Choosing a Career - Part 6. The endgame!

A few months into my time in the Supermarket bakery, and still the lowest ranked baker (all the "workers" were grade D, but wage increments were based on time served, so I was still the lowest ranked and paid) we arrived one week to find that our department manager had been sent on a project (trialling part-baked bread), his assistant was absent sick (long-term), and the Senior Baker also went absent sick, leaving us with no-one in charge. The other younger bakers seemed reluctant to step up, so I did, and basically ran the bakery for the next 4 months! I was first in, and many times last out, did all the ordering, all the production planning, and all the staff scheduling, which was a nightmare as we were three men down, and at times more due to holidays and sickness! Every week I submitted the time sheets which always had a big overtime element for me, and no-one higher up ever queried it! The overtime sheets were supposed to be signed and approved by a manager, but I was doing it myself, and not once did anyone question this! The "fresh food" manager, whose responsibilities covered the bakery (as well as produce, deli, fish and meat) avoided coming anywhere near the bakery, as he "felt we were doing OK"! During this time my wife's sister was getting married in Dubai, and I couldn't go as I had to stay and run the bakery! Understandably tensions ran high at home, but I felt I had no option, and the extra money was very, very welcome - I was sometimes working a 70 hour week instead of the normal 35, with the extra at overtime rates! The situation only improved after a Store Manager "swap" - our manager and another did an exchange for a couple of weeks, and the "new" manager asked me about our staffing schedule - as he could see we were really short - and asked me about my role as he could clearly see that I was struggling. When I explained I was the most junior baker he was appalled that I had been left like that to run the department with no help from above - and two days later he arranged a relief bakery manager relieving me of my unwanted responsibilities! Shortly after that the others returned from their various illnesses and things got back to some sort of normality.
A few months later, however, I hurt my lower back while at work - I was emptying dough out of a mixing bowl, following correct work procedures, when I felt a sharp pain near my right hip. I continued working, but was in considerable pain, so next day off (we worked 5 days out of 7) went to see my GP who told me I had pulled a muscle and best thing was to work through it, but to be careful. However over the next week or so it got gradually worse, so much so that I could not stand still on my right leg, and it used to take me several minutes to climb the stairs to the canteen, so eventually I had no option but to initially sign myself off work, since my GP still seemed unwilling to. It turned out that I had damaged my sacroiliac joint, and by continuing to work had caused further damage, so much so that it was decided that I could no longer work in the bakery doing physical work. This took several weeks to play out, and by then I was back at work but doing like duties in the personnel department, mainly performing filing. When it was realised I could no longer be a baker I was moved to the general office, doing administrative work, including answering the phone, and escorting the cash collections from the checkouts.
I was then asked if I would like to join the newly created stock control team - our job was basically to investigate gaps on shelves once the night shift (no 24 hour trading at our store) had finished replenishment. The stocking system was semi-automatic in that all sales were instantly taken off system inventory, and using algorithms the system automatically re-ordered stock for arrival the following day - so in theory there should never be any empty shelves, and it was our job to find out why there were. There were other factors I will not go into here, but human error was often to blame!
The work was OK, and the working hours reasonable - early starts and early finishes every day helped the situation at home, as I was able to be home by the time my daughter finished school. The pay wasn't that good, but at the time my wife was bringing home more than me so we were OK financially, but both needed to work full-time. I was still keeping an eye on jobs in the area and spotted a vacancy for an Accounts Clerk with a local charity, very close to our home, so I applied and was invited for interview. They were relocating their Regional Administrative offices to Norfolk, and none of the existing staff (other than the Manager) were making the move, so I joined a brand new team a few weeks later.
We were located next door to an Activity Centre owned by the charity, and as accounts clerk I had quite a lot of daily contact with the centre, and we were included on a rota to welcome guests on a Friday night for the weekend stays. It was nice to get back into accounting, and to learn how to use a basic computerised accountancy suite, though I was little more than a bookkeeper/data entry clerk as one of the trustees dealt with the accounts proper. 
