Get a Job!

Well I did it!

I bowed to the pressure of security and economics and got myself a job. The company is called Equator Coffee and I picked up an office position working there from 9-1 each day. OK, OK, it's part time, but it still counts as employment. My creditors will be pleased, as will Revenue Canada. Self-employment I've learned, is not unlike unemployment to banks (at least initially); it makes them skittish and they express that through ludicrous lending rates.

My sister-in-law was trying to help facilitate my return to the workforce (she works with a placement agency). I think I drove her away with my unreasonable demands. Thing is, I have other goals I want to accomplish in my life and right now, a job is a necessary means to a critical end. This realization has come at the end of much reflection, introspection and many visits to the library. I finally get it though and I'm not going to forget it.

This opportunity, I hope, will provide me with a chance to learn the coffee business. I always envisioned myself owning/operating a coffee shop in my golden years. I love coffee and the atmosphere of coffee shops. Not the big chains, but quiet coffee shops where good music is playing in the background and where people are tapping away at the keys of their portable computers. The air is thick with the smell of roasting coffee. Today's newspaper is disassembled; its sections are littered across a half-dozen small bistro tables. The barista is carefully stacking biscotti and croissants in the glass display case. That's my vision.

Equator Coffee purchases its product from fair trade certified coffee cooperatives. Why is this important? Well, first of all it's socially responsible and secondly, it's important to me to work for a company that has goals other than the accumulation of wealth. I figure that I have been blessed with skills and I choose not to waste them by helping the greedy line their own pockets. The first real position I held was working for a very wealthy, very mean man who owned a franchise of food stores. In short, he was an ass, but he did help me arrive at my decision to establish criteria for prospective employers. It's one of the few good things that ever came of that job. Since then, I have been more discriminating in choosing my employment. So far, so good.

If you're not familiar with fair trade coffee, here's the link to Equator Coffee's web site:

http://www.equator.ca/aboutus/fairtrade.asp

I'll keep you updated on my progress. Learning a new job is always fun and exciting and stressful so I'm sure I'll have lots to write about. Wish me luck!