Recently my life has fallen apart completely and my worst nightmares have come to pass. In this difficult time I cant cope with anything in my long-term future, such as my ideal job.
So if anyone has any suggestions just let me know. At this stage I just dont give a feck what I do so as long as it isn't too mentally taxing I'll be fine.
Sadly I wont be able to reply to any messages soon as my net time has been cut even shorter since my moniter exploded (I'm typing this on my dads PC while I'm supposed to be looking at college courses).
Remember these simple rules:
1) Jared lacks intellect.
2) Jared cannot travel far.
3) Jared is not streetwise.
4) Jared needs regular access to a toilet.
5) Jared is easily confused and tends to panic when placed under pressure.
6) Jared can live on 100 Euro a week (about 60 pounds sterling).
So if you have any good suggestions let me know. What do you do? Is it any good? etc.
Well.... eh... seeya.
Jrd.
Dustman.
Window Cleaner.
Politician.
Project Manager
Any middle management post
erm Teacher - they take anyone in these days :)
Yer Slips
Bin man. seriously, did it ofr 6 months after 6th form in what rich kids call their gap year and I called my earning cash because I cant sponge of my folks year. The money is pretty good and once you get used to the hours its OK work, gets you fit too. Much better than the admin jobs I had pre-career where you get patronised by old trouts all day.
Jim
Plenty of farm-hand posts going down here these days (even the massive number of eastern europeans working here are asking more than that per week.
Plenty of work for south sea islanders in the many pro rugby teams here (I was at a game for my home team today and i have to say there were as many of our islander friends in the crowd as locals - they have flocked here for the rugby and money and they are welcome as they are great folks) - so if you are a tongan/fijian/samoan you are in!!
JimBob is right.
I drive a lorry, and sometimes a street sweeper for my local Council, and can tell you it is the easies work in the world, and if you can worm your way into a driving job (like I did) you more often than not, come home as clean as you left in the morning.
Downside is an early start (7am), but you get an early finish (3.30).
dish washer.kitchen porter
i started out as one. minumum wage. great food. the chefs always look after the guys who keep the place clean, easily fits into college work holiday schedules. uniform provided, and laundred. FOC,
plenty of intersting people. part timers from every walk of life, decent attitude towards you from your boss as he likely started in your place many years before.
money to be made on side from selling the pig bins to local farmers and collection of bottles for recycling.
when ever you go out with cooks chefs they always buy you beers,. again they know the wages are not high and you work in a job witch is vital to them performing well.
its manual hard work. but does not offer any of the challenges you wish to stay away from.
walk up to any loading bay of any hotel,resturant club, ask if the chef is about. he will be able to tell you yes or no,and likely tell you who is looking for such help.
Got to agree with DD here - I was a KP while at college... good food, chef?s are good to you (so long as you don?t piss them off, then beware!) - mentally unchallanging. Free pizzas to take home after your shift (I was with an Italian resturant!)
some kind of rep job in a sunny place, you get cash, board and lodgings,sun,cheap booze and a beach....
perhaps,just perhaps, you should checkout the careers guides at the library or somet...
Avoid anything to do with meat.
Also never work in a laundry during summer.
And avoid any restaurant where Arthur orders soup and gets exactly what he asks for.
Be a postie, its better that waking the streets
katish!
I've actually checked since then and apparently it isn't a kind of soup, its actually the Japanese word for "marinate".
Is it a specific word applying only to the face?
As far as I remember, Mr Katooie, you are fairly young and live in Dublin. These are crappy times for employment: I've been bouncing from one short-term one to another in Dublin for about a year. But yeah, KP work is not too bad, I did it in the Japanese restaurant Ayumi-Ya (Baggot Street) when I was in college, and got fed the very best Japanese food every night. Also, try film-extra work - look up Backstage Casting or go to www.nixers.com. I've been in a few films and TV programmes for a second or two, me, and the pay is, well, it's better than a kick in the bollix, as they say.
There is no way in hell I'm working as a kitchen porter.
Binman is a possibility though...
Thanks gentlemen.
Jared.
Can't think for yourself? Don't be fooled, Jared- very few people ever actually do...
"There is no way in hell I'm working as a kitchen porter.
Binman is a possibility though... "
too fussy... youngsters today...
