Up and Down: My Rollercoaster Work Experience

Rollercoaster. That's the perfect word to describe my work experience. A fortnight filled with moods, emotions and sore feet. My work experience started of at Adams the children's store in town and I ended up at a chemist in Bury Park by the end of it. It was filled with highs and lows, but it was an ordeal to go through! I had never thought a child's clothes shop would be such a headache and what I had to go through to change my work experience placement.

But here goes my encounter, of the horrible store manager and the delightful pharmacists.

I had butterflies, as did everyone else when they started work experience, but I already had a negative vibe from Adams. I had a feeling I wouldn't like it there. Many thoughts were going through my head as I walked into Adams. Will they like me? Will I like them? However, I put a smile on and hoped that the people were nice.

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There were two ladies at the counter. I let them know that I was here for work experience. One of the ladies, automatically, almost like a robot, grabbed the telephone and said 'work experience is here' in the dullest voice you can imagine.

A few minutes later another lady came upstairs from the store room and introduced her self. Tracy was her name. She seemed very friendly, like a mother figure. She showed me the health and safety precautions and where everything was situated. Another girl who worked at Adams was very friendly; she told me how each worker talks and walks, which made me laugh; little did I know that was going to be my last laugh.

They showed me how to tag clothes and put them on racks. This is what I did continuously until break, after break, until lunch and after lunch until it was time to go home.

I was so knackered by the end of it all I wanted to do was sit down. However if I did I would surely get a telling off from the manager. Jo seemed like a witch, and from what I encountered she was fully trained to be one. From the moment I saw her, she never laughed, smiled or looked me in the eye. When I met her all she said was 'that waistcoat isn't a part of the uniform. ' I felt a bit annoyed by that because she hardly introduced her self to me and she told me off straight away. However that wasn't the end of Joe the Witch. The next day I woke up I dreaded going into work.

Although I had only been there for one day, everyone else loved their job when I was anxious about it. I went to work not feeling too good, but stepped through the doors with a smile, once again. I avoided talking to the workers, as they never really bothered to talk to me. Although I did ask several times what to do, but the response I got was 'just look like you're doing something and you'll be fine'. I didn't appreciate the fact that I was on work experience and the only experience I was getting was standing around doing nothing at all.

Quick thinking and nerves lead me to come to the decision of leaving Adams. I didn't take into thought what the school or Adams would say. I just thought that I had to get out of here as soon as possible. My first instinct was to leave at break, taking my belongings and not going back. And that is exactly what I did. Me, being nai??ve, thought that I could get away with it, without any hassle. As I had so much free time on my hands, I visited all my friends at their work places. Sure enough the school called in a matter of hours, and it suddenly hit me that I should not have left the way I did.

Mrs. Cooper the lady who deals with work experience told me to come back to school. I imagined that I'll be fine and I would probably get a new work place. As I saw the school, I was thinking how amazingly different the work life is compared to school. At school you are put in to a timetable and you are in a secure place with people you know, whereas work life is completely opposite. I walked in and the lady at the office told me to see Mr. Rugobeer. This is when I started to question what I had done. Mr. Rugobeer told me off for leaving, but showed no sense in the way he put his words.

Although I understood I should have not left the way I did, I felt as though he was telling me I can never work in my life just because I left Adams. However when I left his office I went to Mrs. Cooper, who was more sympathetic and knew how the Adams workers were like. She gave me a new placement at Westbourne Pharmacy. I was to start the next day at 9. At this point I just couldn't wait until work experience was over. I went through so much in the couple of days than I have in my life, which was a bit scary. However I went to Westbourne chemist with a new attitude and more motivation.

I was welcomed by Kelly who I soon found out to be the shop assistant and Nusrat who was a trainee pharmacist. I found the job a thousand times better than Adams. When I'm older I would like to do something involving medicine, so the job related. My colleagues were very nice and entertaining. As well as this I think I got my maximum experience. I knew how to give in prescriptions and give them out. I knew how to use a till machine and price products. I knew how to stack shelves and dispense medicine. I loved the pharmacy compared to Adams. I looked forward to it each day.

I came on time as well as presenting my self in the right manner. I felt sad by the end of it. I didn't want to leave; it felt as though I was going to work there for a few more days. I left the pharmacy, giving them chocolates for the great time they've given me. In return my reference was brilliant. So, know do you understand what I went through in the two weeks of work experience? Slowly but surely it got better. With a few changes and the right attitude I became more determined to finish my tasks. I was thankful that I would never need to step foot in Adams again and that my emotional journey was finally over.