Finally I was called up by the PMG and I resigned from the shoe store immediately and started training as a phonogram operator. (A phonogram operator is the person you speak to on the phone when you wanted to send a telegram).

The training took a month and then I was on probation for six months (keep your fiery temper in check, behave and do your job) and IF they thought you were okay you became permanent.

Unfortunately I got very fed up with dealing with some really stupid people over the phone and sometimes I would lose my temper. Inadvertently or coincidentally it always seemed to happen whenever I was on “obs”.

Somewhere in the murky depths of the building (do you like this “dramatization"?...lol) was a little room of old ladies who eavesdrop (monitor) on your calls and “observe” how you do your job.

 I got caught one day “losing” it with a stupid woman while I was on obs. She was so dumb I had to put her on hold a couple of times and mutter a few choice phrases like “The bloody bitch can bloody well wait!!”

 I remember that particular phrase because it was written in red ink all over my "obs" report. I got hauled into the boss’s office, given a good talking to, and as if that wasn’t enough, he sent me up to HIS boss’s office for more of the same but it was even worse.

I felt humiliated and ashamed for using such “atrocious” language, and retreated literally with my tail between my legs so to speak, and vowed I would never see my boss’s boss again. (I behaved myself after that...I learned to be patient, but it was really difficult at times)

The worst thing I remember about my first few days at this new job is, I had to work with a very large number of women of all ages, I was pretty much one of the very few really young girls. Most of them used to ask me why I wasn’t still at school.

The awful part was, because we were really poor, I didn’t have any money to buy myself any new "office" clothes and I had to wear Mama’s yucky old dresses (ones that some 50+ year olds wear). At Woolworths and the shoe store, we wore uniforms.

(Both my parents were also very strict about my appearance...I was not allowed to pluck my eyebrows...not allowed to wear make-up, not even lipstick and not allowed to polish my nails. Today, I never leave home without all of the above...lol)

There I was, 16 years old, wearing Mama’s old clothes….how bad was that????

Every payday I had to take my pay packet home intact and Mama would give me just enough money to catch the buses to and from work and a little money to buy some lunch.

I had to catch two buses to get to the city and two buses to get home. In winter it was really bad, I would have to leave home at 5.15am to catch the 5.28am bus to get me to the city in time to start my shift at 8am. The sun isn’t even up at that hour and it was bitterly cold standing at the bus stop waiting for that bus.

This is really sounding a like a terrible “Woe is me” story but it is all there is for me to tell.

Again, I am just telling what happened and not to “fish for sympathy” so to speak,  don’t think I am bitter or resentful about it; it is just the plain honest truth. It hasn’t affected me negatively in my life and I have no ill feelings towards my family for having gone through it.

As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure it has given me strength and motivation to cope with all the yucky things about grown up life. It taught me many  lessons that when you need to do things, you just do it... and always be grateful for not having gone through much worse.

On the positive side, I made some very lasting and wonderful friendships along the way, got promoted several times into managerial positions, started earning really good money doing penalty shift work (that’s the awful shifts nobody else wants to do, which you get extra money for…like working weekends or grave-yard shifts).

It allowed me to take out a loan to buy my parents some decent furniture, pay off a few of their debts, put Susan and Dondi through school and take care of baby Nikki. But then, all I did was work....zero social life...no boyfriends (not allowed...Spanish father, remember).

After all that, I was able to save enough money for my first solo trip to Asia and back to the Philippines. At the age of 20 I travelled by myself to Bali, Bangkok, Pattaya, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore and up to Manila.

All this in the space of less than five years, now that’s not bad, is it? How many other 20 year olds can say that about themselves? So you see, it was tough but I am happy with the knowledge that I helped out my family, got the strength and courage to do adult things and for all this I am really very grateful. It wasnt my parents intention to have me start my adult life like this, but because of what they taught me to deal with, I will always be grateful to them.

I was also able to buy a block of land, a full quarter acre block for the "enormous" sum of $11,750.00....it was a "packed lunch" distance away from the city but it was cheap.

 That block of land at today’s prices would be in excess of $150,000 or more because although back in those days it seemed like miles in the middle of nowhere, today it is in one of the most "sought after" suburbs for residential living in Perth.

Before I continue the story, there is one really funny episode that you might get a kick out of regarding my run-in with my boss’s boss, (after my woeful “obs” report).

My boss sent me up to his boss for a severe dressing down and a warning that my permanent position was at risk if I did not learn to deal with my temper and obey the rules. 

I still remember his name, Mr. Greenslade; remember how I vowed I would never be hauled up to his office again?

Anyway, a couple of years later, when I was planning my trip back to the Philippines and I wanted to do a tour of some cities around Asia as well, so even though I was earning decent money by that stage, working the penalty shifts, I wanted to earn it quicker. So (against PMG rules) I applied for and got a part-time job as a waitress in Perth’s very first authentic Japanese Restaurant.

