Bob a Job

Another tricky one today until I decided to flick through my memory bank. When I was in the Cub Scouts in the early to mid 70s we had a week called Bob a Job. The phrase came from the slang for a shilling which was a ‘bob’ of which there were 20 in a pound. As Cub Scouts we would go to people’s houses in uniform, knock on the door and say, ‘Bob a job?’ and, if they had a job they wanted doing they would pay us 5 pence, or more if they were feeling generous, and we would do the job. It would usually be something in the garden but occasionally it was washing the car or doing something in the house.

Looking back, it was truly a good deed, because all of the money went to the Cub Pack we were so proud of and we got nothing tangible out of it, other than the feeling of having done something worthwhile which was actually really fulfilling. From those days onwards I have done something good without expectation or hesitation, and I believe that it was those times as a Cub that gave me that mindset.

Bob a Job was the butt of many jokes from those outside the Scout movement but it was truly decent in its intention and execution. Those days are gone with our focus on safety issues but it’s a shame in many ways. We need the principle if not the practice back in our societies across the world more than ever in this selfish world we live in.