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 3

My parents had returned to the UK in 1977, the year before I did, and my Dad said he was "semi-retired" at 51. They bought a small village grocery store in Norfolk, and my sister joined them, and they kept on a lady who had worked for the previous owners for many years so knew the ropes, and all the local customers! I don't think any of them imagined how hard running a village shop was, but everyone seemed to enjoy it - this was in the days before Sunday trading was prevalent, so it was only a 6-day a week job, though they all git an extra day off in the week (but Dad generally worked through most of his!).
The plan was that upon my return I would help out, while looking for a job in accountancy, though I soon realised that they really needed my help - Dad was the only driver back then, so had to do the weekly "cash and carry" runs on Monday, as well as the twice-weekly runs to the bank. The business was growing apace, mainly due to the fact that we were novices, so had no preconceptions, and provided the sort of service that we would have expected as customers - and it paid dividends! With 4 "partners" the business still was not really generating enough profit for all of us (Mum, Dad, my sister and me), despite the fact that we all lived in the attached house above/behind the shop. 
I started putting out feelers, and had a few interviews, but soon realised a huge problem that I had not foreseen - in the UK manual accounts was a thing of the past, and my lack of computerised accounting experience was a huge issue! Time and again my lack of knowledge in that field was the stumbling block, and even though I was pitching for jobs well below my experience in other areas, I was being turned down - even for "starter" jobs, as I was "too old" - at 25!
The shop was actually a double-fronted one (it was a converted semi-detached house) and the other half we rented out to a hairdresser, and when she decided move on we looked for ways we could utilise that second shop to our advantage. Initially Dad was keen on a mini garden centre - he always had green fingers - but one of our grocery supply reps suggested a bakery! There was a national bread strike on at the time, and he serviced a couple of small bakeries and said they were doing extremely well. We all fell about laughing as we had no baking history in the family, but the idea caught on - it would complement the grocery business, and also provide a draw to a new customer base. I was tasked with doing some research - a feasibility study, if you like! Eventually I found a local bakery where they would "teach" me the ropes and after only two nights decided that we could make a success of it! To cut a long story short here is the link to that Opening a bakery which we opened in 1979, and traded very successfully alongside the grocery business, increasing shop turnover by an additional pound for every pound value of bread we sold as customers came for bakery goods, and bought other things in the shop!
My change in career direction from aspiring accountant to baker had been seamless, I really enjoyed baking - it was very satisfying to create something from raw materials rather than just being a small cog somewhere along a process! I did leave the family business briefly (for around 6 months) in 1982 for personal reasons, and got a job with a large UK supermarket chain as a trainee bakery manager - they used small-scale industrial processes, with machines doing most of the "manual" work, and with chemical additives to speed up the processing time, resulting in, at that time, a product that could not really be called "bread"! However I did return to the family business, and started developing the bakery side further, increasing our  confectionery range.
In 1986 Dad decided to retire - he had turned 60 and discovered that he was no longer liable for capital gains tax on the sale of the business - and we (my sister and I) realised that we could not realistically keep the business going with just the two of us, if we lost half our labour force, as the cost of replacing both our parents' work contributions would be unsustainable, especially as they needed to withdraw capital also (so effectively we would have had to buy them out!) to buy a house to retire to. So the business was put up for sale. It did not take that long to find a buyer, either, and as part of the deal I agreed to stay on for up to 6 months to help with the transition (as he also had no prior grocery or bakery experience!)
Despite trying to convince the new owner that he, or a family member, should be the main baker - the most "expensive" job - he immediately started looking to employ a bakery manager (after offering it to me first!), who was being paid more than a partner's share had been under our ownership! He made quite a few more changes to the way the grocery business was run, too, most of which had a detrimental effect on customers, as prices started rising considerably. By the end of my 6 month "transition" I was pleased to be moving on, and embarked on another change of career - this time into engineering!!