Everybody who moves to a foreign country has to face it. Looking for a job is stressful enough in your own country, not to mention a different one. Let's face it, we all come here without experience from the destination country. In my case, the UK. The majority do not speak fluent English, so they have an extra stress to deal with. but even for a person like me, fluent in English, I have to make certain sacrifices to reach my goal one day.
The first one was starting with a job I had never done before, and which has got no relations to my previous profession. As a previous very experienced teacher I was used to manage my time, my projects, the way I wanted to teach and even who I wanted to teach. As long as I reached to targets for the schools I worked for, or as long as my private students passed their language exams, nobody ever told me how to do my job. "Just do it with the results you produce and we are happy."
When I came to the UK I had no UK equivalent qualification and I had no idea how I could have it. All I heard was that I need to do extra college years to get my degree here. I had no money and time for that, so I started to look for something else instantly as I needed to earn money. Customer service is a job most people would start with who speak English at a communicative level. So I sign my first contract. I hated it. My boss was horrible, and English customer service is really different from Hungarian. Here you have to be humble, always full of apologies for no reasons, harshly 'licking asses for very little money' (apologies for the language...). That is really not my nature, but I have to do it as it earns my living. People here in the UK are very cheeky generally when it comes to customer service, as they know that in harsh capitalism all companies will do anything to keep customers and to attract more. So we end up people complaining about the barista not stirring their tea at a coffee shop, about a meal being awful but they eat it fully, and so on. I have so many stories that I regret I have never collected them in a book as it would be worth to publish.
Central London is the worst of all, there people are extremely rude and they would go any distances for a free drink or meal or a refund. So I have been dealing with this for four years now.
Partly it was my fault.In 2013 I found out on a Facebook forum in a Hungarian group that with a teacher degree we can actually apply for the UK validation through the National College for Teacher Training for free. No need for NARIC, the organisation who qualifies foreign qualifications. I will always be grateful for that person who shared the link as still, even on the website of The Department of Education they never mention this free option. So I sent my degree and I got my QTS back in about two weeks. And ever since, I never did anything, just started now. You can ask why.
As I mentioned previously, self-esteem is highly ruined in most cases with foreign workers. We come here as somebodies (doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc) and all of a sudden we become nobodies. I have been shouted and looked down so many times that finally I started to feel very little. And that is no good for starting a professional life. |Even though I speak really good English, I did not dare to apply for teaching positions. It is better now, as in posh Surrey from my posh customers got the re-assurance and self-esteem I needed. Yes, because if these rich and usually highly educated people think I deserve more, than I may believe it. Thanks for that for all my customers here :)
Another factor is being comfortable. When somebody starts working for customer service, money comes relatively quickly and you never have to fear that there will be no more work. It gives you the feeling of security. And let's admit, after the constant uncertainty and insecurity of living in Hungary, it feels so good. This feeling keeps us, and kept me, in this role for years and years. Also, in my case, my other half learnt to speak English, became a chef, which is a highly needed role here, so I now he will always have a job, even if I need a bit of time to change.
Right now I am also studying medical administration. I really want to work for the NHS, which is the National Healthcare System in the UK. I always wanted to work in healthcare, but at home teaching came quickly, I was good at it and too busy to ever consider changing. One great advantage of living in a foreign country is the new chance to build a new you. That is what I am doing now. Even if it is a bit slow, it is constant and I know it will happen one day. I have friends doing the same, respect for all who struggled years to learn a language and get qualifications later to start a new life here. I have couple of friends who used to be nurses in Hungary, saving lives in intensive care units or other departments, and then they were doing cleaning jobs, or old people care for years to develop their language skills and get UK experience or Canadian experience. That is really big and brave! I would never be that brave to go and live in a foreign country without speaking the language decently. I am proud of all my friends.
Well, this is all for today. The cores have been told, and I don't think any of the topics should be discussed too lengthy. I am wishing everyone a nice evening.
Wednesday 30 March 2016
Sunday 27 March 2016
Cultural differences
Today Facebook popped up some memories from this day from previous years, and an article I shared made me bring up this topic:
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/piss-hungarian/
When somebody moves abroad the first few week are both amazing and stressful. This is called a 'cultural shock'. Only those know who ever moved out of their comfort zone and home country, but it is worth of a topic to mention.
