Saturday 21 June 2014

What I've Been Up to: Pet Sitting


You may have seen in my other posts that I have done some pet sitting before, if not, I looked after a hamster called Steve. However, this time round I looked after my Nan and Grandad's dog whilst they took a weeks holiday in the Isle of Man. My Nan and Grandad agreed to pay me the same amount that they would usually pay the kennels to look after their dog to put towards my expedition (about £50). Regarding that I took the dog for two walks a day (one in the morning and one in the evening) and gave it food and water obviously! 



Not owning a dog myself, I've realised how much hard work owning a dog actually is! The dog is so strong it ends up taking me for a walk rather than me taking the dog for a walk. He constantly wants to play tug-of-war or eat your food; with those puppy-dog-eyes, it's hard to say 'no!'. I still have the dog with me until Tuesday evening when my Nan returns - I'll be glad I don't have to get up at 6:00am to take him for a walk!


Fundraiser:

If you have any relatives that are thinking of going away on holiday who have pets, ask them if you can look after them instead of them leaving their pets in kennels/catteries in exchange for a donation towards your trip.



In the meantime until my next blogpost, here is a silly photo of me, standing in a field, in a ridiculous pose.


Happy fundraising! 


x

Sunday 1 June 2014

I GOT A JOB!

Now, I'm not going to lie, it is so hard to break into the working world with absolutely no experience (other than the nonsense paper-round that I did for THREE years!). Almost every place you apply for wants you to have some sort of experience, whether it be: retail, customer service etc. 

Being young also makes it harder as we are restricted to how many hours we can do a week and how early/late we can start/finish. Though, now I'm 16 and left secondary school I am not so restricted to when I can work. What was holding me back was my lack of experience.

Nevertheless, I hit the computer (not literally..) to print out copies of my covering letters and CV's and started to hand them out to local businesses and chain stores in my local city. Unfortunately, I never heard anything from any of them which left me feeling a little bit peeved as I spent £7 something on a pack of 1st Class stamps!

It wasn't until May this year, my mum found out that one of the local businesses in my town where looking for a Saturday girl to help out here and there. The business is a cute, and dainty tea parlour serving thousands upon thousands of different teas from all over the world and lots of light snacks etc. I didn't hesitate to jump on it and handed in my covering letter, CV and reference letters (to save them writing out to them and speed up the process) the next day. It wasn't until a few weeks later when one of the girls called me up and invited me to an interview! My emotions where contradicting as I was so excited yet trembling in my boots because I had never had an interview for anything before. Plus I missed out on the mock ones at school  for career's day. Despite this, I went in smiling and acting like my normal self and it was over before I knew it! Phew!

I got a phone call a few days later from them telling me they would like to get me in for a trial shift. This allows them to see if I was capable of working there and to see if I actually liked it because behind the scenes it can be a lot of juggling and rushing around! I went in that Saturday and had a trial shift which lasted about 2 hours - I was so nervous but I tried to not let it show and did whatever they asked me to. If I saw something that needed doing, I went for it!

Now, it was just the wonder between the period of the trial shift and the waiting for the phone to ring. Eventually it did ring and they told me they would like to offer me a job with them! I was absolutely ecstatic and over-the-moon! I have now been working there for the past 2 weeks, working roughly 3-days a week (not just Saturdays!); currently learning how to abbreviate orders, take payments and make the 43 different teas that they offer! There is something different to do each day and I really, really enjoy it! 

I was so happy I finally managed to get a job, therefore I can financially contribute myself towards my Borneo trip and my mum can chill out a bit with her overtime! 

I really do recommend that you try and get yourself a little job if you are fundraising for a trip with Camps International - I know it's easier said than done! Just keep on trying, at the end of the day it's the people you know who can help get you little jobs here and there. If you get declined, don't be upset, just move on and keep on trying! 

Good luck!