What Happened In My Sporadic Year? - The Job Hop

Hello Everyone!

I think it’s time I addressed this. I keep talking about the end of 2024 and the whole of 2025 as my sporadic year, and that’s because, throughout that time, my videos were all over the place. I ended the 2023 My Bullet Journal Journey series around April time, in 2024, and since then didn’t post more than 2 episodes of the next part of that series, for 2025, and for a good chunk of the year I didn’t post anything at all. Then, suddenly I started posting more Sims 4 Stop Motion Builds, and then that started to waver. So, what happened? Well, let me take you through the nitty gritty, although it won’t bear any proper details of who, what, where, and when. Trust me, it’ll be better that way. Now, mind you, this is going to be a very long post, because there was a lot that happened.

Job Jumping & Career Moves

So, to really understand what was going on, let me go all the way back to 2022, when I started working for a company as an admin assistant. The company was fine, I was happy where I was, and my bosses encouraged me to work on my projects, because I’d told them I ran my own blog website, which, by that time was already the arts and crafts blog it is today. They even encouraged me to start filming videos for YouTube, to get better traction. I was reluctant at first, but eventually I decided to give it a go, and so, the first Sims Build videos, and the My Bullet Journal Journey videos, were made. You might have seen a scene change, during the first season of the My Bullet Journal Journey, and that’s because I’d left the company. I was given permission at the time, to film my video, at the office, once working hours were done. The reason why was because I was literally on my own, at the office, all day, every day. There was no one else with me, and because my bosses were constantly out on field work, I was largely left alone.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I did like the setup, I was happy in my role, and my bosses were great, but I just felt stuck. Things were going wrong towards the end, at least on my part, and I lost love for it. So, I decided a career change was in order, and because I love coffee, and I was in a mood, I wanted to go back to being a barista. My reasoning was that I could just do my job, during work hours, and not think about it afterwards, and because I was working on several projects at the time, I needed a workspace that was flexible for me. So, stepping down my career ladder was not a problem. Little did I know that I was wrong. While I liked the work, while it was rewarding, in the sense that I got to practice and refine my coffee craft, my other projects didn’t take off as quickly as I had liked, and that’s because I was always at work. The café I worked at was sorely understaffed, and I had to work long hours, because I was full time. There was even one weekend where I almost had to do 58 hours, because my manager was off with a bad case of COVID 19. Thankfully, the higher ups finally saw sense and gave me a day off, to recover, but and I will emphasise this with a big “BUT” because it was very bad practice at the time, it was a very, very last-minute call. It was this incident that made me end up looking for a job elsewhere.

Mind you, I should have known things were going to spiral badly, because, during my interview, the manager at the time was leaving. In fact, the day I came to interview, he told me himself, it was his last day. That should have been my first red flag. Then when I started, a month into my time there, one of my colleagues was fired for “inappropriate conduct”, now what they defined as “inappropriate conduct” was his lack of manners. He wasn’t the…shall we say polite type of person, since his vocabulary had quite a few swear words, but on the whole, he was a good person. He conversed with customers, made them laugh most of the time, and made really good coffee. The problem they had with him was his attitude, since it didn’t reflect the company’s good image. The third red flag I should have noticed was the situation with my hours. Now, while I was resigned to doing the original 54 hours that were assigned to me, I was not about to increase that to 58, because I know that if I had said yes, I would have burned out really quickly and it would have been hell on my body. Not to mention, the higher ups would most likely have taken advantage of my willingness to work. It was not going to happen. So, I decided to move, again, because I could clearly see I was not going to last in that company.

The Place I Thought I Could Call Home

Eventually, I found another barista job, this time, with better pay, better hours, and a more stable environment, or so I thought. For the first year I worked there, I was fine. I loved the job, I’d worked for the company before, and it was a gorgeous setup. The café itself was beautiful, and it was in a space that wasn’t on the high street, so I had more regulars and quieter hours than my previous role. Of course, again, with every hospitality job, something always happens, and like my previous role, it happened right from the start. Now, I need to explain to you that the café, I was moving to, was a new one. When I started, they were still setting up the counters, the coffee machines, the fridges, everything. Me, my team leader and my manager still needed to help set up a number of things and get our systems in place. Right from the first day, I was told that we were supposed to have 2 other baristas, to help us out, but they had quit before they even started.