Read or re-read Down & Out in Paris & London by George Orwell, just to reinforce your (correct) decision not to become a kitchen porter.
Why not just temp? I temped for 2 years - if they like you it's like having a job you can walk out on at any time, that never asks you to do anything too taxing, and in which you drink more tea than a plumber.
Plus, you might get something like my favourite-ever temping job, with the Education dept in Coventry. I turned up for the first day, eager, suited and booted, and asked what they needed me to do. The lady informed me that there was a budgeting forecast coming up. fair bursting with pride, i asked if I was going to have something to do with drafting the budget. "No", came the reply. "It's just that we are under budget. If we don't exceed our budget by year end, they'll cut the budget. So we've hired a temp, you, because your wages over the next four weeks will put us back up again. Here's your desk. make as many calls as you like and use the internet as often as you like. Take a 4-hour lunch break if you like. Just be here at the start and end of the day. OK?"
I love bureaucracy.
Dud
An ex of mine pretty much got the same deal Duds. Except it was because one of the old desks in the building was listed and they could rip it out and didnt want it to look empty. The phone on her desk wasnt plugged in though. Man! It makes you wonder why you bust your balls day-in day-out.
Sorry. They COULDNT rip it out. sphincter.
Jared, hope stuff really hasnt fallen apart mate, if it has dinnae worry stick with it, you'll be fine again soon, trust me, ive worn all the t-shirts. all exept the finding a way to earn a living one.
1) Jared lacks intellect.
Nope , you read 2000ad so that doesnt wash.
3) Jared is not streetwise.
don't worry you soon will be.
4) Jared needs regular access to a toilet.
most towns have them, & most countrysides have bushes.
6) Jared can live on 100 Euro a week (about 60 pounds sterling).
Blimey thats loads!!
suggestions? don't come to north Cal-hab, economics nil points.
You could always go work for Tharg & organise Dredd-con since no-one else is bothering.
temping IS the way to go, different stuff... new places, meet new mates... never that bothered as you know it could easily end tomorrow
temping is the top 'between jobs' thing
Hmm, temping is a mixed bag. I know far too many ex-temps who have simply drifted into a life they hate.
Temping is all well and good when it is genuine short term placements, but learn how to claim unemployment as soon as you are out of work. The pay is the low, there is no sick pay and holiday pay is the legal minumum. You will not have enough to tide you over the necessary periods of temporary unemployment that accompany temporary employment. Unfortunately, our unemployement benefit is still organised to deal with uncommon long-term unemployment, so does not pay the first 2 days of every claim, and then takes an age to pay your first week. This means most temps, who may be out of work for say, 5 weeks per year would lose 10 days benefit out of the 25 working days they are unemployed, and probably wouldn't bother chasing up the claim when it finally went through. Yet when you are on close to minimum wage this money makes all the difference. And don't tell me you shouldn't claim - work has to be paid for one way or the other. If we want to pay poorly, offering no security and poor conditions in order to have an 'efficient' economy then we must pay the social costs.
And long term temping is simply exploitation. Temping was designed to cover short term vacancies that could not be covered by conventional employment. Long term temping simply allows poor pay, no unionisation, the right to instant dismissal for no reason and no obligation to provide sick pay or pensions or other working rights. Long term temps are blacklegs, scabs and lightweights, gradually lowering the working conditions of permanent employees. And I am one.
As for the right to move between jobs - you try quitting a temp position in a town like York. I'd guess that 4 temp agencies control the majority of entry-level work. Get any sort of bad reputation (like leaving a job that brings them money because you want a change and, hey, this is only temporary) and you will be screwed. Blacklisted, in effect. Be a bolshie arse like me and...
If I were you Jared, I wouldn't take a mind-numbing office job. I'd do something like my brother - chopping down trees for the council. None of that pathetic office politics. Honest work where you can see some sort of results (try finding satisfaction in data entry).
Failing that, Travelling Man, my local comics shop in York have a full-time vacancy. I would have gone for that if I was not escaping to Cardiff in a few weeks. It might smell a bit but...
(The General escapes wage-slavery for the next four years if all goes well)
COMIC SHOP JOB !!! oooo TOP JOB....
Agree with 95% of the pojnts here on a political level. but in my experience with Ranstad (who employed me for about 2 years), you can arrange to move jobs if you a sickly sweet nice as pie to your handler. They also pay out slightly above the minimum for holidays and suchlike.
