Friday 9 September 2011

Retracing my steps

After that realisation hit home, it made me look at my career to date.  I was always after self-betterment, I had always wanted a ladder to climb to achieve things.  But, I now know all my employers had seen that trait in me, and wanted to make the most of me, while they had me.  I spent 10 years of my life travelling the length and breadth of this country, doing store openings for B&Q & MFI to name a couple of companys.  Each time, staying away from home for months at a time, until a job was completed and we could finally return home or go onto the next job.  It was not an easy job by any means, it was 12 hours a day or night, seven days a week; living in some hotel or B&B. 

By this time, I was no longer doing the ground work, I was managing a team of up to 35 people, I was responsible for making sure that the job was done well and done right on which ever shift I was working on.  I and my colleague who covered the other shift, were accountable if things went wrong.  After that, I began to run the jobs, organising my teams, sorting transport and accommodation, interviewing & recruiting new staff, dealing direct with the clients, and still travelling to do site visits, which was always rife with some complaint or other, which I had to deal with.  When I was not in the office, I would be in my car, it became a lonely job.

With a team of core people, plus locally  employed general assistants, we worked hard and played hard.  I used to say that it took a strange breed of fish to do the job, either people were running away from something; or they were trying to find something.  I am not sure which category I fell into, but eventually the need arose for me to find a permanent place, where I could finally hang my hat, and empty my suitcase. 

This coincided with the death of my brother, who had been very ill for years.  It was at that point, that I knew that I had to move on.  I had always said to myself, that by the age of 30, I wanted my first home, and real independence, and a few days short of my 30th birthday, I finally  managed it.


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