Random Thoughts....

Man, I really want some poutine now :(
 
I would like to stamp out negativity, pessimism, depression, and dudes who act like pussies on FG.

Who's with me?

Me too. Sometimes I can be negative, but I am reminded that being so is far too easy and solves nothing.

Fifthed

i know i've gone on at times about my course and general unemployment. but even i'll admit that there's a line and where someone just has to say "suck it, stick your feet in the ground and take it like a man."

:clap: Atta boy! Just what I want to hear from you! :D


In other news, I have decided to quit smoking tomorrow and get into shape, and all before January the second. As mentioned a few days ago, I would really like to do some camping and hiking in Wisconsin state parks and would rather not wheeze and collapse at the top of a beautiful sandstone bluff.
With that in mind, there is a freak hill not more than a tenth of a mile from my house, a hill that makes no sense in this area that is flat as a pancake that would be perfect for walking up and down to train endurance. I figure I would start with no load, then a backpack with five pounds in it, then ten, etc. This way when I want to hike it should be realatively easy.
I have the mental endurance to walk great distances, but my body disagrees at the moment.
 
Fifthed

i know i've gone on at times about my course and general unemployment. but even i'll admit that there's a line and where someone just has to say "suck it, stick your feet in the ground and take it like a man."

I wonder how hard it would be to get "Man up" etched into a contact lens. It'd be very helpful to have that as a constant reminder, and seeing as my lenses are self-righting, it'd always be in the correct orientation.
 
I swear to God, if I lose this contest by three minutes I'm gonna be pissed.

Wasn't even my fault, actually - Wordpress saw fit as to not email me a registration password; I ended up contacting them directly. I could've had this in the hole about half an hour ago! :wall:

Oh well, we're not supposed to be negative anymore, right? While I could have used that sweet Bell helmet as a prize (in bobble-head XL, too!), what I really plan to get is this:

z1r_0104-0764.jpg


http://www.z1rhelmets.com/productDe...8935&rank=100&tree=2026&branch=2028&leaf=2034
 
my thanks to thevictor 390 for his positive words in his rep comment, was much appreciated.

unfortunately things took a nose-dive for the worse today and i need a outlet to blow off some steam, so a work placement rant will follow. anyone not interested is advised to move along, but i need to just have a rant for a moment.

I got to my Work Placement with Matalan today at 3:30pm (where i would be working until 10pm). Anyway, when i attended the interview last week, i was very excited about what i was offered. shop floor work. meeting and working with customers and learning new skills and experiences. What i had today was completely the opposite.
When i arrived i was not met by any member of the staff and had to walk around for several minutes looking for the manager, I was then put into a small room where i watched a video about working in Matalan and then given a test on health and safety regulations. After that i was given a brief tour of the store and then the Manager sent me into the warehouse end of the store. I then spent the entire day having to strip plastic off clothes and empty cardboard boxes. What annoyed me though was that i was given no training throughout the day, the team leader just sent me off to some corner and told what to do. When i had to open up boxes, i was not given a safety knife to do the job. when i asked for one the team leader said "can't you do anything right?" At one point i was clearing some plastic out of the way of a fire exit when i was told by the team leader to "stop wasting time". I wasn't given any safety boots to use while i was working in the warehouse department, nor was i given any safety gloves for when i was handling the plastic, boxes and knives.
By 18:30 i was close to walking out. I was already on my way out when i saw the manager and i asked her "when i spoke to BTCV they told me this would be retail. not working in the warehouse." The manager replied "no, you will be doing some shopfloor work as and when required. but you won't be using tills or anything, merely cleaning up." Later on i was talking to the obnoxious team leader who told me "no, thats a lie. once you start down here, your down here for the entire duration." I was also told that i would be working longer than 10pm at times (which is a big no-no with BTCV, the people who found me the placement since i am only supposed to work the agreed hours of 6 and a half hours and nothing more).
Now despite nearly walking out, i tried it and stuck it out for the entire duration of the day so i can at least say "i've tried it but its not for me." when i've been talking to BTCV about placements i keep telling them that i want to be learning about retail, working with customers, using tills and basic shop work. this wasn't retail work, i'm not going to learn anything from being stuck in a corner of their warehouse. Its a waste of my time, Matalans time and BCTV's time.
I spent 11 years working for a warehouse and i don't want to do it anymore. i want to be giving working in shops a go, trying something different. I'm a quiet person by nature but i often find that the only way i'm going to learn confidence is by retail and learning to grow confident around new people and customers and therefore becoming a more confident person in myself. The only problem is that because i've got no experience in working in a store, i'm at a significant disadvantage when it comes to applications. This is where BTCV is meant to be helping me. So once again i'll be on the phone to getting a new placement tomorrow and making it very clear that Matalan isn't the direction for me. It would be more suited to those interested in warehouse careers.

