The Great Borders Experiment...
Jan. 19th, 2005 06:46 pm...is coming to an end, a week from Sunday.
In some respects, I've liked the job -- it's fun to be around books, my co-workers are competent and generally enjoyable to be around, the customers are easier to work with than the average consumer. But, in the end, I need to focus on other, more career-path oriented things, like searching for a permanent job and volunteering with the types of organizations I might like to work for. And being a cashier didn't rock my world. I didn't hate it, but standing at a cash register for 8 hours a day was wearying. It wiped me out enough that, when I wasn't working, I just wanted to kick back and not deal with job-hunting. Also, it's difficult to work retail hours, especially weekends and holidays, when everyone else in your social circle works standard office job hours. T felt like we weren't getting any time together, and he was right. Never mind having any time to spend with friends. It wasn't fitting in with the rest of my life. If I'd loved the job, and if it had paid a living wage, making the lifestyle change might have been worth it, but as it is, it's not.
Still, it was a worthy experiment and I'm glad I tried it. I've always wondered if working in a bookstore would be a good backup job, and now I know the answer -- I can do the work, I like some things about it, and if I'm ever really stuck it's a good fallback. But it's not my future career, and it's good to know that.
In some respects, I've liked the job -- it's fun to be around books, my co-workers are competent and generally enjoyable to be around, the customers are easier to work with than the average consumer. But, in the end, I need to focus on other, more career-path oriented things, like searching for a permanent job and volunteering with the types of organizations I might like to work for. And being a cashier didn't rock my world. I didn't hate it, but standing at a cash register for 8 hours a day was wearying. It wiped me out enough that, when I wasn't working, I just wanted to kick back and not deal with job-hunting. Also, it's difficult to work retail hours, especially weekends and holidays, when everyone else in your social circle works standard office job hours. T felt like we weren't getting any time together, and he was right. Never mind having any time to spend with friends. It wasn't fitting in with the rest of my life. If I'd loved the job, and if it had paid a living wage, making the lifestyle change might have been worth it, but as it is, it's not.
Still, it was a worthy experiment and I'm glad I tried it. I've always wondered if working in a bookstore would be a good backup job, and now I know the answer -- I can do the work, I like some things about it, and if I'm ever really stuck it's a good fallback. But it's not my future career, and it's good to know that.
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