My Journal Is Mine

So Crossfire blog time, feel like bragging some. I'm on course to be an Area Manager at the worlds leading online retailer Amazon! Next time you order from there anything big you can think of me as it'll be my staff sorting it. It'd be managing around 90 people - just doubling what I'm managing at the minute (although that's down from the 73 during peak but Christmas is a different time!).

Started there back in August of last year as a picker (the lowest of the low), got promoted into the L&D training new hires, following this I took on a department and ran it during the busiest period as a Temporary Team Lead- since the new year I've gone permanent and taken on a new department and just today had the Senior Operations Manager (second in command!) pull me to one side to say how great things are going and that he was looking to give me extra responsibility in order to make me an Area Manager by the summer. Just shows where hard graft can get you! (that position would be a very good starting salary plus several thousand in Amazon shares each year <3 )

And you know what? A lot of what I'm doing can be directly translated from the work done within this here scene. An ability to plan? Yep. An ability to manage people? Yep. An ability to create relationships? Yep. An ability to react? Yep.

People deride the shit that's done; and whilst I'd never mention it to an employer, there's a lot of positives that can be taken outta this here hobby. Just take a look at the jobs many others have fallen into.

And all this without a uni degree or even A levels! So all you dossers & droppouts there's nowt really stopping us. Although that said it's taken a while with a lot of shitty jobs inbetween; the character building years for when you know, I write my book <o/ Everyone's given the options you've just gotta have the bolox to take them and not give a fuck, nihilism is the answer.

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Also have this Wednesday & Thursday booked off from work to watch the Leeds v Arsenal match! Just you know, need time recover Thursday after our relatively easy win over 'the Arsenal' :o)

What jobs do you people do and are you going anywhere? The shittiest job I've done was removing staples from paper!
Comments
41
wow, u could write smthn like that for www.dts-cup.org
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Heh I'm wA or xf, retired.
Parent
i kno, i was looking for hits :D
Parent
What is keeping you away from uni?
I was a dickhead when younger :o went back in my late teens to do college but it was too late, living away from home & being used to an income it's a big change. I always wanted the uni lifestyle got the grades but just didn't care enough to learn the irrelevant shit. A lot happier just getting stuck in & learning as you go.

To quote Frank 'I'm happy and I'm settled in the person I've become' <o/
Parent
What does it matter how old are you? The average Israeli begins his uni studies around the age of 23 (army); don't think that should be an issue :p

I assume the british culture is different than the israeli one, but i don't think to extreme lengths. In israel being without a diploma limits you - unless you had some sort of advanced training in the army - isn't that the same case in england? and doesn't that bother you?
Parent
It's the same case to a degree (hrhr), there is a stigma to not having one and even most basic jobs require a degree nowadays - but as said above, if things carry on as is I'll be doing a job that any new applicant would be required to have a degree to do but as I'm working up through the company I'm getting on the job experience which is more valuable to them.

You can learn on the job it's just being in the right place, having the right skills & putting in the effort.

If you were hiring would you take someone with theoretical skills never applied or someone with hands on experience that's shown success?
Parent
But there is always a limit - an invisible roof - that will stop you from progressing any further without a degree, isn't there? (even in amazon!).
I guess, in the future, if you are high ranking enough they'll pay you to get one to progress in the companies ranks but that's a different story :p

"If you were hiring would you take someone with theoretical skills never applied or someone with hands on experience that's shown success? "

That really depends on what the job is. Also you have placed the latter in a very positive light (not that its wrong..). I do get your point thou :P
Parent
2 main routes in life. The academic one is obviously the one that pais off more than the non academic one most of the time. However you dont become a part of the statistic until youve tried and done it.

Working hard full time and working up is good, glad that u got promoted. U could make a decent living without academic qualifications. Just means youve got to work harder and takes longer to get higher normaly.

Im taking the academic route, although not amazing grades at GCSE/ A level just average Cs,Bs. Got a GCSE+ A level in business and am graduating this year from uni with a degree in business, hopefuly a 2,1 :D. I guess take some time out after uni and get a part time job and do some traveling, skiing etc. Not entirely sure yet. Then search for a full time job and then do a masters degree in business later.
Thats the plan atm, but plans and situations change over time :).
In the next few years il be earning a full time salary every year from share trading alone i think. Make a bit already from it. Being in a recession sucks for finding a job but it makes buying shares cheap and when the economy starts recovering theyl go up fast.

