Etherised Patient

When I said I wouldn’t go into more detail about work? I totally lied.

Job Two has so far been fun and interesting. Last time I blogged about Job Two, I was still three days away from commencing work, but now I can explain more about what I do. My workplace is basically an Internet/computer café and print centre in one, and part of a larger company (I work next door to the company’s human resources office).

The following is some of what the job entails:

• Entering user details in Lotus Notes and FileMaker Pro (on an iMac, which I am gradually learning all the shortcuts/gestures for). Everything is organised and run through FileMaker Pro, including the register.
• Organising and taking money for our services, including printing, laminating, binding, and t-shirt printing.
• Helping users with their computer woes.

Overall, I’m very happy with Job Two. It allows for multi-tasking and a decent level of independence. The Boss will generally be floating around the office, of course, but he’s on paternal leave at the moment.

I’ve mentioned this before, but with casual jobs, it’s rather hard to predict yearly (or even monthly) income in advance, on account of sometimes-erratic hours. I don’t have many expenses and don’t need a consistent amount of money each week, but it’s nice to be able to predict. If I do the minimum possible hours at two jobs, that’s only about $150AUD a week.¹ It would probably be more realistic to look at upwards of $200 a week, but I like to underestimate. It’s a decent wage for a teenager, y/n?

It’s been suggested that I apply for a credit card, though I’d seldom have a reason to use it — getting into debt is the exact opposite of what I’m trying to do! I do currently have an additional card on my dad’s account which was used when I went overseas sans parents (but on a school excursion instead), and a few times since for Important Purchases. Whether I’ll end up using it isn’t much of a problem considering I won’t have any fees on account of me being a student. Tough life I have, with this lack of exorbitant bank fees adults constantly complain about (rightly so, but still…)

1. Before tax. Apparently second jobs are taxed at a higher rate, which is lame considering I’ll be earning far more at the job I didn’t already claim the tax-free threshold from. Problem could possibly be solved if I talk to The Boss at Job One and stop claiming the threshold there, but he isn’t aware of my second job — I don’t want to cause ~*dramaz*~, which I probably wouldn’t anyway — I suspect he’d be perfectly “cool” with it. At any rate, perhaps I’ll be able to grab back some of the money that gets taxed, in July. I should actually learn more about this stuff..! [↩]