I've only been there a day but I've learned an incredible amount about people. For one of my co-workers, this was the first employment he had managed to obtain in six months. He was made redundant earlier in the year and has been on the dole until being given the same opportunity as me - a three day placement with a possible extension next week. Hearing his situation really brought it home to me just how hard things are out in the "real world". As a student you are somewhat insulated from things out there. Sure, I share the same fears when I hear of depressing graduate employment statistics (especially when the news stories are always accompanied by pictures of University of Birmingham graduations). But these people are concerned about keeping a roof over their head - not about walking into a plush high-level job. It's a feeling I just cannot begin to comprehend.
On the other hand, things cannot be that bad in the UK. Another of my colleagues is a white South African, who had moved to Britain after being turfed out of his farm as part of a racial distribution policy. Rather than remain in his own country, he is apparently more content to accept low-level temp work in the UK.
Listening to both guys was an interesting exercise in perspective. For one, he had endured a terrible year with constant worries about the next week or the next month. For another, his work represented a new start immeasurably better than life in his home country. Combined with my own perspective, that of a student with an uncertain future, it enabled me to better understand the way that it is possible to view things differently depending on the lens you look down.
All this from picking stock in a warehouse! Anyway, off to bed now (it's a 6.30 start).
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