I was thinking about a job I had at the local newspaper a while ago today.

I don’t think I ever wrote about that story. The newspaper was advertising for staff again which is what got me thinking about it. It must be about 2 years ago now… I didn’t realise it was so long ago…

Anyway… the story…

I got an interview for a part time job with the North East’s biggest newspaper.

Great I thought… Until I got there.

For such a big newspaper the building was a bit of a dump. The entrance way and reception looked nice and upmarket, but the rest of the building…? A total dump!

Dark, dingey, peeling walls, torn carpet, the works.

The interview went well… Although I could have sworn that it was held in the broom cupboard!

I got a phonecall a couple of days later to say that I got the job, and that I was to start a week and a half later. So whilst I was a little worried about the state of the building, it was still a newspaper office, and the part time hours were ideal. The only down side was that I had to wear a suit, and as you may or may not know… I really hate wearing a suit!

So… Day one!

I get there, all done up like a walking manaquinn get taken up to the room I would be working in, and stood in the door with my mouth hanging open.

Yet another tiny room, only this one had 7 other people in it already. Not a good thing!

The morning was spent parading me around the various departments that I would be dealing with and generally showing me around the building. As fun as this was, I was a little concerned at the amount of time it was taking, since I had already been told several times how Wednessday was their busiest day and the past few weeks had been particularly busy.

After the tour it was back to the mini office to show me my desk, and then it was lunch time. All well and good, except that you weren’t allowed to eat your own food in the canteen, they didn’t want anyone eating at their desk, and there was nowhere else to go. Plus it was an hour lunch break, with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Wandering the streets for an hour whilst eating my sandwiches wasn’t much fun, and that was on a nice day, I really didn’t fancy doing that during the winter months.

When the hour was up, it was 1pm and back to the little room so I could be show the work I would be doing.

I sat, I learnt, I did… I also finished by 3pm, which was a little worrying, since the work I had done in two hours was supposed to take me 6 hours to complete, with the next step being done on the following day.

Now I like to keep busy, and the worst thing I can think of to have to do is spend hours at a time with nothing to do and having to try and look busy. What was even worse was that I was stuck in this little room with no interaction with the public having to pretend to be busy. Not only that but I would be required to scramble through grubby store cupboards in my good suit, because staff weren’t allowed to wear normal clothes.

The job was fast turning from the ideal position into my worst nightmare.

Even now I can’t understand why they needed as many staff as they had, never mind getting more staff in! Most of them were spending more time trying to make the work last than they were actually working.

Like I said, my worst nightmare!

Finally 5:30pm came around (just late enough to miss my bus and have to wait an hour for the next one) and I got to leave.

I was not looking forward to the next day, when I would have a full day for my 2 hours worth of work.

You can’t imagine how grateful I was to find that I was violently ill by the time I got home from the paint fumes of the renovation works they had just started and were due to go on for the next two years.

I got to quit for medical reasons after my first day.

*bounces*

I have never been so happy to have to quit a job in my life!

If I’d had to stay there more than a week, I think my mental capacity would have been reduced to the state of a cabbage!