The Unexpected Benefits Of Taking Risks.
The Past
For a bit of backstory, a few years ago I found myself without a job and the casual employment I had dried up for a few months.
Out of desperation, I started taking non risks. I had applied for and got work with, 4 event-based companies.
I then got full time work at call centre, which eliminated the need for one of the event-based companies.
The call centre job turned out to be toxic, giving me anxiety attacks to the point I had to quit a job for the first time ever.
A friend who reads this blog had warned me not to work there, and they were right. The worst part is that I can justify the experience by saying I needed the money or at least economic stability or even to say that I've worked in a call centre as a camp-fire horror story.
It had been decades since I'd last been up to Mt. Barker. It's a large country town, almost a small city itself, a long way from Adelaide.
I checked Google maps, which is linked to Adelaide Metro's public transport time tables.
Because Google maps thought, and showed via the app, that it would take me 9 minutes to walk from the Adelaide Railway Station to Stop F1 on Grenfell St, it excluded the possibility of catching the earliest train into the city and that I would need to catch an expensive taxi ride into the city.
So what I did was time myself walking at a brisk pace from the bus stop to the train station. It was only 5 minutes!.
Awesome. So then I checked to see if I could get into the city via the earliest train. It turns out that I could make it if the train was on time.
When it came to the day itself, the train arrived 2 minutes late, but the bus I needed to catch was also delayed by 2 minutes, meaning that because I maintained my brisk pace once I'd left the train station, I arrived at the bus stop with 2 minites to spare before the bus arrived. Phew!
I had to take a risk and believe in myself.
The shift was good and I got to talking to one of the other staff members who offered me a lift back into the city.
On the way back, we got to talking about jobs, employment opportunities and so on. I got some great leads and ideas and made a few new friends.
I rapidly took notes as we talked. Not everything was a viable option, but it's still fertile ground to explore and there's no real harm in applying at new recruitment agencies.
The Here And Now
Right now I am sitting outside of the Willow Bend Coffee Roasters coffee shop, in the suburb of Croydon, eating a toasted sesame seed covered toasted chicken schnitzel sandwich with bacon and cheese.
Sesame seed covered chicken schnitzel sandwichMove over Vegemite scrolls... I might have a contender for a new favourite delicacy. Simply scrumptious!
The reason I was there was because I'd just finished a short shift at catering company, washing their dishes.
It was fairly easy work given that they had an industrial dish washer and the work environment was reasonably casual, and I was told I could use my phone when necessary.
It's a far cry from the oppressive rules that some workplaces set (but don't enforce for their supervisors).
My personal philosophy is that if the rules don't apply for everyone, they apply to no one.
Ironically, I've just recieved a "housekeeping email" directed at all staff of one of the companies I occasionally work for, reminding us all of their rules.
And as mentioned in a previous blog, the non use of mobile phones would be amongst them, although there wasn’t the passive aggressive dig at me that I'd suspected might happen in a previous blog post, which was a relief.
There was a mention of staff members being caught eating pizza and chips in the ticket box during their shift by a manager. While I can see the point, there's a point where this level of micro management gets ridiculous.
The Next Day
I'd done such a good job yesterday that they cancelled work for today. They have advertised for someone for tomorrow and I've applied for it. (Update: they went with someone else. Oh well!).
My posts can take a few days to write, edit and publish.
It's Wednesday, the next day, and I am off to another shift with another company and I hope the shift goes well. (Update: the shift did go well).
It was mainly washing and drying dishes, serving meals, wiping tables, sweeping and mopping the floor at the end.
I also had a previous shift change to an easier location which is awesome.
Final Thoughts
In life, you need to take risks, just calculated and mitigated or reduced risks.
It means letting of who we think we are, and embracing our true potential. Yeah, I know it's cliche... but wisdom often is tried and true.
Thank you for reading.
Until next time,
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