Chapter 31 - Walking barefoot...

Horray… Birna has booked her trip to Oz!!! She arrives on her birthday… 3rd December and will stay for a month… which means that our New Years Resolution from last year will come true… that we would spend the following New Years Eve together. And so now the countdown until Birna arrives is on… 73 days to go!

Today was my last day working at the Department… it’s the end of another chapter. The Department has been a great experience overall. At times it was very challenging and emotionally difficult of course, but I learnt so much! The thing that made my time there so special was that I worked with some wonderful people… in particular Bec, Sarah, Annette and Kerri, who will be friends for life. They are such beautiful people and amazing friends and I feel truly blessed to have them in my life.

Saying goodbye to everyone and walking out of the office for the last time made me feel pretty sad, as the Department has been a part of my life for the last three and a half years. I know however, that it was the right decision and that it’s time to explore new opportunities. When I initially told my dad that I was thinking about resigning, he told me not to throw my old shoes away until I had new ones…. But I told him that sometimes I like to walk barefoot and feel the grass between my toes. And I know that when one door closes… another opens. And if at first no doors open, then you just have to keep knocking (or just break the damn doors down!)

So the hunt is on for a new job… I’m interested in getting into the HR side of things and recruitment… so if you have any contacts, please let them know how wonderfully talented, intelligent and totally brilliant I am!! ;-)

At work we receive quite a lot of spam mail, which often includes random job opportunities from international companies. Given that I am looking for a job, one email caught my eye the other day. The email claimed that a successful Norwegian company was distributing goods from overseas into Australia. They were advertising for a “funds operator” which involved acting as a “sub distributor” for the company. The email requested that if you wanted to know more, to reply to the email by typing “interested” in the subject line. So yes I was intrigued and followed through. They emailed back the next day and explained further details… Basically, it involved the company transferring large sums of money into your bank account (**warning bells**), at which you would keep 10% of the amount and forward the remaining 90% to another account, as per their instructions. The company claimed that if they employed you as a “funds operator” / “sub distributor” the company would only pay 2% tax as opposed to 30%, so it was a win-win for them and for you. They advised that the job was genuine and legal and all it involved was one hour a day, four days a week of your time, and you would earn $1400 per week. Wow I thought – not bad! A bit of extra cash on the side would be great! And I could squeeze the work in between watching Oprah and Dr Phil!

Of course it did enter my mind that it sounded a little dodgy and too good to be true, but I was still curious. The email stated that all that you needed to do now was submit your full name, address, bank account details (**warning bells**) and contact number and that the transactions would commence the following day. Yes I know what you’re thinking… and no I wasn’t that stupid to hand out my bank details, however I considered opening a new bank account with a new bank, and not putting any other money in it obviously – just purely to conduct the transactions. Of course I still didn’t feel convinced that it was genuine and ended up contacting the Department of Fair Trading to get their advice and if this practice was legal. I outlined the information to the lady on the phone and she explained that she hadn’t heard about it and that she had to consult with her supervisor. Five minutes later she returned and advised that her supervisor recommended I contact the Police immediately! She stated that the "job" was a money laundering scheme, which is obviously a criminal offence! So my “get rich quick” scheme didn’t quite pan out like I’d hoped! (And yes I did contact the Fraud Squad at the Police and forwarded the “job” details onto them). So of course my friends and I all had a very good laugh at the whole thing (well actually, they were mostly laughing at me and how gullible I was!) ...Like my wise old daddy always says… “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” So now to Plan B… But I’ll have to get back to you on what Plan B is when I figure that out myself!