My backpacker jobs during my Working Holiday Visa in New Zealand

Liquor retail assistant at Liquorland

In New Zealand, you can only buy spirits and liqueurs in specific stores. Against all odds, I worked in this type of store for 2 months. This period was a bit of a down period. We had just come out of the 2nd lockdown. The borders had been closed for almost 18 months. And it was spring. So it was pretty hard to find a job that would give me at least 30 hours a week. That was the main reason I decided to work at Liquorland.

Pros

The job itself is not super difficult and taught me a lot about the way this type of store works. I learned a lot about the New Zealand laws regarding alcohol.

Socially speaking, I met a lot of people through this job, especially locals.

Cons

Unfortunately, it was sometimes very difficult to do this job because it was not at all in line with my values. I love having drinks with my friends. But selling alcohol made me realize how problematic this substance is for many people. Maybe it’s my compassion, caring, and willingness to help, but there were some people I just didn’t want to sell to anymore because I saw the long-term effects of alcohol on them. By selling them alcohol, I felt a little responsible. It was as if I was contributing to the issue.

At the same time, my own alcohol consumption increased slightly at that time because I was testing new products, especially RTD’s (ready to drink) which are very popular in New Zealand.

Finally, the hours were not always ideal for my lifestyle. I often worked either in the middle of the day or at the end of the day. The days off were not always consecutive either. So I felt like I could never do anything else.

Bottom line: tested, rather not approved.