My job - all sites to date

Well, I added very little cold water to my bath last night – it took quite some time for me to slowly submerge myself and my skin turned fiery red underwater! On the plus side, when I got out, I had a steaming hot body!

I woke up early today, for a change – and when I arrived at work on time, our electrician looked at me and joked “Oh? I wouldn’t have expected to see you here this early. Are you now on early-shift?” Now that the office is filled with mostly German staff, from the principal contractor, the atmosphere is much more pleasant. My job is difficult to explain, there is no simple label which can give a real feel. I’ve been trying to paint the picture on several occasions in the past, but always deleted it, since I’ve not yet managed to capture even the essence.

Let me go back to my very first day. 23^rd February 2011. Having been informed, that I was selected from all applicants and got the job, in December 2010 – I had no information regarding start-date! They knew I had to give a month’s notice – but every attempt at getting some definite date resulted in nothing but vague ‘we’ll let you know.’ Also, in the interview, I was promised employment with the German company – but they reneged on that, too. The managing member of a South African company, who had also been involved in the interviewing process (I later learned that it was he, who advised to select me, rather than the more ‘corporate secretary’ interviewee) stepped in and took on my contract – for two years. At the time, I thought it was a bit of a raw deal, since I had accepted a lower salary on condition that it would be reviewed after three months – which wasn’t related to the South African company. In January 2011, my boss gave me the go-ahead to hand in my notice; which worked out very well for me, I gave notice effective 1^st February – and had enough leave days accumulated, that I could take the entire month off, with pay. And since I moved on 1^st February, this gave me the time to unpack and settle in before starting full-time. I still couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone – and then, on 22^nd February I got a call instructing me to come in tomorrow!

Crap timing, since I had planned to spend the 23^rd with a friend, as it was her birthday – but work has first priority. So, I got up and showed up. An automotive manufacturing plant is big. It’s never one single building, but several blocks with streets, buildings, factories, a canteen – more like a little town of it’s own, so after I got through reception and walked to the first crossing, I wasn’t sure anymore where I needed to go – called my new boss, told him where I was and asked him to come get me. I quipped, when he arrived, that standing at a street-corner in a red top, I’d received some interesting offers! He took me to the container office, introduced me to the site manager. Since they weren’t set up for me, yet, he then showed me around – the empty factory where the line would be built, the plant they had worked their last project, then took me through the access-card process before dropping me off at my office. Where I sat, twiddling my thumbs for about an hour – being told there’s nothing I can do, since the PC hadn’t arrived, yet. And then I had had enough: After months of jerking me around, reneging on their promises and now, on the one day I actually had plans, I’m sitting here collecting dust like a spare piece of furniture? So, I got up, walked up to the site manager and told him “I’m going home now. Call me when you’ve got some actual work for me!” turned around and walked out. On the way to the gate, I called my employer and informed him – he, too, was in shock and hearing that, I began to realise just what I had done! I literally risked my job here – and jobs were really hard to come by. But done was done, I’d have to live with the consequences.

They called me to come in from 1^st March onward – the PC had arrived, been set up, and I started working. The only consequence was, that I never got paid for the 23^rd – something I never raised with either site manager or my employer.

2009-10 had been the worst years of my life – but 2011-12 became the best years of my life! Site work is unlike any office work. A lot of what one takes for granted, coming from a structured office, is simply not available on site. First of all, there is no HR structure to introduce newcomers to the basics – the only Induction on site is Safety Induction a legal requirement given by the client. You’re haphazardly introduced to the staff on site, as they pop into the office – with little or no clue who they actually are. At one point I looked up into a crowd of new faces, names and handshakes – I just had this big, fat question mark on my face! There is also no job description, no clue what my tasks or duties are – everyone would simply ask me to do something and I’d puzzle over the how and why. Everyone is extremely busy, setting up their work, co-ordinating requirements – nobody really has the time to train some local site secretary. The site manager was very good, and he soon earned my respect – something only one other superior ever had! He’d show me as much as he could, time permitting – then left me to figure things out for myself, always available to assist, but never interfering, or micro-managing, controlling how I do what needed doing.

