Laura of many trades

I have had many jobs in my lifetime, it is like I have been a Jack (or Laura in this case) of many trades and a master of none) but now the time has come for me to move on and actually get on a career track. I believe that's something other adults already have in hand. I guess it being the eve of my last ever day in the Bookcentre has made me rather reflective.

My first ever job was in Dunnes stores and it was only for one summer. I had no experience to speak of but an uncle of mine was a manager and so I got in using good old fashioned nepotism and also lying about the fact that I intended to do a course come September. I wont say I learned a passion for retail while there but I did have the quiet satisfaction of earning my own money and then spending all of my own money. I also learned how much people love to throw clothes around in shops and that if you accidentally ping yourself in the eye with a close hanger that it hurts like hell and makes you look crazy because one eye is crying and the other is normal. 

After that Summer I went on to do a childcare course with a paid placement so only had to work for my summer holidays. Somehow I ended up doing hotel work which is how I learned that I make a terrible waitress. I worked weddings mostly and got mauled a lot while attempting to clear tables. The pay wasn't great, the customers could be rude or creepy and my feet used to throb for hours after I got home. The only notable benefit was the free food and by that I meant the food we ate from the kitchen when no one was looking. It is no wonder I didn't go into hospitality. 

Then I decided it would be great to be an au pair for a year and somehow ended up living in Lausanne, Switzerland with Swiss/Irish family. It was one of the most exciting but loneliest experiences I've had. I got to see a new part of the world, learn more french, dance on tables and discovered what a kamikaze was ( the shot ) but the family were pretty tough to live with so I only lasted 10 months before coming home.

Upon moving home I became a childminder for a three year old boy. I stayed with him for a year and it he was very sweet and would come out with the funniest things. It's tough being in a house all day with only a three year old for company and managing tantrums and fussy eating that rivalled my own.

When he moved on to playschool I got myself a job in the now defunct Chartbusters. Think Xtravision only with pick a mix and bizarrely a range of slimming tablets and sunbeds. I watched so much world cinema while working here, I really took advantage of the weekly free rentals but the boredom and overdosing on pick a mix was a lot to take. Plus I nursed some of my worst hangovers while working here, I remember once a regular bought me water because I looked so ill. We also had a selection of super dodgy porn which led to endless uncomfortable interactions with customers. Most notably would be the customer so eager to rent a porn without having an account that she ended up renting it on her daughter's boyfriends account and the woman who tried to convince me she was only renting said video so that she could describe it to a blind man as part of her job (sure)

My next job was working for a locally owned electrical store. I was on the till mostly despite my begging to be allowed on the shop floor as it would give me the opportunity to move around and take less angry calls. I would transfer all the really shouty ones to my manager while telling him they insisted on speaking to him. I made some good friends here and and learned some pretty handy electrical knowledge but it wasn't the best working environment so I was happy to leave.

Next on the list is Boots. One of my favourite jobs. I was in college at this stage so I was only part time but it was by far one of my favourite retail jobs and not to brag but I was pretty good at it. We were paid well, got loads of freebies and I was hugely interested in the products we were selling which made it pretty easy to make recommendations. If I hadn't moved to Waterford full time I'd have stayed there a lot longer. I had wanted to transfer to the Waterford shop but there were no vacancies.

This led me to Aol or Aohell as we used to call it. My first ever call centre job. I was in cancellations, the best paying department. I soon realised it paid well for a reason as it was utterly soul destroying. There was all this pressure to convince customers to sign a new contract when they are shouting about how terrible the service is or how you are shutting down their internet everytime they look up porn ( we weren't) and it was just emotionally draining if occasionally hilarious. While I missed the money after leaving I didn't miss much else.

I moved to Edinburgh after college and had a very brief time working for a collections advisor to a bank. It was tough and boring at times but it was a lot nicer than the break your legs if you don't pay stuff you'd be expecting. I did once have a call from an older lady who told me about her cat singing along to music in the car and then proceeded to do an impression down the phone while I cried with laughter. I probably would have stayed there longer if it wasn't for the incredibly messy relationship I was in that caused me to move home (unfortunately I was moving home for the relationship and not to get away from it)

I had no work moving home for about six months. I was going to be trite and say I was employed by the post office as that's where I collected my money but I wont. It was pretty tough and depressing having nowhere to go everyday but I'm glad it didn't last any longer.

Somehow my next job found me back in a call centre. Eishtec, a start up at the time. My job there was to cold call mobile customers and try and convince them to buy broadband but do it in such a way that they didn't realise they were being cold called. There was a lot a being told no and it was really really hard. We must have done that for about 6 months when the company started to expand and they scrapped that campaign and trained us in as an upgrades team. It was still a hard sell and more complicated a job but far nicer than what we had been doing. I was forced to admit to myself that I really did hate call centre work and move on.

This leads me to my most recent place of employment in that I still work there until tomorrow. I have been at the Bookshop  2 and a half years now which I think might make it the job I have held the longest. I've had great fun reading a million books and dressing up to make an eejit out of myself and coming up with plans for children's events among other things but I have been looking for a change a while now. It's coming up to my last day there and I'm feeling a little sad about leaving even though I know this is the best move for me. I will miss the laughs and the crazy customers but there's lots of things I wont be sad to leave behind. I am hoping from here on my career path will take a different direction and I will find the one job that works for me. Then I wont have to be Laura of many trades any more, I'll just have the one.