a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

Started casual work on 25th August, full-time on 20th October 2008

(Wow! 30 jobs in 30 days! It's like I planned it or something! :-)

After my Channel 7 gig, the business manager at college offered me some casual reception/office work when I wasn't working my other job (database admin). So I appreciatively took them up on their kind offer. The receptionist here had taken extended leave and they weren't sure if and when she was coming back, so it was a week-to-week arrangement which suited me fine at the time. About a month later, they offered the job to me full-time and after very careful consideration, I accepted.

When I let my part-time employer know that I was resigning (I stated that I needed full-time work and gave a whole month notice), they counter-offered a full-time job at their company. It was a LOT more money, and longer hours. I did consider this offer - let's face it, the money would have been really great and I would have had a high-responsibility position, but my heart just wasn't in it.

So I made a lifestyle choice and stuck with my original decision to work full-time with the college. They weren't overly happy and they tried to bribe me with chocolate (my one weakness! besides red wine that is...) but it wasn't to be.

So I began full-time employment here at the college just over a month ago and it's going great. I have a 30 meter commute to work and so much free time on my hands that I don't know what to do with! Though, I'm sure I'll find something! It's also very social here and not only do I work with lovely people, I get to have lunch with Hubs most days (bonus!) and there's always students coming in and out of the office which gives the place a nice atmosphere. AND they all stop to have coffee at 10:30am (just like YACMU!) AND they have a special staff morning tea every Wednesday! It's great!

So that's it folks. Scary? Yes. A little depressing? Sure. Frustrating? More than you can imagine. But here I am, in a job that I like, feeling like I make a difference (maybe a small one, but a difference none-the-less) and enjoying a very nice lifestyle. What more could a gal ask for?

Posted by Renae at 8:39 AM Comments

August 2008

Whilst looking for another permanent part-time job to complement the database administrator job, I picked up some temp work through my old recruitment company (they're Australia-wide) in Channel 7's Olympic Call Centre. It was pretty crazy! I had anywhere between 50 and 150 calls per day, with callers mainly asking about programming schedules. And the Equestrian. (wha..?) Unfortunately we didn't get the schedules that regularly, so we often didn't have much to tell callers, which made it interesting at times!

Again, I worked with great people and the money was good so I was feeling a little less financial pressure. We had moved in to College by this stage and the bills had started coming in, so it was nice not to have to worry about money. This job was obviously only for the duration of the Olympics and since we had to know exactly what was going on, there were big screen TVs in all the call centre rooms, so I got to watch sport all day AND get paid for it! It was super!

Posted by Renae at 8:21 AM Comments

July - October 2008

Now, obviously I have absolutely no regrets about us moving to Melbourne (LOVING IT!!) but I found it a little frustrating/ironic that I had finally found a job situation that I was really happy with, and I had to leave and start all over again. Such is life.

When we arrived in Melbs, I was determined to start work straight away, which means I perhaps didn't get the most suitable job. I had the idea to do the 2 part-time jobs down here again, but it wasn't to be. I was hired as a part-time database administrator which was okay, but it turns out God had something even BETTER lined up for me. I can't say much more about this without giving too much away, so I'll leave it at that.

(We're so close to the end of November now!!! It's been fun!)

Posted by Renae at 8:27 AM Comments

June 2007 - June 2008 (part-time)

How could I say no? My old project (Child Safe Church) was getting another face-lift, and YACMU wanted me to be a part of it. So they offered me part-time work of 5 days a fortnight to manage the project. Although I loved working at Southern-X, doing the job full-time wasn't very challenging, so I applied to cut back to part-time and only do 2 days per week. They were okay with that, so I started my new work routine.

I worked at the hospital Mondays and Wednesdays, and at YACMU Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday mornings. This meant that my weekend started at 12:30pm on a Friday! It was sweeeeeeeet! I was also at the beginning stages of planning our wedding so this gave me some free time to look at dresses, flowers, decorations and all wedding-related things. It was also nice to be able to have lunch with family and friends or catch up for an early pint at the pub.

