Peter

Peter was my boss shortly after I moved to Queensland. I had been working for Musden Emergency Mums - a middle class nannying firm - and very nearly got deployed to central Queensland to look after a publican's kid but then Peter's job was advertised in the paper. 

It was an export role and they wanted someone bilingual. They didn't specify what language but I had fluent French and enough conversational Italian to get the job. Peter had just left a food technology role with the Queensland government and had a Master of Wine qualification. The job was actually two-fold. Half my time would be spent supporting his export startup and the other half of the time would be helping a cooperative of nursery owners (plants not children) thanks to a government grant, to export to the world.

I spent the majority of my time setting up a database of contacts from trade shows Peter had been to e.g. Bangkok and also scouring Computel for possible lucrative export opportunities of which there were none unless we were into exporting bull's semen to China.

The job was very interesting. We regularly had salesmen from every winery in Australia dropping in or posting in bottles of wine for Peter to sample. They did this because he wrote an influential wine review column in The Courier Mail. Peter himself was not swayed by anyone. I remember one time a salesman from Rosemount Estate dropping in with some cabernet sauvignon for Peter to try. "Oh Peter mate, you have to try this wine, it's going to be great drop", he said. Peter took it to the tasting area, took one swig, spat it out and said, "oh no, I don't like that, it's a bit capsicum-y". Capsicum-y. Not great news for the salesman and I have used that term to describe bad reds ever since. He gave me a bottle of Bolly for my birthday too.

My flatmates - of which I had seven in a huge, three storey townhouse in Spring Hill (an easy walk to central Brisbane) - thought I was God's gift to partying as every Friday night Peter would give me all the bottles from which he had sampled just the first glass, put a stopper or a cork in them and send them home with me.

Peter taught me a lot about social graces. He sent me on a telephonist course to ensure I answered the phone properly. I was taught to say, "This is Anna" instead of "Anna speaking" but I reverted back after too many callers kept mistakenly calling me Susannah! He insisted anyone who came in the door, be it a nurseryman or delivery guy or the graphic designer girl was introduced to everyone in the room. I never once saw him lose his cool, even with Thai officials wanting bribes to allow him and his business partner into the country to attend trade fairs.

He was very charismatic, a true people person and often sent lovely e-mails to maitre d's, sommeliers and even the waitress of the year in a fancy restaurant in Brisbane.

He was my referee for years after that and one time I remember a future employer saying, "Peter wants you to fill him in one what you've been up to". Years later I LinkedIn with him and discovered he had started an educational touring business where he took people the winegrowing regions of France and Italy. I had clearly peaked too soon in that job and should have stuck around!