thanks all for letting me get that out of my system, rant over. i'll keep quiet now.
 
Sorry to hear that. And sorry if you already have (I guess you probably have) - but have you tried asking around in local shops (not chains)? I didn't really like working in a big company, but enjoyed my time at the little Camera shop with only 3 employees. I will agree with you that working for just a year in a shop gave me loads of people skills that you wouldn't get anywhere else.
 
Indeed, I am also a very quiet person, but I spent some time in retail before my current job and I am now much more comfortable talking with random people over the phone (which is rather important in tech support).
 
Sorry to hear that. And sorry if you already have (I guess you probably have) - but have you tried asking around in local shops (not chains)? I didn't really like working in a big company, but enjoyed my time at the little Camera shop with only 3 employees. I will agree with you that working for just a year in a shop gave me loads of people skills that you wouldn't get anywhere else.

i'm frequently sending out spec letters to shops in the town center every week. along with personal visits as well, just simply asking "do you have any vacancies?" worst they can say is "no." well actually the very worst they can say is "no, now stop coming to my store or i'll have the police arrest you for stalking!"
 
i'm frequently sending out spec letters to shops in the town center every week. along with personal visits as well, just simply asking "do you have any vacancies?" worst they can say is "no." well actually the very worst they can say is "no, now stop coming to my store or i'll have the police arrest you for stalking!"

It sucks that you had to go through that, it really does. :(
It's odd that apparently retail requires more standards than here in the states. (please, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...) I've been in retail for 4 years now and my first job (at a grocery store) didn't require XX of retail experience or what not. Same with my second one, although I'm sure that my past experience was a plus. I'll agree with you, and the others, that working retail makes you open up a lot more, and become more comfortable around people. It's one of a few bright sides to a job that, while it surely can be a pain at times, feels very rewarding when you help someone or someone lets you know how much they appreciate you being there. :) Good luck on your job search. :)
 
It sucks that you had to go through that, it really does. :(
It's odd that apparently retail requires more standards than here in the states. (please, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...) I've been in retail for 4 years now and my first job (at a grocery store) didn't require XX of retail experience or what not. Same with my second one, although I'm sure that my past experience was a plus. I'll agree with you, and the others, that working retail makes you open up a lot more, and become more comfortable around people. It's one of a few bright sides to a job that, while it surely can be a pain at times, feels very rewarding when you help someone or someone lets you know how much they appreciate you being there. :) Good luck on your job search. :)

I'd generally agree with that, over here it's a common first job for a kid, seems like they'll hire anyone with a pulse sometimes (assuming they are hiring at all). Then again, supply and demand. If you are competing with someone who wants the same job, and they have experience but you don't, who do you think is going to be hired? :(

With the current economy there are a lot of people applying for fewer jobs, so there's more competition. I'm just glad I got super lucky with my current job, my employer needed someone quickly and I was at the right place at the right time.

While this Job Placement center seems rather bureaucratic and useless, over here we go too far in the other direction, it's far to easy to just collect unemployment benefits for a long time without doing anything.
 
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I'd generally agree with that, over here it's a common first job for a kid, seems like they'll hire anyone with a pulse sometimes (assuming they are hiring at all). Then again, supply and demand. If you are competing with someone who wants the same job, and they have experience but you don't, who do you think is going to be hired? :(

and this is the problem i'm having. because i have no experience in this. i'm the least likely to get the job. i don't let that stop me, if i don't bother sending in the application then i'm almost certain to not get the job. if i at least try and then fail, then the important thing is that i keep trying. its difficult by the law of logic and numbers states that eventually at some point, some one will give me a break and give them the opportunity to show them what i can really do.
 
