Breaking Radio Silence
Feb. 28th, 2014 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanFollowing on from yesterday, which was really just an excuse to share my esteem for the late Paco De Lucia... a 'proper' Journal entry
Of sorts
I've just been reading an article over on the Sydney Morning Herald site about lessons learned from the worst jobs the writer ever had. Having just had a s#!tty day at work, it made me think about all the other jobs I've had that were less-than-ideal & what, if anything, I've learned from them
I stormed out of my first job at Grace Bros supermarket (back in the mid 80s when they weren't Myer yet & still had a "Food Hall"), after arguing with a Supervisor about unfair expectations in non-functioning circumstances ~ I was transporting groceries to Parcel Pick-up on a Thursday night, using 2 trolleys at once, via the customer lifts on the other side of the store, because the goods lift & conveyor belt were broken-down. No one was assigned to help & when a customer inevitably complained about slow delivery & the Supervisor came to remonstrate with me, she got both barrels of my hyper-frustrated, sweaty & tired temper. Right in the middle of the sales floor. As one of the fully-laden trolleys tipped over during my tirade & someone's weekly shopping rolled around our feet, I let her know, in florid anatomical detail, where she could stick her attitude, both trolleys & the unlikely prospect of my ongoing employment
I left my second job as a teller at a major bank, after being called into the Manager's office to explain why I'd made fun of a customer. The actual circumstances were that I'd served a German tourist & had to switch to speaking in German (I was pretty fluent back then... not so much now), as his English wasn't great. He went away perfectly happy & I said to my next (female, as I recall) customer that it was lucky he wasn't Spanish, as I couldn't speak that. Apparently she complained to an Assistant Manager that I had made derogatory comments about a foreigner. Rather than side with their employee, pending investigation, they promised disciplinary action & hauled me in to deliver such. Even after hearing my side of the story, they weren't satisfied. So... goodbye Bankworld
I worked mostly for small companies for the next few years ~ if Brashs Music could be called a small company (it certainly finished up as one). My next tenure with a large company was with David Jones. That ended with me being accused of stealing CDs (they were mine - used to demonstrate the sound systems I sold), as I was leaving via the Staff door one afternoon. In front of a dozen or so co-workers, I was taken into the Security Office, being declaimed as a thief. My defence was twofold ~ their music department had never & probably would never carry the CDs I had in my possession &, by all means, check your stock lists... but also ~ why would I be so stupid as to hold them in plain view as I was leaving, not even hide them in a bag. They "threatened" to call in the police, I told them if they didn't, then I would & made vague noises about defamation suits. Bluff called &, 2 days later, I resigned
To be continued... maybe
Of sorts
I've just been reading an article over on the Sydney Morning Herald site about lessons learned from the worst jobs the writer ever had. Having just had a s#!tty day at work, it made me think about all the other jobs I've had that were less-than-ideal & what, if anything, I've learned from them
I stormed out of my first job at Grace Bros supermarket (back in the mid 80s when they weren't Myer yet & still had a "Food Hall"), after arguing with a Supervisor about unfair expectations in non-functioning circumstances ~ I was transporting groceries to Parcel Pick-up on a Thursday night, using 2 trolleys at once, via the customer lifts on the other side of the store, because the goods lift & conveyor belt were broken-down. No one was assigned to help & when a customer inevitably complained about slow delivery & the Supervisor came to remonstrate with me, she got both barrels of my hyper-frustrated, sweaty & tired temper. Right in the middle of the sales floor. As one of the fully-laden trolleys tipped over during my tirade & someone's weekly shopping rolled around our feet, I let her know, in florid anatomical detail, where she could stick her attitude, both trolleys & the unlikely prospect of my ongoing employment
I left my second job as a teller at a major bank, after being called into the Manager's office to explain why I'd made fun of a customer. The actual circumstances were that I'd served a German tourist & had to switch to speaking in German (I was pretty fluent back then... not so much now), as his English wasn't great. He went away perfectly happy & I said to my next (female, as I recall) customer that it was lucky he wasn't Spanish, as I couldn't speak that. Apparently she complained to an Assistant Manager that I had made derogatory comments about a foreigner. Rather than side with their employee, pending investigation, they promised disciplinary action & hauled me in to deliver such. Even after hearing my side of the story, they weren't satisfied. So... goodbye Bankworld
I worked mostly for small companies for the next few years ~ if Brashs Music could be called a small company (it certainly finished up as one). My next tenure with a large company was with David Jones. That ended with me being accused of stealing CDs (they were mine - used to demonstrate the sound systems I sold), as I was leaving via the Staff door one afternoon. In front of a dozen or so co-workers, I was taken into the Security Office, being declaimed as a thief. My defence was twofold ~ their music department had never & probably would never carry the CDs I had in my possession &, by all means, check your stock lists... but also ~ why would I be so stupid as to hold them in plain view as I was leaving, not even hide them in a bag. They "threatened" to call in the police, I told them if they didn't, then I would & made vague noises about defamation suits. Bluff called &, 2 days later, I resigned
To be continued... maybe
