Well, it could've been worse.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that working in customer service is the modern version of being Sisyphus. It's full of endless, repetitive work, and tricking people into buying whatever rubbish you're forced to sell them. No matter how hard you work, it's never enough. There aren't many people who love being in customer service, and I have the greatest respect for those who do. But personally, I hate it. Don't get me wrong though, as long as you don't mind doing less physically and mentally demanding tasks, it's not that bad. The job itself is actually fine. In fact, having said that, most of the customers are generally fine as well. But you know the saying 'one bad apple ruins the bunch'? On some days, that's all I can see: the bad apple. Let's face it, it's not like I expect to get on with everyone I meet. I know there are going to be some people who will just hate me no matter what I do - and this goes both ways. Working in...

Whilst standing around making coffee all day, the mind tends to wander. Or at least, mine certainly does. Truth be told, it shouldn't be wandering if I were to do my job correctly: engage with customers whilst making - sorry, hand-crafting  their drinks, smile, make conversation, and generally enjoy being at your job. Obviously I don't do this, as I tend to ignore the customer completely and put all my effort into their drink. I like to think that this extra attention to detail pays off, but my manager disagrees. Well, for now we'll agree to disagree. At some point in the day, once my grande skinny latte routine is honed to perfection, I start to the think of other things. In the beginning, I created the perfect milk and foam. And the foam was without large bubbles, and smooth. Except, after a while I started noticing that different milk foams in different ways when steamed. Skimmed milk, for example, is the worst at clumping. I've yet to figure out why this is, but I...

At the end of university, I decided that I'd spend a year in Canada. 'How hard could it be?' I naively thought to myself. The land of famously kind people; surely this hospitality would extend to their sister nation? Well, not quite. On the whole, it's been pretty much a straight road so far. There have been some ups and downs, admittedly, but on the whole there's nothing too terrifying - until recently. At the moment, I have reached an impasse I like to call: Ain't Nothin' Straighter Than a Circle for a Government. But first, let's start at the beginning - I'd hate to put you off the idea of living in Canada completely. To clarify, I'm trying to live and work in Canada. 'Ah, working abroad,' I hear you say, 'That must be where the issue is, right?' Wrong. The Canadian government runs this rather awesome system of temporary work permits. For up to a year (though that can be extended), those aged 18-25 can work in Canada withou...