Richard Aidey

Yeah, and one of the things, and I read this over my summer break, and one of the things that made me think about a lot is because we've all, Cassie's been coming in, but most of us have not, and the ABC, like other workplaces, has encouraged us to work from home.

And one of the things I have missed is that collegiality, that easy...

bumping into somebody, having a conversation.

And I've missed it a lot.

I've missed it more and more.

And it's absolutely in every thread of this book, at every place she works, she connects with people and they connect with her in a way that we've completely took for granted until last year and still haven't got back.

And I kind of recognised it with a kind of yearning with a small why, if I could put it that way.

That's the short version.

She shows more agency in every story, each more different, weird job.

Some of the situations she gets into are quite challenging.

where you'd kind of think, oh, I don't know if I want to be in this situation, but she keeps going.

And she just gradually, her own confidence in herself, whether she realises it or not, grows through this story.

And it's only towards the end we find out

where she was working and how she burned out.

But it is gradually her getting better and better and better.

And it's through interaction and kindness and her realising that actually, although she can handle these seemingly easy jobs, she's better and better when they're more complicated and hard.

I enjoyed it more as I got through it.

When I started it, I felt like I'd signed up for this homework and I wasn't at all sure.

And the more I got through it, the more I could see what was gradually being done and how well it was being done.

And I ended up enjoying it.