29.12.1969

On this day, the twenty ninth of December in the year nineteen sixty eight, I walked for the first time as a very young employee nervously and apprehenively into the retail establishment where I was to work.   It was in my home town and only a short walk from my house. 

I was greeted by the manager, Mr. C.....  a fairly elderly (or at least elderly to me) gentleman, and introduced to the other staff.   Yes, in those days managers were shown respect and call Mr. ....  and not by their first names.  It would have been unthinkable to call him Jack.  In all the years that I worked there with him, no-one ever called him by his Christian name.

We worked from 9 a.m. - 5.30, closed for an hour from 1-2 for lunch and at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays as it was half-day closing in the town.  A 41 hour week.  Everyone started and finished at the same time.  There were no different shifts, as today.  And, ofcourse definitely not open on a Sunday!

Now, 40 years on, I am still working in the same building in the same business.    What changes I have seen in that time though!  Some for the better and many not.   During these years I have seen at least 9 different managers come and go.   Some through retirement, some moved to other branches, one for dishonesty, another `asked to leave`, and so on.   The business has been owned by at least 6 different companies at various times through those years too.

I can`t say that all the time has been happy, most of it has, but there have been times and with certain managers when I have seriously felt like walking out and not coming back.    But, I stuck it, and in the end the manager/s went before I did! 

There have been amusing incidents with staff and customers,  sad ones too, as someone once remarked, we really should write a book about life in a store.   Maybe I`ll share a few of those on here in the coming weeks.   (it will give me something to blog about!)



Little did I know that when I walked in the door in 1969, that I would still be there 40 years later.

One thing I do know for sure, ........ I shan`t be there in another 40 years time!........ well, unless the government raises the retirement age!!!

Free Hours

It was back to work for me yesterday, after a weeks holiday, and the start of my shorter working week. So now its a case of working out how to best work my hours to make the most of my extra eight "free" hours.

Should I start a bit later each day? -
That could be quite nice now that these mornings are getting darker. But, No, I don`t think I`d gain much by that, because I`d probably get up a bit later. so wouldn`t actually gain any free time at home to do thing in.

Should I do a day less a week? -
It would be nice to have another whole day to myself. But, that would mean I`d get less days holiday entitlement of Bank holidays than I currently do - so maybe that`s not the solution, and it also could be difficult because of one of the new extra jobs I`ve now got at work needs to be done daily.

Should I finish earlier each day?
It would be good to finish work lunch time on three days and have the afternoons "free" - Yes, I think that`s the answer.

I`m lucky that I can be flexible in the hours I work each day, according to the work that needs to be done, and my hours don`t affect anyone else. I think - No, not I think, I Know - I`m going to enjoy having more free time to do some cooking, baking, and hobbies as well as housework and visiting my mother.

29th. December 1969

I wonder how many people can remember what they were doing on this day thirty nine years ago?

I know I certainly can.

It was 39 years ago today that I walked nervously as a teenager into the place where I was to work. How big that building seemed on that morning. How strange it felt. Little did I know then that I would still be there all these years later, having gone from being the junior, to now the longest serving member.

What changes I`ve seen in those intervening years too! Some good, some not so good, some bad. The premises have been altered with major building work at least twice. The warehouse when I started being further down the alley, so that in the winter when it was icy it was a perilous job with a sack-barrow bring stock into the store, - what Health and Safety regulations today would have said to that, I shudder to think!! The position of the main entrance door being changed twice.

I`ve gone through at least 8 different managers as well as a few temporary ones! Been in the employ of 6 different companies as the business changed ownership. As to how many colleagues and staff members I`ve worked with, I couldn`t possibly count them all up, so many have come and gone, yet there are a core 4 or 5 who have also been there now for over 15 years, so in a way are a bit like another family as we know each other well.

Yes, I`ve had times during those 39 years, when I`ve felt like walking out, but I`ve stuck it, and am now very happy in the position and work which I am doing.

It`s Going Well

I`ve now been working in my new office, at my new job for just over a week, and am thoroughly enjoying it. The work at present has been similiar to quite a bit of what I am used to doing, as we catch up on a backlog of it from other places. But, then I look forward to learning to do new and different items too.

After years of working in a dark space with no window, I now have daylight! A huge window which the sun streams through, and an outlook onto the world below. It`s amazing the things you see too when no-one knows you`re watching them!

I still can`t believe my luck in getting the job.

The only problem.... if you can call it a problem, is my parent!..... whilst everyone who knows about it is pleased for me and congratulates me, not one such word have I had from her. All she keeps saying is about me working slightly different hours, and will I get all the housework etc., done for her that way. Can`t I have a life of my own??

Got it!

