Thursday, July 02, 2009
Job
So, I got a job.
It wasn't on purpose, but then, none of the last three jobs that I've had were on purpose either.
I scored my last job while drunk in the ladies room at a local bar. The one before that I clinched in the dairy section of the supermarket. And the one before that was offered to me as I drank a coffee at the desk of the job I already had.
It's true what they say - it's not what you know, it's
who you know.
So, I was doing my usual parent helper thing at school. I was chaperoning the children to the public library (we're close by, so we walk). Once at the library I felt unusually out of sorts. I'm usually in my element at the library. I'm there at least once a week (it's been four times this past week) and I usually love perusing the shelves while the class does their storytime thing.
But on this day (two weeks ago tomorrow, to be precise) I felt restless. I did a quick count of the other parent helpers, realised that for once we actually had
way more parents than we need for our required adult to child ratio (a bloody miracle I tell you), and so decided to bail.
I started walking through the city. I meandered about, not knowing quite where I wanted to be, but feeling that I had to go somewhere. I ended up passing by a little bookshop which an old friend owns and decided to pop in.
Now, this old friend is not someone I see regularly. I've seen him maybe once a year, at most, for the past 14 or 15 years. Prior to that, I saw him maybe once a week, as he was part of one of the crowds I used to hang out with. 1994, grooving to the Stereo MCs at the Worcester Bar, drinking DB Export, that was us.
He's also my ex-boyfriend's brother.
Or, more precisely, my middle sister's ex-husband's brother.
I guess that makes him my ex-brother in law.
Or, maybe he's better described as the brother of my youngest sister's ex-flatmate.
Hmmm, I'm confused.
To put it simply (yeah right), in 1993 I was doing evening shifts at the cinema and would finish my shift at around midnight. Sometimes I'd go straight home, but usually I'd stay in town and go drinking until 4am or so.
And then I'd walk home by myself.
I was never afraid of walking home alone at night. To tell the truth, I'm STILL not afraid of walking around the streets at night. I've never had any trouble, and I'm a firm believer that a woman walking alone at night is safer than a man walking alone at night. Why? Because there are only a very small number of idiots who think it's cool to attack a woman, but a much larger number of idiots who think it's fun to provoke a fight with another guy.
Anyway, halfway home was a Mobil station, and I eventually got to know the graveyard shift worker. He was a friendly young guy and I'd take advantage of his offers of free coffee and hours of conversation. I'd often not get home until after his shift finished at 7am.
After a few months, we began hanging out socially, going to the Worcester Bar, listening to the Stereo MCs. We even had a very brief period of "going out", which lasted only a couple of weeks as we realised we just weren't cut out to be boyfriend and girlfriend.
Eventually life moved on. My sister was looking for someone to marry so that she could protest the new government cuts in student living allowances (i.e. you needed to be married or else you were assumed to be dependent on your parents until the age of 25). She was going to marry my best friend Vixen's boyfriend (who was keen, as he was Scottish and was wanted to apply for residency) but then Vixen decided that she'd marry him instead. So my sister married my ex.
Of course it was a sham, as he went home to his girlfriend, she went home to her boyfriend, and they lived happily ever after. (Until of course my sister went to get married for real, and suddenly realised she had to get divorced first.)
Then my other sister moved to Melbourne, and so did this guy, and they ended up living together for two years. They're still close friends to this day.
So, if you've followed all of this so far, you're doing well. I'm confused.
Anyway, so this guy that owns the bookshop is the Mobil man's brother. We were never close friends but we've always got on well.
So I walked into the bookshop, said hi, chatted about this and that, and he says "Hey, do you want a job?"
My initial reaction was "no way", but he gave me some time to think, and I realised that it would be AWESOME.
So I'm now working in a little bookshop. I work every Saturday, and then I work four hours a day three days a week, during school hours. During school holidays it's up to me as to whether I want to come in during the week or not. It's so bloody flexible, it's amazing.
I'm surrounded with books all day, and the work is EASY. I get paid to chat to people, browse through books, and surf the net when it's quiet.
Awesome.