The adage featured for today’s FANDANGO’S FEBRUARY EXPRESSIONS is:
Jack of all trades, master of none
I realized some years ago that this adage describes my CV/resume. I have worked in so many different fields. I am going to try and give you an idea of all the different work I have been involved in for the past twenty years:
- legal secretary
- receptionist
- data entry clerk
- purchase ledger/accounts payable assistant
- credit control assistant
- sign language interpreter
- painter/decorator
- cook
- cleaner/housekeeper
- ironing and laundry
- gardener
- dog walker
- customer services in retail
- medical receptionist
- care assistant in palliative care / dementia / mental health
- proofreader/editor
- admin assistant
- dry cleaning counter assistant
- market research
- steward at large events (indoor arenas and sports stadiums)
- security guard
- first aider
- roof tiler
- insulation/plaster boarding
- labourer
- entertainer
- pharmacy assistant
- medical administrator
- chauffeur
- model
- tour guide
- waitress
- kitchen assistant
- childminder
- animal care (including horses, ponies, chickens, sheep, cows, cats, dogs, rabbits and stick insects)
- swimming pool maintenance
- carpet laying
- demolition
- party/events planner
- catering
- scaffolding installation
- stage installation
- trucking and installation at festivals and events
- purchasing (for charity projects)
- health and safety trainer / administrator
- menswear buying assistant
- sourcing administrator
- …and a whole load of one off roles on construction sites and at large events up and down the country!
Do I qualify as a JACK OF ALL TRADES??? I would not particularly call myself a master at any of these trades. Within health care and pharmacy I have had to train staff and compile training manuals, patient care records, and write reports on anything my boss asked me to. That is probably the area where I have the most training and qualifications.
I have a lot of experience in accounts. It comes very easy to me. But I managed to duck out of accounting courses, so I only have on the job experience of ten years.
I have had a lot of customer service roles, and that seems to be my strength. I must admit it is nice that I receive comments from so many customers and patients thanking me. When I arrived at work today, the first customer I served started shaking her head at me. She said “I cannot remember the last time I received customer service like that”. She told me I had done everything perfectly, and gone above and beyond in serving her. She said made her feel valued. That made me feel better, especially as I am so tired at the moment.
I LOVE VARIETY! I love all the different types of work I have been involved in. I love the friends I have made along the way. I have managed to avoid supervisor roles and manager roles for years, because I insisted on only part-time hours. My work for charities has always been more important to me. Paid work was only about earning my bread and butter.
I have been willing to try out anything new, and had so much fun. My favourite day of work was when we had to chase the sheep around a field, herd them into a pen and then one by one, turn them upside down onto their backs to trim their hooves.
My current job is fine. It is a fifteen minute walk from home. I love my colleagues. At the start of the year they asked if I might be able to help out extra while they recruited someone to replace a colleague that had left. I understood that would be for two or three weeks. So instead of working the 17 hours I am contracted for, for the past six weeks I have worked around 4o hours a week (on top of 20+ unpaid hours of work I do each week). I am tired now!
I am getting to the stage, where I am coming home too tired to go out to dinner with friends, too tired to cook, too tired to clean or do my ironing, too tired to do anything creative, too tired to answer my phone. I have had several occasions at work when I want to burst into tears and walk out. But after a conversation about the situation today, I fear they want me to work full-time and train to fill the role they are trying to recruit for. No way on earth do I want that! No way! Soooooooo….I have started to apply for other jobs. It feels great. There is a job advertised as two days a week, 8am-6pm for a business on the high street. I have done similar work. It would be a four minute walk from home!
The thing about applying for jobs is….you have to just keep applying and not get your hopes up. You never know who else might be applying for a job and whether they have more experience than you etc. By applying to all sorts of random job advertisements with the part-time hours I was looking for, I have been able to enjoy a varied and fascinating work life.
What does interest me is that some jobs required me to sit at a desk and stare at a computer for eight or nine hour days. Whereas many other jobs required me to stand or be on my feet for twelve hour shifts. When you think about the kind of job you have and whether it requires you to be sedentary or active for long periods, no wonder people end up with different fitness and stamina levels. Some jobs require you to work with people for many hours. I have been in jobs that were very emotionally demanding.
Anyway….I am changing the subject. I love being a JACK OF ALL TRADES, and I am pretty glad I am a MASTER OF NONE. I have been able to keep paid work in its place, a means to an end, a way of earning my bread and butter…and I have had a great time doing so!
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The adage featured for today’s FANDANGO’S FEBRUARY EXPRESSIONS is:
https://fivedotoh.com/2020/02/14/fandangos-february-expressions-14/
The other great love of my life (my romantic life) is in Australia. I have never sent him a card on 14th February. Although I have written plenty of love letters to him. But this year, I wrote him a book instead. I dedicated it to him (and my little apricot). A copy of the book is winging it’s way to Australia…although Amazon say it might be another month before it arrives!!!
What are the chances? Both of us with a day free, the weather absolutely glorious. Late spring – a trillion leaves glowing with life, still fresh, verdant, lush. The bluest of blue skies. Greens of all shades singing out in joy as they are bathed with golden sunshine. Blossoms and flowers of every conceivable hue of pink and purple.
Who would not enjoy a picnic in a conveniently isolated and idyllic location? The day could not have really failed to please. You picked a little pocket of paradise. But it was you who made it true paradise. Do you realize you just gave me the most perfect day of my life? A day I will long to repeat a thousand times. As your strong yet gentle hand clung to mine, waves of celebration burst into my heart. I would have skipped like the five year old me.
Finding the perfect spot dappled with shade near to the small pond. Six goslings, with adult geese watching over them, curious about our arrival. We laid your fleecy blanket down and I set out a picnic feast, probably enough to feed half of a rugby team. It was delightful to see you enjoying everything I had made. Being able to show love to you and seeing you enjoy my love is making life sweeter than I’ve ever known.
After we were both full, relaxing with the knowledge we had many blissful hours ahead. Feeling your embrace, the many times you squeezed me again as if to make sure I was truly in your arms. Your soft kisses on every part of my face. I’d be happy to be lost in your arms forever.
Bee, the creator of 
Caramel 