This type of work situation really suited my lifestyle and I felt that I had FINALLY found my dream job/s.

Posted by Renae at 9:17 AM Comments

March 2007 - June 2008

Finally! A job that lasted more than 6 months! I started here full-time as an MIA - Medical Imaging Assistant. I assisted the radiographers in MRI, CT, Ultrasound and X-Ray, and assisted the Doctors with cannulations (inserting teeny needles into veins to inject contrast dye) and a few other procedures (some not-so-pleasant). The MIAs were the gofers of Southern-X, so we didn't get huge amounts of respect from some of our colleagues, but we were adored by the patients. The money was pretty lousy but I got HEAPS of patient contact which I really loved.

I worked with heaps of people - other MIAs, Radiologists (the doctors), Radiographers (the button-pushers! tee hee!), Nurses (they were all lovely lovely lovely), admin staff, orderlies, and patients and I really enjoyed my work, mostly. I DIDN'T like working in "stores" or working with "The A-Team" (they thought they were just SO GOOD), but that only happened every couple of weeks so it was okay.

After a few months, I dropped back to part-time, which I'll explain in my next post!

(Sheesh! I'm running out of days in November!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Posted by Renae at 8:52 AM Comments

January - March 2007

I resigned from my last job the week after the Christmas party. I mean, I didn't want to be a party-pooper! It was icky and horrible and I couldn't wait to leave to be honest. (To be fair, most of the people I worked with were great and heaps of fun.) I had been offered a 3 month temping contract with Qld Health's Population Health Unit in Windsor, working alongside another good friend of mine. This job was okay, but since it was only a 3 month contract, I was already looking for my next job. The problem with me + government is that I like things to be done quickly. This is not something that happens much in government. Plus I spent most of my days at one meeting or another, not really sure why I was there or what outcomes were being achieved. Again, I worked with lovely, wonderful, fun people and had a great time, and that always makes it worthwhile.

In the mean time, I had been to see a careers counsellor who did lots of cool tests and analysis on me, to see if I could get a better idea of a job that suited me.

To be honest, this would have been really helpful 5 years earlier. Anyway, I found it really useful and even considered going back to uni. But then I remembered my desire to have babies in the next 5 years, and the fact that Hubs was going to be studying for the next few years as well, and decided it might not be such a great move. I WAS however interested in working at a hospital again, so I kept that in mind when I was looking for my next job.

Posted by Renae at 8:26 AM Comments

July - December 2006

A friend of mine worked here as a project officer and a job as the Division Secretariat came up so she suggested I apply for it. It was pretty much in the bag once I got to the interview, and the money was FANTASTIC because employees could salary sacrifice pretty much everything! It did mean that I moved to "the dark side" (southside) of Brisvegas, but I was living with Khicken and Kturtle so that was cool. Not that I was ever home. Right... back to the job...

After 2 or so months, they asked if I'd like to manage Aged Care. I thought that would be great! So I got stuck in to that and felt like I was just getting the hang of it, then after another month they asked if I wanted to manage Mental Health! (My friend who worked as the Mental Health project officer decided to go back to her old job at a different Division, so she had resigned.) So I was a bit put out by their management, after all the work I'd done on Aged Care, but thought I'd give it a go. Another month or so later, they wanted to re-shuffle me again, at which stage I'd had enough. They just didn't know what they were doing and I felt like it wasn't going to get any better. So while I was at a week-long conference on the Gold Coast (the same week that Hubs and I got together!) my OTHER friend told me about a temp job that sounded right up my alley!

(By this stage I was getting a reputation amongst my family and friends as a job-hopper. It kind of got me down (and still does from time to time) but mostly I was just getting frustrated that I couldn't find a job that I liked.)