In the end, it was just my manager, my team leader and myself, to run the café. However, the higher ups would still be on hand, should we need anything. So, we buckled down, we did the job, and we were working well together…that is, until my team leader decided to quit. She had found a job that suited her career aspirations. I can’t quite remember what it was she wanted to go into, but by the end of February, we were down another team member. So, it was just my manger and myself, and our operations manager, who would help us out, if we needed it. We also relied heavily on agency staff members (floating baristas who are contracted to help out wherever they’re sent to), to help me out, at the front, since my manager was busy with everything else. Eventually, we managed to hire a new team leader, and come April, we had our trio again…and by the end of April, we were back down to 2, and our operations manager. This time, my manager had disappeared, completely. No contact, no letter of resignation, just complete and utter silence. It seems he’d quit, without telling anyone, and all of us, including my operations manager, were worried something had happened to him. I didn’t hear anything about it, after we managed to figure out, he was ok, but it was rather concerning at the time.

After that, things started to progress a lot more smoothly. We opened our hot kitchen, hired kitchen staff to take care of it, and we started selling hot foods. Things were going so smoothly, and I honestly was ok with the setup. Of course, it was still tiring work, since I had to either open or close the café on my own, but I didn’t mind, because it meant I could ensure the café was spotless for the next day. For about half a year (the end of 2024), things went on this way, although the company went through a few changes, made a few decisions, which I honestly thought was completely unnecessary and should not have been made in the first place, but I was just a barista, I didn’t have any decision-making power. Now, mind you during this time, we were still relying on agency staff, until one day, in November (I think), we finally hired a new barista, to help me out.

This is where things start to get sticky. When I helped my manager interview her, I had some doubts about her. I wasn’t sure whether I could trust her or not, to take care of the café, just like I did, or to the standards that I was told and maintained, since the very beginning. However, we were desperate, so we hired her and because I was trained in teaching others in the workplace, I taught her nearly everything I knew about the space. Eventually, I started trusting her to work hard, and we got along, surprisingly. We actually worked well together and were bouncing ideas around to make the café more appealing to the people in our building. Then, the Early Spring Vacation season began, and that’s when things took a turn for the worst.

The Fallout

March 2025. This is where things began to fall apart. I had booked a vacation, well in advance, as well as my manager, during the month of March. I knew that things would be very tight around that time, since I would only have a week with him to learn about all the managerial duties he had, to help him out, while he was away. So, I left on my vacation, intending to rest, relax and recharge, before going back into such a physical job. When I got back, my manager decided to entrust all of his duties to the new barista, who, mind you, was still learning things from me. I hadn’t taught her everything yet, because we were rather busy at the time, and I wanted her to learn slowly, so she wasn’t overwhelmed. I was surprised by the decision, but I quickly put it aside, because at the time, I thought he made a logical decision. However, thinking back on it now, I realised he had made the wrong one. We had a kitchen manager, who could have taken the managerial duties from him, since being both kitchen manager and café manager should have been his role. What I mean is, the kitchen manager was supposed to be the overall manager, but because my team leader was promoted, before we even had a kitchen, he became manager, and the duties were split, so that things would be easier on everyone.

In the end, I shrugged it off, and carried on as I normally did, and my manager went on his vacation. Now, I have to be clear here, even if it’s been more than a year, I still feel the trauma of the events that happened at this point, and even as I’m writing this paragraph, I’m shaking and on the verge of tears (and as I'm editing it as well). While he was on vacation, I carried on with my duties, knowing it was going to be hard, regardless, because March/April time was one of our busy periods, so I put my head down, and got to work. I couldn’t say the same for the barista who my manager had put in charge. I don’t know exactly what she was doing in the office, during the week, but I was left floundering, by myself, all day, without an extra pair of hands, and the only time she left the office was to cover my lunch breaks. That was it. Throughout that week, I felt completely and utterly unsupported, because she wouldn’t take a moment during the day, to check up on me, or help me out, with my tasks. Mind you, I completely understand if a manager had 50 different tasks that they also needed to do, but any good manager would help out at the front, regardless of the tasks their higher ups set them, because for a good manager, the café and its customers come first. It seemed, during that week, that wasn’t the case with her, and in the end, I was frustrated.

