When you achieve your goal to retire, a funny thing happens. You feel like you should go back to work. Well that's what happened to me...
In all the options available to me, I decided to follow my misguided fantasy of working in a factory.
Think of the Industrial Revolution, the mighty World War I & II factories, the East German workers uprising of 17 June 1953, Germany's Wirtschaftwunder,
Laverne & Shirley,
Industrie Mädchen, Livin' on a Prayer,
An Officer and a Gentleman, Unions, Demontage and Treuhand.
I wanted to work with Germans and I also wanted to work for a Berlin startup company.
I managed to combine that all in one with a part-time job as a production worker in the 'culinary area'.
As a food handler, before I could even start work I had to do some 'training' to get a 'Rote Karte' (Lebensmittelpersonalhygiene). This cost me 20 Euros (had to pay it myself), at a state of the art training facility, the Gesundheitsamt in Lichtenberg. That's irony by the way, Lichtenberg is a bit of a dump and the Gesundheitsamt didn't look so gesund (healthy).
To get the pass you just roll up during their odd opening times (varies depending on the day), register with a lady through a small cut out in a door and hand over your passport, then wait in a room.
Then another lady comes and instructs you in German for about 10 minutes. Telling you about the legalities of handling food, that you can be fined, you can make other people sick if you are sick, that you should go to the doctor if you are sick. The biggie is you are legally not allowed to work with food if you are sick.
Then you have to watch a poxy 20 minute video which dramatizes what she just said. We are told the story of a food worker who became ill and went to the doctor. The doctor told him to stay home. He did until he was well again. The he returned to work when he was healthy. It was fascinating.
There was also some other additional gems, such as if you go to the toilet you should wash your hands afterwords. Shocker. A Vietnamese guy in our group fell asleep during that presentation due to its gripping story line. Hopefully someone fills him in.
As soon as the video stopped, people rushed to the little lady behind the window to pick up their hard earned Rote Karte - and pay the 20 clams.
And I got mine...
And then I started my work as an 'arbeiter' in an East German factory complex (in plattenbau Lichtenberg) for the Berlin startup.
I even get to wear an '
open all hours' shop coat.
And after my first day of picking, packing, boxing and cleaning, we arbeiters got to take home the leftovers.
After one day of work I think I've had enough of living out my factory fantasy :P