Posted by Renae at 11:30 AM Comments

October 2005 - June 2006

YACMU made me an offer I just couldn't refuse (I NEVER can!) of a contract to re-write the Queensland Uniting Church's Child Safety Policy and training materials. It was a huge job and I really threw myself into it. I was very happy with the final product and proud of the job that I did. I was considering pursuing a career in Workplace Health & Safety at UC and combine it with my Child Safety position, but management had different ideas.

It was an absolute pleasure as always to work with the YACMU crew, and they really got me through some tough times. And it was so nice having some great gals to work with - usually I was surrounded by smelly boys! (ha ha. You know I love yas!)

So as my June 30 end date approached, I had a few interviews and settled on my next job.

Posted by Renae at 9:10 AM Comments

2 weeks in October/November 2005

This was a bit of a fill-in temp job through my recruitment agency. I worked in the area that prepared all the documents for parliament each week. It was crazy busy ALL the time which was super fun! Lots of deadlines, visits from Beats himself, (the Queensland Premier at the time) and LOTS of leftover morning teas and lunches that we got to sample. Yummy!

I would have been happy here for a while, but I was being called "home".

Posted by Renae at 8:19 AM Comments

August - October 2005

After my last job (at the Council), my confidence was rock-bottom and it took me a while to get back on my feet, both physically and emotionally. I took a few weeks off before I started my next job, (that I also got through my recruitment agency) and was a bit hesitant about what was to come. In fact, this next job was perfect for getting me back on my game. It was a 3 month contract with the Suncorp IT Department, organising their corporate volunteer days.

Suncorp pay their staff 1 day per year to go and volunteer somewhere for a day. A lot of groups use it as team-building and everyone wins! So I set up some interactive calendars on the intranet for people to "book" their own days. I had links to websites, contact details and all sorts of fun and interactive things! I had never worked on a website before, and I really enjoyed it!

The people I worked with were really great and always had 4pm meetings on a Friday... at the cafe/bar across the road. I worked in a team of 6 and they were all in their 30s and 40s and were very welcoming to little old me. We actually used to go to the cafe next door to the church Hubs and I later married in! As I said it was exactly what I needed to get back on my feet. I just wish it could have gone on longer, but I was just too efficient and completed my part of the project in the designated time.

So I was back on the phone to my temping agency (who loved me by this time!)

Posted by Renae at 8:00 AM Comments

Okay, so I was actually at this job in 1998, but I forgot to put it in! I was only there for 3 weeks, so it's not really worth mentioning at all. I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I applied for this job. I think because everything said I should be in child care, that I thought "yeah! That sounds great!" And perhaps at the right centre it would have been okay. But I was working at a place that was SO dodgy. I had NO training (I was 18 years old) and got left with 12 children between 12 & 18 months. That's just not right!

And one day I had to change about 10 dirty (and I mean DIRTY) nappies in a row. It was horrendous. Plus the fact that it took me 45 minutes to drive each way got very old VERY quickly. Like I said, I don't know WHAT I was thinking.

I was very glad to get the job at Pick 'n Pay after this one!

Posted by Renae at 8:52 AM Comments

I just saw the name Bruce Beer written on some documentation.
Now is that not the most Australian name you've ever heard?

Posted by Renae at 4:05 PM Comments

April - June 2005

I don't really know what to say about this one to be honest. I thought I'd found my dream job, but it turned into a bit of a nightmare. I was employed by the child immunisation department as one of their admin officers. I found out once I got the job that I was one of about 100 applicants, so to get offered the job was quite flattering! The money was good, I got to work a 9 day fortnight, it was in town which was perfect location-wise, and I got to see babies every day! Screaming babies yes, but babies none-the-less!

