Coffee & Chocolates

[gervase_fen]

A good day, although a long one, at work today. The General Manager is on holiday, the Assistant Manager has been signed off sick, and First Floor Senior was also on her hols. The result - I get to open the building for 8.30 a.m., and then stay behind and cash up until (about) seven p.m.

I think the reason why I enjoyed today so much was because it was the closest I've got to my solo shifts/Sunday shifts in Maidenhead - running things rather than being run, so to speak.

My main worries with shifts like these are :

a) oversleeping - so I set three alarms, managed six hours' sleep, did a cooked breakfast, and only faded round about 3 pm. The Costa coffee people - who I get on really well with - gave me extra lattes gratis to help cope with the hours.

b) staff phoning in sick

c) technical difficulties - tills breaking down, the lift breaking down, the doors breaking down, etc. etc.

b) and c) didn't happen.

So the first thing I did when I got in was load up the CD player with my musical choices for a change - Mozart overtures, K T Tunstall, Eva Cassidy (Songbird), Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez (Lets Leave This Town) and Hem (Rabbit Songs). Press RANDOM and off we go.

My sunny mood was also enhanced by the absence of the Fathers 4 Justice standing demo that is usually camped by the fountain outside our front doors most Saturdays - loud tannoy messages demanding access, condemning Tony Blair etc. etc. The novelty soon wears off.

We beat our budget for the second week running, and I was so pleased to have a hassle-free day I bought a box of chocolates for the staff. OK, they were reduced because of damage to the box, but it is the thought that counts...

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Noticed today that Borders have established a presence on Tyneside. They are, surprisingly, in what I've always thought of as a 'B' list retail park, Retail World, at the southern end of the Team Valley Trading Estate, just off the A1 in the south-west corner of Gateshead. I've yet to investigate, and don't know if I'll have time this trip.

[pyotr-stolypin.livejournal.com]

Do you think that the absence of the demo had anything to do with the recent and farcicle plot to kidnap Leo Blair?

[gervase-fen.livejournal.com]

We had wondered about this last month, when one of the founder members announced that the group were going to disband. The following week "WE DON'T KIDNAP CHILDREN" was one of the additional slogans being tannoyed down the High Street. I'm hoping that the local organiser has belatedly followed the example from the organisation's centre.

[pyotr-stolypin.livejournal.com]

Never was a potentially genuine cause pursued by so many inadequates. Here's hoping they've either lost their tannoy or just gone for good.