2020

2020 was a wild year for many, it started for me as many previous years did, with me working away in a hot kitchen. Now if you haven't worked in a kitchen, i'll give you a brief rundown on what this particular kitchen was like.

To tell you the truth I don't know why I even stayed as long as i did, it was obscenely hot, the pay sucked and there was always drama and fighting. The head chef constantly ditched work and his responsibilities which then became my problem. The people I was meant to be working with would not show up or even bother to call, most of the time this occurred in resulted in me being super busy and having to work like a freak and putting me in a horrible mood.

This built tension and began to create fights and arguments, everyone was constantly at each other and it was honestly a living nightmare with a few glimmers of hope mixed in.

Despite all this hate and fighting, we all enjoyed being there in some twisted way. Maybe when you get a bunch of misfits and put them together it just works somehow. We were all vile, the stuff we would say about each other and our loved ones, customers and other staff. We drank, we swore, we had physical fights but that is why we were there. No one cared, this was normal and this was why we did it.

After just shy of two years, it was time to leave. Covid had hit. It was the end of march and the business had closed. There was not a lot of information and no one really knew what the road ahead looked like. We were in limbo, sitting, waiting, wishing. I knew one thing, I still had bills and needed money.

I was lucky in the sense I had saved just enough money to survive three to four weeks with no income. Two weeks had gone by and I was in great spirits. I was sunbaking at home, gaming, reading and gardening. Doing all the things I loved to do but didn't have time previously working twelve hour days.

I received a call from my mother, she informed me that she had landed a job, a great job at that. To say I was upset was an understatement, I could feel the emotions swirling in my stomach. This lady that hadn't worked in years, never showed any intent to work even, had just landed an amazing job despite not being impacted by covid at all. Unlike myself that had seen my weekly income go from around seven hundred dollars to zero. Zero dollars coming in and hundreds still going out, I had applied to dozens of jobs but so had the rest of the masses of people out of work because of covid.

Two days later I received another call, once again it's my mother. I let it ring as I sit there staring blankly at the screen with no intention of answering. Eventually after what felt like an eternity, the ringing stops. Good I thought, only to be interrupted mid thought by another call. I decide to answer as I knew all too well she would continue to ring until I answered.

"Hi its me, how are you? So I went to work at my new job and its great I love it so much!" Congratulations to you, I think to myself sarcastically, not wanting to hear about it. "The problem is, my knees are too sore and I am unable to do the job, which really sucks, I am going to have to quit".

"Your going to quit after one day?" I say to her, while once again thinking to myself, your crazy, quitting such an amazing job at a time like this! Hundreds would kill for this opportunity, myself included.

Turns out for what felt like the first time in my life, luck was on my side and I didn't have to kill for this opportunity. " I spoke to the boss and they asked if you would like the job". Wow I think to myself, one hundred thoughts race through my mind, who are these people, can I do the job, will the like me, will I fit in, what about my sunbaking routine? My stomach is turning with anxiety and fear of the unknown, but given the circumstances I have to put that aside. "Of course I do!" I replied enthusiastically. "Please pass on my details".

So, I get the job. It's Easter weekend, everyone is happy and enjoying there Easter. Not me though, uncontrollable anxiety and fear has set in at this point but I arrive for my first day. This is not like anything I have done, I have worked in hospitality for most of my life with a brief stint in signage. Now, suddenly I am an employee for a government medical research facility. I am in way over my head here, I don't know anything about this field at all.