First time I went abroad for living was in 1997 when there was no EU, England was an island and it was not easy to get here. I had to go through an Au-pair agency, they sorted everything for me, no web interviews, no easy enter at the border. After a lot of hassle, paying fees, I landed at Heathrow airport, the family waiting for me. It was so big and modern. My boss had a huge Volvo and they loved on a huge farm, breeding Labrador dogs and cows (it was also the year of the mad cow disease, which is all forgotten now, but on that farm in that year I actually felt all the pain and frustration of farmers. I had also learnt to respect them.). I had to go to Slough to register myself and get work permit for that family only. Then I signed up for a language course in a college which seemed to me as something from the future. There was no internet, only writing letters to my parents and friends, and once a week very expensive phone calls through Hungary Direct, which meant my parents paid for phone charges. It was shocking and exciting at the same time. One positive side of it that I have many handwritten letters as memories from my dad who died long time ago, and from my mum and friends. They always warm up my heart when I read them during my visits back to Hungary now.
The biggest cultural shock was still Canada, even though in 2006 when I first went there as a Live-in Caregiver Hungary was already much more developed and open for the western world. But I will never forget the feeling when I landed in Toronto, sat in a huge American car and drove down to my new home. It was like suddenly popping into an American film. Massive highways, wide roads, skyscrapers (I felt dizzy looking at them, they will always fascinate me), different smells and bright bright lights. I felt like Gulliver in the land of giants. After a few weeks I got used to big spaces and different food, however most of my friends suffered from digestion problems and loss of hair because the food is so different and the water is so hard,
An extra positive shock came when I first went to the nature there. Never ever in my life had I seen such colours. the greens, and the colours of fall is so different to the colours in Europe. Later on I learnt at Canadian Studies that the trees have got a unique pigmentation in Canada, therefore you can only see those colours there in the world. Fascinating! The pictures in guide books are not photoshopped, it does look like that. Then we visited Muskoka, where I saw such crystal clear water that I could actually sew the stones at the bottom deep down at about God knows how many meters. Not to mention Niagara Falls and Devil's Punchbowl around Hamilton. Even though I never really felt home there and it was also too cold, I will always be grateful for life that I could experience it and live in that amazing country. One deep regret is that I never saw British Columbia and The Rockies.
And here I am now in England again, Hungary is an EU country and The UK as well. It was easy this time, no work permits, quick issue of a Social Insurance Number for my partner (I did have one from before) and there it is, easy to start looking for a job, all you need is a bank account.
First we lived in Manchester, a place where people are generally very friendly, but also sceptic about foreigners. First time in my life I was stopped in the street and asked what language we speak... There was one funny situation, at least for me, when my dear other half went to buy some beers. While walking home with the beers in his hands, a police car stopped him and wanted to check his identity, as apparently you are not allowed to carry alcohol uncovered there in the street.. Poor my man hardly spoke any English that time, had no ID on him, tried to call me but I was at work not answering the phone, so he ended up being leaded home with the police, they checked his ID there and told him off...He waited for me red faced and angry, but all I could do was laugh. Sometimes we learn cultural differences thorough our own mistakes.
Then came London, an alien. You have to accommodate to all kind of cultures and customs, in a way it is easy to merge there, but you need to have a very high level of tolerance to live within that environment.
Now we live in Surrey. Very posh.. Because of England wanting to quit the EU, and due to the fact that this island is seriously overpopulated now, I can feel first time ever that I am not really wanted here by many people. Customers ask me where I come from, interested in how I came here, but when I start talking to them there are always questions about my opinion on England quitting the EU, about the migrant crisis, etc. It is hard to phrase honestly but in a way I cannot get into trouble. Of course I do have an opinion, but when someone works in customer service, you have to keep it to yourself. It is like politics.
There is also an interesting factor about living on an island. Yes, even if it is a big and powerful country, the United Kingdom is an island. No matter if they part of the EU, they will always be separated by the sea and by the narrowed set of mind that nothing is too important outside the islands coasts as they do not need others, they were fine here for thousands of years. I am still surprised about the lack of international knowledge about nations, other cultures and people. Educated and rich people asked me what the official language is in Hungary (isn't it obvious?), I have been asked if I ride a horse here as we are a horse riding nation (yeah, we were before around year 1000, when finally Steven I settled the Hungarian tribes in the Carpathian Basin...). Saying that being Hungarian or Spanish is the same again makes me surprised... However, I had a young girl colleague in Manchester who was surprised by the fact that her going to Crete actually means going to Greece for a holiday. Education here in the UK is much more laid back and puts much less pressure on students then in Hungary, but on the other side it gives much less general knowledge about the world. You win, you lose. I am not sure if I want my future child being educated here or in Hungary...
