For my work experience I went to work in a music shop called Broadway music, which sells everything from reeds to guitar strings. They mainly specialise in guitars. This shop was located in Rayners Park which is an area close to my school and an area which I know pretty well and turned out to be very convenient for me! The shop was run by a couple called Karen and Collin I new them quite well because I go into the shop regularly and plus I know there son because we play in the Merton music foundation which is a well established music centre for youths who live or go to school in the borough of Merton.
These two people were to be my boss for the next week, I was quite glad about that fact because I knew them and I had a sense of security about me plus I new they where nice friendly people. There were about five people working there all there running the shop and there was two of us on work experience both with the same name funnily enough. On the first day I arrived at around 9:50 and I had to wait for the other boy to arrive. When I stepped in I felt welcome but also a little shy and nervous. I stood in front of the counter for about 5 minutes just talking to Karen about how I was getting on with my music, and then the other boy arrived.
Karen told us were to put our coats and our stuff and we started our first job. Our first job was to look through the music books in the shop and find where everything was and get used to the shop. I found this task quite interesting because I got to read some interesting books and I also got to see what the whole shop looks like. We must have done this for about an hour, and then we had to sit around for a bit. This was the worst thing about the work experience. In a small business like that, I found out that you don’t get many customers and when you do get a few customers they all come at the same time.
As the week progressed I had found out that they weren’t many jobs to do. Later on in the day I got another job which required me to face my fears and be confident. I had to go to the bank to get change for the shop. I was nervous about going because I get a little bit nervous when I am going to meet new people or engage in conversation with them. I also had to post some parcels, this was a whole new skill to me. When I had arrived at the post office I was a bit nervous and at that point I felt particularly nai?? ve. I didn’t have a clue where to start and all the procedures you had to go through.
The highlight of the day for me was attending a customer well helping to attend a customer. It was a highlight because it was someone from my school and they where asking for something I knew a lot about, reeds (because I play the clarinet). when the day had finally ended I felt tired and I little bit frustrated, because I wasn’t doing very much. I had second thoughts. On the second day I arrived at the shop at about ten am. I arrived with a feeling of knowledge; I knew a bit more about it and I knew how it worked. But I still felt a little naive.
My first job of the day was to go and get some coffees for Collin one of the bosses and some of his friends who came to the shop all the way from Liverpool to try some guitars. I went out of the shop and into the coffee shop, today I felt more confident about talking to the staff. The lady who served me was quite friendly. I finished getting the coffee and then I stepped outside. When I did I saw some one I knew it was one of my friends from the Merton music foundations dad. We had a little chat even though I felt I was meant to get back soon!
When I had returned to the shop I sat around again for a bit. After about ten minutes I got another little job which was to prepare the parcels. I didn’t mind this job because at least it was killing time. Today I got acquainted with another member of staff his name was James I had seen him before at the Merton music foundation but I had never really spoken to him. Throughout the day I got little side jobs like empty the bins at the back. Later in the day I had to go out and get some jiffy bags in the shop just down the road. I entered the shop and it was all dark and there was no one at the counter.
I must have stood there for about five minutes and then when I finally plucked up the courage to shout “hello” the man who ran the shop came round from the back of the shop and served me. When I left I felt as if I really need to boost my confidence and I am going to make a concerted effort to do that. when I got back I saw another person I new he was visiting the shop for some music supplies his name was James Rae he was a conductor on a course I went on several times called jazz zone. The highlight of my day was actually getting to serve another customer. And the worst thing was sitting around again.
On the third day I arrived at around 10pm. my first job was to sort some books that came in. Today I was acquainted with another member of staff his name was Jake I new him because he goes to my school and he also goes to the Merton music foundation. Today I think I sat around for about an hour but then Richard Coles walked into the shop to pick up some cheques. He recognised me because he was also a conductor on the course called jazzone. When he left I had another job to do which took up a lot of time and was very repetitive, had to look through about two hundred tags and sort them out. After that task I had to flatten some boxes.
This was when the day went downhill because I miss interpreted the instructions and I done the wrong thing. But when I did do the mistake I didn’t think to ask so it made it worst. But when Karen did realize id done it wrong she was quite friendly and showed me the right way in a polite way. The highlight of the day was serving my friend Spenser who goes to my school. The worst thing was getting a job wrong. On the fourth day which was my last day I arrived at about ten am. I felt relived that it was my last day. I didn’t do a full week because I had to go to Birmingham with the Merton music foundation to participate in a music competition.
Today I got the opportunity to try out some wooden clarinets in the shop. I was really happy about this fact because I had something to do. My next job was to ring up for the associated board of music and ask for some books, I was happy about doing this because I had to use my new found confidence and try to convey myself well over the phone. When I finished making the call I felt that I had achieved something, I was more confident than the rest of the week. After I had done that job I had to attend the phones in the front of the shop whilst the other staff attended customers and done other jobs.
I had to answer about three phone calls I was much better at coping with it then I thought I would be. The next job I had to do was a quite long task I had to clean the guitars. I was a bit cautious because the guitars I was handling were expensive. I coped with it well though. When the day came to an end I had to get my work experience diary signed. I got Collin to sign it. He gave me a satisfactory and I kind of agreed with it to. He said that I was too young for work experience so I couldn’t do all the things and they didn’t have time to give me constant supervision.
Overall I enjoyed my work experience I learnt things about my self even if I didn’t enjoy every aspect of the work experience. I think that the disadvantages of work experience are that the employers don’t really have many jobs for you to do, because there are a lot of limitations. I think that year 10 students are too young to do work experience. And you’re missing school in a busy term of the school year. The advantages are that you get to learn a lot of things about your self. And that you get to learn communication skills.
