I'm not sure that I have actually rocked any jobs but I sure have had enough of them !!!! I don't do boring / not learning very well so once I am competent at a job I tend to look around for something else !!
My first job was when I was in year 6 at school - I worked for Weigh Less (similar to Weight Watchers but different) - I used to collect people's money and stamp their books and listen to their stories about why they were up or down that week !!! I met some lovely people there.
A couple of years later I worked in the local supermarket in the deli - this was not my most favourite job, but it earned me enough money to put petrol in my car so I figured it was worth staying there !!
Fast forward to the end of school and I applied for a job with one of the banks in South Africa because if you weren't going to be a nurse or a hair dresser, you worked in the bank !!!! I moved around the departments quite a bit and didn't mind my stay there.
It was so long ago I can't even tell exactly how long I stayed there but I think it was a good couple of years as I got to move around to different departments. Then I moved into the sugar industry as an assistant accountant and from there moved to a role where I was responsible for the cashflow of the company working with (at season end R500 million) - this was a really good job that made me think heaps and worry lots - a percentage point could have cost us lots of money if I got it wrong !!!!!
From there I went to work from a company that sold computers and printers - didn't last there too long as I had only been there about 3 months when they decided to centralise their accounts and moved them all to Johannesburg !!!
The last job I had before leaving South Africa was working for a company who stored containers - working conditions were cr*p and the work wasn't that exciting - I was glad to leave there to immigrate here !!!!
Within a week of arriving here I had a job as an AP clerk with a civil engineering company. Cashflow was tight and it was awful having to make up payment plans that were never implemented because we had to pay for concrete and so nobody else could get paid !!
From there I moved to a perfume distributor where my job was nothing like what had been described at the interview. All I basically did was a bank recon for 20 odd stores - trying to reconcile Amex and Diners statements was a total nightmare. 6 months into that job I was head hunted by the accountant that I had worked with in my first job here for a timeshare business.
I stayed there for a few years and after she left and went to a uni, she approached me to follow her there - which I did. It was 7kms from home and a cruisy kind of job. Then the accountant's job at a private school was advertised and I applied for that and worked there for a couple of years. While it was a lovely environment, the work was not very stimulating and so it was time for me to move on.
In the meantime A and I had taken second jobs packing shelves at Coles in the evenings. We had 9pm-1am shifts 4 nights a week and every second Saturday from 6-10pm. We did this for 8 years - man I was so glad when we stopped packing shelves BUT having said that it certainly served it's purpose - we did outside renovations, we went on overseas holidays and, when we were unemployed, it kept some money coming in every single week.
My next stop was as the financial manager of a local private hospital. Well that was a total nightmare. I am not one to shirk work and certainly put in more than I take out but there I was working 70-80hr weeks and getting paid an hourly rate than was less than what I was getting paid to pack shelves at Coles. This is the first job I have ever left without having another job to go to - it was just an awful job. What I found out afterwards was that there used to be 3 people doing it and as people left, they just never replaced them !!!!
I studied Cert IV in Massage and then Diploma of Remedial Massage as I wanted to open a business working from home in the evenings.
After being unemployed for a couple of months I got some contract work which I did for about 3 years until I landed the role that I am currently in. I am the accountant for a group of 6 companies and, while the work isn't the most stimulating, I have come to realise that working with nice people, for reasonable money, in a job that is from 7.30-4 every day, and I can leave my work at work and not have to bring it home with me has to count for something !!!!
I still have the massage / reflexology business that I run from home and I love treating clients in my therapy room - it really is a haven for me.
Have the best week everyone and take care !
TFTD : Sometimes we choose to be wrong, not because we really are wrong, but because we value our relationship more than our pride.
