Jobs #1

I recently received an initial contact regarding potential jury duty. One of the questions was my employment status (retired) and the next was what was my job in my working life.

Wow.

Did they mean the last job I had? The longest? Qualifications? 

I settled for the career in which I have a degree even though I haven't worked in it for years - nursing. My nursing background did lead to future jobs so I figure it is the most accurate. 

It got me thinking about my working life.

My first job was working on Saturday mornings (shops shut at midday) and school holidays in a lingerie shop while I was still at school. I remember a bloke coming in during the Christmas rush and asking for a red lace nightie. I replied "Certainly, Sir. Is it for you or someone else?" This was the mid'70s and I was barely 16. In my defence, at Christmas we asked everyone if the purchase was for themselves or a gift. 

During my final year of high school I worked on Saturday afternoons in a milk bar. That was fun. I learned to make milkshakes and part of my pay was a milkshake of my choice. I remember the little kids coming in with their sticky hands holding their precious coins and painstakingly choosing their 20 cents worth of mixed lollies. When you could get 2 for a cent it would take a long time to choose. 

Who remembers these ...

The plan was for me to start nursing training when I finished school but I was too young even having completed the highest year of secondary school. A local chemist employed girls waiting to start nursing training. I applied for the job and got it. And then decided I could no longer live at home so moved out with a school friend - at the ripe old age of just 17.

The chemist was not the easiest of bosses (I once overheard him boasting to a colleague about how he saved money as he only employed the girls for 12 months so they were considered casual and he didn't have to pay certain entitlements), and his wife was a piece of work so I quit - with no job to go to and rent to pay but this was the 70s, I was 17 and life had way of working out. 

I applied for a typist role at Lifeline even though I had never learned to type. The woman that interviewed me must have seen something as she fudged my typing speed, told me to put my age up to 18 (better pay) and employed me. I still remember that woman fondly. Miss Cath Lawler.

Part of the role was to relieve the receptionist so I had to learn how to use the small switchboard. After I had been there for a few weeks the receptionist moved into another position and I was made receptionist - which probably pleased the poor sods who had to put up with my atrocious typing and inability to format a letter. Miss Lawler came to my rescue and gave me a quick crash course in the basics. 

One Monday I came into work to find the old small switchboard had been replaced by a fancy new plug and cord switchboard. I was told someone would come in that afternoon to train me but meanwhile the thing was lit up like a Christmas tree with incoming calls and people wanting to make outgoing calls. I taught myself how to operate the damn thing very quickly using a badly written manual - no youtube back then!

Apart from being a phone crisis service, Lifeline also offered face to face counselling and some basic welfare help. It was run by the Wesley Central Mission who did a lot of really good outreach work. As the first person seen when walking through the door I saw and met some very interesting characters. Again, my youthful naivety probably sheltered me from a lot of what I actually saw but didn't really understand. I do, however, remember one very sad case where I was looking after a young child (maybe two years old) while her mother was with a social worker. The kid had terrible nappy rash and was obviously hungry. When mum came out to take her home the child hid under my desk and didn't want to go with her. I often wondered what happened. I can only hope that the social worker's involvement made things better for mum and daughter. I also had the presence of mind when asked by a rather strange gentleman where I lived to answer with a suburb on the opposite side of town - just in case he followed me to the train station.

God things were so different back then.

After a few months on the front desk I became secretary to the Training Officer. Another amazing woman so ahead of her time. Ms Bonnie Bates. She was in charge of selecting and training the volunteer phone operators and providing ongoing training and support. Part of my job was to do the initial screening of applications. Again, some very interesting people out there! It was a great job and I loved putting together the training sessions and finding images, music and poetry to match the topics. 

It was around this time my somewhat precarious mental health started to become evident. After having a bit of a breakdown whilst walking to the station and racing back to work/safety, the director suggested I might benefit from some help myself. He referred me to another organisation which helped me immensely and was where I met Himself.

But that is a story for another day. 

As is part 2 of my employment history.