'Behind the Scenes...'

I'm a very happy stay at home looking after my babies Mum, but while I was at uni and until I had my little cherubs, I worked in a kebab shop, as a waitress at a restaurant, as a musician for weddings, as a typist for hearing impaired people at a university, as a tutor, as a receptionist, and then as a teacher.

I kind of loved working in all of these jobs.  I really enjoyed working in random industries, seeing how things work behind the scenes!

The kebab shop was my first real part-time job.  I loved the Turkish family who owned the business, and the stories of them coming to Australia and started out selling a food nobody had ever heard of way back then.  I loved learning about their food, and even some of the language!  They made their own tzatziki (yoghurt/garlic) and hummus and tahini sauces in the back of the shop, as well as a bunch of the 'front window' food.  I loved learning how to make all the food, and call me crazy but I loved serving all the customers!  The ordering of stock, managing the hours for the staff, advertising, I found it all interesting to learn about and see happen.  I loved being behind the scenes!

Then was the waitressing job.  Behing behind the scenes in the kitchens, welcoming and serving patrons, learning how the cheese toast came and was cooked (haha - okay, know where I was working yet? :)), staff discounts, storage, refills - loved it all.  Loved working with difficult restaurant-goers to fix anything they're upset about and seeing them leave happy. I loved see the 'other side!'

Musician for weddings was fun, because you're working with people on the happiest day of their lives!  And may I just say that in my experience, 99% of people want to hear Pachabel's 'Canon in D' as they're coming down the aisle.  And you're working with the venue people and the sound people and the celebrants to make sure everything goes smoothly.  So much fun!

Typing was interesting - learning about the support systems available at universities, learning to communicate better with people who have hearing impairments, working with lecturers, that whole academic environment but as 'staff' while I was there as a student.  Interesting and such a fun job!  I also completed the lectures for 2 x human services degrees, 1 x business degree and 1 x nursing degree in addition to my teaching degree.  Impressed??? lol :)  I just wish I could have taken the exams - after typing every word I'm pretty sure I would've passed!

Tutor wasn't that enlightening in terms of learning 'behind the scenes' stuff - it's pretty much what you'd imagine it to be like, and I loved pretty much every second of it!

Receptionist, I loved.  See that quote I put up there? I think I was one of the rare girls who actually really wanted this job lol.  I thought it would be fun to dress up everyday in cute outfits and a hot little pair of heels and go into the city for work.  It was so much fun too - the receptionist sees everything that goes on, and deals with everyone in the business.  The business I was in was media, and I loved dealing with advertising executives who thought they were the most important people on the planet, actors coming in for auditions, kind of famous people coming in for shoots, as well as the friendly camera crews and all the people inbetween.  Fly on the wall extraordinaire - you'd be amazed at what people talk about in the reception area - I guess they all thought I was either mute, or ridiculously unimportant ;)  My boss was a perfectionist, which intimidated some people but if you've met Mum you know I grew up with one, so I was able to keep up with everything.  And I gotta say, the dressing up for work part never got old - loved it :)  I should say at this point that it was only a couple of days a week while I was at uni.  Full time airhead might have gotten boring - but as a break from study it was awesome! :)

And then there's teacher, and I've already written about things on the 'other side' of school - assignments, marking, all much bigger and harder on the other side than I ever could have known!!!

And now I guess I'm on the inside of the 'mum' business.  Where you find out that small children don't just walk out of their bedrooms every morning fully dressed with their hair nearly done, get themselves breakfast and take themselves off to school! - what an eye opener!! ;)

But this job is definitely the most fun of ALL - and I can dress up whenever I want!  :)

:)