The next Monday, I was busy helping out with several different things, and I couldn’t be everywhere at once, because so many things were happening. The morning of that Monday, the “barista in charge” had essentially ordered me to do something, but I already had my hands full, and I couldn’t do what she had ordered (and I say "ordered" because she didn't ask at all, it was a "do this" situation). She then grew angry with me, because I didn’t do what she wanted. Now, mind you, I was supposed to be her senior. I had been at the café longer than she had, and I was older than her. So, it really bothered me when she had the gall to tell me I wasn’t doing my job. In fact, that Monday, I had an emotional meltdown, because the stress of the last week, and the frustrations I felt had all piled up and burst, because the kitchen manager, who I actually got along with and respected, told me the very same thing I was thinking. The “barista in charge” had let her new “powers” get to her head.

He knew more than me exactly what she was doing in the office, because he constantly visited it, to use the computer and to write up the allergens for the dishes he was making for the day. He had told me that the “barista in charge” was pretty much on her phone, the entire time she was in the office, working as slowly as she possibly could, so she didn’t have to work at the front. When I heard that, my heart soared, and I felt vindicated. My relief, the pent-up frustration, and the stress from the past week had come flooding to the surface, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I had worked so hard, at the front, by myself (with the odd occasional help from one of the kitchen staff), all because the “barista in charge” didn’t want to work at the front. My emotions hit me like a freight train, and to this day, I can still remember the way my tears came unbidden.

Time To Walk Away

Now, I would say that I’m a pretty self-aware person, and I try to see things from other angles. So, I thought, she likes to talk, so let’s try to talk with her, and sort this out, see if we can salvage the situation. So, after hours, I spoke to her. I told her how I felt, and how I thought she should have handled things. I tried to be as honest as I could, without being too blunt.

My words fell on deaf ears.

She didn’t see things my way, and from the way she responded to me, she didn’t want to. I was devastated, and later, as I thought about her words and her response, I grew angry, furious even. I went so far as to do what she did to me, while my manager went on a training course, for a day, so she could see how it was, without me. I don’t think she understood, and our relationship soured, badly. There was no way we could salvage it, and although my manager tried to step in, he couldn’t see the issue. Eventually, he had us sit down and talk, with him as mediator. I had been waiting for this, because for 2 months, she had been basically avoiding it, by being sick, or going on vacation, or doing other things, because we were busy. We were basically separated, because we couldn’t get along. When we finally sat down, I said my piece, hoping my manager would understand and actually listen to me, but when she said hers, he didn’t act the way I thought he would.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the situation fully, my kitchen manager had actually told him an unbiased version of the situation and the other two kitchen staff had agreed with him, so he should have known that I had been the one stressed out and unsupported, by the “barista in charge”. When both of us said our pieces, he told us to essentially bury the hatchet and move on. I knew that was impossible, because neither of us were going to back down. I knew from what she said that she thought she did nothing wrong, and although I said my piece, she wasn’t going to see it from my perspective. Essentially, it’s a classic case of “I’m right”, “no, I’m right”. I was gutted that my perspective wasn’t getting the validation it deserved. I was furious that the “barista in charge” was going to ignore the way I felt, because she thought she had done nothing wrong. I was disappointed that the good rapport that we had, when she first started, disappeared just like that, with one week of bad decisions. It was then, during her spiel that I knew one of us had to leave, and I knew she wasn’t going to. So, I had to take matters into my own hands.

I started looking for jobs.

