My first ever job was helping my dad in the market garden he owned in Midhurst, when I was around 6 and 7 years of age. The payment of fresh, organic old fashioned vegetables was worth all the hard work of pulling weeds, watering, planting, harvesting and cooking them! My new friends' parents owned a dairy/takeaway in the main street of Pio Pio, and I worked there for 18months in return for board and food, while I continued to try to pass my school exams.

At 17 I had got a job in the next town, called Te Kuiti, in the local Supermarket there. I begun in the Deli and after convincing the owner that I had more potential than just stuffing chicken butts and doing dishes, he transferred me out to the checkout area. My checkout supervisor was a phenomenal Maori woman who took me under her wing and taught me a lot of the skills that I still apply to my work. I worked long and hard hours, but loved my work. I was so excited when I received my very first pay cheque! I never really got paid for all the work in the Diary, as the work was for board, so to finally be paid for working was a real trip! My boss, took me under his wing and I learnt alot about trouble shooting. He taught me how to run the departments by eliminating waste more efficiently and getting maximum profit out of the workers and goods we sold. After hours he would tell me of all the plans he had for the supermarket and how he would accomplish them. He showed me how the market was runned and often we would discuss problems and ways to fix them. As a checkout operator, I entered the national checkout operator of the year, competition, and was placed in the regional's then at the finals got 3rd place. The first year, we entered in the keyboard section, then the following year our market went to scanning. It was the 7th Supermarket in New Zealand to do so, and this section wasn't offered till a few more years down the track. As the years rolled by I learnt more and worked as a night manager on our late night and sometimes on Saturday morning before supermarkets were opened 7 days...My boss was my second mentor in this life, the first of course being my dad.... But I wanted more in my professional life and due to my young age would have to wait awhile before being able to advance there...

Heaphy Tce New World My work here was to continue at a deeper level......