But you can't go round blaming people and calling them scabs for taking advantage of what work they can get. The problem is at the level of the political system, not at the level of the individual. I know you're half-joking in that you're calling yourself a scab, but it's a frivolous use of a very serious term!
My very first job was in a comic shop. Unbelievably enough, it sucked worse than any temping job I've ever done (of the office variety, anyway).
Grudgingly, I must admit that our red friend is absolutely correct. Agencies were a fantastic idea at first and got me out of a few holes- but you soon ended up with the situation that existed at British Gas a few years ago.
They got everybody to take voluntary redundancy- gave them nice big payouts and wotnot- then took them all back on (well- not *all*, obviously) for a lot less money and under the conditions outlined by GC in his last post- which to me is taking the p*ss somewhat.
Surely if a job needs doing, the posistion isn't redundant?
Matt
Is the General back off to Uni, by the way? Haven't you been once already?
No, I'm not blaming people, as I'm not saying people have that much of choice. My experience, limited to York, is that with only a few agencies controlling a very large proportion of the available jobs at the lower end of the market(many of the more attractive positions in the Job Centre are agency positions, which actually means you turn up and they offer you a much less attractive position. Turn it down and they could arrange for your benefit to be stopped) we have little choice but to take jobs on these 'conditions'. Even if I 'improve' myself and find a way out of temping there will still be 1 million temp jobs in Britain. If we all 'improved' ourselves someone would have to fill them. Actually, if we all 'improved' ourselves the temp creep would accellerate as more skilled work gains a larger body of potential labour, decreasing pay and conditions. Remember that this is what the CBI is after when they call for more vocational courses.
I can't blame an unemployed 'lightweight' (a worker willing to work for poorer pay and conditions than standard) for taking a position that undermines the pay and conditions of his colleagues - he has little choice. It would take a person a rare principle and resources to say no, and it would do little to change the system, simply depriving yourself of the economic means to exercise any of your freedoms.
But temps are the thin end of the wedge. As more and more people grow to accept the normality of working without a contract, with no pension provision, no sick pay and no protection from dismissal we will see thse conditions sneaking into more and more jobs, especially among the more vulnerable people at the lower end of the economic scale.
I was half-joking, but I did not use the word frivolously. The effect is the same, and perhaps the people just above me on the rung would do well to realise what a threat to them I am. They'd be wrong and stupid if they directed their anger at me - just as we see with the scapgoating of any relatively powerless group. But they certainly shouldn't sit there in complacent satisfaction, because in all likelihood their children will work until they drop.
I think everyone should note this momentous day. JEB and I have agreed, to a point, on something. You've left me quite flabbergasted - I actually looked at my posted and thought it might have been a rant too far.
Yes, I am back off to Uni. This will be my third time in fact. If all goes well, in four years time my full 'title' will be:
Generally Contrary BSc MSc MA PhD
Temporary Administration Assistant
Plus I've got a bit of OU credit sliding around there still.
Just to check: is everyone on this thread waiting for the glorious revolution, or are you actively campaigning, using your vote, etc? The underlying principle, the one that *lets* the system become the system, is voter and/or worker apathy. OK, so there's the World Bank, USA domination, EU stifling of democracy, etc, but one issue at a time I guess.
Cheeky git- we agreed on those points a long time ago!
Third time at Uni? Same subject or something different every time?
Of course, most of your rants are a rant too far- but that's a rant in itself for another day...
Matt ;)
>Surely if a job needs doing, the posistion isn't redundant?
I'm pretty sure that under employment law states that if you're made redundant from a position, the company is not allowed to employ anyone in that same position for 6 months.
Steve
Matt - a gradual change - BSc in Biology, MSc in Human Genetics, my MA (or maybe it will be an MRes) will be in Sociological research techniques) and my PhD, presuming I get through the attached MA/MRes will be in the Sociology of 'Big Science', particularly the Human Genome Project. In the interview I babbled about the de-skilling of the bio-technology industry aided by new easy to use technologies, and apparently that got me the funding.
My OU credit (about half an undergraduate degree's worth) is all in Philosophy...
I'm going to try to, at least, make my rants a little more concise. I keep ruining threads by banging on and on.
