Driving through the narrow streets of Chester with a crumpled map in my lap, no GPS and towing a twenty foot trailer behind the company’s Suburban, I knew my first co-op experience was going to be a difficult one.
Before my first co-op term, which was at Transport Canada as a ‘Boating Safety Student’ I had no sense of direction, my map reading skills were not sufficient to say the least, and my knowledge of boating safety or even boating in general was non-existent. I had absolutely no experience when it came to towing a trailer and the biggest vehicle I had ever driven was a regular sized car.
Unfortunately during my second year of University when the other PR students and I were trying to snag our first co-op, I was one of the last people to find one and I was getting desperate. When I went for my interview at Transport Canada to be a ‘Boating Safety Student’, I knew towing a trailer was a requirement. Right before I went into the interview I called my father and he simply said “Brianna, tell them you know everything there is to know about boats, you’re from Cape Breton (huge fishing community) so they will believe you, and tell them you feel confident in your abilities to tow trailers because oddly enough you had to do so for previous work experiences. I know all of this is pure bullshit but when you get home before the summer starts (when the co-op term commenced) I will make sure you know how to tow a trailer and you will have plenty of time to study up on the importance of boating safety and what it entails.”
During the interview I discovered I was one of twelve being interviewed for the Boating Safety Student position. As soon as I heard this news I knew there was no way I was getting this job. The funniest part was when they asked me to “properly” lift an enormous box filled with thick heavy books, on any other occasion this would have been fine, but of course this day I was wearing four inch heels.
I must have won them over with my quick wit and charm because within a few hours they called me to tell me I had the job. Although the job requirements sounded fun, they were very difficult to say the least. From Thursday to Monday I had to tow the boating safety trailer (which was filled with boating safety guides that I had to spend two hours loading in) around the Maritimes by myself with a single map to different destinations. During an average day I was given a list of about ten different boating stores where I would have to distribute guides (all I was given was the address and a basic map of each province I visited), I would have about two or three different yacht clubs I would have to visit and do inspections of the club and club members’ boats, in addition, every weekend I would have to go and make people aware about the importance of boating safety at different summer events (usually lasting about eight hours). At these events I would have to pleasure of telling 75+ year old fishermen who’ve been on boats the majority of their lives that they needed to get a ‘Pleasure Craft Operator Card” if they wished to continue boating. Each weekend I would have to stay in different towns, either in New Brunswick or PEI. I believe the worst part was staying in different hotels during my entire work week by myself, and this lasted for four months (the entire summer).
However, despite how awful the job seemed at the time, I have no regrets and I am glad I was able to have such a great experience with so much responsibility for my first co-op term. And I can assure you that working at Transport Canada allowed me to appreciate my last two “desk jobs”. All-in-all, I guess it does pay off to be a bullshitting Cape Bretoner sometimes.
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