Dont see myself in a good job until i get my masters degree tbh. Since i dont have alot of actual work experiance as i took the uni route so doubt il get into anything decent straight off the bat. I thought about becoming a more active independant share trader to try make more but that means alot of time and ofc risky as i havent trained in trading.
Parent
im sure you forgot that people can set up their own companys, which is a third route and gets you much higher than working with any degree as long as its succesfull and it must be much more rewarding too.

btw where do all these people who study business stuff in unis go? there cant possibly be work for all of them, can there?
Parent
FIRMA PYSTYY JOONAS!!!!!!!!
Parent
into business's ofc lol. In a recession atm its harder to find a job as companies are recruiting less and so thers more competition for the available jobs. Some people go work abroad, some move around the country to work etc. I live near the prime job area in the country. London and the south East. Still will be hard for me to get a decent full time job in this climate.

In a boom though its alot easier as companies take on more people.
Parent
work is for chumps, gz though
staples or stamps? :-D

sounds solid, too bad amazon failed to deliver my package before christmas. fucking shit.

what job do I do...? work for one of the 4 biggest mortgage banks in the country doing pretty much all I can find! fun, Will it take me anywhere? Probably not, as long as I have fun doing it I honestly couldnt care less :-)
Staples! Was for medical notes being digitalised - literally piles of notes each day, remove staple (jeez that's a strange word) put in a pile, remove staple put in a pile, eight hours a frigging day.

Strangest sacking was for making an old woman cry. I'm still not sure why she cried - but she refused to come back till I was fired. Sucked :(
Parent
Im managing the incoming goods of a 450 men factory. I hope it will get me somewhere in the next future but ill have to take the next step in my education. I love my work but dont want to do it for the rest of my life.
worst job? either cleaning shit out of a drainage sink under a building or being a stand in doorman for the 70 year old indian guy in a chav hellhole in romford ? : DD
Not the crappy bar work you've been doing in Landan for so long?!

Cleaning shit wins!
Parent
nah that was ok considering the money and the odour
Parent
I'm glad for you :)

Currently I am at my second job, in a hotel. A job that has no real potential or opportunity to progress (nor it pays well...), yet even if it did, no fucking way I'd stay there for a long time. A time waster.

Having no ambition and motivation is quite bad thing to possess.
Congrats. Now please put a good word in for me because I need a bloody job!
well, i had a (part-time)job at amazon aswell. their employee-politics are pretty nice. i dont know you, but my area manager was pretty young and handsome aswell. feels like he made it just like you.

and indeed you dont need an university-degree and shizzle...well, good job then mister! guess would be nothing for me, but hey :)

gratz i guess :)

E: wheres "your" amazon located?
Nice which one did you work at? We sent people to Leizpig, Munich & Dusseldorf before Xmas. It's so massive that's what's exciting, there's potential for training anywhere if there's the need! We're LBA1.

You enjoy working there? From the jobs I've worked the staff are treated fairly well, decent pay (relative to everywhere else) & an opportunity to influence things. I'm much more a rule by consensus kinda guy (whilst carrying that big invisible stick) rather than hard ass.

And I'll take both those attributes :p
Parent
i workED there for 1 month only, but you could get a pretty good impression of how they work with people and how they put an effort into promoting people that deserve it. i worked in leipzig, btw. so you even send people from GB here?
Parent
Yeah you guys were struggling so we sent a few experienced heads over! And you'll see I did use past tense :>
Parent
so they are speaking english in leipzigs amazon now? xD
Parent
The processes are the same ^^

If you're speaking you're off task & losing hours! :v
Parent
haha!
but dont you have to hold your "speak" when the shift begins?
Parent
Yeah daily brief but there was some of our management over there, and I think you underplay your guys to say they can't speak English fluently.
Parent
did i say that? hope not ;d
nah, guess the "leading" guys have to own a decent skill
Parent
I'm going to Canada this year to study, but in all honesty.. I don't really want to, my dream is to run away with my friend and play our music in pubs in southern america for the rest of our lives. I don't care about money, I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and boring

