Well, I've been out there, and believe me, the transition from school to work life is definitely something that caught me off-guard.
The work at Shop n Save was definitely an enriching experience, for the most part. Maybe it's just got to do with perspective after all. For one, I got to work side by side with many people of different backgrounds, different personalities, and the like. And working down there, cleaning the shelves and replacing the items according to planograms is hard work. Brutal, if your body is not used to tough labour.
But along the way I saw many different perspectives as well. For one, one of my colleagues there has been working ever since he was 14, and that's pretty impressive, considering that I began my first job only this year. I don't know how I'd manage both work and study at such a young age - I was still playing a fool back then in secondary school.
Of course, there's so many interesting stuff happening everyday, that despite all that physical fatigue, I still drag my feet to the place voluntarily. Partly because of some screwed-up contract terms that should we stop working, we have to compensate a sum of money for every day we don't turn up for work during the two weeks. Pretty nifty way to make people stay for work, though I'd still have turned up even without this outrageous contract term.
And so, the days passed by, and I was already searching for more office jobs every night when I got back home. What should I do after this job? Sit down and rot at home as usual? No, that'd get my brains rusty. Not that I need them that much anymore since after the A Levels, but there's just got to be a better way to invest that time in than just rotting at home, "enjoying life" as many people would call it. Nope, I went on searching, and many times I second-guess myself, "Do I really have to work?" for every job offer that seemed kinda attractive. But deep down inside, I wanted to work.
And God's providence decreed that I get an opportunity call from Derek. "Eh, you want job?" he asked. I answered that call of opportunity immediately, knowing that this temporary job is exactly what it is - temporary and really short-term. At long last, I have the first office job of my life. Two weeks at the supermarket doing slave labour is more than enough to make me appreciate the comforts of corporate jobs like this one I currently am holding now.
To be honest, in this respect I am really grateful to God. A friendly gesture like this being offered to me in this time of self-discovery definitely calls for something to repay back in gratitude. The trouble is, what do I offer my friend in return for this job? And what do I offer back in gratitude for His blessings upon my life?
But things just weren't about to stay like that. Not this way, anyhow. There was more stuff waiting for me the moment I stepped into BT, where I now work in.
First day I got there, the job seemed really daunting. Data entry by the large volumes, dealing with figures, understanding telecommunications concepts, sure got my adrenaline pumping, and I didn't need coffee that day at all. As the days went by, we did have slack days, and hardworking days. But there was a better part of the week that we didn't place much importance in back in the school days...
THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!
The big difference was that while we used to bring homework home on Fridays to slog through the pile of academic information through the weekend, which accomplishes almost did nothing other than to just bring back some certification that can at least allow us to carve out a living for ourselves, the very same concept of slogging through the weekend became obsolete in work life. Let's get real, man. We ain't paid to work on weekends! And this simply means...
...that we are free to be ourselves during weekends! I can't say I really hate studying, but I really hated the idea of working through the weekends. This most certainly made weekends very precious indeed. What better feeling is that, being able to completely enjoy yourself without being tied down to strangling stress that we get in school and work everyday?
Better still, there is always this subtle sense of accomplishment whenever you finish a job well and ahead of schedule, that sometimes in school we never get to enjoy at all, instead worrying about the grades that we get after completing every exam or lecture test paper. When a job is done, it's done, and we move on with the next.
And it pays!
But then, as with what many people say, there's always job stress and pressure to perform better everyday, especially when you're dealing with multi-million dollar contract deals for a particular service! For one, my senior de facto mentor Lia is always around to pass us work and sometimes, her presence alone is "punishment" enough to make myself maintain concentration while working with so much data all at once. But I suppose that's good - at least it improves our efficiency anyway, and it makes us look good too, in terms of the progress we're making in this current project that we're involved in.
I could go on and on more about the little office tidbits that happen around every so often that makes an seemingly monotonous job sitting in front of a computer keying in stuff so much more enjoyable, but that will have to wait. Stay tuned for the next post!
