What I learned from Odd Jobs
Each month Robert Hruzek sets a topic for a group writing project in the theme of “What I Learned From” and this month it is WILF Odd Jobs.
I thought about it and all of my jobs have been pretty mainstream. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.
Then I remembered my time as a postman ( or woman ) or as is commonly known here in these parts a “postie”.
I have never worked for a Post Office though. But I did work for one of the major banks in the UK ( and now the whole world!) and, as the junior member of the team, it was my responsibility to deliver bank statements by hand. Now this was not a personalised service to make the customer feel good as in – “Here is your bank statement Mr Blah and thank you so much for being a customer of our esteemed bank”. No – this was a money saving exercise!
The area in the city where the bank branch was situated was surrounded by what are called tenements – blocks of flats ( apartments ) with a shared door entry ( known as “stairs”) and on each landing 3 or 4 flats. Some of these were built as far back as the late 1800s and some were more modern but not by much.
Some of the maintenance of the stairs was wonderful – clean, well maintained steps – and others were not! I seemed to have to deliver to a fair proportion of customers in the latter properties.
Add to this that everyone seemed to live on the top floor and I am sure you can get a picture of how much I enjoyed this aspect of my job.
But I was the junior and in those days even the older employees did what they were told! So each week , on delivery day, I would gather up the envelopes, which I had stuffed myself with the statements which were sent from HQ, and set off. Depending on the weather there could be an upside – like a walk round the gardens on the way back on a sunny day .
I learned to just grit my teeth and get on with it. Someday a new member of staff would join and it would become their job.
After a series of “mishaps” though things had to change.
I mentioned the maintenance – or lack of it – and on one occasion I stumbled on a worn step twisting my ankle. Some stairs were filthy and smelly – goodness knows what the properties behind the doors were like! Another time a huge heavy entrance door decided to snap shut on my hand – more bruising. Then there was the creepy guy who came out of his flat onto the landing and watched me go upstairs and all the way back down ( I “lost” the statement for that customer in the next round – no way I was going back there). The final straw was when a huge dog grabbed the statement as soon as I put it through the letterbox coming dangerously close to taking my fingers with it.
I want to be clear here. I liked the manager and the team I was working with. They were good people. But when I raised the issue of my safety ( oh how the laws on employee health and safety have changed over the years) I was met with silence. There was no clarity on who would be responsible for me outside the branch on bank business. I decided that enough was enough and told the manager so.
And that was it. No I wasn’t fired ( though I am sure it must have crossed his mind. He had had a quiet life til I turned up on his staff). I was never asked to deliver statements again. And neither was the new junior who joined a couple of months later.
I moved on from that job after 9 months. I learned lots while I was there but the main lesson to me was that if I believed something was wrong/unfair I should say something about it . I have done so since though not always with the same result . Something else I have learned is that I am not always right !!!
Apr 12, 2008
Jackie, a wonderful post to show all you learned delivering messages to these tenement homes. I believe I see in your wonderful spirit a deep sense of social justice that may very well have had its roots here. Thoughts?
Apr 13, 2008
Thank you for your comment, Robyn. Your question has truly made me think and I will follow this up with separate post on the topic.
Apr 14, 2008
Yikes, Jackie; I think the dog would have done it for me! How things have changed, eh?
I worked for a local post office myself for a short while. Thanks for the memory jog – now I’ll have to write about it for sure!
Apr 14, 2008
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Apr 14, 2008
[...] What I Learned From Odd Jobs, by Jackie Cameron at Jackie Cameron [...]
Apr 14, 2008
Bob – is there no end to your talents? Thanks for giving us such a great WILF topic this time round.
Apr 14, 2008
I’ll be curious to see that follow-up post about how this experience changed your views on social justice.
Apr 14, 2008
I am thinking about it, Mark and was chatting with a long time friend about it today. I will post in the next couple of days.
Thanks for coming by my blog. I am looking forward to reading all of this months entries on yours and Bob’s sites.
Apr 15, 2008
lots of great stories this time jackie – yours reminds me of one i had just after my divorce – a filing job for a crazy pediatrician – it took me no time at all to destroy the entire system they had by filing all the p’s and d’s incorrectly along with the b’s and the q’s – i have never seen so many files in my life.
Apr 16, 2008
Well ME – I think sometimes systems need to be “reworked” – you don’t say whether your efforts were for better or worse though. And I suppose that really depends on whose point of view you are looking at it from
Thanks for coming by
Jackie
Apr 16, 2008
[...] What I Learned from Odd Jobs by Jackie Cameron who wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself when the bank asked her to do something that was dangerous. [...]
Apr 22, 2008
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