I really thought this was it. That this was "the one". Then I got to know the people a bit better. Let's just say after discovering health issues that were finally put down to stress, I realised I was in a VERY bad working environment. It was probably the hardest few months of my life, and I felt that I didn't have much support from a few key people in my life at the time which made it so much harder. But thanks to a best friend who worked in HR, and great advice from Dad ("document EVERYthing") I went through the right channels and procedures and got a satisfactory outcome. Well, I didn't have a job again, but to be honest, I'd rather no job and my health, than working at that place and being sick.

Posted by Renae at 8:37 AM Comments

Jan - March 2005

This was a temping job that I got through a recruitment company. I worked in the Toowong office which was closing down, so everyone was being relocated. They had already placed their receptionist in a new full-time role so they needed someone to man the front desk til it all closed down. I also did some work out at one of their nursing homes in Ascot. It was a pretty depressing place to be honest, and I felt quite sorry for all of the lonely people. So I made a big effort to spend most of my days chatting to the residents. It was quite lovely in the end!

I worked with wonderful people who seemed to appreciate me which is always nice. They even had a little going away morning tea for me, even though I had only been there a few months! They were very sweet.

I applied for quite a few permanent jobs with Blue Care, but none of them were the right fit. Plus most of them got filled internally. I was also applying for permanent work elsewhere, and landed my next job in March.

Posted by Renae at 9:22 AM Comments

June - December 2004

I was offered a full-time job at Bio-Concepts as Education Coordinator, (it's all about who you know!) so I was in charge of all the seminars (bookings, registrations, some promotions) and I was back working with Mum again. I really enjoyed this job and it was really nice working alongside Mum and a great team of people. I also got to organise the company's 30th Anniversary dinner at the Hilton which was a great night.

Lots of good times and great memories of parties and morning teas and social outings. This is a real family-focussed company and it's always nice to work there. I think I left because I still had a desire to work in the health field and use my degree (though, in hindsight, I perhaps should have stayed at Bio a bit longer.)

Posted by Renae at 8:47 AM Comments

March-May 2004

I think a friend who already worked (and still works) at Qld Health alerted me to this temp job. It was a 2 month contract at Ipswich Hospital (about a 50 minute train ride from Central) sorting out their asset registry (or ar-sets as we kindly named them). It was a crappy job but the perfect opportunity for me to get a foot in the door of Qld Health. Finally! A chance to get a REAL job to use my degree in Public Health!!

So in between managing my arsets, I was applying for every job I could get my hands on. I was working in the IT division which was closing at the end of that financial year, so I wasn't the only one job hunting. In fact, I think I was 1 of about 40 people and 1 of 10 looking for admin work.

I got a few interviews, but all the jobs I went for were internally filled by people who had been there longer than me. So it was back to the drawing board.

Posted by Renae at 9:00 AM Comments

October 2003 - March 2004

My friend got me an interview for a job as an Administrative Officer for a company that does Corporate Health Assessments. Although I was employed as a casual, I mostly worked full-time hours. And I was also back at my old babysitting job at this time.

I enjoyed working here. Nice people, okay money, good location (Spring Hill) and it helped me pay off my travelling debts quite quickly (it also helps when you live at home and have few expenses!)

This was a month-by-month position and the work ran out around March, at which time I got another temping contract...

Posted by Renae at 8:49 AM Comments

August 2003

This was the most wild month of my life! (at the time!) I got paid 3 pounds 20p per hour and worked crazy shifts - anything from 8am-4pm to 5pm-1am. As a staff member for Gilded Balloon, we got to see all "our own" shows for free so I saw great acts like Flight of the Conchords (BEFORE they were famous!), GUD (with Paul McDermott), Mitch Benn, Jimeoin, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, Stephen K Amos, Mickey D, Puppetry of the Penis, (don't judge! I was curious! And fairly unimpressed to be honest... And I'm not putting a link in), The Umbilical Brothers, and many more! This is also where I discovered (yes, "I" discovered) The Cat Empire. And it was the start of a beautiful friendship!