During this period my wife had to give up work on medical grounds, and was unable to take on employment for some time, and was medically retired from her current job. This put enormous strain on our finances, and on our relationship, as I was not earning enough alone to support us fully. While on my first vacation, after a year, it was decided that I needed to try and find much better paid work, easier said than done, but upon my return I found out that the Activity Centre Manager's position had unexpectedly become vacant - the person who was supposed to take over the role had issues with his reference, so they were re-advertising. Having seen much of what the job entailed, and knowing the salary and benefits (free housing was one!), my first reaction was to talk to my wife about it, and her family were round that evening so we had a discussion, and it was decided that this could be a really great solution - the salary was much better, the free housing meant we could rent our house out to pay off the mortgage, and my wife would not need to worry about finding work, or she could do whatever she felt able to without any pressure.
The next day, after checking with my boss, and he with the charity's area commissioner, I threw my hat in the ring! They had to go through with a rigorous selection and interview process, culminating in an overnight stay at the property with spouses/partners and two interviews, and I was awarded the position! It was like our prayers had been answered.
Over the next few months I trained as an instructor in Archery, Kayaking, Canoeing, Climbing and Abseiling (Artificial Tower), as well as training staff - the assistant left the same time as the previous manager, and we employed GAP students who we trained as Summer instructors - and working on many areas of the "business" that desperately needed improving. I was finally doing something I really enjoyed, and I felt that I had found my "place" in life, and I really seemed to be good at it!
The supplied accommodation was going to be improved and extended so my wife decided at first to stay in our own home until it was complete, though that was going to take several months, but then she dropped a bombshell saying she had no intention of ever moving, and that I should move back home! My job required me to live on site, so moving back was not an option, and long-term we couldn't afford to run two homes - it depended on us both living in the free housing and renting our own house, but she would not have any of that. From elation about how things had turned out to despair in the space of a few minutes - but I was not about to give up the job of a lifetime, so felt I had no alternative other than to petition for a divorce. Seems a bit harsh choosing my new career over my marriage, but I knew that if I gave up that job I would struggle to find anything paying nearly so good, that I would regret it for the rest of my life, and we would probably lose our home anyway, and with it our marriage, so it was really a no-brainer! I threw myself into my work, and as it was showing positive results I was really enjoying it - it hardly felt like work. I mean what job entails spending time out on the river in a kayak "playing" with a bunch of kids - and getting paid for it!
It turned out that this was my last career move, and I spent the next 8 years there, until one day they decided to have an operational review, which included reviewing all the jobs. Their decision was that the manager needed a formal business qualification, so after doing a great job for 8 years, in their opinion too, I was no longer qualified to do it anymore, so I took redundancy! It also turned out to be my last paid employment (other than a couple of temporary contract jobs) so I moved to Brazil, and have only done a little unpaid voluntary work (here and in Peru) since then. I do feel that managing an activity centre (with 44 beds, camping ground for 600, and a variety of outdoor activities) was my idea of a perfect job, and am so pleased that I managed to find it eventually!

Choosing a career - Part 5

My foray into Engineering had been short-lived, but enjoyable, but here I was back full circle to the bakery I had created, but now working for someone else. Unfortunately a succession of highly paid "managers" had almost destroyed the business we had created, allied to the owner's lack of knowledge how to run a village grocery store. He had learnt nothing form what we had tried to pass on, and grocery sales were much lower as his pricing policy was foolish, to say the least. He had still not grasped the concept that we had to try and compete on some level with the local (5 miles away) supermarket, at least with KVI products ("known value items" or everyday purchases), and the Cash & Carry we used allowed us to do that, but at very reduced margins on those items, and he was unwilling to accept those poor margins (ignoring the fact that we made more on other products).
The quality of the bread had declined alarmingly, too, so correcting that was my first priority, and relatively easy to do, however in order to afford to pay a bakery manager, something we still felt was the job he should be doing himself, he had branched out a great deal into the wholesale trade, but was giving away most of the profit by doing this, and it meant he also had to employ a delivery driver and buy a small delivery van, further affecting his "bottom line"!
