Working hard for the money

In this post, Xiu gives Soy Sauce readers a peak into her experience of working life as an international student in Melbourne.

Before I came to Australia I had never worked a day in my life. Now though, I am on the lookout for part time jobs. The job I have right now is not so great. I guess the biggest reason why I cannot find a satisfactory job is my language is not good enough, or lets say my language is bad, not even close to good!

I am a waitress in a Chinese restaurant. The pay is so bad! I guess the boss just treats us as cheap laborers. My boss is the kind of person who thinks a lot about money, which is good for her, cause she is running a business. But from where I am standing, she is just a mean person who likes yelling and saving money.

As for my friends, whose English skills are as bad as mine, most of them cannot even find a job. If they do find a job they usually find themselves in the same situation as me, with low pay and a horrible boss. One student I know has a very good job in a bank. She is very good at English and smart. She is also very young. She is still studying in Monash University and sometimes she can make 5,000 in one month. She works hard and has really good social skills so she earns good money. But she is an exception and most of us tell of uncountable bad experiences, about bad bosses and bad work conditions. Some students even get hurt during their work. One of my friends even burned their hand whilst working!