> I'm pretty sure that under employment law
> states that if you're made redundant from a
> position, the company is not allowed to employ
> anyone in that same position for 6 months.
That's correct. So, rather than employ someone permanently, they just get in the occasional temporary worker to cover "certain essentials".
BTW, Jared, are you still reading all this rubbish?
There will be no revolution- it's unworkable. Every time you slip on your jeans or your trainers- or use just about anything in your daily life- you're helping to keep the poorest people in the world poorer than ever. These people would laugh at us if they heard us whining about how terrible agency work is.
Do you really think that your vote will ever make the slightest bit of difference? It doesn't matter who's in power, the world will turn the same as it always does and at the end of the day it's all about money and power- who has it and who doesn't.
I used to think that if enough people rose up, a difference could be made- now I realise that it really doesn't work that way any more and just try to make enough money to buy my trainers, pay my mortgage and live my life- thankful that I was born here and not in some third world country.
A bit callous? You bet. The only alternative is to live like a tramp- that's the only way anybody can legitimately say that their way of life harms nobody (did Arthur Wyatt say that once- or did I dream that? Genius either way).
No, I don't like the system, but I don't see any way of changing it either. You exploit or you're exploited. As far as I can see, there's no real middle ground (unless you count denial). I'd like to think that if I employed people, I'd treat them a lot more fairly than I'd ever been treated- but chances are I'd treat them worse than ever- milk them for everything I could- *anything* to avoid being at the bottom of the pile again.
Discuss if you like, but it's taken me a lifetime to reach this point and a few "ahhh... but what about...?" arguments are highly unlikely to get me to change my point of view.
Matt (who might have been a raving communist had he been born a century earlier. But he wasn't).
Actually, Andy- all that said- we probably have quite a bit more in common than you might think.
I actually agree with Matt on pretty much everything here. I don't think you can live a life that doesn't exploit anyone without leaving your own 'life-chances' irreprably damaged, consequently rendering you powerless and your actions therefore meaningless.
I also don't believe that we will arrive at my idea of a 'workers' paradise' either. But that doesn't stop me arguing for measures that will make the world a little bit fairer and less exploitative, measures that can be implemented and can work, given the political will.
I think ?oldthinkers unbellyfeel Ingsoc? applies to you GC. You must be stamped out.
*BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU*
Hey, you've got to do what you can, don't pull the ladder up after you, do what you can to live with yourself, be wary Matt, down the road of 'I can't change it' lead to the self justification of doing nothing, just what the system wants.
'Lord give me the strength to challenge what I can't change' I say :)
nope we can't find 19th century solutions to 21st century problems, but we have to be creative and each of us do our little bit that makes the mass, don't swallow the hype of one man against the system can change things, it doesn't work, it is a mass that works, but the mass is made up of individuals. Take the movement in this country against the last war, if the media and doomsayers were to be believe that was all pointless, every one I spoke to who took part found it very empowering.
Personally I never believed in the ashes and sackcloth version of socialist that is/was fed to us be establishment hacks, If its good enough for you ..etc...
Champagne for all I say!!
Huffsta
And yet we still bombed an innocent civillian population already weakened by 12(?) years of pointless and cruel economic sanctions into submission.
I'm glad the people that you spoke to felt empowered, but they certainly didn't change anything.
I seem to recall being almost relieved at the prospect of a war- mainly because my own living is one of the first to be compromised at any downturn in the economy. That doesn't mean that I *wanted* a war- simply that I was aware of the fact that there was going to be one, no matter how many people said 'no' and that financially, I might be better off because of it.
Clearly, the doomsayers and media *were* to be believed.
Matt (who doesn't necessarily advocate the kicking away of the ladder either- but will hold it in place only so long as it doesn't hurt him to do so.)
Oh and I agree- we should all have Champagne- but who's going to pick the grapes?
I agree- we should all have Champagne- but who's going to pick the grapes?
every one who disagrees with me! ;)
Your right we didn't stop the war, but those dumbassed politicos are having to look over their collective shoulders... and judging by the news the war isn't over nor is the fall out
Huffmeister
And the very worst that will happen to this government is that they'll get kicked out, only to be replaced by another that will behave in exactly the same way.
Your vote is there purely to change the faces of the dumbass politicos every couple of years. You're paying more tax than ever before, pensioners are poorer than at any time in the last thirty years and crime- whatever the reason- is increasing- no matter how you massage the figures.
