2024 WEEK 7: "New job"

I started my new job this week as a GrabFood rider. There is something profoundly depressing about the sound of that. It's not something to feel proud of, even compared to my last job as a retail assistant. At least I could say I worked in a bookstore, which seems like something only intelligent people can do.

I guess the lurking fear is: what if this is all I'm good for? What if I never get back into the "workforce" again? (Although every time I entertain these fears, I have to laugh at myself: I'm almost 40, totally debt-free, with no kids. So, who cares!)

The Grab rider app is extremely user-unfriendly. Homepage crowded with buttons and notifications, most with no obvious function. Tapping on them often activates the function without a confirmation screen (I've gone offline accidentally). Order details and recipient addresses are shown in separate places. The "cancel order" button is not where you think it would be. Nor is the Live Chat to ask for help. Etc...

When I signed up for Grab I was supposed to be assigned a "co-pilot", i.e. experienced rider, to show me the ropes. I have not been assigned any. What on earth would be in it for that rider anyway? It would only jeopardise their own earnings. So Jon is my co-pilot. If not for his hand-holding I would have given up on Day 2. It's humiliating how they make you jump through hoops for a pittance ($4 or $5 an order).

I've been trying to set up some SOPs, e.g. working hours and methods. So far I have experimented with working in the mornings vs afternoons, on shift vs off shift, and taking bus around vs cycling. I am conscious that these learnings are a waste of my brain.

I don't even bother observing what people eat and where they live anymore. I find it too sad. Why are there so many able-bodied people who order in every single day? Why don't you just walk 5 minutes to the nearby eatery instead of getting the exact same thing delivered for twice the price?

One good thing is that when I'm out on jobs - if I'm taking the bus - it's a good chance for me to read serious material. Delivering food is so mind-numbing that reading about ancient history is titillating in contrast. A week in and I am a quarter of the way through both the 1200-page Penguin History of the World. (Rome is so far the dullest, most pragmatic, most derivative of the ancient civilisations.)

As a reward and a break from all the studying, I read Robin Hobb's Harpy's Flight and am now halfway through Deanna Raybourn's A Sinister Revenge (book 8 in the Veronica Speedwell series. Quite improbably, a book 9 is coming out soon).

Here are some animals. Haybeon likes my room but not Jon's room, even though there's more space in the latter. I theorise that she is comfortable with only female presences.

Peanut and Butter!

Haha I don't know.