I was seriously worried whether I would ever be able to cope, as well as worried, whether my knees would allow me to keep the job (in my last job, I was tied to the desk – here, I had to walk lots and lots, and for the first month, each step was painful – not the muscles from lack of fitness). Then the site manager asked me to go with him to get a cable-TV contract (it’s DSTV in South Africa) so he could get the Formula 1 races – I’ve been an avid F1 Fan the past decade, though with the move from open channels to pay-channels, I no longer had access to watching the races. So, once all arrangements were done, I invited myself to his place for the race! And then thinking set in, and I kind of realised that I’d invited myself into the home of a married man outside work-hours ... which I figured was not quite appropriate. A few days before the race, another colleague arrived from Germany, and he’d also be there to watch the race – and I collected every smidgen of courage I could find, got in my car and showed up! Best decision I ever made!

I later learned that he’d also had some doubts about the only female (and an unmarried one, at that) on site joining the hard-core F1 fans – but it turned out that we complement each other perfectly! They had all the knowledge of the drivers and specifically all the technical data at their fingertips, whereas I knew the latest Rules and Regulations to a tee – plus, of course, since they couldn’t access the German commentary, I could always translate – especially with David Coulthard’s Scottish accent – when needed. The first race was just the three of us, but later we became quite a large group; though the core-group remained the same. Being part of a social regular-feature helped tremendously in gaining acceptance – as I learned how they think, what they expect and how things work. Also, the site manager was a five-star chef and we would all work together and chip in to enjoy a fantastic meal with each race. I would obtain some of the trickier ingredients – particularly what was only available at the German Butcher and German Bakery (I’d take everyone’s private, plus the F1-Group’s orders on Fridays, and go shopping every Saturday, since I was in the vicinity anyway). Boy did we feast! Although it only showed up after this project, I’m convinced the 10kg can firmly be blamed on the feasts we had then!

Being older than all the married men on site, also helped – I could flirt naturally (I am a flirt!) without any misunderstandings. Weeeell, there were occasional disagreements over my unavailability – but nothing I couldn’t handle.

As site secretary, my work is involved almost exclusively with the German principle contractor – supporting their staff on site and communicating with Head Office in Germany. As a result, most of the local staff on site assumed I – like everyone else from that company – was living in Germany, and visiting the site only for the duration of the project! I’ve lost count of how many times I was asked: “When are you going back?” “Back where?” “Germany!” “What for?” “Home!?” “My home is here?!” Or how many times local contractors made comments in Afrikaans – receiving quite a shock, when I replied in the same language! A lot of the Germans also learned to understand Afrikaans – but the locals don’t need to know that. Snigger.

It’s a fairly unique work environment. The principal contractor usually manages all areas, with support from a host of international specialists plus some local specialists. It is an exclusive industry, though, so there is no chance for local specialists who are unwilling to travel internationally – so the market is quite small. As a result, since the law requires a certain percentage of local ‘ingredient’ as they call it, the labour force (i.e. manual labour – electrical and mechanical construction / installation) is almost exclusively local. So the Management is usually German. Assigned to the project from start to finish – in 6-week steps (i.e. they are flown out to South Africa, work six to seven days a week for six weeks, then fly home for a week; then come back to repeat the cycle). Those with families back home opt for this – and those without families, prefer to save up their flights to bring family to visit them here. They only fly home either for holiday or due to Visa requirements. They work hard and they play hard. But since they are all foreigners here for the same reason – that builds a kind of family-like relationship. The first arrivals to a new location always pass on what they learned to anyone coming here for the first time, show them around, introduce them to the local establishments (yes, I chose that word deliberately!), etc. Often, they know each other from past sites, past projects, or simply from home.

There is no brief way to really describe this – so bear with me.

I’m proud to say that I have earned full membership of the team, even though I’m the only non-technical female, even though I’m not employed by the Germany Company, and even though (though I know the correct wording here should be: because) I don’t drink.

It is still a point of dissent, my sobriety – a lot of the guys don’t understand what alcoholism is, and since it’s my problem (not theirs) I don’t force explanations on them. Some ask, and since I’m passionate about my sobriety, I launch into extensive monologue (yeah, no space for any word-in edgewise); but most hold on to their own views and beliefs. I’m very fortunate that I can go to pubs and parties with my guys, without even the slightest feeling of temptation. I can’t take credit for it – it is not my doing. I am still powerless over alcohol and that will never change. I ALWAYS take stock of my spiritual condition before I consider entering any environment where alcohol might be present – as long as I’m spiritually fit, and the purpose of my entering that environment is truly social, I don’t have to fear alcohol. The whole point of sobriety, at least for me, is freedom from the slavery – and living in fear is not freedom. There are, however, occasions when I can not afford to go near any alcohol. For example, when I am emotional – like I was after my mother’s death, or after the armed robbery. At such times any pubs or anywhere alcohol is available are absolute no-go zones!