Now then- hands up *anybody* who really thinks that things will get better for us, the general public, under a different government?
What about marching- does anybody think that marching will help (and bear in mind I might have to laugh at anybody who mentions the Poll Tax)?
Ok- that's enough political agitation for one day. Accept the fact that unless you're already in a position of wealth and/or power, our glorious leaders couldn't give a toss about you, or the rest of the world, one way or the other.
Matt (the cheery soul)
The fact is that you're arguing, which presupposes that you can challenge and even change the mind of others. So you recognise you can and do have an effect on the world.
You seem to be stuck in a self-centred view of politics whereby unless they all think your way RIGHT NOW there's no point in even trying to change something. But arguing is an effort to do the right thing, just like marching, just like writing to your MP. All you are professing is the philosophy that if it can't work your way the first time, give up. If it works for you that's fine, but I just feel very sorry for anyone with such a starved, hopeless view of the world!
And if you really think things can't get better, you're probably right - if by better you mean everything changing overnight. If on the other hand you look at the world outside the UK, you'd quickly realise how f***ing wonderful life is here, all the time, for almost everyone. And it's like that because of the efforts of millions of individuals to help themselves and those around them.
So you refuse to buy trainers from ethical traders? It's ?10 extra! Are you really living that close to the breadline? I doubt it, because most people living near the breadline don't have an attitude like yours.
To sum up: a million people changing the world in a small way for the better has more effect than one person giving it all up and living as a tramp. You could do that, with no more justification needed than the fact of your having written down your argument here. Choosing - and it is a choice - not to do this is exactly what causes the problem. Not those far-away figures, the politicans and moneymen, ou find it so easy to lump with the blame.
...and this started off as a thread asking for advice. Can I suggest that anyone wanting to continue this (I'll be there) starts a new thread on Doing Something?
hey i have no objection to picking the grapes, wouldnt it be nice if those of us who did were also allowed to drink the champagne, or even grape juice, or even semi-rancid water that they soaked in?
yup the revolution will be coming just as soon as i get anywhere near peeking out from the poverty trap rut, too busy digging to wield a kalashnakov.
& isnt it ironic that its the pov's among us who, thru lack of choice, become the main consumers of cut price crap that keeps other people in sweat shops & keep the NHS waiting lists so long.
Bou, munching on a dinner of a quarter of a 99p pizza by way of un-healthy illustration. Grud bless capitalism & the 'free' west.
It might smell a bit but...
A comic shop that smells bad? H'mm. Do they stock porn?
Ah... so you'll be taking the third option (denial) then Dud?
I'll see if I can answer your personal and totally unfounded attack tomorrow. In the meantime, try taking your head out of the ground and reading my posts properly.
Matt
hey Johnny! never mind the revolution... i miss your eyebrow icon, this dark things far too enigmatic. i demand the campaign for the quirky eyebrow starts here !
and while were on personal attacks, GC your moustash is too big, dudley you sound like a short crap actor who died of brain mush disease.
ahhhhhh and relax.
Johny-
Looking forward to reading your retort but am off on holiday for a week so don't take silence as defeat! Wasn't meant as a personal attack. I really dislike your views but I'm sure you're a lovely person.
Yours,
A short crap actor. Who died of brain disease. But was pretty damn good in "Arthur".
this is now WAY OFF topic... to clear things up... new thread called the revolution will be created by me...move along...
Well now, Dudley. This response irritates me on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin- so let's just start with the most obvious and work our way along.
First of all, I'd be interested to know where it was I said that I'd never buy trainers from ethical traders. It might not seem like much- but as you seem to have based my entire personality and social status around this single, made up fact- I think it might be worthy of an answer. Let's see now... Being self employed and therefore not eligable for state support and having previously worked in various call centres, shops and factories (all before the introduction of a minimum wage, I might add), just how often do you think I might have seen the wrong side of the breadline?
You know *nothing* of my attitude, Dudley- mainly because you know nothing about me. You have no idea what my politics are about, so how can you tell me that I want to argue you around to my way of thinking? I've thrown in a few fairly obvious observations, but I've yet to tell you or anyone else which side of those observations I actually sit on.
