In the business

I've been saying for awhile that I'd post about volunteer work so here it is. I actually haven't been in a few weeks because I started working and also my contract is officially over last week. Still it was a good experience and if I had more time I might still continue volunteering. 

People have asked what I did at the opt shop. When I first started it was sorting and stocking. Basically do that for the stuff that comes in previous days or on the day. Get quite the range of things, from antiques to new items. Depending on what sort of item it is condition matters. Like clothes, who wants to buy stained clothes? But we still get people who end up donating things without checking. So we sort these out. We do try to clean up the stuff we get but for some things there's just no hope. Get quite a few things that we need to throw out. If no one would buy it we need to throw it out to make room for other things. Shop space matters. We end up with things that take quite awhile to sell so it sits out front. Also in general our store is small. We've had offers for furniture but had to refuse because there's just nowhere to put it. So we price what we can and put it on the shelves. Later on I manned the register.Good thing about that is I get to choose the music been played. Pretty much every time Taylor Swift goes straight on the CD player.

Creepy Doll

Multi-battery-type device???

My boss there was pretty good. She's been working there for awhile and knows all the ropes and the mistakes that we will make. When we make a mistake she always tells us she's made the same mistake in the past so it's all okay. Also if we break something she doesn't expect us to pay for it and only ask if anyone got hurt or not. Though she always treats me like a kid. Says because she's a mother she'll always be motherly to someone my age ... or maybe it's the way I act ... Last thing she does a lot of is give the staff discounts. All the things are already decent cheap and half the time we are pricing them. However she still insists on giving us a discount because of our hard work she says. I sometimes still try to pay for things outright ... come on it's for charity.

Just some of the things I bought

I didn't write this
... but wish I did

Thought I had a bit more to write but guess not. Been awhile since working there so probably forgot. Here's the previous blog post about volunteering and here's my vlog post which mentions a bit about my last trip in to the opt shop. Below are a few more photos on the tasks I did there. Enjoy.

Before and After polishing

After Polishing 

Wood polishing

Electronic testing

Sorting Earrings

Work without the work

Ok new vlog is up. More annotation nonsense. 

A bit longer than I wanted but that's what happens with one take, no edit.

Continue to give me feedback and I'll try my best to get better :D

Volunteer, volunteer

Was gonna post about the work for the dole after working a few days but because of being sick here and there I haven't really racked up that many days. To this day it has been 4 weeks since I started but after the first day I was sick that week and the week after. Went in the following Tuesday but they sent me home because was getting a running nose. Then this Tuesday I had to see the doctor for my old elbow injury. Finally managed a full day today. So up to date I have done 3 full days and an half day over 4 weeks ... but I've done a lot apparently ...

For those who don't know they've placed me in an opt shop in Kew so not too hard to get to. The hours ain't bad either because I usually need to start at 9 other places they've sent me but here it's 9:30 and I still end at 5. They're pretty free with the timing (not that I turn up late or anything) but instead of having lunch I leave half hour early. However most people there were half dayers so I meet different people during the day. Everyone I've met there are women but I've heard some men volunteer on some days. They make fun of that fact but I'm used to it working in childcare. I do need to wear an apron for this place though (no I don't usually wear that hat). First day I trammed in. Tram line pretty much goes straight down. Takes half an hour because it's peak hour traffic. Found out we have a car park area for opt shop so I've driven there since. Takes half an hour from my house so lose less time and I don't need to walk. Also good because I can load stuff from the opt shop in my car ... I'll get on that later. So not too bad location wise.

Yeah that hat ... and that face ...

So the work there ... very subjective I say. What I mean is is there's work but it's like you choose what you pick up sort of thing. Nothing is very clear cut. Pricing things is pretty vague. We have to price it so we make money for the charity but we don't want to price it so hardly anyone will consider buying it. And thing is the donations range in conditions from brand new to unsellable. I'm kind of terrible without some sort of structure. At times you'll see me standing around not knowing what to do. I mozzy around looking for something I might have a clue what to do with. But apparently I'm a great help when it comes to tasks I'm allocated because I get them done quick.

Childcare Centre

Opt Shop

Organizing wall peg things ... looks pretty

 Okay quick list of some of these set tasks I've done. First one is ... shredding ... Somehow this job always come to me. Had to do this at the childcare centre I was working in last year ... I'll post photos side by side. They had these sitting around since November last year. Second, counting puzzle pieces ... okay I only did a few of these because I was given this task when I was sick. However I heard the last guy quit because he had to count pieces for one puzzle ... well I didn't quit. okay so the real second is bag sorting. They have these big bags which they fill with stuff to store like summer stuff which we don't put out in the winter. Well they were all shoved in a big bag and some of the big bags were way to big to fill and carry so had to throw out. Seeing the state of the bags just shoved together I thought I'd divide the bags into their various sizes. Was much appreciated. And the third most recently finished task was measuring fabrics. They get like a tonne of fabrics. They had a wall high draw system overflowing with fabrics. Told them I didn't know how much fabric was worth but they just said I needed to measure and sort through them because no one was doing it. Took me one and a half days to get it all measured and sorted. Some of the fabric weighed heaps and some were 6 metres long!?! and I had like minimal work space so I had to fold it many times just to measure it ... Some were both heavy and long. Eventually it was all done. By the way the picture is one of 4 boxed I sorted through not including fabric which had to be thrown out because of stains or cuts. But finally the wall was reduced to 4 well organized draw of measured fabric. Hope I don't have to do that again any time soon. The boss says I've been a big help doing the stuff no one does ... Yeah great. Don't know what I'm going to do next.

So about loading my car ... it's just a few things. I mean I always liked opt shopping but being in the back you find things that don't find their way to the front for different reasons. I got myself some goodies that I've been happily using. You find all sort of things you wouldn't think would be at an opt shop. 

Really should control myself, I already have a lot of gadgets and stuff in my rooms ... 

Awww sitting in the back all by himself

Pretty but no I didn't get it