Why everyone should, at some point in their life, work in housekeeping.

Getting back on track to make my blog up to date, I'll publish the last post that I have access to that I wrote before the unfortunate break-in. There were 4-5 more I hadn't published yet, but they will have to be re-written in time. For now, try out a little housekeeping with me!


I’ve heard people say that everyone should be a server at some point in their life. I have always been appalled when people treat waiters and waitresses poorly, blame them when food is not up to par, and (in the states anyway) tip according to the quality of the food rather than the service. I worked as a server for a few months before I came to NZ and had a bit of a slap in the face while learning how difficult of a job it can be! People are demanding, chefs can be moody, hostesses might seat too many tables at once, and you might not sit down once during your shift. While I agree that everyone should experience this type of stress at some point in their life – in order to better understand how you should probably treat others in similar positions – I have since experienced another job that is just as important for the average consumer to consider walking in the shoes of those on the other side.

Hot Dogs, Marquees, and Keeping House

I set out again with a handful of CV’s and a positive attitude. I stopped at restaurants, retail shops, bars, and even walked out to the local vineyard trying to encourage someone to hire me. The general consensus was that nobody was hiring yet, but come back in a couple months and I should be sweet. Sometimes employers wouldn’t even take my CV to give me a false sense of hope.

Through the job agency, I arranged to do a shift at the hotdog stand during the A&P (Agricultural & Pastoral) Show that weekend. To translate, that means working the food cart at the county fair! While I was in the job agency office arranging it, I also heard the lady on the phone struggling to find “guys” for a shift on Sunday. I asked what the shift was doing – emphasizing my past experience doing stage/technical crew work, and explaining that I can hold my own around “strong guys.” After some hesitation, she gave in and signed me up to help take down the marquees at the conclusion of the A&P Show. Sweet as. I was only in town for a few days before I already had two random jobs arranged to earn some income!

I left my couchsurfer host (Tony)’s place early enough to walk all the way downtown and found the main gate at the show grounds. I was stopped at the gate and asked to show my staff pass, which of course I didn’t have. They insisted I would instead have to pay to enter the show grounds, but I wasn’t about to pay in order to earn money. I called the contact number I was given, and waited for one of the hotdog stand chefs to come retrieve me.