What Do You Do For a Job / Living? | Easy English 80

Hello, welcome to Easy English.

So today, I want to find out what  the people of Brighton do for a job,

how they got the job and what  they enjoy about the job,

let's go.

What do you do for a job? - So I work  at ''Sainsbury's''. Er… technically,

well technically, the role I do  is called a training assistant.

But essentially, what I  call it is stacking shelves.

So I’m basically on the shop floor like,

unloading all of the morning’s  delivery er… that’s come in,

just sticking that on the  shelves and I work across like,

the fresh departments, so  kind of, your milk, your veg,

er… some meats, some yoghurts  and cream and stuff like that.

And basically, make sure that all  gets out, whilst also like, helping

any customers that come in. – Sure. What do  you do for a job? – Okay, well I'm retired,

but I used to work for the  tax office; HMRC in Brighton.

Um… I retired a few years… few… three or  four years ago. What do you do for a job?

Okay, erm… so I work in the  music industry, predominantly.

So I work as a band manager, promoter,

er… events manager I guess you can kind of call it

and also a production manager, based in Cardiff.

So I do er… various different  tasks, from doing accounts,

doing offers and doing a bit of  promotion and marketing, er… all of,

kind of, various different elements  of… of working in music I guess.

Wow, you’re like a one-man-band, no pun…

no pun intended, yeah, yeah.  A one-man-band for bands.

But I also do a bit of tour  management and then… yeah,

I also do a bit of photography as well.

So, that’s why I'm out here  in Brighton, or near Brighton,

doing… doing a bit of photography,  for as a bit of, kind of,

a hobby, a bit of a trip away and I just thought,

while I'm over this way, bring  my camera and kind of, yeah,

do bit of snaps. But I also,  do as a part of my job,

is a bit of promotional and…  and portrait photography

and a bit of street photography  as well, so kind of like,

yeah, all various different elements  kind of, mixed together so…   

Can you tell me; what do you do for a job?

I'm an estate agent in Hertfordshire.

Okay. And, for those who  might not know what that is,

could you describe what your job entails?

Er… yeah, I actually work the  land a new house department,

so I take on er… big plots of land with… say,

a house with a plot of land to the side and help

people get planning on it, so  they (can) put another house

on the side and then they… I  help them sell it and hopefully,

they move on and well… they… they… they… they…

Their dreams come true,  hopefully. I’m a dream maker,

there you go. – Oh, wow! Would you be  able to tell me what you do for a job?

Yep, so I work in employment support.

Okay, and what er… what is  that, what does that entailed?

Erm… just helping people, no matter  how long they've been unemployed.

Erm… Find work or a course  that suits them really.   

What do you do for a job? - I am an  urgent carer with ''Coastal Care''.

An urgent carer for ''Coastal Care''.

And can you describe what that  job entails? - So basically,

as far as I know, when people go in to hospital

they generally come out with a care package.

So those that go to… back to  their homes and don't have

anyone to help them recover  from a… an injury or something,

then they'll come out with a care  package which is part of what we do.

So, as urgent care, we’re a  temporary service. – Yeah.

So, it's generally, like  between six to eight weeks

that you are entitled to care and then from there,

you move on to a permanent  care company where they come in

for longer periods and help with  shopping and… stuff like that.

I see, som… like a… almost  like a rehabilitation thing?

Yeah so, urgent care, I mean, like our…

probably our longest call is about thirty minutes.

So, anything between ten,  fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes.

So it's just going in, making  sure that people have help

with a wash or that they've eaten, you know,

just general looking after people  I suppose. How did you get into  

the band's management side of things?

So I studied music technology in Cardiff, in erm…

the university south Wales.  And then, I was… my sort of,

ideal job at the time would have been erm…

a studio producer or studio  engineer. But I knew, like by, just…

by doing the course and getting  to know kind of, the industry.

