Michelle's job log: 2

The story so far... Michelle Gage left university last year and found a job a few months later as an assistant to lecturers at Manchester University. She also works Sundays in a fashion store.

Email rage

Last week I almost completely hit the roof over an email! It makes me laugh how rude people can be in an email, even when they’ve just been face-to-face with you two minutes before and could have aired their views there and then.

The problem with email is that you can never quite tell the context of which someone is saying something. It’s so easy to take something the wrong way and half the time I think if an email is more than three lines long it can seem like someone’s having a complete rant. I’ve noticed as well that every time I take a day off (an entitled one, not a sicky) it seems that I have to be punished the next day for it. It’s as though people think ‘right you’ve had a day off so now you’re back you can work twice as hard and twice as fast and you deserve it for swanning off and enjoying annual leave, how dare you!’ There have actually been times when I‘ve thought, is it really worth taking this annual leave, because I know that when I see the flood of emails on my return I’ll wish I had never bothered.

This whole email saga last week almost, almost made me hand my notice in, I know it’s a bit dramatic but that’s me, I don’t do things by halves! Luckily it’s true that it really is good to talk. I went and had a long chat with someone who just knows how to put everything into perspective and at the end I was just thinking wow I nearly quit over an email. It seems petty but there’s one thing I can’t stand and that’s ‘stress heads’ who try and put their stress on you. Anyway, after our talk it seems I’ve had a complete turn around so now I’ve got this whole new appreciation of this job. I think when you’re doing something day in day out and everything becomes too familiar, it’s good to just remember back to when it was all new. So now I’m feeling completely refreshed, efficient and on top of the game. I’ve crossed everything off my to-do list and so can relax and write this, until the next tasks come in.

Good mornings

Another good thing this week is that I’ve been able to wake up earlier, meaning that I’ve been able to leave work earlier at the end of the day so that I can cram more things into my evenings. For weeks it seemed like I had some sort of temporary insomnia, where I would just keeping waking up throughout the night and then couldn’t wake up before 8 in the morning, so was getting to work at around 10am each day. When you get in late it feels like the whole structure of your day has been ruined, you don’t know when to take lunch, you can’t go when everyone else is going and you know you’re going to have missed deal or no deal by the time you get back.

The weird thing is, I have actually been burning the candle at both ends this weekend, but still feel really energetic. On Friday I finished work, packed my bags and drove to the Midlands and saw my mum, my friends, cousins etc. then on Saturday I drove back to Manchester, got home and got ready then went straight out for a night out in Huddersfield, from which I got home at 7am Sunday morning. Then I had work (my other job) at 9am that same Sunday, but couldn’t hack it so went to bed for an hour then went into work for 11am and finished at 6pm! It was hard work but definitely worth it, and it looks like this weekend’s going to be pretty much the same, with some of my friends coming up to Manchester on the weekend. Working Sundays as well is such a killer after being out on a Saturday night, but I actually really love the job so I’ll just stick at it and bear the exhaustion.

In balance

So one more good thing for me recently is that I checked my bank balance, which OK is not a major thing, but for me it is pretty brave. So there I was expecting the usual £next-to-nothing and instead was shocked to discover that after eight months of being in full-time permanent employment I can proudly say I am finally out of overdraft! I couldn’t believe it, it was just so alien to see a positive figure on my statement. I’m thinking though, that the revelation might just resurrect the shopaholic in me as I’ve already started thinking that I could do with a new laptop and a new camera oh yes and a new TV.

I’m wondering if this is the new me now, a person who gets paid and can actually reap the benefits myself. That hefty graduate overdraft was handy I’ve got to admit but never do I want to get that deep into it again!

• Read Michelle's job log: 1.

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