Workplace challenges

Today I'm writing because my friend, Narelle, told me she didn't like finding her own eye staring back at her every time she visited my blog. Haha. So here is a new post!

The main thing that has been happening lately is work.
But I'm not saying this is dull. In fact, it's been hectic and challenging. I'm learning new things, which I love!

Our editor, Mal, finished up with us last week and has gone on to lead a life of nomad travels.
Meanwhile, the Mail is left with an editorial team of TWO people. One being a cadet. Me.
Last week, I thought it was brilliant being able to take half a day off for my 22nd birthday, and then being sent to Bunbury for a day course on 'Breaking News'.
But combine that with the fact that I'm now in charge of sport - yes, sport; I can spell it, at the very least - and I'm expected to take on a lot more responsibility with general stories and laying out pages.

So basically, I was very behind on work, and had to do most of my entertainment stories on the weekend to catch up.
On Monday, I felt like I took eternity to wrap my head around which sport photos belonged with which stories, because they all arrive in bits and pieces through email.
On Tuesday, deadline day, I was carefully laying out the sport in QuarkXpress - tongue out in concentration - and then finally finished to find that Janine had sent almost all the pages off to be printed already!
She does so much work it isn't funny.
So I hope to climb up in my level of efficiency and feel as though I'm helpful. :)

xZ

When you're sick but have to dress up

I came down with a cold on Tuesday and it's swept me up in rapid and annoying stages:
a razor-blade sore throat, raspy voice, onslaught of mucus, and a constant stuffy/runny nose.
I feel good about the whole fast stages though, because as intense as they've been, the quicker they come, the faster they'll go, right!?

Anyway.

I had a movie premiere planned in my work diary for weeks - it was tonight.
So at 4pm my editor said, "Do you want to go home early and get ready?"
I was like ahhhhh no. Dressing up, putting on make-up, shaving my legs.... falls at the bottom of my 'things I'd most like to do' list!
But I had to do it anyway, trying not to look at my pajamas or bed/wish I could be in them.

My job at the premiere was quick and fun :) I couldn't hear people very well with my blocked nose/head but that was okay, I could tell they were all saying nice things to me haha!
I met some producers/actors that I didn't really know until I got home and Googled them a little out of curiosity.
A cute guy that was trying to talk to me turned out to be the actor in Lockie Leonard, Puberty Blues and CloudStreet, by the name of Sean Keenan.

I literally stayed just half an hour, then came home and got in my jim jams. Ahhhh yes.

Have you ever had to get dressed up when you really didn't want to? 

Ps. Don't ask me why I decided to blow my photos up x139409 times bigger on a day when I'm sick and run down, but I felt like it. You can't tell how much I'm sniffling and coughing in between :D.


Dress - Modcloth / Boots - Rivers

A little tale of morals

Image source: Twin Reality

Today at work, I made my first mistake on the till. 

A woman was placing her order for lunch, and I couldn't remember whether or not I had already charged her for a latté in amongst the other items. I shrugged and hoped I hadn't while pressing the latté button.

Our till is an old fashioned model and unfortunately hard to check up on. A small receipt prints out each time, but the words are still nestled inside the machine until the next person comes along and orders... then the previous order gets pushed up and becomes part of this huge long line of paper that we let snake its way down to the floor.

When the next person stepped forward and ordered, I saw the previous lady's order come up - 'latte, curry, toastie, latte'. Damn. I finished the current order and pondered what to do.

You see, I knew it was only $3.80, and not a huge deal. 

But I wanted to fix it. Preferably without telling anybody else so they wouldn't know I stuffed up. The woman had told me she was planning to come up and order dessert later on, so I grabbed a copy of the handwritten [yes, we do that too :P] order for her table and stashed it in my apron pocket.

While waiting, I worried about the possibility of the woman deciding to skip dessert and go home. Then I worried about her coming up to the counter and watching me stumble my way through some dramatic refund process on the till. I had no clue how to even start with that.

Eventually I said to myself, 'You know what? Who cares what I have to do - these people will appreciate not being ripped off, and my managers would prefer to have happy, trusting customers.' I swallowed my pride and approached Sarah for advice. 

It turned out being really easy. Sarah suggested I grab the lady and she'd show me how to do a refund on the till, but I had another plan in my head which involved doing some deductions when the dessert order was placed. 

The woman's husband actually came to order, and when I explained that I'd accidently overcharged his wife and wanted to make up for it, he was stunned.

"Oh, no, that's no problem at all - thank you for telling me!," he said

"That's okay, I had to fix my mistake!" I replied.

I just left the pot of tea he'd ordered for dessert off the bill, and it was all sorted.

He went on to say that I could've easily kept it to myself but it was really honest to own up over such a little amount.

And I heard it two more times after that, even when the family got up to leave twenty minutes later and I was clearing their plates.

