Jobs

[bunn]

ladyofastolat feels that I have worked in ' an amazingly large number of places - far more places than I think there are years available' : basing this apparently on the way that people I have worked with have insisted on behaving weirdly and bizarrely, thus supplying me with a rich source of anecdotes whereever I go.

 I maintain this is not my fault.  I just seem to end up working with oddities.   None the less, I began to list places I have worked.  I suppose there are quite a few... 

I have worked in: 

- a National Trust tearoom (waitressing : mostly dull, but required me to wear a frilly apron, and taught me that even if you ask if the orange juice is real orange juice, they might LIE and tell you it is when it actually comes out of a plastic pack full of Enumbers. )

- my college library (taught me that you can nap in sufficiently unfrequented parts of some libraries if you are tired enough) 

- a cleaning and gardening company (doing casual cleaning/gardening : taught me that actually household cleanliness is much more optional than I had previously supposed)

- a nunnery (as a cook: only for 2 weeks temping  -  but they were packed with experience!  And I got to use a potato peeling machine!) 

- 2 museums (well, voluntary work but you still get to collect anecdotes.  Taught me that some people will deliberately choose to spend 6 hours doing a brainless repetitive job rather than use their brain for 2 minutes. )

- two tutorial colleges (teaching history to schoolage dropouts)

- a university (doing courseware design:  working from home and telecommuting.  Taught me the Internet can teach you anything! )

- Iceland (temping in the lorry scheduling dept)

- a posh financial manager place (temping : by far the DULLEST job I have ever done, and distinguished by being the job where they told me I was showing too much leg, even though they were paying PEANUTS  - not enough to buy a new skirt - and I was wearing very thick tights.)

- a few places that I can't remember what they did, temping on reception / switchboard.  (Dull, and you feel weirdly isolated as you are never part of the main life of the business, YET you are its public face.  Which is a weird feeling. )

- an ISP.  Rich source of anecdotes.  Taught me that Dilbert cartoons are ALL TRUE. 

- another university (training businesses, unemployed people & NHS staff : all three a rich source of anecdotes.)

 - a tiny search engine marketing company run by an idiot

- a slightly larger search engine marketing company run by rapacious fools (I left within 2 weeks) 

- a 1-man website marketing company , which turned into...

- a 3.2 -man website development company, which turned into ...

- a 1.2 man website general bits and pieces company. 

... is that a lot?  

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

In chronological order -

Various country estates (beating)
A farm (shepherd)
A stately home (warden / shop)
A bar (barman - what else?)
Five different offices (actuarial student / actuary)

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

For information, I'm the 0.2.

My own employment history, in addition to the 0.2:

Games buyer / sales assistant at the Virgin Games Centre in Oxford, which became Futurezone. (And subsequently Game.)

Two different accountancy firms spread across four different offices.

That's it.

[clarienne.livejournal.com]

- paper round
- market stall selling fruit and veg
- supermarket (deli, restaurant, checkouts, cash office)
- as a postwoman, and various stints sorting mail
- ETA: WHSmiths
- various pubs (if a pub has a 'landlord' it will be a laugh, if it has a 'manager', they will be a dickhead)
- a restuarant, washing up
- a very strange scottish hotel, and briefly in a big london one
- various neuroscience labs
- a HE evaluations consultancy (researcher, that was fun)
- most of the hospitals in Oxford (typing)
- a surveying firm (boring secretary type job)
- temping in a utility company
- temping in a couple of solicitors firms
- a university (admin)
- a local authority (made me a Tory)
- self-employed childminder

In the current job market, these days, I feel unemployable except by myself. I'm overqualified for non-graduate posts, and have no track record in any serious field since I fell into temping and stayed there too long.

I feel unemployable except by myself

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling! Although most of the time I'm inclined to think working for other people is a mug's game, sometimes can't help wondering if I could ever get another job!

[purplecat]

Hmmm

- shop assistant, boring rather than entertaining
- temping at a distribution warehouse, paid to hand out stickers to fork-lift truck drivers, dull but also stress-free
- Open University Summer Schools, general gophering, fun, lots of eccentrics, nice atmosphere
- A European Research Lab, research assistant, taught me to program
- An English University, teaching assistant, caused confusion by being part-time, never did work out my holiday entitlement
- A Scottish University, research associate
- A different Scottish University, research fellow
- An English University, lecturer - learned that universities are more fun if you are not involved with teaching or administration
- A different English University, research associate

(The difference between research assistant, associate and fellow has mostly been pay)

The above ignores various one off jobs like three hours spent recording automated phone messages in a "reassuring tone of voice" for a research project, a day spent teaching Unix to random people from a major car company, and five days writing database software for a UK charity.

[firin.livejournal.com]

- Saturday job as an assistant librarian.
- Sunday job as a National Trust Guide at Clevedon Court, near Bristol.
- Auxiliary nurse in 2 different nursing homes.
- Agency Auxiliary nurse (worked in 4 different places).
- Nursing home cleaner.
- Nursing home laundry assistant.
- Nursing home dishwasher operator.
- Nursing home secretary.
- 'Office Angels' Temp (Secretarial/administrative), working at about 15 different places including a tobacco company, doctor's offices, law firms, financial companies and lastly 'Up Their Own Arses' firm of solicitors.
- Secretary at 'Up Their Own Arses'. Not for that long.
- Back temping for Office Angels.
- Customer service/ administrator on customer site for a large, well-known computer company.
- Librarian/media resource coordinator for a university, running their foreign language resource area.
- Auxiliary nurse in a nursing home.

[chainmailmaiden]

About twice as many as me, I've worked in 9 different places. Though 4 of them were different locations, companies and slightly different roles within the same parent company.

Both catering and retail taught me that the customer usually thinks they are right, but that this is generally not the case. Particularly when it comes to the law governing what price things should be sold at and refunds.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Big 6 (then 5, then 4) accountancy firm - Tax advisor
Major UK retailer - Tax accountant
Major US IT company - Tax advisor

Er, that's it.