I’m very open about my alcoholism, at times maybe even inappropriately so. In my drinking days, I lived every day in fear of something I had done when drunk catching up with me; I lived with secrets and lies. The path to sobriety involved facing those drunk (and sober-between-drunk) actions, taking responsibility for them and making amends. Or to put it visually: taking all my skeletons out of the closet, dusting them off and putting them on display. It was a painful process. But the reward was complete freedom from the perpetual guilt, shame and misery I had shouldered every morning for over a decade! And if I want to keep that freedom – I keep my words in line with my actions (Integrity) and stay honest in everything I do and everything I say. And continue to take responsibility for my actions – owning up to mistakes, apologising if some thoughtless comment hurt someone (whether the hurt was intentional or not is irrelevant, and there is also no such thing as denying entitlement – i.e. ‘you shouldn’t have been hurt’). And for me, it also involves openness about my alcoholism – simply because it frequently leads to interested questions about alcoholism, which in turn allow me to share my experience, strength and hope – which I must, if I want to keep my sobriety! Although I’m still as passionate as ever, when talking about alcoholism and sobriety – I’ve learned to reign in the fanatism, which has opened the door to many follow-up, in-depth questions without the fear of me launching into another sermon. (Two paragraphs is really brief compared to the pages-and-pages I used to fill!)

Like I said before, I’m very proud to have earned full member-of-the-family status. And a site is indeed more of a family, than a team – since we’re all new in town, and all helping each other during and after working-hours. And it was earned, through willingness – since I have no family, I can always work to the job, not the clock – availability – again, having no family works in my favour, allowing me to collect new arrivals at the airport (Yep! Picking up strange men is part of my job) – reliability, trustworthiness and tempered respectability. And it’s not simply ‘earn-one-earn-them-all’ respect – I’ve had to work on each member of staff individually, earning their respect. Nobody would pave the road for me – which is the German way. After all, if I can’t earn respect, I don’t deserve it. Sure, I’ve made mistakes – one whopper comes to mind, when I ordered 50 millimeter instead of 50 meter of a specialised cable – but admitting and taking responsibility for my mistakes is what earned me respect. I will admit a mistake at the time I realise it – not wait until it comes out, maybe hoping that it won’t. But I’ve also achieved what was thought to be impossible, on occasions. Like finding a supplier of a specialised, scarce material – when all the local contractors and specialists in this field claimed it was not available in South Africa. Of course, being proved wrong by a mere secretary did not endear me to them. Or getting a visa extension – when every professional Immigration Lawyer said it was not possible, the employee would have to fly home, apply for a new visa, and fly back. It was a key employee – and the time-loss would have cost even more than the flight-and-accommodation costs. My site manager negotiated a bonus from that employer for my achievement – and we all had a super party! Or the time I reduced an insurance payment from R25000,00 to R2500,00 for a colleague. All above board and legal, nothing dishonest or shady.

It wasn’t all fun and games, though – there was a lot of hard work, long hours, some out-of-line attitudes, bruised Egos (mine got a turn, too). There were tears (not mine, this time), sweat and some tantrums. There were late hours, Sunday call-ins, late night calls-for-assistance – and learning, learning, learning! Health and Safety Act, Safety Files, Immigration Law, Visa applications, work Visa requirements, Access requirements, Import- Export Procedures, International Banking, Carnets, Guesthouse requirements, Rental Car Contracts the list goes on an on! Let alone grasping what the project is actually about, and how everyone fits into the whole!

We had forged such a strong team on that first project, we tried keeping the team together and on to the next project in South Africa: East London! Alas, that was not to be, though.

I got lucky, my employer had a contract at the East London project – though with a different principal contractor – and asked whether I’d be willing to re-locate. I said yes so fast, it made his head spin! Getting out of Pretoria and back to the Indian Ocean? Hello Paradise!