Coming from an ex-socialist country, I also see a huge difference in the attitude to life and work between a long-term welfare society and the ones that grew out of ex-dictatorships. Here or in Canada, people are generally very lazy from an Eastern European person's point of view. I have talked about this with many friends, they all agree. In Eastern Europe or in Slavic countries you constantly have to survive, Even if communism is over. Corruption and unemployment is everywhere. You don't know what you are told, you can go home forever. No legal rights, no government help for housing and low incomes. Work until you die, that is all you can do. Nothing is sure, you cannot rely on your recent status in life, it can change in ten minutes any time. politics is everywhere, and incomes are so low that young people have no chance to buy an own flat, not to mention a house as nobody from the middle class could afford mortgage payments, or if they can you cannot be sure if it stays like that for the next 25 years. While in England, Canada you know if you work hard, or at least decently, you will keep your job as long as you can. Firing somebody takes hell of a lot of time and investigation beforehand here, as employees have rights. That is something which was new for me, but now I am getting used to it and I really like it. I do not need to be scared constantly of loosing my job. From a low-income waitress job, I can support my mum, we pay my other half's mortgage and we can travel within the UK or to home regularly. We cannot show too much yet, but I am sure we'll be there in three years time.
I could go on long pages about these cultural differences, but it is high time to stop now and get a bit of rest. As it is Easter weekend, and Bank Holidays are generally nightmares for people in customer service, catering and hospitality. Even if I manage to find a teaching job, I will always respect the people working in this industry as I know how hard and demanding it is. Al right, we get extra paid holiday days during the years, but it will never compensate not having Christmas, New Years Eve and Day, Easter, and so on. Not to mention the fact that never ever in my life I got extra pay for working all these Bank Holidays. Unlike Tube workers, Healthcare workers, etc.
That is all for today. By the way: a 'moggy' is a cat. Yes. And even many English people would not know it :)
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/piss-hungarian/
When somebody moves abroad the first few week are both amazing and stressful. This is called a 'cultural shock'. Only those know who ever moved out of their comfort zone and home country, but it is worth of a topic to mention.
First time I went abroad for living was in 1997 when there was no EU, England was an island and it was not easy to get here. I had to go through an Au-pair agency, they sorted everything for me, no web interviews, no easy enter at the border. After a lot of hassle, paying fees, I landed at Heathrow airport, the family waiting for me. It was so big and modern. My boss had a huge Volvo and they loved on a huge farm, breeding Labrador dogs and cows (it was also the year of the mad cow disease, which is all forgotten now, but on that farm in that year I actually felt all the pain and frustration of farmers. I had also learnt to respect them.). I had to go to Slough to register myself and get work permit for that family only. Then I signed up for a language course in a college which seemed to me as something from the future. There was no internet, only writing letters to my parents and friends, and once a week very expensive phone calls through Hungary Direct, which meant my parents paid for phone charges. It was shocking and exciting at the same time. One positive side of it that I have many handwritten letters as memories from my dad who died long time ago, and from my mum and friends. They always warm up my heart when I read them during my visits back to Hungary now.
The biggest cultural shock was still Canada, even though in 2006 when I first went there as a Live-in Caregiver Hungary was already much more developed and open for the western world. But I will never forget the feeling when I landed in Toronto, sat in a huge American car and drove down to my new home. It was like suddenly popping into an American film. Massive highways, wide roads, skyscrapers (I felt dizzy looking at them, they will always fascinate me), different smells and bright bright lights. I felt like Gulliver in the land of giants. After a few weeks I got used to big spaces and different food, however most of my friends suffered from digestion problems and loss of hair because the food is so different and the water is so hard,
An extra positive shock came when I first went to the nature there. Never ever in my life had I seen such colours. the greens, and the colours of fall is so different to the colours in Europe. Later on I learnt at Canadian Studies that the trees have got a unique pigmentation in Canada, therefore you can only see those colours there in the world. Fascinating! The pictures in guide books are not photoshopped, it does look like that. Then we visited Muskoka, where I saw such crystal clear water that I could actually sew the stones at the bottom deep down at about God knows how many meters. Not to mention Niagara Falls and Devil's Punchbowl around Hamilton. Even though I never really felt home there and it was also too cold, I will always be grateful for life that I could experience it and live in that amazing country. One deep regret is that I never saw British Columbia and The Rockies.