I didn’t tell my manager at first, because I wanted to have a secured place, before I could tell him, but he found out eventually, and I came clean. I told him I was looking to go back into admin, because that was less physically demanding, and I was getting to the point where I couldn’t be fast enough anymore. I had to leave for my health and wellbeing, and he was all for it. He was sad to see me want to leave, but he didn’t stop me. I should have known he wasn’t really interested in keeping me, despite my knowledge and longevity at the company (although it had only been a year and a half – in all honest, that’s actually pretty good for a barista role). So, I started looking, all the while trying to avoid speaking to the other barista.

The Job Hop

I eventually found an admin adjacent job (a receptionist job), and freed myself of the oppression I felt, at that café. It grew so much that I was ready to leave the moment I handed in my resignation. That’s when the Sims Stop Motion Builds started. I had plenty of time, for a few weeks, to make houses and videos for the channel, and I thought with the physical exhaustion no longer a factor in my day-to-day life, I could finally work on the YouTube channel again. Then I started the job. It was not what I had expected, and again, the company was sorely understaffed. It was a job with a lot of hats, I had to understand so many different systems and use my own initiative to determine whether a case was an emergency or not, handle bookings and checking people in, I had to also understand insurance claims, and a whole host of different things that my head started spinning.

I lasted only a few months in that job. While the staff were friendly, I just didn’t feel like I belonged. There were many members there who had their set friendships, and didn’t really move or speak, with someone new, like me, and because they were so busy, I didn’t even have room to speak. I had to keep my head down, do what I could, and keep a smile on my face, even though I didn’t feel like it. I just felt trapped in that job, and I knew it wasn’t for me. However, there were occasions when I thought about just hanging tight, and waiting a year, to get my admin and receptionist skills to develop more, but after a few weeks, of constant changes and long hours, I knew I had to leave. One way or another, I needed to go. So, I started looking for another job, again.

I think it was halfway through my second month, when I got a job offer. It was another barista role, since before I had found the receptionist one, I was also looking to get back into another café, this time with a different company, but a similar layout. I had been recommended by the head chef of this new company, because we had worked together before, in the previous one, and he knew just how hard I worked, and how much I loved my coffee experience. So, he recommended me to this other company. Needless to say, I was ready to jump ship, when I got the offer. It was something I knew how to do, and there was better scope for me there, because I could potentially move into social media and marketing, because of my film production background. So, I hopped. I went to this new place, and I made the best of what I could.

The Desperate Regret

Looking back on it all, I should have rejected the offer. I should have waited for another opportunity, and I should have kept looking for an admin job, rather than take on this barista one. From the very first day, I knew my life was going to be difficult. I was given an old café this time, which wasn’t properly taken care of. There were many areas of the space that needed deep (and I mean deep) cleaning. In fact, a lot of people had told me that it really just needed to be shut, taken apart and cleaned. It was so bad that I started looking again, although I knew my luck was going to be worse this time. I had hopped onto 3 different jobs, all in the space of one year, and it was going to be bad for my CV, but like with the receptionist job, I knew I wasn’t going to last. I mean, I was in a physical job again, and I wouldn’t be able to keep up, because I knew how slow I was becoming.

I know I could have cut corners, left a few things to the next day, but I wanted to go by the book, and make sure everything was spick and span for the person who opened the café in the morning. I wanted the staff members there to see what it looked like, when effort was put into things, not for the sake of belittling them, or outshining them, but for the sake of reigniting their motivation to care for the space they were working in. It wasn’t going to happen. There were a few staff members there who were set in their ways, and wouldn’t listen to anyone, especially someone new, who would disturb their peace. In the end, I had to give up, and find my way out, again, because there was no way I could stay in such a physical job anymore. It was also very demanding on me, because I had to wake up at 5am, which did a number on me, especially since I was working on my YouTube channel, every evening. I couldn’t maintain a healthy lifestyle like this.