So in September 2012 I moved to East London. It turned out nothing like the last project or the last site. The company my employer was working for operated on very different – in my opinion, much lower – standards than the company I had been used to. More attitude, Egos and juvenile behaviour, less responsibility and competence – in my opinion. My boss also gave running a Guesthouse for the international staff a try – with me managing it; which meant that for the first three months I literally worked from five in the morning until ten at night – predominantly doing the laundry for the ten-twenty guests which arrived before our cleaner did. The site-work was – to put it mildly – unpleasant. Once their project manager arrived, my ‘place’ became to complete his daily to-do list ... print this, type that, etc. He literally wrote a detailed to-do list for me, from which I may not deviate one iota. The most challenging task he gave me was to get everyone’s breakfast order!

I got lucky, though. The company I had worked for before also arrived, and the secretary they had employed did not work out – so they asked if I was willing to work for them again! Again, I said yes so fast it made my boss’ head spin! Site Secretary is not everyone’s cup of tea. At the start of a project it is a high-stress job, setting up office, assisting in Visa Applications, putting together a complete Health & Safety File from scratch, co-ordinating the arrival of containers – it is chaos! Nobody has time to show the secretary what to do or how what needs to be done – and I’m lucky I arrived AFTER that initial chaos on my first site! Plus, having been on a site until the end, I had all the experience of how what needs to be done – and, since I’d been in town a few months already, knew what the current client needed as well as what's available locally. I had a head-start, so to speak. It also takes a special kind of personality to cope with a foreign site – and even though the site itself is local, it’s local for us. From the site-staff’s point of view, it is a foreign / overseas site. These guys have to find their feet in a completely unknown environment – where to stay, how to get to work, where to eat, where to get their laundry done, how to get a landline into the container-office, get stationery, basic consumables like bolts, nuts, tools – while at the same time getting the office set up, getting internet, creating a rapport with the client, schedules, personnel plans, arranging Visa’s, getting the basic Health and Safety requirements to be allowed onto the client’s premises, etc. etc. This is no place for a corporate secretary – not matter how qualified, experienced or professional! It takes a special kind of crazy to not only cope, but excel in that chaos. And I’ve got what it takes!

When I first arrived in East London, I applied every trick I had learned from the guys how they find their feet in a new location. So, by the time I joined the team – I had a lot of information I could pass on. And, having worked for this company before, I knew how to assert myself – and most essentially: When assertion was needed. Earning respect is part-and-parcel of my stock-in-trade; although I also know that people exist who simply have no respect. Teaching them basic manners is also part of my stock-in-trade, something I also learned from the first site manager.

After the strong team, and especially the strong management on the last project, East London was rather a let down. A lot of micro-cliques formed with the professional groups – and since I’m not part of any professional group, I was grateful that the electrical group included me a lot. Whereas in Pretoria, at parties, everybody mixed with everybody – here, everyone stayed in their own little clique with little or no interaction. The site manager was also new to foreign / overseas sites – and took a long time to warm up and get over the ‘professional aloofness’ he insisted was essential to maintaining respect. A lot of bull, in my opinion – it may be appropriate on local sites, where you work within driving distance of your home and family, but overseas sites are a completely different kettle of fish. Incidentally, he’s now part time on the current project, here in PE – Mr ‘That’s totally unacceptable / Gassi gehn’ hehe.

Apart from the electrical group (which included German Mechanics and Pneumatic Engineers) I had no social life in East London. The guests in the guesthouse I was running came mostly from the juvenile site and had very little, mostly bad manners. They demanded twenty-four-hour five-star pampering whilst complaining about the no-star prices! They also knew that I was working full-time on site – yet expected I must be at their beck-and-call at any time of the day or night!

On a positive note, I fell in love with East London! The place, it’s history, it’s locales – I could spend hours exploring every nook and cranny on sunny days, photographing the same buildings, stretch of beach or sight over and over again – and on rainy days, reading the history, the background, the story of every aspect relating to East London I could get my hands on! It was the first time in my life that I felt – coming back to East London – ‘I’m home’! Every time! And with my work-hours cut to two days a week from around mid-2014 onward, I had a lot of time to explore, research, sift through every scrap of information available in the local libraries!

