Tuesday 9 March 2010

The Job Situation

You know, right at the moment, I’ve got to admit to feeling just a touch gutted.

Gutted …

And seriously hacked off.

Seriously, seriously, seriously hacked off.

You see, when Threshers closed, we were told …

Well, several things, actually.

One of which was the fact that — potentially — the Brentwood branch would be taken over by a company called Four Vintners.

Who would also be taking on any available staff.




Hmmmm …

Well …

That turned out to be …

Well, I’m tempted to use all sorts of words, here.

But let’d stick to ‘inaccurate’, and leave it there.

Will — my former boss, and the manager of the Brentwood branch where I worked — phoned me this morning, to let me know the bad news that he’d be getting taken on.

But that, due to the hours Four Vintners had available, I wouldn’t be.

Not even on a part time basis.

Not even THAT!

You might be able to imagine how I felt.

I think one word sums it up.

GUTTED.

And very angry.

At least, angry enough to get very snippy with Will, bless him, which he didn’t deserve: sorry about that, Will!

After all, Will had tried to persuade the new company to get as many of us as possible taken on.

But …

Well …

I can’t help but feel — right here and now — gutted, hacked off, angry …

And feeling incredibly …

Well …

I won’t use the word betrayed, here …

I’ll stick with the phrase ‘let down’, instead.

After all, like many people my age, I come with a history, both good and bad.

The bad bits I’d rather not talk about, unless I absolutely have to to.

But — as a counter to that — the good bits include an ability to cash up a till, do basic banking and an ability to interact with customers that on an bad day, is ok.

And on a good day, is bloody fantastic.

It’s not just me saying that.

Threshers used to operate a Mystery Visitor scheme, as many companies do, to keep tabs on their shops, and to make sure staff are up to par.

For those staff members who got a 100% score in one of these visits, they’d hand out a £500 bonus.

This post is being written with a copy of Safari, on the 2008 model Mac Mini that I got with the £500 bonus I got, for getting that 100% score on the Threshers Mystery Visitor scheme: something I was assured by our area manager that only half a dozen or so people in the area got.

So I — and Threshers and many customers I’ve served over the years — know I’m damn good at my job.

I’m upset, disappointed, and bloody ANGRY that someone won’t employ me and give me a chance to find that out.












3 comments:

Gwen said...

Sorry to hear that you didn`t get an offer of a job.
These days too many people judge and i think that everyone should get a fair chance.
Just see it like this, something better will come along, this one was not mean`t to be.

James P said...

Hi Paul,

I'm sorry things didn't work out. I did try to comment about this on the day, but I was logging in from my mobile and it wouldn't let me do the "capcha", or whatever it is that the word verification things are called.

Like your friend Gwen says, perhaps it is the start of something bigger and better. Let's hope so, eh?

Good luck for the future!

Best regards,

James

Nik Nak said...

:D

It’s called Word Verification, James.

And I hope so, I really do! The good news is that I’ve a couple of interviews, next week.

But thanks for that, to both you and Gwen.

I think what get’s me, though, is something that Will told me on the actual day, itself.

That “… part of the problem taking you on was a lack of wine knowledge.”

Like I hadn’t spent 18 months working in an off license!

Or a decade and a half in the licensed trade.

Now I could be blaming Will, here.

I won’t.

But I’ve a nasty feeling there was a lot more going on, there, than Will was saying: and I’ve a feeling it may go write back to the wine tasting session we we supposed to go on.

Go f*cking figure!