When I was 16 I was offered a job at a garden nursery and told it would be a paid apprenticeship on £4.60 an hour full time for a year and then I would be able to keep my job working there for a good salary. They told me they would keep track of all my work and write it up online to get my qualifications at the end. I soon realised it wasn't normal work at all, it was heavy duty lifting and carrying everyday for about 10 hours. I ended everyday exhausted and in pain, not ready for my hours commute. During my shifts I was given a 20 minute lunch break all day and was told off for taking rest breaks or using the bathroom. It seems very naive but I had been brought up told that hard work was the only way to be successful and that I just had to suck it up and shut up or i would never get a good career. After a year of working there, with no sick days, or holiday time I asked my boss about my qualifications at which point he told me that they had been cancelled and that he would just put me on minimum wage now. I was very upset but thought it was good st least to get a pay rise. However as time went on my hours gradually got cut back so I wasn't earning anymore than I had as an apprentice but when I complained I was informed that I was being offered a promotion with more responsibilities. Fast forward a few more months my wages never went up and my workload increased significantly but the hours available to me were the same. This of course resulted in an injury, I broke my collar bone and tore my shoulder joint open from constant lifting with no breaks or help. My boss caught me reducing my work load in half and told me if I did not reload back to the full weight I would be fired, crying I reloaded and continued to work through the pain. As we approached christmas that year I was told that the garden nursery would shut for 2 weeks and that everyone would get holiday time off and full pay, I was very excited as I'd not taken any time off since starting this job, surprise surprise I never received that pay or the bonus that everyone else did. That month I almost lost my apartment as I didn't have money for rent or food, let alone winter heating bills, I'd lost a lot weight over the months and I was sick to my stomach at the thought of how I'd been treated. A lot of people called me stupid for not leaving earlier but I was 16 and thought that it was the only way to ever afford my own home. Looking back now I agree with everyone.