Today i officially quit one of my jobs.
Yes and i meant it in a plural sense. It probably doesn't make any sense to you all but a lot has been going on in my life in the last 9 months or so. No, i'm not pregnant.
Not only did i stop blogging [yeah, sorry about that!] but i even stopped
stalking reading other blogs. I detached myself from the internet world and concentrated on... well, me.
Let's rewind a little…
I'm sure some of you have experienced it but living life without some kind of regular income is very hard.
But in 2009 i chose to be an independent graphic designer because i had a client who needed some work done and in order for it all to be legal - tax wise, i would need to register for a company… so i did.
It's been close to three years and the projects are finally coming to an end but unfortunately my daily bills aren't.
Speaking of bills, i just received a letter from the tax office saying that i owe them over 1,500 Euro in tax for my earnings i made in 2010.
.
.
.
*gulps*
Anyway moving on, i was and in some way, still am, at a cross point in my life.
To be honest, deciding whether or not to jump back into the world of Design after having a
burnout still scares me.
However, on a positive note, my German is slowly getting better and am actually able to speak in coherent sentences. But if i had to explain a design concept in German in a Work In Progress meeting, i may be in trouble. Hence, the reason why i needed to throw myself into any kind of job that didn't involve much speaking but one that i could improve with along the way.
But as a RMIT University graduate that also did a year in Honours, i found it hard to even get part-time work at a Bakery. It was my lack in experience not my credentials that was the problem.
That was until August 2011 came around and there was an opening at J's work place - he works in Gastronomy & Events by the way and is one of the bosses there.
It wasn't anything glamorous but money is money.
The position was for two and a half hours, five days a week and i was to help out in the kitchen, help set up and serve hot food in the restaurant. I sweated bucket loads because i had to wear long sleeves under my short-sleeved uniform to cover my tattoos but i didn't mind that much.
I worked my butt off and it eventually payed off because they offered me more hours when a colleague applied for sick leave and they needed a replacement.
However, the woman ended up coming back and as a result, i lost my extra hours and was back to two and a half.
***
Then i remember when January rolled in, J and i went to eat at a salad bar. I ordered a veggie panini and couldn't believe how good it tasted. As i studied the girls behind the counter, i thought, their job can't be
too hard - i can do that! We got home and visited their website and it turned out they were looking for employees.
So J helped me fill in my application and we hoped for the best.
The interview went well and i realised those few months that i was working at my other job gave me enough confidence to communicate in German. And that very day, the boss said OK and i could even start the next week.
I was over the moon!
A second job = yay, even more money.
***
Then in March, J told me his workplace was cutting costs and there was one too many employees in the area i was working at. Which would mean between my colleague and i, one of us would have to be fired.
But then i was offered a position as a Barista [a fancy word for someone that serves coffee] at the Lavazza Coffee bar.
So i took it and my colleague was able to keep her job.
On the 9th i was informed i was being transferred and by the following Monday the 12th, i was standing by the fancy coffee machines already instructed to make a range of coffees, foam milk, work the cash register and lay the correct spoon/plate for each coffee during the peak hour lunch break.
It'd like to think i'm a rather fast learner but in this case, i wasn't fast enough.
It is understood that newbies make mistakes but my inability to remember more than three orders consistently, let alone having to register more than 3 customers at one time was against me.
And it didn't help hearing snide remarks each time i took my time pouring the milk into my cafe latte, forgot/made a wrong order, didn't put enough foam in my latte macchiato or how i dared to serve a customer a cappuccino with foam that didn't look "good".
In my head, i kept yelling, BITCH... CALM DOWN!!!
Alas, the stressful environment and having to work sometimes till 10:30pm at my other work place had affected my concentration and in turn, increased my chances of spilling/messing up my orders.
So after my shift yesterday i went directly into the office, in fear that a bitch fight would unravel, only to find J sitting there alone. And i immediately said, i wanted to quit.
We had talked about it the night before, right after my six and half hour shift at the salad bar and we both agreed, super fast coffee making was not my forte.
No matter what you say,
kerning IS important.
And because of the number of off days i still have left from last year, i was able to hand in my resignation this morning and leave immediately. Yes, i wrote the letter in German [with a little help from J of course].
On my way to work, the church by the bus stop.
If it wasn't for the fact that the salad bar offered me more hours and that my other colleagues are HEAPS nicer, i probably wouldn't have done it.
But i did.
And after shedding some frustrated tears, i am glad that i had
the balls the courage to follow through.
...
So yeah, that's pretty much it.
Now that i have a little more time on my hands, i remembered the laundry needs to be attended to and the apartment needs a good spring cleaning.