And there's a lot of le… a lot less studios,

because a lot of people doing it  DIY and recording at home and…

so I thought; right, okay and then I  started doing a bit more promotion;

so I started promoting my own  in the third year of university,

in a venue in Cardiff. So it  was just a Monday… Monday night,

student night, in a venue called  ''The Globe'' and I was erm… yeah,

promoting once every week  there with a few of my friends

who were doing the studio  sort of, engineer… the sorry,

the eng… front of house engineering  and also doing the design work

for the posters, so it's kind  of, part of… part of the course,

we kind of, did that as like a  extra curricular sort of, stuff.

And yeah, and so through that,  I just got to know bands and er…

by promoting them and one of  them, who was actually worki…

I was studying with at the time, he was like;

''Oh, you’ve put us on a few times,  you fancy like, managing us?''

And I was like; ''um OK.'' Never  really thought about management,

but then I was like, okay, yeah, why not.

So, it was a band called ''Denuo''  who are originally from North Wales,

which is where I was brought  up. And Tom from de ''Denuo''

said it was you know, we could kind of,

work together and I started  just on a casual basis,

booking some shows for them erm… and  then started arranging things like,

you know, merchandise and trying to  sort of, set up record label like,

you know, links with record labels  and agents and stuff like that.

And booking some shows for them and  just, sort of, different elements

of it. But erm… yeah, that's  really how I got into it.   

Is this job something that you  had in mind that you might do,

or did you fall into it? –  No, I went to two colleges,

got asked to leave one,  carried on with the second one.

I never get thrown out of anywhere,  I always get asked to leave.

And I did a building degree,  construction degree, went on from there,

worked for… work for a  family firm of construction.

And, seven years did labouring  for seven years; enjoyed it,

got made redundant in ninety-one,  carried… and then went straight to…

I walked down the town to… in  local town and said to the guy;

''I want a job'' and he said;  ''I haven’t got any''. So I said;

''Well I’ll come and work for  nothing'' so, started from there,

that's thirty years ago. Oh  well, thirty-one years ago now.

Oh wow! And so, I guess there’s  some job enjoyment then,

if you've been doing this… - No,  for the first twenty years yes,

for the last ten no. – No? -  Absolutely none whatsoever.

People are far more needy;

the general public tend to be far more needy now

than they ever were twenty years ago.

I did… no, I've done it for the last ten years.

It kinda has changed, but it's different.

And what’s your theory on this change?

Just, I think it's… it's the  media, as in social media.

Ah! They’ve seen their dream  home and they wanna get it.

Well, they ask questions, lots  of lots of que... dare I say it,

ask lots and lots of lots of questions,

but they ask lots and lots of questions.

And, if you don't give them  the answer immediately,

whereas twenty years ago, sort of,

ten to thirty years ago you had  to put an advert in the paper,

it was very much a very, sort  of, sedate way of doing it.

Whereas now, it's a lot more. It's…

if you're not there  twenty-four-seven, you get your…

your derriere kicked. - I understand now.   is this something which you sort of,

wanted to go into or did you sort  of, fall into it by accident?

Erm… a bit of both really. – Yeah?

Most of my work experience has being like,

turning my experiences around.

So, I was receiving some help from  a few employment support advisors

before and then I just ended up becoming one.

So my… my coach sent me the job and  then… now I'm one of them. - Wow.   

How did you get this job? Did you…  Oh, I’ve been… I was there for years.

I… I applied, originally  applied back in the eighties;

I need… I wanted to I move  out of London and… you know,

they were recruiting and I just ended up there.

So it wa… It was a means to get out?

It was a means to get out of London. With your  job, what are… what are the perks, you’d say?

Erm… staff discount is probably one,

constantly surrounded by food as well; quite nice.

The people I work with are  really nice as well and like,

sometimes if a customer has like recommended you,

or you've done something that's  like, a bit beyond your job,

you get like, a ten pound  voucher to spend across like,

stores that are linked to  ''Sainsbury's'' – Oh really?

