During my last year of high school, the six school leaders were invited to apply for a Saturday reception job at the local optometrist. I grabbed the opportunity, actually, I believe I was the only one that did so. Which was good, because I can safely say I probably needed the money the most. It was wonderful, I started that very Saturday, and continued right through my college (university) years. The hours were from 8am to 12 on a Saturday, and the pay was enough to provide all my pocket money needs, pay for driving lessons, and whatever else I had need of. The lady I reported to was wonderful and supportive. Her husband was a lecturer at the local university and ran all the consultations at the practice. In my first year working there, I was still unsure of what to do after school. He tried to encourage me to study optometry, but try as I might, I could not get it to grab my interest. It looked totally boring working in a tiny office, marking off consultation after consultation. And having to deal with all the people and their issues. (Can I be left alone?) The wife’s job looked perfect. She ran the practice, made decisions, sorted the post, made sure everything ran smoothly! Could I have her job? In hindsight, perhaps they might have offered to sponsor me in part. I went on to study Computer Science and Applied Math instead.

The only drawback with the job is the candidate should have been bilingual – fluent in English and Afrikaans. My Afrikaans is so weak, I tried but most patients would revert to English once they heard my poor attempts. And also some of the early morning Saturday starts were difficult once I started dating and having late Friday nights!

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