Day 20 – Wednesday 24th November - “Wow what an absolute cock up of epic proportions I had made”

Had to sacrifice going to work in Marrickville today because I’d booked to do my RSA (Responsible Sales of Alcohol) today. As I’ve said already in order to work in a bar/hotel etc in New South Wales you need to have this RSA certificate. I thought I would get it done and out of the way so it could open me up to be able to do lots more jobs.

The place where it was being held was only around the corner from my hostel so it was going to be easy to get to. I knew it was going to be boring because people I know had already done it and they said it was shocking. It just annoyed me that it was going to take all the way up until 3:30.

The old boy doing the lecture was banging on and progress was mind-meltingly slow. He kept talking about Gambling and Pokie Machines. I kept thinking how is this relevant in any way. I even checked the booklet we were working through and it didn’t mention Alcohol once. That’s when I thought this can’t be right. I turned to the Swedish kid next to me and asked him if this was RSA. He said No? I called over the lecturer straight away and I asked him, he confirmed that this was in fact RCG (Responsible Conduct of Gambling) not RSA. Wow what an absolute cock up of epic proportions I had made.

At lunchtime I went to reception and asked them what had happened, they said that I’d booked the wrong one and it was my fault. It was misleading because the email address was from RSA Sydney. I asked them what the best thing to do would be, they advised me that if I left I wouldn’t get a refund and I was half way already so I may as well just finish it. So I did, I stayed and finished it. It wasn’t all such a loss after all though. A lot of the other people there had done their RSA’s the day before and were doing their RCG’s today because they said you usually need both to work in a bar because they also have Slot Machines etc.

So now it seems I’d also be qualified to work in a Casino as well. Maybe I’ll never use it but at least I do have it anyway.

Later that evening I got chatting to Jess & Hannah’s new roommates Brett & Colin from Essex. They were good lads, we watched Wolverine on the TV in the kitchen.

Worked on a few tunes before bed. I’m absolutely desperate for new headphones now. I’m getting sick of only hearing half the world.