I ended up the last-man-standing in East London before, reluctantly, moving back to Pretoria in July 2015. My boss had some exciting plans which should keep me busy until the next major project would start in Pretoria. That didn’t work out, so when I received a call asking whether I’d be interested in joining the Uitenhage project – I, again, said yes so fast it made my boss’ head spin! After some prolonged negotiations and discussions to determine when I should start – it all happened quite suddenly. One day I had an afternoon meeting with my boss to press him to set a date – only to find myself on a plane headed for Port Elizabeth less than 24-hours later!

Funny story: As I was rushing towards the plane, at the final boarding counter the clerk called me by name. Puzzled, I asked how he knew my name he joked “You’re famous! I’ve seen you on TV!” I thought to myself ‘Oh? You want funny? I’ll give you funny!’ and asked “Oh? You watch porn?” The looks I got from him, his coworker and the other passengers – absolutely priceless! I’d been saving that one up, hoping to get an occasion to use it – and this was perfect! I posted this incident on Facebook later and one of the wittiest people I know commented “My Hero!” That comment was special to me, since he really only commented or ‘liked’ what he really liked, not ‘randomly everything posted’. And sadly, he passed away soon afterwards.

And now I’m back in my beloved Eastern Cape – albeit in Port Elizabeth. I confess, I did not embrace PE like I did East London; I can’t say why – I don’t think there is a reason, it just is or it’s simply how I feel. I blame the garden – which keeps me occupied too much to have any time left to explore Port Elizabeth!

The site is, once again, completely different to either of the past site’s. I clicked right away, from the first phone-call, with the site manager and was looking forward to working with / for him! Alas, he was here only a month. His wife still keeps in touch via Facebook, which I think is very sweet; but I do wish he could have stayed for the whole project! Politics. Nuff said. Things were a bit tense before he arrived, with some local Ego’s flying high, asserting their presumed superiority through lashing out at those of us, who had no defense – including me. The first task I was given, was thrown with exasperation on my desk stating “It’s such a complex mess, nobody can make sense out of it; so you do it!” Having everything under control within a week or two did not go down well! Hence the frequent lashing-out at me. Next task – same story. There was talk of needing to hire a team of professionals to get the Safety File up to standard within the seven days the client gave us – I had to do some real fast talking to prevent that! Of course, I had the file in ship-shape and Bristol fashion in time for the next audit. More water on the burning oil. Good for me, though, since the auditor was so impressed that he recommended me to every contractor who had trouble with their Health & Safety, giving me an extra income, which finally got my bank balance out of the red, I’d been struggling to reduce since the armed robbery!

The first job I did through my employer – working one or two hours a day outside my on-site contract hours. But when he showed little or no interest in billing for my time, I decided to do the next one direct. He did eventually get around to billing for my time. I told him about the direct job and why I chose that route as well as why I needed the income. Like I said, always above board and legal.

The atmosphere at work was not very pleasant for a long time, having so easily ‘got rid of’ the only person speaking out against contradictory, unrealistic promises to the client, the new regime reigned supreme. Fortunately none of them had much clue about my workload and – apart from the occasional odd tasks here and there – left me pretty much to carry on. Of course, I’m also a) not important enough to count and b) easy prey for Ego-boosting authority-trips. That’s where the member-of-the-family status I had earned came in full strength: I was not alone! Unlike every other community or group I had ever been a part of, claiming to be family – this family is the first who did not turn on me, nor joined the current tide against me. No second face came out at the first chance, like it had every single time in my entire life. And, as unpleasant as it has been – for everyone – it has made me an even better, stronger person. I’ve lost the need for arrogance and all need to fight-back, to prove myself. I think that in the past, seeing everyone turn on me brought out a shield of arrogance – which merely served to justify the opposition. I still get a defensive attitude of arrogance on occasion – but my confidence comes from within PLUS the respect I’ve earned; it is not dependent on external perceptions. I’ve looked into the mirror with all the naked truth revealed by a Higher Power – all the shame and guilt laid bare, stripped of guile and alcoholic lies – and what I see is not ugly. Not ugly at all!

I love my job, I love the family I’ve found – albeit a rotating one, since so many come, then go never to be seen by me again. And I love my life – quiet, though it is, anti-social as some may think of me. Life on this project is very different from the first one, and just as different from the last one – new interests, new hobbies, new people and as with every project learning, learning, learning! New tasks, new responsibilities, and a much wider involvement with the entire project gaining even more understanding of how it all works and fits together.

And occasionally I get a quiet day, and can write pages and pages about myself, isn’t that lovely?