The Final Straw

I eventually managed to find an admin job that would accept me, this time. It was a similar industry and scope as my original admin job. In fact, I wasn’t the only one who was ready to jump onto this ship. The employer who had interviewed me was so ready to hire me that it was a no-brainer for the both of us, and so, I sent in my resignation, once again, hope in my chest, and relief surrounding me. This was back in March (again). I had a month to work, before I could start this new job, and I was just over the moon. Of course, I still kept working hard, to make sure the café looked good, but I knew that, in time, it would deteriorate, even more so than when I had found it, but that was somebody else’s problem. I couldn’t care less.

However, I will say that my employers at the café were generous, and I am grateful to have worked with them, because they allowed me to have a week off, so I could be fresh and ready to start my new job. I was happy to rest. I actually just played The Sims 4, for fun, during that time, because I didn’t want to overwork myself, before I started a new job, and I didn’t feel like updating the channel, until I knew what my timetable looked like. Then came Sunday evening, the day before I was supposed to start. I received a text message telling me not to come in, because the company was going through a few changes, and it would be difficult for my mentor (the admin assistant I was supposed to replace) to come to the office to help me. I had a feeling something was brewing, but I shrugged it off, because I wanted to give this new job a chance, and if it meant an extra week off, I was happy to take it.

Then Friday came, I received a text asking when I was available to talk. I didn’t have anything going on, so I said I was ready any time. I had a feeling something was wrong already, when that text came, and when I was told that I was essentially out of a job, my heart was already in my stomach. I had just lost the perfect job for me, because of the company changes that had happened, and I hadn’t even started yet. I was so disappointed. I was also a little panicked, because I didn’t know when I would find another job, if my last few attempts were anything to go by. I needed something to tide me over, while my other projects were still unmonetized, but I got to work again and started looking. I thanked that man for considering me, and giving me hope that I am employable, and as compensation for my loss, he gave me a month’s wages, to tide me over, but the disappointment was still there. The loss still burnt.

Onto Better Things…I Hope

I think it’s needless to say, I am still looking for a job. I’m still looking to go back into admin, although, having now tasted what it’s like creating content, and doing it full time, I think I’ll be going part time, this time, but I am also looking into other industries and other roles (don’t worry, a barista role is out of the question). I’m looking to get back into film production, since that was the industry, I was trained for, with my degree. I’m looking at other forms of employment, like going into apprenticeships. Most of all, I’m hoping my YouTube channel, my Patreon page and this website succeeds in becoming monetized. It’s why I’ve started making all these new and shiny things, testing out other ways in which to entice you, my audience, to help me out, because if a company with big money, and big people, won’t look at my CV and see potential there, I’m hoping you guys can.

I don’t mean you should hire me (although that would be a nice thing). What I mean is, if you like my content, if you want the exclusive downloads that are available to subscription members, then please feel free to sign up. The price (I hope) isn’t too expensive, at £3 a month, it’s not a bad deal. Yes, I may look into adding more tiers and subscriptions for the more purposeful content, I hope to one day make, but for now, it’s just the one, and I hope you guys will be willing to help me out. That way, I can improve my skills, develop my content creation experience, and create better content for you, my audience. Now I know that I still have a long way to go, but if you guys can bear with me, and continue to support me, I’m sure you’ll be able to see the progress I’ve made.

Thank You For Staying This Long!

I know that this is a long post. I’m essentially airing out all the heartache I’ve experienced in the past year, year and a half, but I wanted to share with you this experience, so you know why my content has been so erratic over the last few years. I also wanted to let you know, for those who are in a similar situation as myself that you’re not alone. I’ve been there, I’m still there, and it’s going to take a lot longer than a blog post to help me heal, but slowly, one day at a time, I am , and if you’re here too, then you’re healing just that little bit as well (I hope).

 Well, that’s it from me today you guys. I’m going to walk off the trauma that I’d just relived, before I get back to work on my next video. While I go do that, please don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, share and follow me, here on Feather’s Charm, on my YouTube channel, on my other social media channels (Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok), and on Patreon. Your support really does help me make more content like this, for you guys.

And as always, be kind, be creative, and be unique.

I’ll see you later!

Feather, out!