And here I am now in England again, Hungary is an EU country and The UK as well. It was easy this time, no work permits, quick issue of a Social Insurance Number for my partner (I did have one from before) and there it is, easy to start looking for a job, all you need is a bank account.
First we lived in Manchester, a place where people are generally very friendly, but also sceptic about foreigners. First time in my life I was stopped in the street and asked what language we speak... There was one funny situation, at least for me, when my dear other half went to buy some beers. While walking home with the beers in his hands, a police car stopped him and wanted to check his identity, as apparently you are not allowed to carry alcohol uncovered there in the street.. Poor my man hardly spoke any English that time, had no ID on him, tried to call me but I was at work not answering the phone, so he ended up being leaded home with the police, they checked his ID there and told him off...He waited for me red faced and angry, but all I could do was laugh. Sometimes we learn cultural differences thorough our own mistakes.
Then came London, an alien. You have to accommodate to all kind of cultures and customs, in a way it is easy to merge there, but you need to have a very high level of tolerance to live within that environment.
Now we live in Surrey. Very posh.. Because of England wanting to quit the EU, and due to the fact that this island is seriously overpopulated now, I can feel first time ever that I am not really wanted here by many people. Customers ask me where I come from, interested in how I came here, but when I start talking to them there are always questions about my opinion on England quitting the EU, about the migrant crisis, etc. It is hard to phrase honestly but in a way I cannot get into trouble. Of course I do have an opinion, but when someone works in customer service, you have to keep it to yourself. It is like politics.
There is also an interesting factor about living on an island. Yes, even if it is a big and powerful country, the United Kingdom is an island. No matter if they part of the EU, they will always be separated by the sea and by the narrowed set of mind that nothing is too important outside the islands coasts as they do not need others, they were fine here for thousands of years. I am still surprised about the lack of international knowledge about nations, other cultures and people. Educated and rich people asked me what the official language is in Hungary (isn't it obvious?), I have been asked if I ride a horse here as we are a horse riding nation (yeah, we were before around year 1000, when finally Steven I settled the Hungarian tribes in the Carpathian Basin...). Saying that being Hungarian or Spanish is the same again makes me surprised... However, I had a young girl colleague in Manchester who was surprised by the fact that her going to Crete actually means going to Greece for a holiday. Education here in the UK is much more laid back and puts much less pressure on students then in Hungary, but on the other side it gives much less general knowledge about the world. You win, you lose. I am not sure if I want my future child being educated here or in Hungary...
Coming from an ex-socialist country, I also see a huge difference in the attitude to life and work between a long-term welfare society and the ones that grew out of ex-dictatorships. Here or in Canada, people are generally very lazy from an Eastern European person's point of view. I have talked about this with many friends, they all agree. In Eastern Europe or in Slavic countries you constantly have to survive, Even if communism is over. Corruption and unemployment is everywhere. You don't know what you are told, you can go home forever. No legal rights, no government help for housing and low incomes. Work until you die, that is all you can do. Nothing is sure, you cannot rely on your recent status in life, it can change in ten minutes any time. politics is everywhere, and incomes are so low that young people have no chance to buy an own flat, not to mention a house as nobody from the middle class could afford mortgage payments, or if they can you cannot be sure if it stays like that for the next 25 years. While in England, Canada you know if you work hard, or at least decently, you will keep your job as long as you can. Firing somebody takes hell of a lot of time and investigation beforehand here, as employees have rights. That is something which was new for me, but now I am getting used to it and I really like it. I do not need to be scared constantly of loosing my job. From a low-income waitress job, I can support my mum, we pay my other half's mortgage and we can travel within the UK or to home regularly. We cannot show too much yet, but I am sure we'll be there in three years time.
I could go on long pages about these cultural differences, but it is high time to stop now and get a bit of rest. As it is Easter weekend, and Bank Holidays are generally nightmares for people in customer service, catering and hospitality. Even if I manage to find a teaching job, I will always respect the people working in this industry as I know how hard and demanding it is. Al right, we get extra paid holiday days during the years, but it will never compensate not having Christmas, New Years Eve and Day, Easter, and so on. Not to mention the fact that never ever in my life I got extra pay for working all these Bank Holidays. Unlike Tube workers, Healthcare workers, etc.
