Work, studies, life
Everyone gets excited about something at certain points in their life. Recently, I feel excited about work. Not the kind where we hide inside the kitchen feeling like a loser, or the kind that makes u exhausted with absolutely no sense of achievement AT ALL. I’m talking about REAL work, where u get to know great people and get to do (more) meaningful things. It doesn’t even matter how I have to get down and dirty; or that I have to start thinking everyday how to put on a good show for the boss; or that I have to work for over 8 hours and have to catch a cab home every night. This REAL work makes you look forward to a brighter future, because I’ve learnt things here that not many in uni (especially UQ) get to learn. Why do basic things like serving 3 plates at once, setting the table or even dealing with hotel guests not be taught in a tourism degree program? one might argue that what we want to learn in a tourism degree is the theoretical and managerial stuff, so that when we enter the workforce, we know how to run the place. But how in the world does a manager “run” the place without first knowing how the operational side of things work??
That is why I am thankful for the job I got; thankful for earning the trust of the managers and colleagues; thankful for the free beer (or two) after knocking off at 3am in the morning; thankful for all the tough work that I was able to finish off with Matt without feeling like a weakling; thankful for the offer from Matt to give me a ride home after work; thankful for the small chat with Emma (the insider) during “smoke” break; thankful for my resilience to pick things up quickly; thankful for a job that pays better than I expected; thankful for the chance to get a massive head-start ahead of my peers; thankful for being Trent for a day; thankful for that handshake with Garth that probably meant a certain amount of respect and trust that I earned from him; thankful for having no time to study so that ironically I will actually get down to studying; and thankful for knowing that I have every potential to be better than anyone. I feel STRONG even though I worked past exhaustion last night. I know now, for certain, that this is not my limit. I can push to be better than everyone else and that day will come sooner rather than later. Good luck to me.
(P.S.): Names that I can remember so far: Garth, Saleem, Jessica, Emma, Kristee, Matt, Genie, Colleen, Meagan and Pippin. That’s it! Shit!
