Do you remember your first job? Did you like it? Would you do this job now if you needed to?
I could say I had two first jobs. My first job ever was working over one summer for a market research company, and I didn’t like it at all. This was in Poland. My second first job was as a Carer at Epilepsy Centre in Chalfont St. Peter in England. And it was … nothing like I had ever imagined.
As I explained in my post on why I live in England, the job of a Carer was what I had been recruited in Poland to do in England.
The Deep End
Imagine you are leaving not only your country behind, your family and friends, the job that you had and knew, but also everything that is completely familiar to you. And you find yourself in an environment that has got nothing to do what you’d been experiencing up till that point.
For me, this was… refreshing and exciting. Naturally, not everyone who found themselves in the same situation as I did not felt like me. I saw people cry, be homesick, fall apart, or do stupid things.
Personally, I loved everything from the minute I walked out of the EasyJet flight that brought us to Luton Airport 🙂
“I’m sorry, so what do I do?”
A job of a Carer was didn’t really exist in Poland when I arrived in Chalfont St Peter. This meant that I had no idea what it actually takes to be one. It also had nothing to do with my degree or anything present in my world.
I was extremely lucky to work with people who looked after me and made sure I didn’t lose my mind. I had an amazing team leader who, although initially skeptical about all the foreigners, helped me and others through.
So what did I do as a Carer? I started at the bottom, which meant helping residents with dressing up, eating, and various daily tasks. I needed to learn the vital First Aid since Centre’s residents would involuntarily hurt themselves through seizures. We would play Bingo with the residents on Sundays (no offence, but this is officially the most boring thing on the planet :)), and escort them to Colleges for their activities.
One of my favourite things was – brace yourselves – painting nails of my key resident. I noticed a case in her room one day, and when we looked into it, we saw lots of nail varnishes, clearly bought and never used. I suggested I could make her nails look amazing, and she agreed 🙂 From then on, my key resident had the best nails in the whole Centre 🙂
Ups and Downs
Sounds easy peasy, doesn’t it? And sure thing it was at the beginning. Then real challenges started. The House I was assigned to gained a new resident – let’s call her Petal. Petal was violent, and had problems with controlling her anger. Such a behaviour was not uncommon among residents, but was something new in my House. Guess who Petal punched first? Me. It was quite an experience – getting hit in the chest and landing on the wall.
Luckily, thanks to the incredible team at the House, all staff stuck together. Everyone protected each other, everyone supported each other.
Working as a Carer can be incredibly rewarding, and this is how it was to me. I enjoyed seeing my key residents improve, or learn new skills. Sometimes, the highlight of the day was seeing someone become more independent as they asked you to let them dress on their own 🙂
“Hey, you stupid girl!”
Things calmed down for a little while. I and other guys who came with me to Chalfont worked crazy hours every week. A few 12-hour shifts in a row was a norm. I remember I once worked 10 or 11 days in a row. How nuts is this.
I learned many things in the Epilepsy Centre. For example, this is where I learned what bullying was. I will never forget hearing that a Team Leader expected me and another Polish girl to respect him just because he was a Team Leader and a guy. Never mind the abuse we received from him. We owed him respect.
But you learn and you move on, don’t you? At least, this is what I decided to do.
The horrible incidents were a trigger for me to find a different job. However rewarding the Caring was, that was definitely not something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Another new beginning
Don’t worry – I’m not going to take you through my whole CV! 🙂 Needless to say, after 2.5 years at the Epilepsy Centre I said Goodbye to the residents and again started a completely different job in a completely different environment.
Would I come back to this job? No… I count this one among “I’ve done it – I don’t need to do it again” 🙂
And looking back, the ‘Completely Different’ factor has been a theme all these years. But more on that later 🙂
So what was your first job? Have you had many First Jobs? Did you like them? 🙂