I’ve held several real jobs and many more odd jobs in my life, and two things I’ve always enjoyed is the people I get to meet and the experiences i’ll gain.
I’m a few weeks into my new job, working as a computer lab assistant at the University of Wollongong. Although I’ve only been here a short while it has been the most fulfilling of all my jobs. I’ve worked as a Waiter, a Bartender and Guitar Teacher, so mostly hospitality and customer service.
This new job has required much more of my brain, which I am grateful for, as every shift thus far I have been presented with some sort of technical difficulty and have had to work my way through it to hopefully ‘fix’ the issue for the user.
One of the main differences I’ve noticed since working here is the customer relationships, as a waiter and bartender, serving people food and drink has been somewhat boring and sometimes degrading, and customers show their sense of entitlement, for one – because they’re paying for it and two – it’s common to treat wait and bar staff as beneath you.
So as a lab assistant it’s been a pleasant surprise to experience staff and student alike come up to you with their problems, and receiving such a high level of respect so that we can solve their problem.
But, at the end of the day, I don’t take any bad attitudes personally, one – because i’m obviously not the cause and two – it’s just a job. The point I’m trying to make, especially to all those young adults just starting out on their own. You may not always be ‘happy’ with your job, but don’t always be so concerned with the paycheck, take a step back and learn something from it, because you’ll never be able to relive those days, hours and minutes spent. So live them well!
live, learn, repeat.