That is all for today. By the way: a 'moggy' is a cat. Yes. And even many English people would not know it :)
Saturday 26 March 2016
Language funs
As a foreigner, there will always be great laughs about certain language mistakes or misunderstandings. I have been very tired in the last couple of weeks, so I managed to have some funny situations, even though it is not very common for me. 'Vinegar ice cream' instead of vanilla, 'biscuit' instead of brisket (anyway, who the hell knows what a brisket of beef is? Even some of my English colleagues had no idea, which made me feel better).
As someone graduated from English and American literature and language, I am always fascinated by language differences and mistakes. And let's admit, English pronunciation is a tricky little 'alien' for everyone whose mother tongue is not English. Sometimes it can even be tricky for English people :))
I always try to detect the origin of words, English language is a great target from this point of view. Many times the word says it all.. Like I had one of those 'aha' moments when I realised why a cling film is a cling film. Isn't it obvious? It is so clingy! I keep telling myself that I will collect these language bits but then I am too lazy to do it. Such a shame... But never say never :) Usually it all comes during conversations, a bit more often nowadays as I have an English friend who is similarly interested n languages. We can have endless conversations about all these things. Last time we went for a walk around the lovely area here. So he came up with all these words for the same action: rambling, walking, wondering, hiking, roaming. How beautiful... But when we asked a walking group whom we met on our way, they had no idea about whether they were rambling or walking. And they added that the South African member would say they were hiking.
Same about the rain and moist here in England. Raining, drizzling, shower, pouring, hazy, misty, foggy, moggy. Us foreigners will always struggle using these, even if we have a thesaurus with us, as one has to feel it. Language is so varied, so changing all the time that even with our own mother tongue, we can never stop learning. Isn't it mesmerising? I wish I was better at linguistics, not literature... But I wasn't.... :)
Writing a blog in English is a new and exciting experience for me. To be honest, last time I wrote longer texts was at university when my writing skills were really good. Using academic language at an everyday basis was so much different. This is one of my great sadnesses. Finishing uni and stopping teaching resulted in the declining of my academic language skills. Years of customer service reduced my language use for basic sentences, especially in Central London where I had to 'dum' my English to be understood, as not many people speak highbrow English in the area I was based.
Here in Surrey it is the other way round. You would get phone calls like: "Hello, I am calling to enquire about the availability of a table at your restaurant for tomorrow at lunchtime." Ha-ha, well said :))) This was today :))
This post is less 'heavy' then the opening one, though I should not scare away the new readers, rather attract them :)
For real fun, here is my favourite poem that demonstrates the tricky nature of English pronunciation:
http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html
Hope you enjoyed it. I am happy to get comments about language matters and I am always interested in rarely used words and phrases. Ah, by the way: who knows what a 'moggy' is? I will give the answer in the next post.
As someone graduated from English and American literature and language, I am always fascinated by language differences and mistakes. And let's admit, English pronunciation is a tricky little 'alien' for everyone whose mother tongue is not English. Sometimes it can even be tricky for English people :))
I always try to detect the origin of words, English language is a great target from this point of view. Many times the word says it all.. Like I had one of those 'aha' moments when I realised why a cling film is a cling film. Isn't it obvious? It is so clingy! I keep telling myself that I will collect these language bits but then I am too lazy to do it. Such a shame... But never say never :) Usually it all comes during conversations, a bit more often nowadays as I have an English friend who is similarly interested n languages. We can have endless conversations about all these things. Last time we went for a walk around the lovely area here. So he came up with all these words for the same action: rambling, walking, wondering, hiking, roaming. How beautiful... But when we asked a walking group whom we met on our way, they had no idea about whether they were rambling or walking. And they added that the South African member would say they were hiking.
Same about the rain and moist here in England. Raining, drizzling, shower, pouring, hazy, misty, foggy, moggy. Us foreigners will always struggle using these, even if we have a thesaurus with us, as one has to feel it. Language is so varied, so changing all the time that even with our own mother tongue, we can never stop learning. Isn't it mesmerising? I wish I was better at linguistics, not literature... But I wasn't.... :)
Writing a blog in English is a new and exciting experience for me. To be honest, last time I wrote longer texts was at university when my writing skills were really good. Using academic language at an everyday basis was so much different. This is one of my great sadnesses. Finishing uni and stopping teaching resulted in the declining of my academic language skills. Years of customer service reduced my language use for basic sentences, especially in Central London where I had to 'dum' my English to be understood, as not many people speak highbrow English in the area I was based.
