I was just 19 and working as a receptionist in a small, one-room store in Melbourne’s inner north when I first got a call from a young man from Australia.
I had just graduated from a school in Sydney.
The job was a ‘pivot’ for a start-up called a new-age retailer called ‘Pioneer’.
It was a new brand, focused on the lifestyle of the people who lived and worked there, with a focus on sustainability.
A year later, the company closed.
When I got the call, I thought I was going to be a consultant, working on projects for a client who’d already established its brand and had a very good team.
But when I got there, the first thing I saw was a huge wall of boxes.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said one of the store’s managers, who asked not to be named.
This was a big mistake.
As a marketing student, I knew I wanted to be in retail.
Instead, I was on my own, on my lunch break, on the train or bus.
And it didn’t help that I was the only one with my hands full.
It wasn’t until I was working as an assistant manager at a company with big financial problems that I realised how much I missed my passion.
In this job, I didn’t get a chance to do what I love: being a retail assistant.
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