Back then, Chinese restaurants were the only Asian restaurants and when this one opened it was quite a novelty. It was called (are you ready for this?) The Sukiyaki…..now I ask you, how innovative is that?.....lol.

 PMG did not allow employees to have part-time jobs back then, it was against company policy. So I was (once again) breaking the rules, confident in the knowledge I wasn’t going to get caught and that nobody was going to “dob” (Aussie slang) me in if they knew.

A lot of employees had part-time jobs outside the PMG so we did not really have “stool pigeons” or tattle tales, and you had to be reported or  “dobbed”  in to get fired.

The shift work made it easy to do part-time jobs outside because you could choose to do the shifts that would accommodate the times you needed to be at the “other” job.

Anyway, my stint as a waitress at this restaurant was quite hilarious. First of all I had to learn to put on and wear a kimono (not as easy as it looks) and the white sox and “flip flop” type wooden/plasticky footwear. Ever tried wearing flip flops with sox?

The kimonos were very tight around the base at the ankles and you had to take really quick little steps to be able to walk the typical Japanese way.

Sometimes I would forget, especially when we were very busy and a couple of times too many, I forgot and took big steps and fell over, very embarrassing.

The other hilarious thing was, I had never before used chopsticks and I had to learn very quickly because one of our jobs as waitresses was to cook sukiyaki at the customers’ tables.

The tables were on the floor with holes cut out under the table for the customers to put their legs and feet under but the waitresses had to kneel down beside the tables to cook the sukiyaki.

I was really lousy at using the chopsticks and had many accidents with onion rings (slippery little suckers) flying everywhere and although most of the customers were very kind and forgiving, it was still embarrassing.

The other "little" dilema I had was I was allergic to shell fish and prawns (or shrimps) were always requested by customers and sometimes I had to cook these at their table. We didnt wear gloves in those days and I was handling the shrimp with my bare hands. I would break out in a terrible rash and my hands would swell up......yucky!!! 

I did a lot of bowing (very Japanese of me, don’t you think?) and apologizing and I’m sure a lot of them enjoyed the “show”.

This one time, I even knocked over a bottle of red wine onto this ladies beautiful dress, it was a disaster and I felt sure I was going to get fired. But the lady (bless her heart) spoke to the manager and asked him very adamantly not to fire me, she even said it was her fault, she knocked the bottle over, and I was very helpful and a very good waitress. You have no idea how much bowing I had to do to keep that job…lol

Back to Mr. Greenslade, THE BOSS…..

One night, a very busy Friday night, one of the waitresses who usually stood at the door to welcome diners in and show them to their tables, was off sick. So my boss asked me to go to the door and welcome a group in and show them to their tables.

Unfortunately for me, the guests were none other than Mr. Greenslade and several of his work colleagues…..remember, I was not supposed to have an outside job……and wouldn’t you know it, I was so stunned and hoping and praying he wouldn’t recognize me  (a couple of years had passed since that "dressing down" in his office) but sure enough, he hadn’t forgotten me at all.

I felt sick and tried to stay calm enough to show them to their tables but I forgot to take my little step and took one big one and fell over right in front of Mr. Greenslade who by the way, very kindly picked me up off the floor...lol

(This sort of thing only happens in comedy movies, right?) Well it was happening to me and I was only 18 or 19 at that time, all I could do was cry.

That too was very embarrassing, all of a sudden I felt like a child crying from falling over. I pretended I had hurt my knee and asked to be excused and went into the back and cried and cried.

My boss told me to go home and that he would call me the next morning. When he telephoned me the next day I explained to him what happened and that I might get fired from my PMG job and I couldn’t afford to have that happen and so I might have to quit my job at his restaurant.

He was very understanding but insisted that I could keep working there if I wanted to, but certainly check out what my situation was with Mr. Greenslade and my job at the PMG.

Fortunately for me, nothing eventuated, I think Mr. Greenslade felt sorry for me or something, I don’t know but he never mentioned it and the subject never came up in those 12 years I worked there.

After I resigned, I did bump into Mr. Greenslade, but by this time we were on first name basis and we brought the subject up and he just thought it was the funniest thing and he had never forgotten it.

I haven’t thought about that incident in many years, but looking back on my life now, I am grateful to have experienced the goodness in so many people I came across in my past.

I hope my memory serves me well now and brings back recollections like these because I feel it has enriched my life a little bit and even though they are small little episodes, it is worth remembering and certainly fun to look back on.

Makes all the bad times seem not too bad at all.

The next chapters obviously leads to the start and continuation of my adult life, my career which intertwined with my personal (love-life)...in itself  funny, exciting, scary, tragic but enriching....will I be posting this here???....nope...I dont think so.....lol

The End

(Whew!!)