I am not suggesting that I am a northener covered in soot working to bring a loaf of hovis up a cobbled hill with five kids all wanting their bread and dripping, and a wife who wants a new pair of stockings, but I am working hard. Today was my first day off in two whole weeks. Admittedly I haven't worked for 4 and a half months prior to that but I said I would work when I got to Sydney and true to my word I am doing that. The call centre telemarketing job has been a bit of a rollercoaster, at times I want to glass a supervisor and other times I am bored. In fairness it isn't a bad job. All you do is sit at a desk and dial numbers, if you get through to someone you give them the pitch if they don't hang up or abuse you (or sound like they are going to die) then you ask them some questions. It isn't exactly rocket science. What really grates me about the job is the rudeness of the supervisors. I hate people being rude, especially to me. I hate it when people patronise me and treat me like a child. I do childish things and I am incompetent but so is Des O'Connor and people don't patronise him. On Saturday one of the supervisors had obviously had a bad night because he was constantly dragging people into the office for appraisals. Appraisals in telemarketing call centres are warnings, you do it again you are out. I could accept this but what I find unacceptable is that the supervisor was yelling at these people. It was as if he was the teacher and we were the naughty children. Man management is appallingly poor. If they treated people with some level of respect then they might have a lower staff turnover. The other job is much better. We are treated as peers and left to our own devices. I get to pretend that I am important and they tell me I am doing a good job, plus I get to look out of the window at the Harbour bridge.
So far my living arrangements are proving to be dull. I assumed moving in with a gay female impersonator would give me stories that could fill a novel. I have got to say that for situation comedy it has proved to be non-existent. We don't really see each other that much, when we do he tells me how muich money he has earnt for an hour's work and I try and say something before he cuts me off and talks about something else. I am amazed about how difficult it is to have a conversation with him. He talks about what he wants to talk about. He leaves spaces for you to comment but doesn't react to what you have to say. I am tempted to started unleashing controversial and offensive comments at him and see if that makes him actually listen.
My boss from Rayleigh is also a Spurs fan. He took me along to Oz Spurs last night. It has a group of Spurs fan in Australia (does exactly what it says on the tin). We were in a random sports bar in town to watch the North London Derby. There were about 40 spurs fans.
Weather update - the weather has continued to be completely random. In the past couple of weeks it has been 35C and as low as 10C. There has been thick fog, massive thunderstorms, and heavy rain, not to mention overcast chilly days. I wouldn't want to be a moaning pom, but the idea that Sydney is blue skies and barmy tempatures everyday isn't accurate. Needless to say its a hell of alot better than the UK, I get more than 7 hours sunshine a day! It doesn't feel like I am coming to the end of 2006 because normally the end of the year is marked by dark days. One of the objectives of the tour has been chasing the sun. I am going to need to find a job where I can justify living in each hemisphere across the year for long sunny days.
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