I lasted over 2 years in this role, though throughout that time my "assistant bakers" were inexperienced and unqualified, but were there more for "muscle" than skill so it was not too bad. The problem was that it was a 6-day a week job, and the owner was reluctant to allow me any time off for holidays, as he had no one capable of running things in my absence, but offered me payment ("cash in hand" or tax-free, which I declined) in lieu of holiday. The only time off I got in those 2 years was a week I took in order to replace my back door at home, when he stood in to do the work at the bakery.
Eventually, though, I had had enough. If I complained about the hours (which were around 60 a week!) he threw more money at me, if I asked for holiday time with my family, he offered me more money to forego it, and was continually telling me that he had big plans for the business and that I would soon be in a more senior daytime role. When I told him I wanted to leave his response was - offer me more money - but I knew that the business could not afford what he was offering me (far more than any of my family had received as a partnership share before, when the business was taking more money!), but he then tried emotional blackmail, saying that if I left he would probably lose the business, and his young family (second wife) would suffer! It was all to no avail as my marriage was suffering with the time I was putting in, all night shifts, and arriving home around 06.00 - or later if the delivery driver was a no-show so we had to deliver as well!
I stayed in the bakery industry, initially at new supermarket locally, but that was short-lived due to differences of opinion with the store management - my department was never fully staffed from day one, and I was having to pick up the slack so working excessive hours, and every week I was being questioned about the hours I was putting in, and then being told they would recruit more staff, only for them to go back on that later the same week, and then complain again I that I was putting in too many hours!. There followed a period of time when I worked for three different small craft bakeries in fairly close succession, though I use the word "craft" broadly as most of them were not producing a "craft" product, but again chasing turnover. None of the owner/managers had a real clue how to treat staff, or how to make bread (one was even the former bakery manager who had almost ruined the business my family had created), and again excessive hours was the order of the day, though since none of them had given us contracts of employment (a legal requirement they ignored) we had no right to overtime payments, and no right of recourse. At all three my excellent reputation had preceded me and they were all delighted to have me join them, but unfortunately the way they treated staff was appalling, and none of them had the skills necessary to run a business.
During this time I was also looking to move on, though without the necessary paper qualifications it was extremely difficult, and eventually I ended up back in the Supermarket world, this time with one of the market leaders in their in-store bakery. By now (it was the same group I had been with back in 1982) their bread was somewhat better, though still not "craft" quality, but their systems were streamlined, they treated staff reasonably well, and I had no real responsibility so was happy as one of the bakers - the oldest by some way, but the most junior as the newest arrival. I had by now almost given up on being able to find my ideal career, but also knew that I had not nearly reached my potential.

Choosing a career - Part 4

I was around 33 at this time and undecided what to do when I finished at the bakery, so I popped in to a Careers Advice Centre near where my parents now lived - they also had jobs advertised as part of the Jobcentre network. The advisor there suggested I try their aptitude test, which only took a few minutes, and while waiting for the system to spit out some results they mentioned to me that they were trialling a new psychometric test which took half a day!! The next was on Saturday (it was Tuesday) in a different town, but there were vacancies - normally this test would cost about £50 but was free to the invitees for the trial.
There were around 20 of us there and we were told there would be about 12 different tests, lasting different lengths of time - we would be told when to start and when to stop, but not how long we had for each test! The tests were varied, from mental arithmetic, general knowledge, spatial awareness, and even manual dexterity - and the times allowed seemed very short! We did 6 tests then had a break for refreshments, and I found that, like me, the attendees were struggling to complete the tests in the time allowed - that was a relief as I was beginning to think I was thick! When we had finished the organiser explained that not being able to finish each test was part of the test!! It was supposed to put us under stress to see how we handled that - and when he found out that I had actually completed 4 of the 12 tests he was amazed, as no-one had achieved even one before!
