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The Days In My Job Are Far More Than Tolerable

By Mike Singleton - MikeydredPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 3 min read
21
Hard Workin' Man

In my current job I am a very small cog in the system , but small cogs make a difference if they do not work.

I provide support to the finance department and we are constantly having to extend our remit of what we do , regulating organisations to benefit everyone in our nation. I don’t want to say who I work for , my friends obviously do, but I started here about six years ago after finishing with a job based forty miles away.

An initial benefit was that I gained two hours a day from my travelling , that is forty hours a month. If someone gave you a work week back you would grab their hand and take it.

The next thing was that I could actually walk to work , listen to music on the way , keep reasonably fit, and see places I’d never seen.

Initially I was taken on to administer systems , but realised this would not keep me occupied , so I took on new tasks, taught myself new skills and, in my opinion, became an integral part of the team. If something goes wrong , or there is something that “can’t be done” I am often asked to pick it up.

When COVID hit we were on a day trial to work from home. I wasn’t too happy about it, but eventually settled into it and we did it so well that most of us became home workers.

Working from home allows us to be able to easily communicate with other team members , because they aren’t sitting wearing headphones so you have to tap them to see if they are available.

Talking contributes to well being , and we may talk work or socially but it all adds to the feeling of wellbeing. The company have lots of wellbeing initiatives and if you have problems there are people or groups you can talk to whether it be mental health , personal or work issues. There is always someone there.

I have recently had to spend a lot of time visiting hospital and everyone has been hugely supportive. If I need time off I get it, no need to work it back, although they do get it back, because I don’t mind putting in extra effort when it is needed.

I'm trying to do this without mentioning my employer , but we protect the interests of many vulnerable groups from potential rogues and charlatans , of which there are many.

Every Friday we have a get together discussing issues , talking and enjoying company. Things like this are very good and beneficial for personal mental health.

Although I have been with them for six years I am still happy logging on every morning. I remember when I worked for Littlewoods in Liverpool , I lived in Southport and on the train journey you wen through an ever deteriorating landscape before going underground into the rail tunnel and then to the final stop before work. That was soul destroying.

There is none of that where I am now. We have an hour meeting free break between twelve and one although that is very fluid , but nobody asks anyone to do anything between those hours.

It is a great environment to actually work in , and working from home has the added benefit that I can listen to any music at any volume that I want as I work. A benefit is that I rediscover music and often listen to Radio 6 to discover new music.

I wasn't able to do that in the office , although I could have listened on headphones but I believe that is rude to your co-workers because it cuts you off from them. I like to be able to speak to them when they are free and with our current software that is very easy to do,

So I am going to choose “Hard Working Man” by Captain Beefheart from Paul Schrader's 1976 film “Blue Collar” because I love Don Van Vliet and the rhythm was provided by a car body press.

As an aside Rhythm is one of the few words that has no vowels , although “y” is considered a semi vowel.

So that is why I actually like my job.

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About the Creator

Mike Singleton - Mikeydred

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