Did I say that the people who marched against the war were stupid or wrong? Did you even think to ask if I was one of them? I didn't say that they shouldn't have marched, only that it made no difference and that it was never going to make any difference.
I'd rather have a "starved and hopeless view of the world" (which I don't, by the way- I just open my eyes and look around once in a while), than delude myself into thinking that life is so great here "because of the efforts of millions of individuals to help themselves and those around them" (and if you'd bothered to read my posts properly, you'd realise that I had already addressed this issue and pointed out that people in the third world would laugh at our complaints). What absolute toss. We live the way we do at the expense of others. Tell me, Dud- do you buy ethical jeans to go with your ethical trainers? Do you watch TV, go to the pub, connect to the internet? Do you use gas? Electricity? Drive a car or sit on a bus? How about your bank? Do they give you a good rate?
You are part of a system designed to keep most of the world poor, Dudley- that's the only point I'm trying to make. You cannot conduct your day to day life and business without contributing to the system- it's as simple as that. It's not your fault and you can't do anything about it- although I would be interested to hear all that *you* know about ethical trade goods. Quite honestly, I'm not going to lose any sleep over whether or not you dislike my views- especially as you don't really seem to understand them very well- but I'm f*cked if I'll be judged by somebody who can't even be bothered to read what I've written properly and then makes stuff up to make me look worse.
Before you say anything else remarkably stupid about my blaming the world's woes on the politicians and money men, you might want to go away and do some research on exactly why it is that one billion people control the wealth of six billion. Either way, neither you nor I have the power to do anything about it. You want to buy ethical trade trainers for an extra tenner? Good for you. I'll see your trainers and raise you the five hundred and forty pounds that went out of my account to various charities last year. It went out monthly, via direct debit- whether I'd had a good month or two bad months in a row. What a bad person I must be...
To sum up: You took my tramp analogy and assumed that I meant live like a tramp or do nothing at all, when what I actually said was that living as a tramp really is the only way you can live in this country and not contribute to the system. I'm not condemning anybody within the system, nor am I condemning those who would like to work against it. I'm certainly not going to condemn those that feel better for doing their 'bit'- I'm merely pointing out that in this country, marching doesn't change a thing.
Enjoy your holiday- I'll be on mine by the time you get back, so this could take some time to resolve. Would you like me to tell you why it is that we're able to take cheap holidays abroad, or do you think you can work it out for yourself?
Putting my answer over to "Revolution" thread.
Christ.
Guess what I didnt just read? Yup, that whopping great personal politics post above! One word - "comics"....
I'm crushed. No, really...
I've got two words for you, Hex- the second one being "off".
My my. You CAN show restraint...
I think hex has got a point to be honest.
Nothing wrong with normal rational discussion. But it doesn't take much to turn them messy (tell me about it).
This post has been dragged off topic, poor Jared still probably doesn't know what to do with his life.
If JK's wise then he will have learnt not to be a polititian.
"My my. You CAN show restraint..."
YOU there boy! Less of the uneccesary taunting!
Heh. Sorry about that.
To be honest, I'd be just as happy if you stuck me in your killfile from now on.
It seems like most of our posts go down this route, Hex- which is made all the more annoying by the fact that more often than not, I'm not even talking to you in the first place. If you don't want to read it, don't read it- but don't bore me by telling me that you're not reading it. Just stick me in your killfile and be done with it- I'm sure I'll get over it.
I find a few of *your* posts to be pointless, preachy and generally off topic as well, but I wouldn't normally go out of my way to tell you about it as it's a bit... well... sad (not to mention rude).
No hard feelings and all that- just stick me in your killfile and we'll say no more about it.
Matt
>Remember these simple rules:
>1) Jared lacks intellect.
Ever thought of being a script droid?
>2) Jared cannot travel far.
Work from home
>3) Jared is not streetwise.
Working from home and ordering food from Tesco?s online means you don?t have to leave the house
>4) Jared needs regular access to a toilet.
Get a laptop and take it into the loo with you.
>5) Jared is easily confused and tends to panic when placed under pressure.
Ignore all deadlines
>6) Jared can live on 100 Euro a week (about 60 pounds sterling).
Means you only have to write a page a week.
>So if you have any good suggestions let me know.
Glad to be of help.
La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.
Logan!Where were you when I was sixteen??Gah!That's what I call advice!