While waiting for the results, which would take a couple of weeks, I started working for an Engineering company - a friend worked there and told me they were recruiting short-term workers, and I ended up in the machine shop, working on a power guillotine alongside a 64-year old about to retire! We had to chop up steel following simple drawings, and the work was physically hard, but relatively easy, the pay was OK, and weekend overtime usually available, as well as a productivity bonus! We were initially employed on 13-week contracts, then laid off during a "shut-down" and immediately re-hired for a further 13 weeks (most of us were contracted to do overtime during the shut-down, too!). The government of the day had introduced a job creation scheme where they paid part of the wages of any "new" employees hired for at least 13 weeks, so many companies realised that if they hired and fired at 13 week intervals then they would get a big chunk of the payroll paid for by the state!
I received the results of my psychometric test and had an appointment at another different Jobcentre! My results were excellent, among the best they had seen, and my aptitude demonstrated that I could pretty much choose any career I wanted, and this included professions like legal, medical, etc. However - and there is always a "however" -  entry into these professions was almost impossible past 30, since the years of study and training required meant that many companies would not invest in "older" candidates (I would have required sponsorship from a firm to attend university) since the "pay-back" time after qualification was limited. It left me with very few options at my age to think about starting a new career track, and opportunities in Norfolk limited them further.
By now I had been offered a permanent job at the engineering company, and they were talking about multi-skilling all the workforce, so we would be moving round the machines (there were power presses, punching machines and sheet metal fabricators), and learning new skills like welding, so I put any career aspirations outside this on hold. My first child was also on the way so I needed a regular, steady income, and with occasional stretches on night shift (with enhanced pay rates) and weekend overtime when I wanted, I decided to maintain the status quo.
My colleague retired and I "inherited" his machine with my own assistant, but I was waiting for the multi-skilling opportunity that everyone else, except me, seemed to be getting. Eventually I asked my foreman about it, and he was genuinely shocked - I was the youngest worker with his "own" machine, and he thought I was happy - though rather it was that he was happy knowing he didn't have to worry about output from that machine! They did, however start training me on other equipment, but I never got round to the welding!
The work was hardly high-quality "engineering" as tolerances were pretty generous, but it did give me an insight into a different world of working practices, and in attitudes by the workforce - at breaks (tea break, lunch) and start of day the men would all stand around, even after the "hooter" had gone and wait for the foreman to come and say "All right, lads" before starting, and if he was late (at a meeting, or just elsewhere on the site) we would all still wait until we got the "nod" to start again! "It's his job", they would tell me if I asked why.
My daughter was born just after I got my permanent status and the regular reasonable income, especially on night shifts, though not brilliant, meant I was in no particular hurry to move on, especially as my wife was not yet working again. The company had factories at two locations locally (as well as one in Holland), the other some 30 miles away, and a change in management meant we embarked on a "customer service" training course, to be held at both factories and with some workers from each travelling to the other site for sessions. They were stressing that we were all customers, as well as the final purchasers of the trailers - and that each department was a customer of the preceding one along the production line, so we had to work together, rather than try and compete (and make life difficult for the others!). At the end of the training session we all had a "meet and greet" with a senior company employee, and we got the Financial Accountant, who then opened up a question and answer session. I asked why they didn't give the staff more information about how things were going for the company, as the notice boards were devoid of any company information - his response was that they "didn't think we were interested"! He then went on to tell us the company was doing reasonably well at the moment, with full order books, but that we shouldn't get complacent as it was a very competitive industry.
The next day I started a two week holiday in Kenya (where my in-laws lived), during one of the regular shut-downs, and returned to find that they had just laid off a third of the workforce as business was bad! I was appalled that the Accountant had stood in front of us and lied about the situation - as I couldn't believe that he was unaware things were that bad, but either way the signs were not good for the business. I decided that maybe the time had come to move on, before I was forced out into a very limited job market locally. For some time the man who had bought our grocery shop/bakery had been pestering me to go back and help save his bakery business which was being ruined by highly paid "managers", and I had been rejecting his advances, but a few days later he contacted me again, and offered me a lot more than I was earning in engineering to go back, so I decided to jump ship and change career path again.