About two months ago, I started my part-time job in a local bakery here in Japan. For the money, for the experience, for the language. A win-win situation, right? Well, as everything in life, things aren’t as perfect as they first may seem. No, I’m not saying that it’s terrible, I’m still enjoying it and the benefits… keep benefiting, ya know. But there certainly have been interesting moments, to say the least. So let’s spill the tea~
1 Pushing through
First things first, my third day at work, the first week of classes and my having my schedule FILLED. Which means that I decided to play the dangerous game of stopping my alarm and closing my eyes for one more minute. Well, more like ONE HOUR!! I was so disappointed in myself. One can’t really start working at 4:00 am, when you wake up at 4:36 am!! Ughh! So having put on clothes and brushed my teeth, I ran out only to get there by 5:00. No breakfast, because when you oversleep, you don’t deserve it. And that, on top of all the stress, might have led to the next events. About two hours in, I started to feel a bit dizzy, really hot and my vision was getting blurry. I felt like I was about to faint. “Water, I need water!” I thought. So without saying a word, because my Japanese didn’t contain this kind of vocab, I walked out of the baking room to the changing room and chugged some water. Nothing. Maybe even worse. My vision turned black, I had to sit down. That was the moment I realised the health-related vocab really is important and worth learning. What if I just died and no one knew what was happening? Okay, maybe a bit too dramatic, as I got fine after 3-4 minutes and I could return to the baking, but still, it gets you thinking. The end? The embarrassing apology to the owner for being late. Ehh…
2 Round two
Good thing I tend to learn from my mistakes. Because soon enough, it happened again! I did oversleep a little bit this time as well, but only a few minutes and I did get to work on time. And even had breakfast and drank lots of water! It did feel a little bit different, as the sensation wasn’t as strong, my vision was alright. But I did get dizzy and really, really hot and had to sit down. But this time, we were ready – I knew how to talk about it! And because of that… I got sent home. I mean, I appreciate my colleagues worrying about me, but it felt like a complete failure. After all, last time I could finish my work all right despite the incident…
3 Locked out of heaven
Finally, one more thing to talk about – the same week as getting sent home. This time, no oversleeping, being perfectly on time, ready to start. I walk towards the workplace, I grab the doorhandle and I’m about to enter… until I’m not because the door is locked?! Why me? What am I supposed to do in a situation like this? I remember asking the owner whether there’s a back door and she specifically saying that no, but that I didn’t need to worry about that because by the time I get there, there will always be someone and the door will be unlocked. Well, apparently not. I mean, there was definitely someone inside, I could smell the bread, I could see some light coming through and I could even hear the sounds of taking the bread out of the form. So, as any sensible person, I decided to knock. And knock. And nothing happens. Then I checked the shift schedule and found the name of the colleague who was supposed to be there and called her. Still nothing. Then I was like, I know there isn’t any back door… but what if there is?? This, my friends, is called despair. It was already past the time I was supposed to start working.. but I just simply couldn’t. So I decided to look around. Which is quite difficult at 4 am, when it’s still dark. I should’ve realised. But I didn’t and as I was walking, I didn’t see a step, tripped over it and ended up on the floor. Great, just amazing. My trousers were ripped, my knee and hands were bleeding and I just wanted to cry. Being an adult sucks. So, after discovering that there, in fact, is no back door, I returned to the front and only one and just started banging on the door, when, finally, my colleague came to open the door for me at last. And the work day just went on as if nothing had happened.
So yeah, not all sunshine (especially at 4 am) and roses, but it’s all experience. Growing, right? Or am I being delusional and overly optimistic? Life sometimes… it keeps itself spicy, doesn’t it?
*For my people uninterested in/ unknowledgeable about Japanese language and culture, “baito” refers to a part-time job, coming from German word “arbeit” = work, labour. The more you know~