M.
DD was lucky to find a kitchen that truly valued it's KP.
Not every kitchen is like this- and I've worked a few before, during and after college.
On a bad day for example, I have been talked down to, locked in the walk-in fridge on several occasions, once sent out for a leg of mince at the height of service, but bought back a leg of lamb from a neighbouring hotel kitchen (picture the chef's face), cut my hands to ribbons because lazy chefs left knives in the sink and been branded by one particularly sadistic hump who kept his steal (sharpening implement) on the solid-top (that's the stove).
On a good day for example, I got to pick anything I wanted off the menu for my staff meal, shown how to make squid ink pasta from scatch, how to open an oyster shell, fillet fish etc, been sent home with beef filets, faux gras (posh goose liver pate) and half a kilo of Belgium chocolate, been sent home early and still paid for the full shift, got too drunk to walk with the head chef on cooking wine / calvados / single malt countless times.
After a while I was given a jacket and checks and asked to work the starter section.
To be fair kitchen portering / chefing is long, arduous, sweaty, back-braking work, sometimes frustrating but if I'm honest, from experience, rewarding.
Jared, if you can't poach an egg- go for it- you might learn something. Otherwise take Logan's advice and become a script writer.
B.
DD was lucky to find a kitchen that truly valued it's KP
never a truer word spoken i would say. 20 years ago. washing the dishes at the tremont hotel newquay.
now thanks to the fact chef that did value me, Executive Chef at the british club in singapore.
considering i left school with a handful of CSEs i would not knock the kitchen porter route.
it does cover all the items you list.
script writer does come out on top though,
My computer is broken.
And now the descent into insanity has speeded up considerably.
I would consider becoming a script droid (Yes I am assuming that I'd be accepted immediately) but there's barely any room for new talent what with Mills and Abnett and the other guy writing all those damn popular stories.
The way I see it my options are thus:
1) Proffesional student (It CAN be done but it's very, very hard and I'd probably have to be in the army for about ten years.
2) Script droid (Enjoyable and not entirely unreasonable pay but hardly a stable source of income).
3) Good-for-nothing layabout (again unstable but with no scruples it's easy to make cash through claiming insurance, petty theft and deliberate accidents)
4) Librarian (peace and quiet but only obtainable after years of agonising hard work)
Right I'll bundle together some scripts and (ugh) post them. In the meantime I do have a teeny bit of cash coming in from a guy with a terrible secret connection with me.
Feel free to discuss political matters to your hearts content (and thanks again, if anything it's verified that I'm not the only crazed maniac out there. No offence!)
Jared Horatio Katooie.
4) Librarian (peace and quiet
I did a stint years ago. Oh, if only it was peace and quiet. Snooty head staff, shit council pay/politics, underfunding, turfing out drunks, screaming babies, schoolies breaking computers and chucking bricks through windows, crack-addled single mothers making a scene when you catch 'em nicking stuff (including carpet tiles at one point)... all much like any public building. And only the power of "Shh!" to deal with it all.
phew was it getting heated in here?
should i be wearing my PPE & carrying a high pressure hose reel on protective spray setting?
(i'm just back from burny house training course, brain still singed).
chill the beans revolutionarys & nons.. I like discussions like this, it stimulates the brain rather more than the dumbed downness of yur average interaction. But lets not get personal or take it personal, choose to read or not read. long post can be off putting when one is quickly scanning, but often the content is worth reading. The free west might not be so free as we pretend it is, but at least this board upholds freedom of expression & long may it.
now can i rant about being self employed & soooo low below the bread line its funny?.. ach can't be arsed, Just JARED... dont do it.. avoid self employment & hold off debts as long as you can, eventually they WILL find you, but stay away my friend!
Actually i really enjoyed being a Postie...
Ok you got to get up at the crack of dawn but you have half a day off on full time wages... and you get to work at your own pace without a boss breathing down your neck for most of the time. And you get to bring kids birthday cards and prezzies... ahhhh. And piss people off with charges (ha ha ha). And, incredibly, you do get the odd tip at crimbo!
2 options for work really
1. try do something you enjoy
2. try do something that pays well so you have money to do what you enjoy when not working
thats it really, end of the day, all said and done..
number 1 seems the best option to me OR from all that studying you could teach and enjoy the holidays ?