This story popped into my head so a few days later I quickly knocked it up in my lunch break. It’s really no masterpiece, but hopefully should bring a smile to the face!
It’s tough in a recession; all the jobs at the top of the food chain get squeezed so the most skilful of employees take jobs they are overqualified for. This then cascades down the ladder until you get to my level: a supervisor at engineering plant. When I was made redundant and went looking for work, it was almost impossible to get a similar job. After all, who is going to employ someone to be a supervisor when they could get a skilled manager or even a deputy manager for the same money?
Fortunately, my redundancy pay more than paid off my small mortgage, so all I needed to earn was enough to eat – at least until the economy picked up – and found a part-time job in a small “boutique” that specialised in exotic ornaments and furniture as well as the largest scented candle section I’ve ever seen!
The pay was reasonable and I got plenty of hours; I could work until the closing time of 7pm as I didn’t have a family, and it was only the photography student, Sara, and myself that didn’t mind the unsociable hours.
Sara was a bright and vivacious girl, and worked most evenings after her University lectures; the photography kit she required (or wanted) was expensive and her part-time employment enabled her to buy the best lenses for her costly Canon camera. We got to talk most evenings, as while the shop would have a flurry of customers at around 6pm, by half-past it was deserted. We laughed and joked and forged a good relationship – despite the fifteen year age gap
