“Working there was very harsh!”
T had been far away from his parents at a young age and was very independent. He found a part-time job to support his personal expenses. He was in charge to be filling shelves in a supermarket. At first, he thought it was the simplest job in the world but after two weeks he found that it was very stressful. It did not require many skills but it required a person to be meticulous. He tried to work hard and learn from the senior staff in his department but it was not easy.
I knew I had to perform well to satisfy the person who helped me to be employed and to keep my job. I tried a lot and did everything but I was under high pressure all the time. The boss was very tricky and often pushed the staff though everything looked good. He wanted everyone to keep working every minute and second.
At the end of each work day T felt tired and stressed. The staff need to hurry otherwise they would be criticized for not working hard enough. He remembered a year earlier when he was with his parents; he had no worry. Then in new country, he had to do everything himself and had no one to support him when he was depressed. He thought he needed to be “stronger”. He talked to his friends who were international students in other countries and they shared everything.
I had friends who were studying in other countries to share my all troubles. After that I thought, study abroad was not a very big thing like I used to think-super big thing even I could change the world. I decided to be stronger and kept trying.
Though that job was not as easy as he had expected, it brought him good experiences. He had chances to talk with customers and to practice his English and learn about shopping behaviors. It helped him be more open-minded to unfamiliar people; he could talk with them about different topics. The job did not only have negative effects on T‟s feeling but also brought some positive experiences. The biggest benefit he experienced was learning how to work in a high pressure workplace, something that would be very important in the field of economics.
My English has improved very much. I felt more confident when talking with others. I also learnt to control my emotions at work. At the work place productivity was important, and as they paid money they had the right to require me and other staff to work harder and harder. Nothing was easy; I had to try a lot.
Like T, David found a job after two months in Wellington where the boss was a Cambodian-New Zealander. He was lucky because he had his friend‟s help. He started the job eagerly because he thought he should try to satisfy the boss but he failed. The boss was too greedy and paid his employees very little but required them to do overtime every day. He felt tired then he decided to stop.
He was greedy; it was cruel to ask employees to work least 30 minutes after our shift finished but the salary was very low. Not only me but other staff were exploited. I had a very bad impression of him. I stopped after some months.
David also acknowledged that, in a competitive business environment, getting a job was not easy but he could not continue working because he could not balance his time. Though working there for a short time, he noticed some good things he had undergone such as language improvement, the true value of money so that he learnt to highly appreciate the money earned by working very hard.
“Working was relaxing.”
Andy was working hard and his boss sometimes pushed but he did not feel stressed. He thought working brought him more positive experiences than negative ones. Whenever he went to work, he did not think about his study and tried to work hard. He came to talk with the other staff members and the customers. When they learned he was Vietnamese, many
customers expressed their love of Vietnam. He would talk and joke with many people and felt that helped him relax.
I considered that was relaxing time. I knew that, we wanted to get salary, the boss had to pay money to employ us, so he pushed us and that was understandable. I had to react quickly to customers‟ orders, and run sometimes; it was good for my health. I was very happy with what I was doing.
At his place of work, people were friendly and helpful. They assisted each other to finish their jobs. His English was better after four months working there. He earned some money for travelling around New Zealand and for his own expenses. Besides that, he learnt Kiwi slang, sped up and spoke more clearly when chatting with customers.
The staff at my place of work were co-operative. The seniors guided the novices and I learnt a lot about how to do my job well. I also learnt many new English words, Kiwi slang and idioms. I could answer the phone, and take t the customers‟ orders. I am very happy about that. I think my progress is going well, that is what I want.