Looking for a job
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shakahislop
Well-known member
every job forms / deforms you in one way or another
WashYourHands
Cat Malogen
a cramped laundry house in Philadelphia, destroyed my hands in ways you don’t think possible
reams and reams of wet fabric clawing at the skin until it broke down, trying to get steroid creams utc via cash in hand maybe/maybe not general practitioners always with the possibility of being shopping to immigration aka be quick when you do get seen
6 months and gone, tubing dreams of drunk tourists awaited but constant source of game ladies
reams and reams of wet fabric clawing at the skin until it broke down, trying to get steroid creams utc via cash in hand maybe/maybe not general practitioners always with the possibility of being shopping to immigration aka be quick when you do get seen
6 months and gone, tubing dreams of drunk tourists awaited but constant source of game ladies
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I hope you wore the proper sexy outfit.
Prescient...got an email yesterday saying I've got an HR meeting next week as I might be laid off.
Best - probably the past 25 years of B2B and contract publishing. Highs: getting to travel around the world for free while doing nothing more strenuous than bashing out words on a keyboard. Lows: dealing with incompetent ads/sales people, 'company politics'. I've been doing freelance on the side since the lockdowns, helping to edit technical books, which can get a bit boring but the pay's OK (and might prove a lifeline in the coming months). It depends what day you ask, but I can't moan overall.
Worst - a few contenders but probably some pharma warehouse in Perivale, managed by jumped-up little shits watching over everyone, and where nobody on the floor spoke to each other. Even messy and tedious jobs like sorting out medical records in a bunker in Kings Hospital, Camberwell were made bearable by working with funny people (and reading the occasional phone book-sized case file). Also, cut my hand open lugging a full-size mirror around Liberty one afternoon. Think my line manager was more worried about the blood stains.
Best - probably the past 25 years of B2B and contract publishing. Highs: getting to travel around the world for free while doing nothing more strenuous than bashing out words on a keyboard. Lows: dealing with incompetent ads/sales people, 'company politics'. I've been doing freelance on the side since the lockdowns, helping to edit technical books, which can get a bit boring but the pay's OK (and might prove a lifeline in the coming months). It depends what day you ask, but I can't moan overall.
Worst - a few contenders but probably some pharma warehouse in Perivale, managed by jumped-up little shits watching over everyone, and where nobody on the floor spoke to each other. Even messy and tedious jobs like sorting out medical records in a bunker in Kings Hospital, Camberwell were made bearable by working with funny people (and reading the occasional phone book-sized case file). Also, cut my hand open lugging a full-size mirror around Liberty one afternoon. Think my line manager was more worried about the blood stains.
100%...once you've done them, I don't think you ever forget.
Never send anything on work email that you'd hate to see flashed up on a jumbotron.
Also, beware using the office internet. A former IT manager came down the pub one evening with a couple of print-outs and said "This is what xxxx is googling" (some guy in sales) - it was a list of searches like "how approach hot woman on train", "how approach hot woman in shop", "are asian women more friendly", "what does it mean if girl gives you a picture", etc. Then he called me a sick fuck for looking up "kill your pet puppy".
Same IT guy disliked a girl who worked there so he'd skim through her work email, which she was foolishly using to chat to her boyfriend - or rather have a row with him, about some incident on the train that morning, where she hadn't held his hand. She was writing stuff like "Just because I didn't hold your hand, doesn't mean I don't love you," and her boyfriend was freaking out about how she'd stood on his left, not his right, so she saw the worst side of his profile - real BDD stuff. IT guy printed this off and brought it down the pub too. It felt too close to carcrash territory, but another co-worker thought it was hilarious and asked to keep the copy.
BUT...here's the kicker and life lesson...she split with her boyfriend and IT guy suddenly decided he really fancied her - so NOW the co-worker who laughed at her emails down the pub was on IT guy's shit list. Eventually, IT guy let slip that the guy was on betting sites half the day, so he got ousted. Just remember, workplace allegiances can shift at a moment's notice. You want to casually get on with everyone and don't get sucked into these mini-factions that tend to form and dissolve.
That girl became a vicar, by the way, no shit.
shakahislop
Well-known member
tractor driver
farmhand
formatting contracts as a temp for some company on a business park
children's birthday parties
warehouse
driver's mate
painter / decorator
summer camp
dishwasher at old people's home
shit barman (fired)
mr toad of toad hall
factory production line
field recording anonymiser
paperboy / pre-internet spammer
portable inflatable laser quest
door to door charity chugger in Melbourne
cleaner
exam invigilator
conference staff
been an office person for the last decade or so. would quite like to do the above mixture of stuff again, where I was just doing anything so long as they paid. if the other practicalities weren't a thing anyway. nice memories
farmhand
formatting contracts as a temp for some company on a business park
children's birthday parties
warehouse
driver's mate
painter / decorator
summer camp
dishwasher at old people's home
shit barman (fired)
mr toad of toad hall
factory production line
field recording anonymiser
paperboy / pre-internet spammer
portable inflatable laser quest
door to door charity chugger in Melbourne
cleaner
exam invigilator
conference staff
been an office person for the last decade or so. would quite like to do the above mixture of stuff again, where I was just doing anything so long as they paid. if the other practicalities weren't a thing anyway. nice memories
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Come on man, we need stories.
0bleak
Well-known member
Actually, I take that back - the worst job was a couple of years before, as a teen, when I tried to work at a grocery store in order to pay for a drum machine.
The experience scarred me enough that I would break out in sweats, figuratively, at the thought of getting another job - I've written about it elsewhere so no need to bore people.
At least with vocational rehab, they knew that there something different about you if you were there so it would have been pretty bad if they were saying things like "what, are you stupid?" - I also didn't have to deal with customers talking down to me.
The worst thing about voc rehab, besides the pay, was that depending on the job and the kind motor/visual-spatial skills required for whatever new repetitive task we were doing, was that my speed could vary a lot and sometimes they said things to me along the lines of "we know you can go faster", but I couldn't!
shakahislop
Well-known member
being mr toad meant that for various reasons i dressed up in one of those massive disneyland kind of costumes. it was pretty hot and the head had a fan inside. then often i was required to hang about on a river towpath with a handler handing out flyers for the museum we were promoting. i sometimes delighted and quite frequently terrified children. below a certain age they couldn't really comprehend it. there was fear in their eyes. you could see them catch sight of you and were encouraged by their parents to play with me. but there would be a few seconds where you weren't sure for that particular child which way it would go. if the fear of this strange moving thing would grow and they'd start crying or if they understood that it was safe and that there was nothing to be afraid of.
yyaldrin
in je ogen waait de wind
what did you do before you were a therapist and how were you able to make that switch?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Life goals.
I was a teacher, I made the switch doing an MA part time. I haven't really done it in a particularly smooth way though, lots I've fucked up on the journey, which is ongoing.
shakahislop
Well-known member
as a toad, I escorted philip scofield on a boat ride down the river. it was a little wooden powerboat. I helped him up and down from the riverbank. there was a journalist with us. he was world weary. he told me that some days were interesting. but i had a feeling that hanging about on a Saturday with Philip scofield and a toad was not one of them
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I'm gonna call your bluff and ask what language you were programming in.
version
Well-known member
French.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
You see, I was fully expecting someone to say either that, or "the international language of love."