IF YOU WERE to have approached me as a teenager and asked whether I was the last person on planet earth to get the shift, I’d have replied in the affirmative.

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Actually, I’d have done more than that; I’d have confirmed that this was indeed the case, asked whether you knew if anyone might be up to the task, and then got my mate to ask your mate if they’d meet their mate.

As far as I was concerned, the rest of the world spent their time meeting the faces off each other while I bumbled around in the background.

With the benefit of hindsight, I now know the amount of time I spent fixating on it bordered on the bizarre, considering the fact I was still waiting on my Junior Cert results when it ‘finally’ happened.

However, last night’s First Dates Ireland reminded me that when it comes to the first shift, it is – no matter what we might like to think – a pretty big milestone in the life of an adolescent.

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Indeed, 23-year-old Daniel from Tipperary even made reference to it when filling viewers in on his romantic history during the most recent episode of the RTÉ show.

“I was 17 when I got my first shift like, so you know I was old!” he said.

Old? Hmm… that one is up for debate, but sure listen.

Anyway, tell us; what age were you when you got your first shift?

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