Here in Surrey it is the other way round. You would get phone calls like: "Hello, I am calling to enquire about the availability of a table at your restaurant for tomorrow at lunchtime." Ha-ha, well said :))) This was today :))
This post is less 'heavy' then the opening one, though I should not scare away the new readers, rather attract them :)
For real fun, here is my favourite poem that demonstrates the tricky nature of English pronunciation:
http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html
Hope you enjoyed it. I am happy to get comments about language matters and I am always interested in rarely used words and phrases. Ah, by the way: who knows what a 'moggy' is? I will give the answer in the next post.
Friday 25 March 2016
There is always a last moment when somebody starts writing a blog. It can be a happy moment, a sad moment or a frustrating one. All of a sudden, the person feels that she has to let it out and then the blog is created. For me it was yesterday at work, At the moment I am a waitress in England, which has nothing to do with my original profession (I am a teacher), but it earns my living for now. So.. I was serving a couple when the man asked me if I was Spanish. I said no, I am Hungarian. "Oh, it's almost the same, isn't it?" That was the answer....
That was the moment when I smiled, but inside I felt my anger coming up after four years of living here and being exposed to countless similar situations. Mention should be made, this is not the first time I live abroad, it all started in 1997 when I was 18, England, Canada, I lived at many places and experienced different attitudes throughout all these years. I have to admit, the world is changing...
In 1997 I came to England as an Au-pair and I generally enjoyed it. The contrast between my home country and UK was enormous, we were not even talking about the EU, so England was still very "English". You know what I mean...
Many years have passed, Canada was a different world and I do not want to get into details now, maybe later at certain points for comparison. Now here we are with my other half in England, he used to be a fire fighter, now a chef, me a teacher and now a waitress. I do have my Qualified Teacher Status, actually for about two years now, but my self esteem was ruined so badly that I just started to look for a job within my profession again.
Why is the self esteem ruined. This is something that only those understand who gave up everything and move abroad to start a new life in the hope of a better one. All ex communist countries are crashing, there are millions struggling with similar feelings, I am not alone, just trying to write it out as I am very much of a person of words.
You have a life in your home country. You are appreciated, have status, friends, a home with privacy, family. Then you decide to torn yourself from that bubble and start a new life abroad. Most people choose England because English language is the most commonly spoken one, taught in every school and there are lots of jobs still around this island and the language is not that hard to learn. And let's admit, everybody knows somebody who live in the UK.
So I am here as well, mainly because I speak English at a very high level (I would never expose myself to a situation when I am completely dependent on others because of language barriers), partly because I know how to live here as I have lived here before. Convenient.
First we loved it. Even me, jobs came quickly, money was decent compared to the Hungarian salaries we earned. But the bubble soon popped... I started to feel that I have to pay a huge price for the money I am earning, which after four years, does not seem that much any more. Enough to pay the mortgage at home and support my mum, but not for much more. We still cannot go for fancy holidays, and we have been living in shared flats for years now, no privacy and lots of conflicts. By now I started to wonder if it is worth.
During these years my other half learnt to speak English from scratch to a decent communication level, he became a chef from a kitchen porter and he feels good like this, even though nothing can substitute fire fighting. His self esteem and social identity is quite messed up.
And me... From being somebody, a respected teacher, national examiner and a highly qualified tutor, I became a customer service person, smiling and licking asses for minimal wage and tips for people who look down on me, or behave like pigs just because they are paying for a certain level of service. The surprising fact is that the less they pay, the less civilised they are. Right now I work in Surrey, the richest county of England, and here the type of mental and social abuse is much less than during my years in Central London. Actually, Central London is the worst place ever to work at as a customer service assistant. You are nobody, people just want your service and pay, they are not interested in you, or even look down on you. There are exemptions of course, I had some regular customers who became like me and then learnt to appreciate me. The feeling is mutual, and I will always be grateful for that, they kept me going. Interestingly, they were all highly educated people who saw behind the scenes.
