More Work Than Holiday

The term 'Working Holiday' has been leaning a lot more to the work end of the spectrum the last 6 months. This was to be expected, when you travel without the funds to dick around as you please working is an unfortunate inevitability. I've been hesitant to write about my experiences with work here because it's tough to find the humor in a situation while you're still drudging it out every day. Having just started my third job here, and I'm cautiously optimistic this one will see me through til the end of our time here, I figured I could share how the first 2 went without going off on an expletive laden tangent.

When I decided to become an electrician I didn't really want to do any kind of work at all, and I still don't, but as I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth, I have to work. This is an alright job that keeps the mind and body occupied during reasonable hours/days of the week for a reasonable pay, good enough. So I came to London not too worried about finding work, everybody needs a sparky eventually. Sure there's a recession and times are tough here, but I thought if I just tried harder to find work than anyone else I'd be alright, and I did, and I was... sort of.

After doing as much online applying as I could I started cold calling every company in the phone book. Eventually I got an interview, which happened to be in some guys garage office, and he had gold teeth and corn rows. Good start. He wanted me to show I knew what I was doing, which I only kind of did as things are a fair bit different here. So he insisted I do a half day with him for free (Something I would laugh at back home). I obliged and went with him to install a couple kitchen appliances in the most disgusting council flat kitchen I've ever seen, no problems. The next day he said he wanted me to do 3 more free days to show I can work with the crew and do other stuff. I explained to him that in any economy people exchange their goods and services for money, and anyone who fell for his game was an idiot.

Second interview came from gumtree. This one was in an actual office with a normal looking person. The salary was low, but there was talk of bonuses and I figured it would be alright, so I took it. This was the job I had the last 5 months. Turns out the salary was for an expected 6 days a week, which was a point of contention between us the whole time, I maybe worked half of them, more than I should have. The work was fine, rewiring 2 Victorian houses, something new to me, a challenge. I was in a little over my head seeing as I had never done any work here and it is a fair bit different. Luckily enough they hired another electrician to do the permits and he worked a couple days a week on and off so I was able to ask questions.

Without going on too much, the owner continued to show his flaws as the job went on. I wasn't sure if he was malicious or just an idiot and I'm still not. People were frequently owed money, the owners were often lied to, the job is still going. It just wasn't a good situation in more ways than I care to mention. Over the last couple months the other electrician had been mentioning he had a job starting and would hire me when it did.

So 2 weeks ago that job started and I was able to quit the first one, finally. It was a long way away, 45 miles south, 3 hours of driving a day, and about £15 petrol a day. But I liked the guy, the pay was much better, and it got me out of a bad situation, so we bought a car (and then another car) and I started working for him. The work was fine for the first couple weeks as I sorted out my tax forms from the previous company and registered as self employed. Once that was settled and we again discussed my rate, this guy tells me he has shopped around and can get somebody cheaper. So basically I had put off my job search 2 months, bought a car, quit my job (shitty, but still a job) and worked 2 weeks before he decided to lower our agreed rate. This would be a dick move for anyone, but I actually trusted this guy and considered him a friend, so it stung, and still does. What he was offering was no longer enough to drive that far and pay that much gas every day, so that was the end of that.

My job search lasted all of 1 day, which was awesome, and the first sign of good luck of the job front so far. I started today, it's with a company of 80 guys and multiple jobs, similar to what I'm used to back home and so much more reliable. Everyone at the site I was at today was Aussie or Kiwi, and apparently the whole company is, so that should be funny. The pay is much better than the first two jobs (Finally surpassed the halfway point on what I made in Vancouver!) and the work is in Central London which is not such a bad commute and interesting to be right in the thick of London's work force. It's still early and there's plenty of time and ways for me to get screwed over again, but like I said, I'm cautiously optimistic.

I've tried to be concise, but work really has consumed the bulk of my time and thoughts here, and it's been an incredibly trying and educational experience. I've been the driving force for our staying in London the last couple months so I've really had to stay positive about my work situation. I guess I've been fortunate to be able to have any work, it could certainly be worse, but when it's so much easier back home it can be hard to make a convincing argument to stay here. It's been a very turbulent week, and a very interesting first 6 months of work in London, hopefully it's about to get easier.

-Justin