I thought finding another retail
job would be easier because I now had experience. Like before, though, it was a
couple of weeks before I found one; most companies weren't hiring or weren't
interested. Finally the manager of a Coles bookstore downtown sounded
interested. We proposed the idea of a six-month work experience. It sounded like a great fit because it was
still retail and I enjoyed reading. She accepted our proposal and I started
working there three days a week. However, this work experience was without pay,
without even a free bus fare. This made me frustrated because I knew it wasn’t
fair, but I went along with it anyway for the experience and knowledge. Also, I
didn’t know what I wanted to do yet, so these were learning experiences for me.
At the end of six months, the manager and us agreed to review my performance
and discuss a wage.
Like at Nevada Bob's, my worker
was with me for the first two weeks and I worked independently after that. My
job was to sort and shelve new books. The store was on two levels; I couldn't
reach the other floor where we kept some non-fiction sections because there was
no elevator. The back room at Coles was also too small and cramped for me, so my
friendly coworkers arranged the books on a cart at the back of the store. When I wasn't sure where a book belonged, I
would check the ISBN in the computer, and write down the location. After a couple of weeks, I had it down pat! My mom made me a book bag to keep at the front
of my wheelchair so I could carry more than one book at a time and didn't have
to make so many trips.
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