Spending time with family is important to Jessie. That is a big reason why she raves about her job every opportunity she gets.
Not only does she view her coworkers as an inherited family, but the flexibility that comes with her work allows her to see more of her real family. That, she says, means everything to her.
“From Day 1, this job has been like working with family,” she said. “Everyone I work with is so supportive and so humble. They really care about their staff in so many more ways than just what I do for the job. This job has been life-changing for me.”
Jessie joined the Lucky Bastard family in August 2019 as a delivery driver. She has become familiar with the Saskatchewan highway network and has visited several towns and villages – Kerrobert, Kindersley, Luseland, Denzil, Waskesiu, Candle Lake, Christopher Lake - in the Saskatoon vicinity that she otherwise would not have if it were not for her job.
Why Jessie says her new employment is life-changing is easily explained – she has found an ideal work-life balance. That is something she has always wanted and could never find. Until now.
Jessie’s days are spent delivering Lucky Bastard products to customers in northern Saskatchewan, while her evenings and weekends are dedicated to family, her fiancé and wedding planning.
Previous employment had her working evenings and weekends. That meant she rarely attended family dinners and special occasions and found it challenging to find time to spend with her fiancé, whom she plans to marry in 2022.
“I was typically working every weekend and every evening and didn’t get to spend much time with family,” she says. “Now, I’m able to go places on weekends or visit my sister and my nephew. We can sit together and plan a wedding. In the past, if there was ever a family get together or holiday dinners, I was never there. I just couldn’t do that anymore.”
These days, Jessie is affectionately known to some customers as ‘the vodka lady’. She takes pride in developing strong relationships with customers and delivering products to them. She likes to think the warm welcomes and smiles she receives is because customers are genuinely happy to see her and not just because she arrives with booze.
“My job is about talking to people and creating good relationships with people,” she says. “I’ll load my orders in the morning, I’ll go out for the day and I have fun while I do it. I cannot say I have ever had a bad experience doing what I do now. Plus, I get to see all kinds of new places across Saskatchewan. Not a lot of people venture too far outside of the place they live, but I get to daily. My job is never monotonous.”
With any job, Jessie understands some days can be more of a grind than others. But she says that is when the people she works with and the people she works for make the difference.
“They are so incredible and so helpful,” she says. “It is so easy to support them and support their products because of how the owners are and how the managers are with all of us. They really care about their staff as people.”
“I’m a delivery driver for Lucky Bastard Distillery and I drive all over northern Saskatchewan. I could see myself working here and doing this job until I no longer physically could. This job has been life-changing for me.”
Written by Martin Charlton Communications