Matt's job log: 13
Matt Atkins is finally flying the parental nest. Moving experiences I arrived ten minutes late as usual but excited like a kid on the last day of term. I had £400 pounds cash stuffed in a grubby envelope and a further hundred in my back pocket just in case. The car was loaded with all my worldly possessions and I just wanted the day to be over. It wasn’t going to be so easy.
I was officially moving out, and we were gathered at our letting agents ready to read through paperwork we didn’t really understand and sign contracts we couldn’t quite grasp. After handing over my cash and lending the back-up money to a flatmate we were set. Or at least we should have been. Upon entering our new abode, we discovered it wasn’t quite finished. Now we could feasibly have decided to stay but with no toilet, no bed, no wardrobes and no bathroom floor, the experience didn’t seem like an exciting prospect. So, after moving in all the heavy stuff we returned home, tails between legs, with our essential items. For me though, the drama didn’t end there. In an amazing quirk of fate (read sibling rivalry) my sister was moving out on exactly the same day. So now my Saturday was spent in a bad mood helping someone else haul furniture into their new house. Awesome! To put the icing on the cake I spent the evening trawling around the temple to rampant commerce and ill-tempered children that is Ikea. I’ve had nightmares more pleasant. The following Sunday was almost as much fun. By nine o clock I was in yet another chain furniture store looking for items that weren’t actually for me. I’d been roped into picking up a sofa, and was now the only male capable of heaving heavy items around. Helpfully my Dad had fallen from a garden wall about an hour previously and was now sitting in A & E. I wouldn’t blame him for doing it on purpose. As my mom sat with the old man, I was now the only insured driver on the van we’d hired for the weekend. I started to think I’d rather be at work. It wasn’t all bad though. My sister's new flat is joined to a family home. As a result, there’s a massive trampoline in the back garden. I’ve been excited about this ever since I heard about it and was proud to discover that I can still do somersaults! Back at workAnyway, this is supposed to be a job-log and I do have some news on that front. My current job is still a nightmare of absenteeism (not on my part) and hard graft. I’ve complained to my management and my temping agency about the situation but nothing seems to be moving. The majority of the work at the moment seems to land on two people and unfortunately I’m one of them. It’s a damned poor excuse I know, but with all the stress of the past couple of weeks I’ve started smoking again. Not in a pack a day type way, it’s more a cheeky five minute break from work affair. It’s a bad idea I know, and one I’m trying to rectify. That’s not to say it’s without its benefits though. The smoking shelter has proved to be useful mine of information. Standing outside the other day with the rest of the social outcasts, I bumped into the boss of my temping agency. Apparently there’s a job going in my department which she thinks I should apply for. There’s more responsibility than the one I’m in now but also a hefty pay increase. I have to say, I’m tempted. From what I can gather the job’s a permanent position. I’m working full time at the moment and the benefits that a ‘proper job’ would bring are quite alluring. Obviously I’m still thinking seriously about the PhD, but I’ve always planned to work for a year or so beforehand to earn some much needed cash. I don’t know if I'm ready to give up on temping just yet though. I like the idea that if I’m unhappy in a job I can work my week's notice and find something new. It feels like too much of a commitment at the moment but fingers crossed I’ll soon be moved out and may need the extra cash to cover my rent. Well, maybe. Read Matt's previous job logs:
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