It has been just over 8 weeks since I left Intuto crying, and singing and bleary, and my feet have barely touched the ground.  New systems, new people, new meaningless acronyms, new Ernest Adam slice flavours to taste test.  Busy Busy.  It can certainly get overwhelming.  If I could wish away some (most) of the paper work I would – you know I am trying.  Watch this space.  But I do get some room to be myself managing my team, which I do really appreciate.

Hence the “peculiar approach’ comment.  I sent one of my merchandisers a note thanking her for her hard work.  She put up a copy of the letter on our Private Facebook page.  (Finally worked out how to combine work and Facebook – kind of like how I did at Intuto – Ok at Intuto I just spent work time on Facebook)  She thanked me for the letter and said I have a peculiar approach.

I am sure she means great, she is Russian so it could be a translation thing 🙂

 

Maybe I do have a peculiar approach. Who writes letters anymore – weirdo.  But I do want my team to feel appreciated for the work they do.  Because I sure can’t merchandise the way they do.

So I think that I have finally realised my strength is cheer leading – without the flips and splits*.  And that it is ok to use that strength and in fact make it a key part of what I do.  What the hell, I am going to embrace the peculiar.  Isn’t that what getting to 50 should be about?

 

While this blog is on the topic of peculiar.  What about that Brexit thing?  When you have a result that close there are bound to be lots of very disappointed people.  Plenty of difficult and interesting things to sort out.  But I am sure that end of the day John Key will be feeling pretty relaxed about it, and his understanding is that it won’t make much impact to us here in New Zealand.  So nothing to see here people.  What about those All Blacks?

Finally I will share an awesome post by Janey Godley.  A Glaswegian comedian whose work I think is fabulous. She is pretty sweary, which personally I love, but I know not everyone goes for that – Mr Brett thinks Lauren and I are potty mouths and it’s true we are.  But Janey would make his eyes water.

Anyway she wrote a great piece on being a woman and getting to 50.  She is 1 or 2 years older than me. absolutely from my generation.  Although an upbringing in rural NZ is not quite the same as a Glaswegian slum.

https://medium.com/@janeygodley_42972/things-that-change-after-50-dccacac90f75#.kg9o4glr0

*I mean I can give the flips and splits a go but it wouldn’t be pretty trust

 

Mr Brett asked me that question this morning, and I confessed that I was a bit concerned that in order to reach my goal of 40 blogs this year.  I could see myself writing 35 blogs on New Years Eve.  But according to Brett, 3 line blogs don’t count.  Who made him the Blog Police anyway?

So despite the fact that when I fail at things I do like to fail spectacularly.  I have decided to jump back on the Blog Pony – which is a bit like jumping back on the Booze Pony but not as much fun and punch out something witty, thought provoking and informative before bedtime.  Or fall back on old faithful, why this National  Government is a bad thing, and gin is my friend.

Anyway I do have an excuse gentle readers – (I always do, it’s a gift)  Just over a month ago I started a new job, for a new company with new people.  And that has been all very exciting, but exhausting.

Finally after nine years, my Intuto whanau pushed me out of the nest* and I am now a Merchandising Supervisor for Goodman Fielder.

If you don’t know, Goodman Fielder is a global food company that produces heaps of different food ranges and brands including in no particular order

• Vogels
• Edmonds
• Meadow Fresh
• Ernest Adams
• Puhoi Valley
• Gaytime cones (hehe Gaytime)
• Freyas
• Ornelle cheese.

Get the picture, lots of stuff.  And no I don’t get free samples.  Except my weekly 2 loaves of bread allowance.  Which I do avail myself of.

Anyway my new role is Merchandising Supervisor South Auckland.  So I get to supervise the people who put all of those products out in the shelves in the supermarkets of South and East Auckland.    When you next go to a supermarket and you see someone filling the bread racks or putting milk out they may very well not even work for the supermarket, they might work for a company like Goodman Fielder.  These people need supervision,  and that’s where I come in.

Supervising can entail

• are you working in a safe environment?  (Goodman Fielder is really big on health and safety, that’s a good thing)
• do you need more uniform?
• why is that cheese/milk/bread past it’s use by date and still on the shelf?
• where are you, why aren’t you in the store?
• where is your time sheet, so I can pay you?
• where are your safety shoes?
• wearing a high viz vest and safety shoes of your very own
• merchandising

And that is the fun stuff.  Because I have the best people in the best area.  I am discovering a whole part of Auckland, that I kind of knew was there, but never really explored.  A bit like Harry Potter Fan Fiction.  And I freaking love it.  My team are diverse, and interesting and fun, and for the most part work really hard.  The ones who aren’t working so hard, are getting to learn they will get to see a lot of me.  Lucky people.

The not so fun stuff for me, especially after working for my lovely Intuto whanau, I am now just a small cog in a very large corporate wheel.  And being in a large international corporate there seem to be a gazillion systems which require every interaction to be recorded in triplicate.  This is not Natty’s idea of a good time and especially not a Gaytime.  But I am just muddling along the best I can.  And I keep telling myself, if I can keep the St George Dragons organised for the Nines I can manage the gazillion systems, or at least effectively wish them away.

So that is why I have gone to ground a bit.  Learning new stuff in a new organisation is exhausting.  But getting a new role was a challenge I set myself for this year, and a challenge it is certainly proving to be.  But I am up for it, and I feel so lucky and grateful to have the support that I do.

Watch this space, I will try to get a couple more blogs through before my 31 December blogfest 🙂  And I really am getting some better work stories.  I have great Intuto work stories by the way, but I can’t tell them because you know protecting the not so innocent and stuff

Lots of love Natty Bugle

PS The National Government is handling the housing crisis and poverty in an appalling way.  And isn’t John Campbell and his Checkpoint team bloody marvellous.

*Can I just say it is worth working at Intuto just for the leaving party.  There was food, there was wine, there were presents, there was drunken singing, there were tears.  No prizes for guessing who was the key participant in the last two activities.  My new boss actually rang me on the night I left (I answered, Brett was appalled)  She asked what I was doing and I said sitting in the car crying.  Which I was, because you know leaving the loveliest group of people in the world, and wine.  But to my new bosses credit she still made me welcome on Monday.  Hey she needed to know what she was letting herself in for