5: My first income from part time jobs

TRANSCRIPT FOR EP 5:

Welcome to Woman Leadership show. I'm Janet and in this episode, I will be sharing with you when I first starting working in part time jobs.  
I did not come from well to do family and my late mum has to work to support me without given alimony from my late father. I wanted to work to gain experience as well as to earn some money to support my own expenses during school holidays. My late mum was initially not supportive as she was very protective over me afraid that I would get connected to bad company and influence when I start working. After much persuasion, she approved me going to work part time at at bookstore at Bras Brasah complex during school holidays at for less than 2 months. 

My job was to assist in packing of books and attend to enquiries of the purchase of the textbooks, assessment books and stationeries. The work was not tough as I
was familiar with retail business from past experience and was independent after being briefed on my job tasks. 

The earnings were not much then but it gave me satisfaction to earn my first income and to buy something for myself from the earnings. My experience during my childhood handling customers at the shops gave me an advantage in handling customers at the bookstores with confidence though I was only 15 years old. 

The second part time job that I did was in a stock exchange company as administration assistant where I have to check through the shares certificates and ensure accuracy. I was assisting a lady supervisor, she was strict with me and fast worker. I learned to work and eat fast like her so that more can be done in shorter time and I had to work overtime in some days and I got to earn extra money. 

I had few friends who worked in the same company and we had fun lunching and sharing experiences together. We would have meals or went out together after the work has ended. I remembered there was this friend whom I met at the working place loves branded T shirts and would spent her money on them. It was tempting then to have peer pressure to follow suit but I did not copy what my friends did as I think the money can be saved and put in better use. 

There was this guy who worked part time just like myself but he got better treatment from my supervisor as he got to take smoking breaks while I had to have quick lunch and back to work as soon as possible. That triggered my emotional dissatisfaction just like when my grandmother favored men than women and so I was treated differently from her grandchildren who were boys and my uncle’s daughters. I would get scolding if something happened to my cousins and for not taking care of my younger cousins. 

As much as I was unhappy about this unfair treatment at work by my supervisor, I continued to do my best and focus on my job as my goal was to earn money and complete my assignment. At the end of my assignment, my supervisor told me that I was the only one who could tolerated her management style and worked with her the longest ever for temporary assignments. 

I felt honored that she mentioned to me and that also meant I was tolerant and focused on my end in mind. That kept my focused on my goal and not to be distracted by negative thinking about my supervisor as that was only temporary assignment. 

My key takeaway from this sharing because of my own experience, now I encourage my own children when of employable age to do part time holiday jobs for the experience. My mum used to be over protective about me working at young age but it was a good experience for me and I understood what was working for others like, earning my first income and managing the expenses from the income. 

My second takeaway is favoritism happens at home and at work.It happened to me at work where the boys got to take frequent breaks but I was scolded for taking too long lunch break during part time job as teenager. However, I have the power to control my own emotions and actions and not allowing others to have control over me by getting too upset and brooding over the situation. 

My last takeaway is because of what I doesn’t like about one being favoured than the other, I do my best and remind myself to be objective when I have 2 sons and 1 daughter. I also do my best in managing diverse gender workforce in my team where everyone has the opportunity and I will provide feedback equally if required. The rules applied to all irregardless of gender in my family or at work I hope that through my sharing, it draws inspiration and personal reflection for you. 
I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be continue my sharing with you my first experience in full time work.