Still, it is not enough. Simply statements like the opening situation in this blog would make me shrink again, raging why I have to endure all this. I am about the change and get a teaching job again, so it will be interesting to see how different that will be after many years in customer service. This is one reason why I started this blog, to see the transition, document it and still give out the frustration created by customer service and my stage of life that I hate. We'll see if anyone reads it and interested in it. I am not going to promote my blog with friends and family, I would rather just write for myself and to the world and to those who are interested in these feelings or those who feel similarly. Those who know me will recognise me anyway >OFeel free to comment :) If not, then just read and enjoy. Abusive comments will not be answered and will be deleted. This is a peaceful blog with no hidden purposes and messages, free from politics and racism. Please respect this.
I have to got to work soon.... Will post again. Have a nice day everyone.
That was the moment when I smiled, but inside I felt my anger coming up after four years of living here and being exposed to countless similar situations. Mention should be made, this is not the first time I live abroad, it all started in 1997 when I was 18, England, Canada, I lived at many places and experienced different attitudes throughout all these years. I have to admit, the world is changing...
In 1997 I came to England as an Au-pair and I generally enjoyed it. The contrast between my home country and UK was enormous, we were not even talking about the EU, so England was still very "English". You know what I mean...
Many years have passed, Canada was a different world and I do not want to get into details now, maybe later at certain points for comparison. Now here we are with my other half in England, he used to be a fire fighter, now a chef, me a teacher and now a waitress. I do have my Qualified Teacher Status, actually for about two years now, but my self esteem was ruined so badly that I just started to look for a job within my profession again.
Why is the self esteem ruined. This is something that only those understand who gave up everything and move abroad to start a new life in the hope of a better one. All ex communist countries are crashing, there are millions struggling with similar feelings, I am not alone, just trying to write it out as I am very much of a person of words.
You have a life in your home country. You are appreciated, have status, friends, a home with privacy, family. Then you decide to torn yourself from that bubble and start a new life abroad. Most people choose England because English language is the most commonly spoken one, taught in every school and there are lots of jobs still around this island and the language is not that hard to learn. And let's admit, everybody knows somebody who live in the UK.
So I am here as well, mainly because I speak English at a very high level (I would never expose myself to a situation when I am completely dependent on others because of language barriers), partly because I know how to live here as I have lived here before. Convenient.
First we loved it. Even me, jobs came quickly, money was decent compared to the Hungarian salaries we earned. But the bubble soon popped... I started to feel that I have to pay a huge price for the money I am earning, which after four years, does not seem that much any more. Enough to pay the mortgage at home and support my mum, but not for much more. We still cannot go for fancy holidays, and we have been living in shared flats for years now, no privacy and lots of conflicts. By now I started to wonder if it is worth.
During these years my other half learnt to speak English from scratch to a decent communication level, he became a chef from a kitchen porter and he feels good like this, even though nothing can substitute fire fighting. His self esteem and social identity is quite messed up.
And me... From being somebody, a respected teacher, national examiner and a highly qualified tutor, I became a customer service person, smiling and licking asses for minimal wage and tips for people who look down on me, or behave like pigs just because they are paying for a certain level of service. The surprising fact is that the less they pay, the less civilised they are. Right now I work in Surrey, the richest county of England, and here the type of mental and social abuse is much less than during my years in Central London. Actually, Central London is the worst place ever to work at as a customer service assistant. You are nobody, people just want your service and pay, they are not interested in you, or even look down on you. There are exemptions of course, I had some regular customers who became like me and then learnt to appreciate me. The feeling is mutual, and I will always be grateful for that, they kept me going. Interestingly, they were all highly educated people who saw behind the scenes.
Still, it is not enough. Simply statements like the opening situation in this blog would make me shrink again, raging why I have to endure all this. I am about the change and get a teaching job again, so it will be interesting to see how different that will be after many years in customer service. This is one reason why I started this blog, to see the transition, document it and still give out the frustration created by customer service and my stage of life that I hate. We'll see if anyone reads it and interested in it. I am not going to promote my blog with friends and family, I would rather just write for myself and to the world and to those who are interested in these feelings or those who feel similarly. Those who know me will recognise me anyway >OFeel free to comment :) If not, then just read and enjoy. Abusive comments will not be answered and will be deleted. This is a peaceful blog with no hidden purposes and messages, free from politics and racism. Please respect this.
I have to got to work soon.... Will post again. Have a nice day everyone.
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