Hello

Well my first week at work went without a hitch. In fact it went without anything! On Monday I took 28 calls, Tuesday 18, Wednesday 15, Thursday 11 and Friday 8! This is in 8 hours and each call generally lasts no more than 3 mins! So basically I am paid $18 an hour to sit and doodle, chat, read and pretty much do as I please! Unfortunately aren't allowed to use the internet, although we do have access. Don't want to risk losing my job or incentives by going online - although other people don't seem to care!

Everyone's really nice. We all get along really well apart from this one girl who seems a bit aloof and doesn't really talk to me so when she's sat next to me I have to talk around her to other people! We're all around the same age really between 20 and 25 so that's really cool. The first Friday after training we went to the pub after work and yesterday we went to another bar that was recommended by one of the managers Jimmy because of the drinks specials. The bar had no atmosphere, was really empty and played rubbish music but the drinks certainly were cheap! Managed to have a really good night with little money. After the bar we got taxis to The Espy in St Kilda where I've been before for the Rock Night. They have live bands playing every night and it was pumping in there! Absolutely packed but the drinks were more than double the price so I only had one. I got a tram back to the city at 12.45am and was in bed by 1.30am.

I slept in this morning until lunchtime trying to sleep off my hangover and then had a shower to try and wake up! Just went to Aldi to get some food and then came back to the hostel and read a bit before waking up with my face in my book and my hand covered in drool!! Nice! So I put the book away and continued my nap for about 2 hours. I've been so tired after getting up at 6.30am every day during the week and not getting to sleep until 11pm. This coming week I'm on the late shift instead so I don't start until 10.45 am and finish at 7.30pm. So looking forward to not having to get up until 8.30am! The only thing is that I'm having to make my own dinner when I get in. The hostel offers a free meal every night but it's pathetic so you pay $4 to upgrade it to a normal sized portion. This is actually as cheap as buying my own food to cook and I don't have to cook! Unfortunately they stop serving dinner at 8pm and I won't be back in time. Have stocked up on baked beans and pasta!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the Aquatic Centre in Albert Park. I have been swimming since Rotorua in New Zealand and I feel I need some excercise! It's a huge complex with about 5 pools and they had the Commenwealth Games swimming there in 2006. Will tell you what it's like. There's another pool much closer to me but it's only small and I think it will be too busy on a Sunday afternoon with kids and that. May go there during the week when I'm back on earlies.

Haven't done much this week but work and sleep! This will be the same for the next 12 weeks! At least I get paid for doing sweet F-A! Ha!

We got the details about our work incentive scheme the other day. We get $1 per hour we work if we get 95% in our call quality assessments and $1 an hour if we have excellent attendence. I think we can only miss 3 shifts in total. We get paid at the end and have the potential to earn $960 which would be really handy!! The only issue is that there actually isn't anything in our contracts that says how long we have work for. They can pretty much just decide they don't need us anymore. Casuals in Oz don't seem to have any work rights! We get paid an extra 20% an hour for being a casual but this forfeits our rights to sick pay, holiday and job security! I just hope I get to keep the job for the full 3 months otherwise I'll be a bit b*****ed!

Ok - that's all folks!

Hope everyone's well in the UK and enjoying the springtime snow! To make you feek better it's been fine and about 23 degrees all week here and I've been stuck inside all day!

Love Rachel xxxxx