It's the end of the job as we know it....

Finally, the graft part of my grand plan to go to Canada is over. I think that, as it's a report on my job, I should present it vaguely as a job report.

PS' Temporary employment: Reflection

Introduction
It soon became apparent that if I was to be going to Canada, something I had already paid a fair amount for, I would need some money. Every attempt to genetically breed cash with a tree failed and I'm not really hard enough to get away with stealing lunch money so I decided I would need to find an alternative method. In short, money was needed.

Possible methods
The first and most obvious possibility was to use my finely honed guitar playing ability to busk on the street. Based on my own experience with buskers, I would need to play everyone's favourite songs to get any money out of them whatsoever. There's quite a diverse mixture of taste out there so I would probably combine two, three or four songs together at once to maximise revenue. Assuming this is effective, I can then earn about two pounds per hour played. Another approach is to streamline activities by expansion of the business. I can buy tape players and play people's favourite songs at the same time while I'm bsuking. Hopefully some of my audience will be big fans of a cacophony. I'd have fun have playing though.

The second possibility is to scrounge. Everyone is a potential victim for this. It involves me becoming the tightest man on the Earth. Whilst I have tried this before, i think it might be difficult to actually make a profit out of this. It may need to be combined with some sort of money making. One option is to scrounge money by walking the streets looking for money on the floor. Think how many nuggets and notes must be lost by foolish drunks.

The third possibility is to get a job. I'll go in every day and give 110% and become a genuine asset to the team. The team leader will be delighted by my effect on the team and will showcase excellent quarterly results that were contributed, largely, by my tremendous efforts. Whilst at work, I will also become the most popular bloke in the team, leading the 5-a-side team to the London Surveyors' title and start sleeping with the Managing Director's daughter. With his consent. Maybe his wife too (on separate occasions of course). At the same time, I will only need to work 10 til 4 each day but continuous pay rises will ensure I won't need to work again for the rest of my life.

The fourth possibility
Amazingly, there turned out to be a fourth possibility which seemed slightly worse than all three others in some respect. This stemmed from me ambitiously applying for a bunch of jobs and not getting any. It quickly dawned on me that I don't have time to be messing around doing this becaues of the time constraint so I ended up blanket applying. Most likely this wouldn't involve the MD's daughter but I could probably cope with that as long as the wife was involved somewhere along the line.

Job Summary - What I was told to expect
Apparently, this was quite a taxing job and it was only suitable for bright candidates who could quickly grasp new concepts. I figured that, since I managed to learn enough VBA for a strong 1st in my final year, I must fit that. I should have been suspicious when my agency told me the interview would be 'just to meet you and see what you were like' whilst my agent was checking out the barmaid. I was told I would be involved in work in progress and subsequent reconcilliations for between one and two months. It was expected to be hard work with long hours and some weekends. This was inkeeping with the long hours I needed to work to make the travle worthwhile.

Job Summary - Actual
The first two weeks involved three of us scrolling through tiny little numbers checking them against other figures. Needless to say, we picked up this concept quite quickly. Frequently, there wold be little or no point in us doing this. Next came the interesting part. I had to manipulate the information to sort by departments and then ring round the whole company to try and get the information we required. Following that, there was a spell where I was chasing about three people for the same information. Following that, a long spell of nothing with the odd job to do each week.

Positives

1. I got paid a pretty decent amount for doing between 45 and 50 hours per week
2. Without even needing to lie on my CV, I have about 18 months of accounting experience in spite of the fact I've pretty much not done any real accounting in it.
3. For about 3 weeks, it was fulfilling and enjoyable.
4. I know a lot more about Central London now
5. My parents seem to be impressed with my dilligence even though I point out I never do work. Should ride with it i guess.
6. I haven't been sitting on my ass and spending money
7. I've managed to write so many more of these points than I thought I could have done. Excellent

Negatives

1. The boredom. Restricted Internet access and no work whatsoever means that you get so bored. I guess this log is testament to that.
2. The mornings. Most days I've got in at 8. This means leaving at 6:56 each morning. After a while, this gets tedious and annoying.
3. The job that slowly kills you. As sung by Radiohead in No Surprises, the indomitable fatigue of working long hours for a period of time has caught up with me. It's hard to explain but it's almost as though work becomes central and everything else incidental.
4. Midweek social life. Gone. Get home between half 8 and half nine. Good luck finding time to go out.
5. Pretty average reference. I may have been here for 4 months but as the Director if finance and financial controller will be gone soon, who'll give me a reference when my potential future employers come ringing. This is linked to...
6. Sat in this pissing cubicle. I used to have my own desk and was starting to chat more and more with people in the office. Then some wanker decides he needs to have his desk free all the time even though he's off in Europe most of the time and I get pushed out to the 'library'. Great for sitting here doing nothing but absolutely rubbish for making pals in the office. As a result, I wasn't even planning on sending an e-mail inviting people for drinks because most of them aren't even sure if I'm still working here. Rubbish supervising to let your 'team' get moved away from everyone.
7. For someone who thinks that life is what you make of it, you could look on the four months as a waste of life. You only get a certain amount of life to live and to spend a third of a year by and large sat in an office working every hour under the sun, well, looks like wasted life.
8. Black bogeys. Every day. I guess London has to have some drawbacks.

Summary

Got paid and enjoyed working in London but there was plenty to resent about treatment in the job I suppose. They tried but weren't the best employers. I haven't even had a telephone for a month now.

Conclusion

Difficult one to write but I honestly think my attitude towards the job has changed in the course of me writing this and has boosted my optimism for Canada. Ok, there was plenty that has annoyed me about the job recently but using a business perspective, the only way to interpret outcomes is to relate them to targets and then factor in circumstances. Without any factoring, I've managed to work a month more than I had targeted. If there's any way I can afford this trip then this is the only way. I also may have targeted more money but by working more hours, I made up this shortfall and reduced the amount of time I would have had to spend it.

I've worked the time, I've earnt the money and I feel I've acted as a model employee, only taking liberties after they have been presented as the only thing to do short of actually stopping completely. Working in London has been a good laugh: I've met up with plenty of people because of working in London and been to plenty of places I never would have otherwise, not to mention getting a very familiar knowledge of central London.

I've shown a resilience in working here and a stubbornness of character to motivate myself to come here at 6 in the morning knowing full well it would be boring but I've always managed to keep an eye on the bigger picture and recognised that it all contributes to Canada. The only aspect I need to fulfil now, one that should be much easier, is to ensure I enjoy Canada as fully as possible and the year from June to June will have been one of the best of my life.