melanie rose: December 2009

As I approach the end of my two years at Bike Rider Magazine, I'm a little bit sad about leaving. Being stuck with a bunch of guys (the girls turn up like once a week hehe) has had it's ups and downs, but overall, I like to say my time there has been fantastic! I couldn't ask for better bosses, and don't think I could have received a better first full-time job anywhere in the world.

Thinking about this has made me reminisce. So I thought I would take a trip down memory lane of my time working here :)

I remember when Paul (boss #1) was at church in 2007 and we were having a chat about what I was planning on doing now that I had finished school. And then my Dad butted in and said "Do you have any jobs available?" Such a spark of an idea. A few days later, I was fully offered the job, interviewless and all! :) Such a blessing.

I remember the first time I ever stepped foot into the office. Hush, but I even remember what I was wearing! Crazy nut! It was a Sunday morning after church, and I met Gemma. Lovely I thought she was.

Now, My first day. Ahhh, the day after parachute. I was exhausted, not to mention nervous as heck! I was sooo super shy too, it was funny.

Having atheist/christian talks with Josh (hmm Josh #1). Interesting, but I have to say they were good. He once stood by my desk and was telling me his thoughts on how I looked like a murderer. I had a envelope opener in my hand when he walked past and he thought it looked like I was going to stab somebody. hehe when I first started, Tracey handed me the envelope opener and I had no idea how to use it. Talk about blonde hehe. Now I can't open an envelope without it.

The funny random things Chris says. His latest was asking me for some Raspberry Lemonade when I did the coffee round. Ayeee??? There's not even such a thing. He's also used my manicure set more than I have myself. And we had a fun salt fight on our work Christmas lunch which he called a 'date' because me and him were sharing a menu. He also taught me how to play fishing games on his blackberry. hehe Just have to say "you're a cool Cat" Chris. 'BOOOM! .. no, wait, read *points to shirt*' Oh and thanks for fixing my computer like 4376725 times. PC nerd forever..

The girly, piano, cute talks with Tracey (Boss #2) when she was in. I think out of everybody, I will miss her the most. She's more of a friend than a boss or anything. I guess it must be because we're related. Distantly, but related none the less. My Great Great Grandfather and her Great Grandfather is the same person :) Tracey, you will be fine without me... I promise. hehe She's slightly stressing out. Makes me feel so loved.

Making box robots with Owen (Paul and Tracey's oldest child). Wish I had a photo of his cool robot we made. It was the best. My job pretty much turned to childcare for a whole day. YUSS! He's so cute. He quite often used to help me put subscription renewal notes in the envelopes too.

Today Fraser had stolen my Bike Rider phone and it was ringing and ringing and ringing and I couldn't find it anywhere. He was cracking up laughing at me and then he picked up both my phone and his and had a phone to each ear speaking to this person. Man, it was laughing material.

Ohhh having two phone lines was quite confusing to start with. So many different numbers to remember (and the fax) and then had to remember how to answer the phone when it rang (ie whether to say it's Bike Rider or DRD). I was quite confused to start with. Now I don't even need to think about it.

Fraser and Paul told me when I first started at work to ask who was calling before transferring a phone call through to them. So I've done that ever since, put the person on hold and asked Fraser/Paul if they want to speak to this person. And if they say no, then Paul said I have to blatantly lie to the person on the other end of the line and tell them they're not here. I hated doing that to start with. Now I think I'm a pretty expert liar when it comes to this situation. Kinda hard though when everybody else in the office is laughing hehe :)

Oh and some of the funny phonecall pranks I've had.. When I first started some of Paul's mates used to ring up and say it was the Tauranga Police or speak in this really weirdo voice pretending to be somebody else. Soon enough, I recognised the number on caller ID, so fail to them!

The awesome photoshoots that were held weekly. We even had one where Chris was slamming himself against the work van. It was pretty hilarious to watch. Guys are also capable of the most hilarious facial expressions in the world. Oooh can't forget the famous feet photoshoot where we were modelling alpinestars socks.

Oh, and the one for the Nationwide Alpinestars catalogue. My ultimate favourite. Spend the whole day organising outfits for people to wear.. So much fun.

And this one was the buff photoshoot. Crack up seeing all the guys wear them in the strangest ways possible. I had to do the girly ways, as I was the only girl :)

The moto stick (motobike version of a pogo stick)... Ahh. where do I even start. We had three of these to giveaway as competitions at work last year, but before we gave them away, we kept them for several months to play on ourselves. Some of the guys were pro as at this. For the hardcore breaking record, I could hardly get more than 3 jumps to start with..after a while I got to about 30 .

