Work in retrospect

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And just like that, three weeks turn into one day before I have to leave again. Working at Oxfam has been a great experience for me both personally and professionally. Personally because I never had many interactions with my co-workers at my previous jobs, while work at Oxfam required deliberation and cooperation. Professionally because I have never been personally involved with the sale of items the way I was at Oxfam.

I started off at the shop five days after my arrival. The day before I had already met the music shop's manager, Jamie Morrison. He was a great guide for me during work, as he has been working at the shop from the very start. Thus he knew every in and out the shop had to offer. I myself like listening to music, but I am not enough of a fanatic to actually collect vinyl and CDs. Seeing as those are the most commonly bought things in Oxfam music shops, I was introduced to an entire new world of ways to handle and appraise obsolete audio and media. Seeing as I am not a music expert on any level, my tasks were mainly administrative. This involved me cleaning records (which is more meticulous than one would think), editing financial spreadsheets and judging the conditions of CDs and DVDs (the amount of scratches of some were off the charts). Work was slightly jarring at first, because I had never had much autonomy in a working environment. Thus, actually having to make decisions that impact the pricing and sale of products made me nervous. By far the worst task I had was to take pictures of LPs for sale on eBay. The thing is, vinyl is about as reflective as things can get, so for it to not get overexposed you need natural light, which is hard to find in the back room of a shop.

Speaking of the back room, I have never seen so much controlled chaos than I have in there. There were stacks upon stacks of CDs in (to me) seemingly random order. There were shelves up to ceiling of LPs of every genre and artist imaginable. Yet somehow, despite the seeming chaos, Jamie and some other long-term volunteers knew exactly where everything was and was supposed to be.

It took some getting used to, but the more I worked, the more I started to like the work I was doing. This was helped along by some wonderful co-workers I shared the shop with during my stay. One colleague called Jim was especially fun to talk to, because he, unlike many, had actually been in the Netherlands multiple times, and was happy to discuss what he had been up to there.

All and all working at Oxfam was more fun than I previously expected. I asked Jamie if he was open to more Dutch students coming to work at his shop next year and after that, and he absolutely is.

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