On the Clock Critique - Essay Example

A few years ago I decided to move to another city and do something worthy of myself. I lived with friends, so the rent I was paying was quite a bargain. I was driven and started looking for work immediately. After two months of desperate searching, I landed in a travel agency as a sales consultant. The job was an hour and a half away by public transport and I had to change 2 trains and a bus to get there. I started at 10 and finished at 7 with an hour's lunch break. I was waking up at 7.30, getting dressed out of the door by 8, to ensure that I was there at least 10 minutes before my shift and had enough time to buy breakfast before work. I never finished at 7 pm. Sometimes I had to stay until 8, so until I got home it was a good 9.30 pm. I was also required to work on Saturdays 3 times a month. I managed to stay at this job for 2 months. I couldn't handle the 3 hours of traveling any longer, the low salary, and 6 days of work commitment. This was one of the most demanding and exhausting jobs I ever had.

An anecdotal experience was when a customer called while I was still working for the travel agency asking to book a holiday to Luxor. We were talking for about 45 minutes about pyramids, nightlife, pools, and kids' activities. I was just confirming the flights to Las Vegas when the customer interrupted me very bewildered. It turned out that, he wanted to go to Luxor in Egypt and I was talking about the hotel Luxor in Las Vegas. Funnily, the customer recommended me to his brother and in a few days, he called to book Las Vegas – hotel Luxor.

I was working at a very busy and hectic call center. There were always new employees coming and leaving. It was difficult to handle 3 different work shits covering 24 hours. One day, a couple came along and the manager introduced them to the floor. They will be starting work in a few days. They used to work for the call center a few years ago, but moved to another town and now they decided to come back. The conflict arose when the couple informed the manager that they preferred to sit together. There weren't any available stations next to each other. This meant that people should have to be moved and snaffled around to create 2 spaces next to each other. I was ordered to move to another sitting location along with a few more employees. I stood my ground and said that there is no justifiable reason why I should move and asked what was the real reason why they can't sit separately at work. This fiasco continued for a few days and I clearly stated that I am not moving, unless there is a good reason for this. It is very childish to demand to sit together, just because they were a couple. Why would the management treat them differently? Because they were married? Because they used to work for the company before? I thought this is not professional and I should not give up my seat encouraging favoritism. In the end, another colleague agreed to move and they did sit together, next to each other. But deep, inside, I was pleased that I stood my ground.