Going Back

entwisi · 21-08-2008, 19:34

I had a rather surreal day yesterday and I wondered if anyone else has gone through similar

Basically 11 years ago I swapped from working Pub /Restaurants to working for Barclays. I started at the brand new just opening Call Centre in Salford Quays. At teh time I was dead proud of working there and thought it was well swish, you know, lifts that announced what floor, marble floored and walled bogs etc. I spent about 15 months there and really enjoyed my time there. I left in about August 98 to go to where I work to this day.

yesterday I went back to look into a problem that users there were experiencing in a system I am responsible for. Walking through the door I thought back to walking out on that last day there, considering teh excitement of what I was doing, and from a selfish POV what I earned then and what I earn now and I'm quite proud of how I've moved on in the last 10 years.

Then I got to where I worked.

Why is it you remember places as much much bigger than they really are?

and the people, whilst doing teh same job as they used to do seem so 'bored' when it was always somewhere exciting, vibrant etc?

is it just rose coloured specs or something else?

Eric · 21-08-2008, 19:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

I had a rather surreal day yesterday and I wondered if anyone else has gone through similar

Basically 11 years ago I swapped from working Pub /Restaurants to working for Barclays. I started at the brand new just opening Call Centre in Salford Quays. At teh time I was dead proud of working there and thought it was well swish, you know, lifts that announced what floor, marble floored and walled bogs etc. I spent about 15 months there and really enjoyed my time there. I left in about August 98 to go to where I work to this day.

yesterday I went back to look into a problem that users there were experiencing in a system I am responsible for. Walking through the door I thought back to walking out on that last day there, considering teh excitement of what I was doing, and from a selfish POV what I earned then and what I earn now and I'm quite proud of how I've moved on in the last 10 years.

Then I got to where I worked.

Why is it you remember places as much much bigger than they really are?

and the people, whilst doing teh same job as they used to do seem so 'bored' when it was always somewhere exciting, vibrant etc?

is it just rose coloured specs or something else?

I used to get the same, or similar, feelings when I used to go back to England for a visit .... what I remembered was a hell of a lot different from what I found ... that's one of the reasons I stopped going. I think the "rose colored specs" thing is close.

flashy · 21-08-2008, 19:45

Ian i think its called living and learning, everyone has to start somewhere, you probably loved that job but looking back it isnt the same as you remember it, life changes as we grow older unfortunately

entwisi · 21-08-2008, 19:51

Flashy, You are so right, I know we move on, I look back even a couple of years and see my progression through the company.

Life is a moving target and thats what making it so interesting. I love my life and the people in it. In fact i would go so far as to say I don't know how I could make it better. I have been really lucky in some respects and really happy with teh decisions Julie and I have made that have got us here(we are a team and talk through all things like this).

MargaretR · 21-08-2008, 19:53

I worked for the same employer for 35 years.
It often was a fun place to work - morale was good - until IT was introduced - then it began to go downhill - people did not have much chance for verbal exchanges any more.

Eric · 21-08-2008, 19:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

I worked for the same employer for 35 years.
It often was a fun place to work - morale was good - until IT was introduced - then it began to go downhill - people did not have much chance for verbal exchanges any more.

What is "IT"? I take it we aren't talking the Stephen King novel.

entwisi · 21-08-2008, 20:01

I T as in computers

flashy · 21-08-2008, 20:04

onwards and upwards as they say

i dont know what i want to do yet for work, but what i do know is that i dont want to go back to the kind of job i was doing before i had Reece, dont get me wrong i find nothing at all wrong with care work but i dont think its for me anymore

i find a change of scenery is always good no matter what or where it is, i wouldnt like to be stuck in the same sort of job year in year out as i did before

get out there and find new things, we only have one chance at life so whats the point in being miserable with a job we dont like, we have choices in life and i choose to make different ones

Margaret Pilkington · 21-08-2008, 20:32

I think it is a mistake to go back......whether it be to a place you worked or to a place you lived.
I had a brilliant job and loved it, but in the 6 years since I retired I have not been back.
I have been invited back to farewell parties and retirements, but I have never gone because i don't belong there anymore.....my life and I, we have moved on...and that is how it should be.

entwisi · 21-08-2008, 20:45

I had no choice, My job is now to help those working there. I haven't gone back voluntarily

cashman · 21-08-2008, 20:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I think it is a mistake to go back......whether it be to a place you worked or to a place you lived.
I had a brilliant job and loved it, but in the 6 years since I retired I have not been back.
I have been invited back to farewell parties and retirements, but I have never gone because i don't belong there anymore.....my life and I, we have moved on...and that is how it should be.

in the main i agree with that, only thing i have always had a wish to return to was a place i did summat fer others back in 72, and have always promised meself i would return.

Margaret Pilkington · 21-08-2008, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

I had no choice, My job is now to help those working there. I haven't gone back voluntarily

Yes, I appreciate that.
And I agree that things do look very different when you go back.
I once had the need to re-vist Peel Park School.....and I went there as a child.....it always seemed huge to me back then, but on the return visit I could not imagine how I had thought it was a big place....or for that matter why i though that Mr Hinchliffe was scary.

West Ender · 21-08-2008, 21:13

I pop into the Warrington Tax Office every now and then and it's lovely going back (mind you, I only retired last September). Sadly a lot of the people I worked with have been forced out, either into Early Retirement or transferred (I almost went into jargon there and wrote "xferred") to Manchester or Liverpool, but there's still a good number I worked with for a long time. I also meet up with a group of ex-colleagues/friends for a meal out every so often.

Where you should not go back to is a place you once went on holiday and remember fondly.

Colin and I spent our honeymoon in Babbacombe, Devon, and we went back there a couple of years before he died - we were staying in Exeter at the time. Well, the beautiful hotel we had stayed at (and it really was quite posh then) had shrunk, over 30 years, and its attractive gardens had been built on so it was in the middle of a load of hotels. The wide Esplanade overlooking the, still beautiful, beach had become a little bit of grass verge and the bay itself was half the width it was in 1962.

cashman · 21-08-2008, 21:18

fer entwisi, happy memories this thread brought.

entwisi · 21-08-2008, 21:33

Dodgy camera work and I thought I was in an episode of HeartBeat for a min there mate!