My last job was okay, I worked as a food production operator at 8.76 an hour which is okay at 17 years of age, unfortunately I lost that job and I'm now unemployed, but looking hard every day. I really need a fucking job.
Do the latter! If you fuck it up you can always come back and start again. I'd emplore anyone to live the dream, at least try it.
Parent
My mum wants me to join the Navy :p I wouldn't even mind joining the Navy tbh :p And yeah, tbh we're really considering it, but I'd like to have a degree under my belt just in case it doesn't go to plan :p Like I said, you only live once, and I don't mind about money, we'd happily live in a caravan man :D
Parent
Reminds me of that latino movie where those two best mates seek out the beach whilst swinging the sexy older woman - if it's anything like that do it man :p

The UK's not going to change much - you can always start again if need be. You at uni atm?
Parent
I'm going to canada this year to study, I've got family there, so they're putting me up, but yeah, like I said, not REALLY lookin forward to it lol
Parent
Incidentally saw Gary Deleney last week in Sheffield, awesome. His twitter feed is gold - the stand up act so much better, wish I could remember the gags :v

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Just read a book about Stockholm Syndrome, it started off badly but by the end I really liked it.

I always like to have a picture of a cute toddler in my wallet so that when people say 'Is he yours?', I can say 'Nope'.

When a comedy DVD is just called the comic's name followed by the word Live!, I always imagine it's a plea and they're in a coma.

I'm not very good at accepting compliments. People tell me I am, but I don't believe them.

To those who have accused me of being an apologist, I can only say sorry.

To me metaphors are a closed book.

What’s the deal with rhetorical questions?

The lamb chops I’ve just bought are described as having been reared in Wales. I thought that was just a racist stereotype.

My first is in taxi, my second is in bus. What am I? A: Careless with degree certificates.

'Heh, baby, I'm the man your mom warned you about', 'Yeah, she said don't get stuck talking to him, he's really boring'.

The kids have gone out sledging. They've just told Mike Hussey they've shagged his mom.

I broke my leg and the Doctor said he's going to have to put me in a cast. How does he expect me to sing and dance in this condition?

My proudest moment in school sports was the one time I took the Captain's armband. Mind you, he did drown.
I'm jealous of you, and I'm not being sarcastic. I can relate to you aswell, my intelligence is far above average but I'm not a genius at all so I DO have to work for my grades.
However, I can't motivate myself to take all these classes that are not directly related to what I want to do later on.

I'd like to be become something like a head of personnel somewhere, whenever I'm not connected to the internet I'm actually quite a nice guy and I have adequate leading abilities combined with initiative.

Problem is that I just can't be bothered taking 27 exams of which 2 are in my area of interest. I'm doing Law - Human Ressource Management ( It's not like a major after major, but more like a major in a major, something specific) and exactly 2 courses ( in total) have something to do with HRM.

The only reason I'm still in school is because I'm afraid of what will happen to me when I don't graduate, I'm afraid of falling into a social pit without income and prospects.

No idea why I wrote all of this, I guess it's because of the fact that your journal precisely pictures my feelings at the moment.

Oh and by the way, congratulations on your promotion, couldn't mean it more.
grats nellie :)
Nice one Nelliephant :)
Worst job removing staples? wow! :D

I think the worst job I've done was working in a food processing company, was packing the goods at the end of the line. We'd pack all your sauces/salsa/dips for the likes of ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury etc. But I'd be running 9 lines between the 2 of us, working with racist/sexist people, and a few of them ex criminals so... :(

Most fun job I've had, although hard work at times was assembling brake callipers for cars which is something I enjoy doing anyhow.

At the mo, studying motor vehicle mechanics and probably looking for an apprenticeship come September time (though will be looking for one from as early as March/April)
did a lot of shit jobs already (putting leaflets into newspapers manually before they're sent out to subscribers, random copypasta jobs, removing dirty dishes at festivals,...).

currently studying undergraduate communication sciences, about to finish in june. hopefully about to start 2 internships directly after, 1 at a public affairs agency, 1 at a green technology alliance who does lobbying too, basically.

in my opinion you don't need a diploma for leadership responsibilities but some stuff is just not to be learnt by experience...
Currently studying geography at uni, with no precise idea of what my future will be made of.

I have no working experience -at all- and I'm quite lazy to find an extra job, like being a baby-sitter, etc. because my parents subsidize my lifestyle and I feel like my lack of working experience will be a handicap when I'm about to find a job which might be :
working in developing Southern countries beside poor city inhabitants or trying to prevent natural disasters, or working to protect our heritage, can't tell yet...
Just felt like sharing it with you guys :P
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