaning. The money was okay but nowhere near windows. You also stunk for a few days afterward as one even 2 washes wasn't enough to get the smell off.
Still have fond memories of the job though.
Simon.
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Chicken Vaccinator
Walk into a low shed about the size of an indoor football pitch that contains about 40 000 - 100 000 chickens. You and 3 or 4 other people then round them up and start stabbing them in the breasts with a needle.
Ahhh, with a needle! ;)
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Chicken Vaccinator
Walk into a low shed about the size of an indoor football pitch that contains about 40 000 - 100 000 chickens. You and 3 or 4 other people then round them up and start stabbing them in the breasts with a needle. It stinks real bad too.
Did it for about 6 months when I was setting up the window cleaning. The money was okay but nowhere near windows. You also stunk for a few days afterward as one even 2 washes wasn't enough to get the smell off.
Still have fond memories of the job though.
Simon.
Hope you changed the needle after each vaccination. Don't want to spread any nasty diseases amongst our feathered friends, do we? :)
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Oh, not inseminator then? ::)
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I'm still in my previous life! The friggin' firm is still going thanks to the pension fund that keeps bailing them out. Hopefully they will go under anytime soon as I'm rapidly using my holidays up. >:(
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Farm student. :)
Royal Engineers..Army. ;D
15 yrs Health & Fitness + Caediac Rehab. ;D
WC 8)
Insurance. ???
Construction Engineer SE/PT Employed. :D
Palitive care, very stressful :'(.......now going part time soon so I can get back to WC professionaly and not the cowboy I was! ;D 8)
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worked in cash and carry :(
worked in sainsburys :(
crew on a charter fishing boat in florida 8)
security guard on the newbury bypass (remember that one?) :D
spot welder :(
bin man 8)
security guard, 60 to 80 hours a week- no wonder i made the best move of my life and became a window cleaner ;D
still only part time but making up the money with a bit of door work.
hope to go full time next spring!!
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after college i did tele sales and direct sales ( double glazing ) ,
then took of round australia for a year ( this was 20 years ago , and my mate still hasnt come back ! which one of us is the idiot ? )
then did approx 6 months in europe !
not long after coming back i started a printing business , mainly silk screen and hot foil . i was doing just about ok , but i obviously had bills and overheads so i bought a small window cleaning round to make sure i had enough to pay all bills !
the window cleaning business took of like you wouldnt beleive ( actually i know you would ) so i sold up all the printing equiptment and here i am all these years later still cleaning windows .
its funny how things work out ! studying business and finance all those years ago , i never would have imagined i would be doing this for a living !
im not complaining though !
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maggot farm, knackers yard, factory job, van drivers assistant for currys, lorry driver for bakers oven , van driver for group 4
Then finally a stress free life in window cleaning 8)
Brett