Well, I’ve been working for two months now, which is why, once again, I haven’t updated this as promised. I spend so much time getting to work, am so so ridiculously busy during the day, then spend a stack of time getting home, that by the time I do have the opportunity to sit down and write, it’s the last thing I feel like doing ...
So, how is the job I hear you ask? Well, so far, it’s pretty...I want to say “cool” here but I am trying to re-train myself and as “cool” is not really considered to be a suitable word in my new work environment, let’s go with...Interesting? Challenging? Eye Opening? Daunting? Exciting? All of the above...
I mean, apart from the fact that I walk through corridors and hallways and basements and galleries lined with the likes of Picasso, Monet, Rembrant, Modigliani, Andy Warhol all on my way to my office each morning, it has certainly been a great learning experience. Not so much from a technical, actual job point of view but certainly when it comes to relating to people and certainly when you look at it from a cultural perspective. I mean, if I was ever going to work in a job that epitomised “London” then this is it and for that I am so grateful. It really is an amazing opportunity and as much as I am still a little overwhelmed about the environment, I am finding that each day, as I meet more people, all of whom so far (despite the occasional quirky idiosyncrasy) are normal people, I am becoming less apprehensive.
I certainly wasn’t confident that this would be the case after my first day though...
After introducing myself to the doorman and being taken on a small tour around the beautiful building which is smack bang in the middle of palaces and designer shops and galleries in Mayfair, I then headed to an induction with about 12 other staff, all of which had been working there for a few months already, therefore making me the newest of the bunch and therefore accentuating the fact that I was totally and utterly clueless.
It all seemed quite straight forward to begin with, and everyone was quite lovely, so there I am thinking, yeah, I'm not out of my depth, I can do this, sweet, no worries mate, that was until the lady running our induction programme decided to whip out the ole "go around the table and introduce yourself" game...no, no hang on, “introduce yourselves to the person next to you, sharing what you did before and an interesting fact about yourself and then THEY will introduce you to the rest of the group” game...Okay, that seems easy enough I thought, but you see the thing is, once the public introductions start...”This is Charles, he is from France, he is 26 years of age and before this job he was a Professor in Impressionist and Modern Art, at the museum of...” ......”This is Mark, he recently won a National Polo Championship and speaks 5 languages, before this job he was studying at Oxford, where he recently completed his Masters in Law”....and so on and so forth, you then realise that you cannot take back what you have already told the person next to you and you slowly but surely sink further and further into your seat until “This is Lindsay, she used to work at the factory that makes Weet Bix and she lives near the beach where Home and Away is filmed” ...WOW...and there it is! Are they crickets I hear? And at that moment I feel more ridiculous than a Salvador Dali...
But as time has gone on there, and as I have settled more into my job and the environment, you know the funny thing is , as important as education and working hard is, and as amazing as it is to be surrounded by very well to do people, to be surrounded by so much history and class and culture, it makes me appreciate all the more, the fact that I am Australian, that I grew up the way I did, in the culture I did.. I love that I'm a Weet Bix kid and you know, I think secretly, everyone at work who knows where I'm from, would love to say that they grew up near where Home & Away is filmed too.