We worked crazy shifts, and Edinburgh didn't sleep for the whole month of August. Normally all pubs would shut at 11pm, and clubs at 1am, but most places stayed open til 5am and re-opened at 10am so there was always somewhere to quench your thirst, rub shoulders with the stars, and generally have a grand old time.

The money was rubbish, we got treated like crap, and the hours were long; but the experience was priceless.

Posted by Renae at 9:19 AM Comments

April/May 2003

"Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employer's Federation, this is Renae."

Yeah. Quite a mouthful. And I don't know if you guys have ever tried talking to a Scotsman or Irishman from the country over the phone, but I can tell you I needed a translator every now and then. If I couldn't understand them, I'd transfer the call to my colleague Moira (who was always "damn fine splendid") for her to decipher.

I basically got paid 6 pounds an hour to hide in a pokey little room with one other person, on the third floor of the building and answer the phones. That was it. They didn't mind what else we did, so I used to write letters, read books, write in my journal, or if I was hungover, I'd raid the goodie cupboard. It was HUGE and PACKED with chocolates, biscuits and all sorts of yummy hangover cures.

Posted by Renae at 8:54 AM Comments

I think I was only here for a month or so. I worked at the "front reception" which wasn't anywhere near the front entrance to the hospital which frustrated a lot of people. I was situated at the security desk with the security guards who were lots of fun. One guy would sing "Just walk away Renee" to me most days, and was trying to set me up with his son who was living in America at the time. I politely declined!

I was there to give directions and answer the phone. I also picked up some weekend work during the day, re-filing all the files that we'd re-labled at my old temp job, as well as at the maternity front desk. One day when I was working at maternity, a woman came in at 7:30am, had her baby, and had left when I finished at 4pm! I got paid a lot more on weekends (up to 10 pounds an hour) so it was TOTALLY worth it.

By this stage, I was working 3 jobs at once, but I always found time for the pub!

Posted by Renae at 8:45 AM Comments

Feb 2003 - May 2003

I can't believe I almost forgot to include this one! This was a pretty funny job. I worked in the functions and banqueting area in this slightly-dodgy 4 star hotel. My first shift started on Friday afternoon at 4pm and ended at 4am Saturday. But don't worry, they gave me a break (15 min at midnight) and paid me well (4 pounds 20p per hour). HA! I usually worked a couple of nights during the week, from about 5:30pm til 11pm (as well as my day job) and I worked a lot of Friday nights (til 1 or 2am) and Saturdays, often finishing after midnight. I'd even work Sundays every now and then if I was either a) desperate for money or b) was being a sucker for punishment.

I had some language barriers with some of the Scottish people barking orders at me, and it would take me a few seconds, once they finished talking, for me to catch up. I worked with some "interesting" (translation: disgusting) chefs but met a few fun people who made the time pass quickly. Left this job to start travelling again!

Posted by Renae at 9:41 AM Comments

Jan 2003 - April 2003

This was my first temping job in Edinburgh after a few months of travelling. There were about a dozen of us hired to reorganise all the patient files into a new system, label them, and re-file them in preparation for moving to the new hospital site. It was a pretty boring job most of the time, but I worked with lots of crazy fun people, a couple of whom I'm still in touch with! (Hi Ezza!)

We used to head to the pub with our boss (who ended up marrying one of the temp workers!!) every Friday around 4pm which was sweeeeeeeeeeeet! Good times.

Posted by Renae at 9:36 AM Comments

June 2002 - Oct 2002

Once I finished uni in June, I had some free time on my hands, and the cafe next door to YACMU needed an EXTRA set of hands, so in I went! I used to work in the cafe from 8:30am til 11:30am, then head over to YACMU til 5pm. It was the perfect mix of project work (at YACMU) and people-work (at the Cafe). I gotta say, I made a pretty mean latte! It even had LAY-YERS! (This is not one of my lattes, but it looks about the same!)

Again, I left this job to travel abroad.

