Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Feb 27th, 2011 @ 4:52 pm
Work Experience 2
I finished my second week of work experience last Friday. Yeah,this is another late blog post from me. Holla etc etc. It was a five day long placement from Monday to Friday. I applied to a load of cinemas and some newspapers but was rejected every time. Ouch indeed…
Because I had nowhere else to go my Dad was able to get me a placement in a credit union (he has connections, what can I say?). Yeah, I was like “oh a credit union? That will be… fun.” but in all honesty it was so much better than what I had expected. I thought I’d be sat around opening envelopes for a week - and I only did that for a bit on Friday!
My hours were ten to three with an hour’s break from half twelve to half one. It was grand - only four hours of work. On Monday when I got in it became evident by the freezing cold and lack of light that the power had gone. Yep, on my first day of work experience there was no electricity. The whole office seemed really pissed off about and were keen to tell me that “This never happens!!!!!!!”. So because the whole thing is practically run on computers, everybody had to go into the boardroom and file papers. I joined them and it was actually good fun. For a first day I found it a great way to get to know everyone in the office because all of the employees would take turns coming in and out to help file the papers. I seemed to be the only one who enjoyed it though.
I’m going to be madly unpredictable here and tell you what happened on Tuesday. Oh wait, not a lot now that I think of it. I was sat at a desk with Gay; the best woman ever. She was like a crossover between my Nanny and my aunty (yes, I say aunty, ok!). She was a pure Dub and just everything about her made me smile. She seemed happy with her job; she was easy to talk to; she was funny; she was just great! She made something that could have been a boring day for me (sitting at a desk scanning sheets onto a computer) an enjoyable and strangely educational experience.
The rest of the tasks I was given for the week included inputting information into computers (there was a lot of that), packing envelopes (real work experience), learning about various aspects of the Credit Union like credit controlling (actually really interesting) and member-scouting. There were some more things but it’s all quite mundane and wouldn’t make for good reading. I picked up a lot of information on the running of a Credit Union and the general idea of what working in an office was like.
As much as I enjoyed the week, I now know that an office job just isn’t for me. Obviously to any teenager an office job seems like failure or something but it’s not that. Talking to a lot of the people who work in the CU, they were quick to tell me not to pursue office work as a career. They all said how they would much prefer something challenging and that after seven years of working there, it all becomes a bit shit. I absolutely see where they’re coming from. Having sat with them for a week there didn’t seem to much enthusiasm for their work - and understandably so. It really is just the same thing again and again.
It was weird though. While they weren’t really enthusiastic for their actual jobs, they seemed happy all the time. It seemed to me that what they really enjoyed was the whole atmosphere of the place. And there was a really nice atmosphere. Everyone, while not exactly jumping for joy at the thought of another day of scanning or inputting, did their jobs with smiles on their faces. They all got along with one another and it was the obvious friendship between everyone that made the whole thing not only bearable, but enjoyable! I looked forward to coming in and hearing about so-and-so’s weight loss group or your woman’s holiday she was going on. It was all stereotypical office talk, but that hardly matters when you’re enjoying yourself. Also, who can’t love working in an office where the manager buys €55 worth of baked goods for the employees because of a “stressful week”?
Yeah, I never wanted to work in an office and that week of work experience just confirmed that, but at least now I have something to base that on. And even if it’s not the career for me, it was a damn enjoyable week. Lunches in town and the bants in the office!
… and much better than another one spent in school.