Chris pulling a no footer. yeeyah.

My cool Christian/Music/Bass talks with Josh (#2). Quite often this year, it's just been me and him in the office which have led to some very cool chats. Been great to have another Christian in the office. Encouraging I must admit.

The spoiltness I got on my birthday :D

My highschool musical chats with Shane. He asked me once what I did on my weekend, and I told him I saw HSM3 at the movies. He said he was thinking about watching it, and wanted to know what it was like. Note: He's like a 40 year old man hehe cracked me up.

Spy day on the water. Instead of working in the office that day, we went to Lake Karapiro and spent our day working by wake boarding (getting taught by pro's), skiing, watching pro's, jet skiing and doing all sorts of fun stuff. It was a competition run in the magazine. Ohh the joys of the magazine industry :) Last years Christmas work do was also pretty similar. Went out to the beach with a boat and just spend the day on the beach instead of working. How cool is that?

Not all has been good. The intense swearing and crude talk has driven me to insanity at times. Being the only girl in there most the time got kinda hard.

I remember the very first time I was in the magazine and even my name. I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. I'm in it every month now, so nothing terribly exciting about it.

The very first time I wore motorbike gear (road bike) and they had no sizes to fit me, so dressed me in size 11 mens boots, a huge helmet, and an XXL mens jacket and got on the bike behind Shane for a photoshoot hehe good times. The first time ever on a road bike too and the last actually.

The day when I spend most of my day climbing on desks trying to organise the magazine covers on our walls. This was so random. Almost fell off like 30 times. Heres half the dirtrider titles.

And half Bike Rider. Well actually, a lot less than half.

I'm going to miss this room. Magazines piled high, T-Shirts, my account files. sigh.

I've officially been in 4 different spots in the office (as in my desk that is). What's up with that? Was shuffled around so many times. Once into a room that was as cool as the antarctic.

I always like re-stocking merchandise (quite a time consuming job) but it was so much fun.

The phonecalls for subscriptions. Yuss. Once this lady rang up and was so horrible to me though. Said all this mean stuff, and she pretty much made me cry hehe. She rang back like 10 minutes later and I recognised the number on the caller ID and almost refused to answer, but I did, and she was all apologetic. Almost sounded like she was crying on the other end. Weeeird.

The day after I broke my wrist, I walked into the office and was greeted with Chris and Josh (#2) and they just burst into laughter and actually couldn't stop. It was pretty funny though. How ironic :) The million questions to follow. Chris wanted every exact detail... so sat there talking.. The next night, I saw Paul and he also wanted every exact detail hehe. Such motorbike freaks hehe

I have come to love my databases. Yes, I know I am a nerd. This here is two of my Bike Rider Magazine ones. To the left is the current, and to the right is the expired, both of which I use very much on a day to day basis. Oh the thing on the very right is my subscription prize list thingo. It's just an excel document.

Drawing winners! The motorbikes were the funnest because they were worth so much. The colouring competitions were also fun, looking at all the cute colouring from kiddies. The kids letters are also priceless... Kids aye :) awesome.

Christmas time. I have to say that this is by far the best time at work. 3x as many subscriptions to do and people breathing down my neck saying 'want it posted it out by this date, and to this address, then to that address. Gift card to come first, then the magazine, following correspondence to him.' Blah, but I love it. Soooo the best. Highlight of my actual working year.

Oooooh.. We did this photoshoot once down Hubbards Road (a long straight road in the country in Paeroa) where I had to drive the van. The back door of the van was open, and hanging out of the back of the van was the photographer taking photos of the 3 motorbikes behind me. He was holding on with one hand and snapping photos with the other. His life was pretty much in my hands. I could have slammed on the breaks or accelerated too fast and he could have gone flying out the back. hehehe. Was fun though. I also had to drive in the middle of the road. Kinda freaked out when a car was coming the other way, but all in good fun :)

All this wouldn't have happened without my lovely workmates/bosses. So huge thank you for the last two years Tracey, Paul, Fraser, Chris, Josh W, Kevin, Gemma, Josh C and Shane :)

So here it is Steph. I hand my job over to you. Enjoy it as much as I have.
*tear*

PS Sorry about the bad quality on some of the photos. I couldn't find the original copy in our networking system, so did some magazine scanning :)

Oh 8 days left!

Ha, I don't even know where to begin.

Road Trip

Flashest McDonalds Ever

Auckland, which looked very pretty lit up. Yes, I just admitted that. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo, but I did on the trip back and that too looked very cool with all the yaughts.