I'd generally agree with that, over here it's a common first job for a kid, seems like they'll hire anyone with a pulse sometimes (assuming they are hiring at all). Then again, supply and demand. If you are competing with someone who wants the same job, and they have experience but you don't, who do you think is going to be hired? :(

Yeah, even here' things are different than they were just a few years ago. With older people looking for work, a lot of people in their 30's and higher are being chosen for work over 16-20 somethings because of the whole age = maturity thing. The local paper had a article about teens looking for jobs this summer.
 
Certainly when you're 16 or 17 looking for your first job, its very easy to get in to retail. As in, supermarkets will constantly be employing, because kids apply there as it is easy to get in, because they're constantly employing etc - also because people leave either to go to uni or because they got a shitty job in the supermarket (like what I got, which was stacking shelves and hoping someone would talk to me and ask me where something is). I would certainly advise if possible to go for a smaller shop rather than the warehouse/supermarket type. You may be told supermarkets are like giant families, where everyone gets along (you know - for the greater good) but I'm fucking glad my family isn't like that.
 
It sucks that you had to go through that, it really does. :(
It's odd that apparently retail requires more standards than here in the states. (please, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...) I've been in retail for 4 years now and my first job (at a grocery store) didn't require XX of retail experience or what not. Same with my second one, although I'm sure that my past experience was a plus. I'll agree with you, and the others, that working retail makes you open up a lot more, and become more comfortable around people. It's one of a few bright sides to a job that, while it surely can be a pain at times, feels very rewarding when you help someone or someone lets you know how much they appreciate you being there. :) Good luck on your job search. :)

I'd generally agree with that, over here it's a common first job for a kid, seems like they'll hire anyone with a pulse sometimes (assuming they are hiring at all). Then again, supply and demand. If you are competing with someone who wants the same job, and they have experience but you don't, who do you think is going to be hired? :(

With the current economy there are a lot of people applying for fewer jobs, so there's more competition. I'm just glad I got super lucky with my current job, my employer needed someone quickly and I was at the right place at the right time.

While this Job Placement center seems rather bureaucratic and useless, over here we go too far in the other direction, it's far to easy to just collect unemployment benefits for a long time without doing anything.

Yeah every time I want to apply to a shit retail job they want experience, for fucking minimum wage cashier jobs. How do I get experience for entry level jobs? The one I did manage to get conveniently fabricated my files to fire me, at 10 months. 10 months doesn't qualify for experience on the other jobs apparently so I am fucked.
 
Just realised my 298GB hard drive had 1GB of free space on it, guess thats due to installing Fallout: New Vegas. Time for a clear out me thinks! :lol:

Certainly when you're 16 or 17 looking for your first job, its very easy to get in to retail. As in, supermarkets will constantly be employing, because kids apply there as it is easy to get in

True, your main issue is a question of numbers, a lot of people applying means more chance that one of those people has already worked in retail and is more likely to be employed.
I find most places around here demand prior experiance because they have the pick of alot of people. Not good for peeps like me who can't get a job to get experiance in the first place! :rolleyes:
 
i'm frequently sending out spec letters to shops in the town center every week. along with personal visits as well, just simply asking "do you have any vacancies?" worst they can say is "no." well actually the very worst they can say is "no, now stop coming to my store or i'll have the police arrest you for stalking!"
Ow the wrong question - invites the answer no. Suss the place out and get ahold of the man who can hire and fire, be all keen on his stock. Find out (say cameras) as much as you can about Cameras and go in a few times. There may then be an opportunity to say something along the lines of "I'd love to do this for a living you are so lucky to do what you love as your job." and finally say I am look around at the moment for a position if you every get a vacancy just give me a call. ?

Ok may not work but on the other hand may just do. Obviously change the above to fit in with your own circumstances. There was a TV program here in the 1980s that illustrates all too clearly problems with jobs - with other things. (For Brits - Yosser Hughes - Gizza a job)

 
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