Hello Internet folks, I am currently pondering a dilemma and I wonder if you can help. (Although, given your usual level of response to this blog, I am not holding out much hope!) It's not a big problem to be honest, quite the opposite, but it may mean the end of this blog forever...
You see, my problem is that I don't actually seem to have any problems right now.
I have a job which, although it's not the best job in the world, I'm earning money from. And sure, it's kind of boring and the pay's not as good as it could be, but any job which you can do with minimal qualifications will be boring and, given that I'm not entitled to minimum wage, I actually earn more than I would in a bar or in most shops. Plus everyone is really nice which, for me, is more important than the work itself. And it's not like I'm even just saying that; literally everyone is nice.
There's Graham, who works for "the agency" (dun dun duuuun) but is planing on going full time. Graham has been really nice to me since I started working there, but his jokes are awful! Then there's Dannii, who only works a couple of days a week, but is absolutely lovely and I always spend too much time talking to her because she's so interesting. Also prescanning is Caroline who, although she seems lovely, I haven't had much chance to get to know, but she's always so happy and smiley. In my recent job development, I've been working more closely with Mark (who wants to join the army) and Richard (who wants to be a Social Worker/Social Work teacher, but works doing whatever he can whilst he's waiting to get the job he wants.) Mark and Richard are both great guys, although they do sometimes talk a little loudly, especially about things which should probably not be repeated here. And the army. Then, of course, there's Chloe and Anya. When the Boss isn't around, Chloe and Anya effectively run the joint; they are in charge of all the admin, all the orders, paying everyone, running meetings and making sure everyone knows what's going on. They're amazing at what they do, even if I annoy them sometimes. Then there's Matt...
I think Matt deserves a paragraph to himself. As most of you will have seen, Matt is my fantastic new boyfriend. Yes, we are that nauseating couple. No, we don't mind. Yes, we know how awful we are, but it's OK because Becky, who is terrified of inter-personal relationships says we're not just that couple, because we're also funny together. Errr, yay?
So, as you see, there is nothing for me to write whiny blog posts about any more. Does this mean the end of "Stuff I Ponder"??!?!?!?!?!
Well, in a word, "no." Weird and wonderful stuff is still guaranteed to happen in my life; I'm still doing the scouting (we've got the Beach Weekend this weekend) and I'm about to head off to Uni, which should provide many an interesting story. Plus, with a boyfriend in tow, there'll even be someone to share it with!
P.S. Good luck Mark for today and tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Dannii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dannii. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Thursday, 29 August 2013
My New Job
PhatPocket. It's such an American name. Which makes sense, because the manager (and owner, as far as I can tell) is American. So, as many of you know, I got a new job recently. Therefore I have been pondering it.
My job itself is incredibly weird. I'm a PreScanner, which means that I arrive at 9.30 and spend five minutes or so piling books onto my desk in about six stacks, each about two foot high, then I scan them all into a computer programme or, if they're old enough not to have barcodes, I enter the ISBN number by hand. The programme tells me whether the book should be accepted by the company to sell on or not. If the book is accepted then I have to judge its condition (good, very good, acceptable, library or non-library etc.) and put it on the relevant shelf. If the books are rejected by the system, then they're thrown in the recycling (literally thrown, it's great fun) or put in a box for the School Aid charity in Africa.
Alternatively, it seems to be an actual company policy that books which would otherwise be thrown away can be taken home if we want them for ourselves.
As a first job, this is both excellent and crazy at the same time; unlike many employers, PhatPocket don't take advantage of the fact that under 22 year olds aren't required to receive minimum wage and pay everyone equally. What's more, the job is the perfect balance of sitting at a desk all day and strenuous physical exercise; every so often a new crate of books is required, or the bins have to be moved, or we have to get a new trolley to fill with books, all of which are quite laborious jobs.
Other hilarious aspects of the job include some of the stories told by my co-workers (most of which involve drinking), and the day we had a huge amount of frogs in the warehouse. Being on a farm, there is a high chance of escaping wildlife; a lamb apparently got into the warehouse in the spring. A few weeks ago I arrived at work to be told that there were baby frogs everywhere and that I should be incredibly careful where I trod. This then led to a mass exodus of tiny frogs from the warehouse to the pond and a lot of watching where I walked for the rest of the day.
Frogs apart, Margaret is the funniest thing to have happened in my time working at PhatPocket. When conditioning the books we often find interesting and questionable things being used as bookmarks. The most notable of these was a plain brown envelope simply addressed to "Margaret". Although not that outstanding in itself, this envelope and what it has grown to represent have changed our lives forever. Margaret has become a cult figure at work; one of the men has considered leaving his wife for her and everyone has been accused of secretly being Margaret as a cunning ruse. On Friday we found an actual address for (probably a different) Margaret and we are planning to send her a letter in the near future.
There is so much more to tell you, including the 11:00 read, the collection of "That's not my..." books and how scary Mark is, but this post is becoming unbearably long and there'll be time for it all in another update on my life. Suffice to say that I am (somehow) enjoying my new, quite boring, job and I look forward to the next several weeks of my working life. Primarily because the other benefits of this new job are excellent, but more about them another time... ;)
My job itself is incredibly weird. I'm a PreScanner, which means that I arrive at 9.30 and spend five minutes or so piling books onto my desk in about six stacks, each about two foot high, then I scan them all into a computer programme or, if they're old enough not to have barcodes, I enter the ISBN number by hand. The programme tells me whether the book should be accepted by the company to sell on or not. If the book is accepted then I have to judge its condition (good, very good, acceptable, library or non-library etc.) and put it on the relevant shelf. If the books are rejected by the system, then they're thrown in the recycling (literally thrown, it's great fun) or put in a box for the School Aid charity in Africa.
Alternatively, it seems to be an actual company policy that books which would otherwise be thrown away can be taken home if we want them for ourselves.
As a first job, this is both excellent and crazy at the same time; unlike many employers, PhatPocket don't take advantage of the fact that under 22 year olds aren't required to receive minimum wage and pay everyone equally. What's more, the job is the perfect balance of sitting at a desk all day and strenuous physical exercise; every so often a new crate of books is required, or the bins have to be moved, or we have to get a new trolley to fill with books, all of which are quite laborious jobs.
Other hilarious aspects of the job include some of the stories told by my co-workers (most of which involve drinking), and the day we had a huge amount of frogs in the warehouse. Being on a farm, there is a high chance of escaping wildlife; a lamb apparently got into the warehouse in the spring. A few weeks ago I arrived at work to be told that there were baby frogs everywhere and that I should be incredibly careful where I trod. This then led to a mass exodus of tiny frogs from the warehouse to the pond and a lot of watching where I walked for the rest of the day.
Frogs apart, Margaret is the funniest thing to have happened in my time working at PhatPocket. When conditioning the books we often find interesting and questionable things being used as bookmarks. The most notable of these was a plain brown envelope simply addressed to "Margaret". Although not that outstanding in itself, this envelope and what it has grown to represent have changed our lives forever. Margaret has become a cult figure at work; one of the men has considered leaving his wife for her and everyone has been accused of secretly being Margaret as a cunning ruse. On Friday we found an actual address for (probably a different) Margaret and we are planning to send her a letter in the near future.
There is so much more to tell you, including the 11:00 read, the collection of "That's not my..." books and how scary Mark is, but this post is becoming unbearably long and there'll be time for it all in another update on my life. Suffice to say that I am (somehow) enjoying my new, quite boring, job and I look forward to the next several weeks of my working life. Primarily because the other benefits of this new job are excellent, but more about them another time... ;)
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