"Thanks for coming in!" I called after them.

"Thank you again for telling the truth about the change," the guy smiled back.

And I felt happy that I hadn't put my desire to seem like the greatest worker at this workplace in front of my morals that had been with me for a lifetime. 

xZ

Just a quick snap

Me in mah work uniform.

Yesterday was a good day, despite being pretty non-eventful. 

A forty-something-year-old man did fall over, and I felt bad but I was amused by this, because it was just a clumsy mistake of forgetting the step whilst he spoke to his wife, and you could tell that he was very embarrassed when he got up. He was perfectly alright though, I made sure of it. :]

Other than that, I just ran about with plenty servings of scones, and learnt where all the light switches were! Haha. 

After work, Mum and I went to collect some DVDs from town, and discovered a flurry of people and market stalls up and down the main street, with all the shops still open! We walked along, and wanted to check if one of our favourite stores had a sale price on a beautiful birdcage Mum likes, and who should we come across inside but my manager & one of the employees offering free samples of liqueurs and ports?! I thought the raspberry port was amazing, but you should try boysenberry! Mmmm. It was nice to introduce my Mum to my workmates. 

Well that's a short summary of my Friday.

I'll also tell you that I watched 'Midnight in Paris' with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams and it was a slightly dull film but I really enjoyed the 1920's scenes! 

Hope you enjoy your whole weekend! 

xZ

She's a part of the assembly line

On my first day working as a waitress at my new job*, my manager - a funny, easygoing, potty-mouthed man - showed me around the winery and suddenly said, "Hey! Do you want to do some bottling on Wednesday??!". 

I of course, didn't know what this meant at all but nodded excitedly and said "Sure thing!". 

And so I rocked up at 8am this morning and got going in a production line - to bottle over 2000 bottles of Sparkling Nashi Pear wine!

It was fantastic. Really, to explain it to you guys, I'd tell you to just imagine me doing rocket science. =] Yeahhh like that. Mainly I picked up corks and thumbed them through a big tube, while watching the bottles to make sure nothing went wrong, and put the wire caps on top when they came along past me. 

This is all operating on a nifty looking piece of machinery, by the way. It was a small team that we worked in - just my manager, a friendly bloke called Sam, and I. Once the bottles had passed by me, they went on to Sam who picked them from the machine line and put them in another thing which quickly twisted the caps tight. He stacked them in a 'honeycomb' pattern in huge crates.

It all went at a leisurely pace at first, but when Sam's machine started stuffing up and munting all the caps so they had to be replaced, things got hectic. Bottles were piling up on our working bench left, right, and centre. I kept leaning over to take some off the machine line so they wouldn't stack up to a dangerous level around Sam, but still, we were swamped. We had to tell my manager to slow the pace. Instead he came over and fixed the cause of our woe (ie. the temperamental machine) .. after numerous attempts.

After that, we soon hit success and finished our goal of 2000+ bottles (including some freebies for staff, yay!).

It only took us six hours.

Anyway I decided to draw you a simplified model of what we looked like, here it is:

The best part about the whole day is that we were quite simply looked after like royalty. Although, yes technically we worked like slaves.

But the minute we got started, we were brought deliciously hot coffee. Then warm ham and cheese turkish bread toasties. Then scone-like bikkies with sprinkles on them.

When it came to lunchtime, Sam and I both politely declined because we were STUFFED!

So we had a late lunch instead, feasting on what is easily one of the best tasting curries I've ever had.

Anyway I wanted to just share with you what a fun time I had discovering a completely new task, and a very generous workplace. 

If you're interested in doing such work, just approach your local winery and ask them when they start their bottling production. Let them know you're interested in being hired to help. They can probably just hire you for the occasion alone.

Sweet daydreams,

xZ

*A clue-in for newcomers: I'm a waitress at The Berry Farm, which does all its own amazing jams and fruity wines, as well as morning tea and lunches everyday. Gorgeous property, funny and laid-back managers and staff. My very first day was last Saturday. =]

Today

Today's outfit makes me happy because it teams mustard, blue and tan together, which happens to be one of my favourite colour palettes at the moment. Actually, I can't wait to show you my Mum's painting after she finishes it on Wednesday - it's of the Willunga Hills, SA, and she's used colours similar to my outfit!
I dressed in this and went to drop off my resumé at the Voyager Estate winery which is a short drive away. This is the third job I've tried to apply for since moving to Margaret River, so hoping I get some positive results from this one... :)

Oh, before I left the house I wanted to give the chickens some socialising. I chose to show one chicken the new home that they can anticipate. Tom started building it the other day - a mini shed with luxury perches and a series of cut-out "doors" for exit into the wild and for us to collect their eggs through!

Hope your week has started off well,
xZ