I can now reveal what it was I wrote here about.

I`m starting a new job.

After almost forty years of working in the same job and building - albeit that it has had a few changes during that time, both in the actual structure of the building and in the type of work I was doing. I`ve ventured to make a change.

With the new owners of where I work and their growth in number of retail outlets I heard that they were going to be starting a head office. So, finding out that it was going to be located in offices above where I currently work, I asked one of them if there was any chance of a job there..... and, to cut a long story short..... he came back, having talked it over with the other partner and said Yes.

So, the middle of next week, I become the first employee of their Head Office. I`m really looking forward to it, as I thoroughly enjoy office work and am happy working on my own. I`m chuffed too, to think that they rate my work highly enough to promote me to the job.

Today was the day

Well, I was fortunate enough to be shortlisted for an interview for the job, which I wrote about here, and have today been for that interview.

I found it quite a scary thing to do, but after an initial feeling of lots of butterflies in my tummy all doing somersaults for a few hours when I got up this morning and making me feel rather unwell, I managed to set off for the interview feeling fairly calm.

Two of the interviewers I hadn`t met before, but I was surprised to find one that I did know. How would that affect my chances I wondered, would it help as she knew what I was capable of, or would she feel because she knew me (and maybe not the other candidates) that she would have to be more critical?

One question which I was asked that stumped me most on how to answer was (and that was asked in the section the person who knew me had to ask) was - what kind of people irritate you the most. What kind of answer would they expect to that, I wondered. I thought for a few seconds, then came up with an answer, of aggressive people.

Now I wait.

Thoughts from Records

Touching and reading some books this afternoon, I suddenly was stuck by the realisation that what I was handling was over two hundred and twenty years old. That someone that long ago had handled the same and written in them, and here I was all these years later reading what he had written. I suddenly felt very priviledged to be doing so.

What I was looking at were some old church records.

One of the things I found interesting, gave an insight into the life of people in the 1780`s, was that alongside the names on the registers they had also given the trade or circumstances of the person.

Amongst the, to be expected, Labourer; Farmer; Sailor, etc., I found a lot of more unusual jobs - Mantlemaker; Twine spinner; Besom maker; Caulker; Watchmaker; Tide waiter (wonder what that involved?); Rope maker; Coal heaver; Chopper (wonder what he chopped and why); Shop maid, Cutler. A few had Pilgrim against them, one even had Gent - which set me wondering why he should have that description.

A large number were Servants, Invalid was written against another name, then I came across the one that seemed to me an even sadder description against several names - Pauper. And one even said gone to the Workhouse.

Actually handling books and seeing the handwriting in them, as against just learning history from printed books, really brought home to me the hard times that people had as against our lives today.


It also set me thinking, that maybe we should do the same with the records we keep in this day and age, so that people in years to come could look back and think... what did a dustman, traffic warden, check-out girl,.etc.... do?!

On this day......

The twenty eighth of December ninteen sixty nine is a date that will always stick in my memory. It`s the day that I first walked as an employee into the establishment where I still work. Looking back, what changes I`ve seen in those 38 years, how many different staff have come and gone during those years, yet I still remain there almost as part of the fittings and fixtures.

Yet, it doesn`t seem like 38 years, it feels more like nine or ten they have gone so quickly.

But it`s also a frightening thought. Thirty eight years of my life have gone too. And where have they gone? Life seems to be passing me by. Those 38 years gone mean that I`m only about ten years away from retirement (unless the government change the goal posts again!). Do I want to retire? In a lot of ways Yes, to have a life. But then that will mean I`m getting old, rushing on towards the end of it, -- a scary thought.

How many chickens?...

No, I`m not counting chickens. They say you shouldn`t count your chickens till they`re hatched, but I`m hoping against hope that mine will hatch out.

I`ve just done something, I`ve never done before!..... filled out an application form for a job.

Yes, I know I`ve been working for almost 38 years in the same place, but when I started there was no such formality as filling in loads of forms. You just went along saw the manager and hey presto if you were ok the job was yours. That was the benefit I suppose of living in a place all my life and my parent being well known as a respectable gentleman, that if I was his daughter that was it. Infact, thinking about it, I never even went for an interview. My Dad just went and saw the manager and said I was looking for a job, he said ok, start on Monday. What a different place the world is now!!

Yippee!!!

I had a lovely surprise last week. The owners of the establishment where I work asked me if I could change my days of work, and work all day on a day I normally only work half a day and work half a day on a day I normally work all day. When they told me what the days were, I jumped at the opportunity and readily agreed.

So, after over 30 years of working all day on a Saturday (except for holidays), I now have Saturday afternoons off. What a treat!

And, today has been the first of them.