So yeah, that's quite nice to have that like,

incentive to work towards something like that.

And maybe like,  

be a bit kinder than you would usually. Okay,  erm… definitely working with amazing artists

and hearing new material and new tracks.

Er… so obviously, you hear it first  hand, so they send me over stuff.

Er… like, so ''Ailsa Tully'';  she's just got a release out,

in a couple of week’s time and she’ll like,

send me the stuff over and then I sort of,

listen to it and maybe give some feedback.

But, I kind of leave it to the  artist because they're the ones…

they’re the experts, obviously.  And they’re the ones who…

whose material it is, so I don't  try to get too involved with that,

but I can give my feedback and  listen. But that's… you know,

that's the beauty of it, is kind  of, I love listening to new music.

So having that first hand you know,

when an artist sends you a new  track and your like, my God,

this is amazing, I love this, you  can just go like, this is like,

your first pers… the first person  to hear this outside of their like,

little bubble which is quite cool.  Um… Touring is amazing as well,

so I've done a lot of touring  of the UK but also Europe.

And been lucky to kind of, go to  amazing festivals like ''Glastonbury''

and ''The Great Escape'' and  ''Liverpool Sound City'',

through working with musicians and  artists that I er… I love and adore,

so it's kind of really, that's the best bit,

hanging out with your mates.  Does sound very glamorous,

but when you have to drive to the…  the most, craziest drive I think,

well I've done a couple of crazy  drives, but the most, craziest I think,

was doing one night in Paris with  a bank called ''Boy Azooga'' who,

again are friends of mine, who  I’ve worked with for a few years;

we drove from overnight from  Paris to do showcases in Brighton

in ''The Great Escape''. And, they did like,

five or six showcases the next day  and we were like, we got there at…

I think it was like, five o'clock in the morning,

after driving overnight, got  there, we had to do obviously,

''Eurotunnel'' and all that  and by the time we got there,

had about two or three hours’  kip, had to be up again and then,

I was driving around the  various different setups in…

in Brighton and it was just  like, it was… it was… you know,

organised chaos but I loved it. I didn’t get any…

like, hardly any sleep, ‘cos you kind of,

once you settle down down  you’re still buzzing. But…

that sounds great; living in the  madness is just fun, I think.

Yeah, totally. When I said that would  be what is your job, you er… you…

I feel that you, almost don't  want to do the interview then.

Absolutely. Everyone hates estate agents.

Okay and this is like, a cliché right?

We're just one up from tax inspectors.

You’re not a tax inspector as  well are you? No, I hope not.

I’m yet to interview one. But why is that?

I understand tax inspectors right.

Because you have to give your money away to them,

but what is the problem or the  cliché behind the issue of…

How old are the kids you're  doing this for? Are they young?

It’s not specifically for kids, it  could be for anyone learning English.

Oh okay, what age from? Are they older?

Anyone can watch… anyone can watch it.

Okay, I was going to use  an expletive, then I won’t.

No do, I can bleep! - Estate agents aren’t…

they’re vilified and for a very good reason.

They’re… they’re normally they…  well they’re just basically liars.

That's… that's what they are, virtually  every single one I've ever met,

apart from the ones I work with,  are liars. They embellish the truth;

they’d sell something they  don't actually own to people

who don't really want it, to realise a dream

they're ever going to be paying  for the next thirty years.

And unfortunately, we’re all on that treadmill.

And can I ask the final, final question?

Is it true the whole rumour about you know, like,

when you go for a viewing;  estate agents will time it,

just before or after the… like,  the plane has done the fly-by,

the train has… - Oh yeah,  yeah. We had one in… local,

I was gonna give my address anyway.

Locally to where I live and it…

the train line ran right down the back of it.

And as we went down the guy  shouted over the top of the trains;

''they're not very noisy are they!''

Thanks for watching the week's episode,

let me know what you do for  a job and what the perks are

and we'll see you next week, bye.