During the early noughties, I pierced hundreds of ears at Claire’s Accessories, the chain store that collapsed into administration last month in the UK. These piercings rarely went smoothly and the evidence often resurfaced: a wonky earring here, a scar there. Good riddance (unemployment notwithstanding), then, to this lavender blight on teen culture.

After a week or two of mutilating cardboard ears, I was let loose on real ones

I had just turned 16 when I joined Claire’s and my Saturdays became filled with blood, sweat and tears. I recently saw a meme posted by a Gen Z colleague mocking a millennial for career advice that advocated walking around a city centre handing out CVs. That’s exactly how I got this, my first retail job (the otherwise superfluous National Record of Achievement mi

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