Posted by Renae at 8:48 AM Comments

Jan 2002 - Oct 2002

This was the start of a beautiful friendship!

I was hired by the Youth & Children's Ministry Unit to implement the Working with Children Checks (Blue Cards) in Queensland Uniting Churches. I worked with an amazing group of people, a lot of whom are still there. I must have done something right, as I was offered 2 more contracts with them over the next few years.

I left to travel overseas for a year!

Posted by Renae at 10:43 AM Comments

For those of you getting sick of reading about my jobs, here's another Mondegreen to keep you entertained.

You thought Kim Carnes was singing
"She's got Betty Davis eyes" (which is a pretty dumb line anyway)
But what I heard in my youth was
"She's got better days than I" (okay, that's pretty dumb too admittedly)


It's a rainy Melbourne day and I'm feeling particularly nostalgic at the moment. It's kinda noice! Have a great weekend everyone!

Posted by Renae at 4:25 PM Comments

2000-2002 & 2003-2004

I babysat every Thursday night from 5:30pm for 2 gorgeous kids while their parents went out on "date night". Sometimes I'd work for 3 hours, sometimes 6 or even 7 hours. It was all cash in hand - the easiest money I've ever made - and the kids were fantastic. We had lots of fun! I left this job when I went overseas in October 2002, and resumed when I came back in September 2004 for another 12 months. I wonder what the kids are up to now...

Posted by Renae at 9:38 AM Comments

2000-2001

I was a child carer here, Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9am til 11am. The money was great and it was cash in hand which was REALLY great! During school term, I'd only have 2 - 5 kids to look after, and not usually all at once. During school holidays, however, I'd have up to 12 kids and sometimes a couple of them were babies. That was a bit much. I used to off-load the babies onto the trainers and then try and keep the other kids under control.

Fridays were sometimes not-so-fun as Thursday night was student's night at all the night clubs in town which meant $1 drinks. If I didn't have any kids for a bit, I'd have a little kip in the cubby house! I left this job when the place closed down.

Posted by Renae at 8:33 AM Comments

(You'll be happy guaranteed!)
1998 - 2000 Casual

I was a casual check-out chick out at Aspley Hyperhole, as it was affectionately named. I quite liked this job. It was very cruisey work, and VERY social. I got to chat to people all day (some weirder than others!) and I worked with a couple of friends from Aspley UC which was so much fun. Once I turned 20 though, they started only giving me 4 hours per week, so I had to look for something else as well.

Posted by Renae at 10:05 AM Comments

1998 (for about 4-5 months)

Mum got me this job as she worked here (and still does!) as well. I also used to work here over the school/uni holidays with my friend Cicely. We were the envelope stuffers! It was fun working with Mum, and it didn't take me too long to start calling her by her first name, instead of "Mum" but she had a hard time not calling me "darling". It was quite funny! I think I left this job due to health reasons (headaches that turned out to be nothing exciting - I'm a bit precious!!)

Posted by Renae at 9:17 AM Comments

1997-1998
I worked at the MYER Centre shop as a volunteer shop assistant and then they offered me some paid work too. I worked Friday nights from 5pm til 9pm and Saturdays 9 til 5. I worked with lovely, crazy, hippie people and there were a few perks to the job as well. Can't remember why I left.

Posted by Renae at 8:38 AM Comments

1996 Christmas holidays
Casual work at Kelvin Grove State Primary School. I got paid $7.77 per hour!! I also got told to "**ck off" by a 10-year-old. I was most appalled. Amazing the things you remember.

Posted by Renae at 8:55 AM Comments

1992
In all fairness, Mum should have gotten paid, not me. I refused to deliver to the houses with scary, barking dogs (I made my brother do them). When it rained, you'd not only have to fold the papers, but also put them in bags.
To be honest, I can't even remember how long I had this job! Definitely less than a year though.

Posted by Renae at 9:06 AM Comments