long hours and langoustines

Waiting in the cold and wet at some ungodly hour.

The 5.35am bus to Nottingham

This post could really be described as a photo blog with added words. At Tesco,  I currently work about thirty-nine hours a week and yesterday, (Thursday night), I finished at 9.40pm and started work again at 6.30am the next day. Nothing about the 'times worked' bothers me, but it was a case of me getting home at 11pm on Thursday evening, crawling into bed and then getting up again at 4.45am on Friday to catch the 5.35am bus into Nottingham in order to start setting up my meat counter at 6.30am to be ready for the public at 8.30am. All good fun, and tranquil bus journeys with fellow early starters including some Asda workers.

There is a man who gets on the bus in his summer shirt sleeves on freezing mornings but, who I am to judge? Early morning traveller viewing today, included a man in a silver stetson staggering up Derby Road, a homeless person still begging on a chilly morning outside the Angel Row branch of  McDonalds', and a facially challenged dwarf leaning enigmatically against a lamppost, amidst the half light, by the practically deserted city market place.

Half asleep on the way to work.

Back to my bus journeys to work. I catch two buses to get me to Beeston on time. Firstly I get the No 10 bus to town, and then the Indigo bus to Beeston  from the yellow-lit, slightly dodgy- Broadmarsh bus station. The Indigo bus's final destination is Derby. If I ever get there I am am in real trouble!

Tesco Beeston store at 6.22am

(one minute earlier)  Beeston bus station at 6.21am

Once in work and through security, it takes me ten to fifteen minutes to get myself organised so that I can start setting up my meat counter. Give or take a 'wee' appointment prior to entering the shop floor. And Yes, I do wash my hands.

Alongside me, working in relative concentrated silence is - my mate Paul.  This Friday morning, Paul is compacting the ice for his fish counter and arranging the fish attractively. Myself, I am arranging my own meat display according to what offers are currently on offer. Presently we have half price top beef roasting joints and rolled loin of pork joints, plus' some smaller offers. I spent two hours plus on Thursday night stringing up many a loin pork joint ready for the offers deluge over the weekend. My hands have a remembrance of the callousing from my original butchery experience from many years ago.

Rolled loins of pork (strung by the author!)

Both Paul and I,  finish our displays about 8.30am and take a well deserved break namely: a refreshing cuppa and an English breakfast in the staff canteen. I'm pleased to have found my missing glasses on top of the mincer machine but, concerned that my Tesco badge is still not to be found after my dashed departure from work last night to connect with my various buses home.

smoked fish selection

The day today, was reasonably busy, and I felt confident enough to explain to a couple what the Chateaubriand was on the beef fillet joint. She had had Chateaubriand in France. It was the lady's birthday and they bought a decent amount of fillet steak and other products. Of course there were lots of other customers, but I don't feel that this is the forum to discuss customers, good or bad.

The topside joints seemed particularly visually and culinarilly attractive and I was constantly engaged in filling that item up and pricing the replenished joints. The day previous, I had made some THIS JOINT tickets on my home computer and in their laminated state they proved very valuable to the business on the meat counter, as Tesco continue to settle into Beeston. Without them I would estimate that we would have sold only half of the joints that that we did eventually sell. Customers are sometimes nervous to ask how much something is and the actual price shown on the ticket eases their concern of overspending or embarrassment at possible affordability.

During today I enjoyed helping the various customers including a Chinese man who wanted a lot of pork items. Yesterday, I saw several friends from places I have worked in the past and it was good to see them and connect with them again and for them to see that I am happy in my new role.

Langoustines

Similarly I am getting to know my workmates more including Martin who works on the fish counter. He  a fun character who is passionate about customer service and building his knowledge about fish and shellfish.

As a final note I would like to say that I am still very happy in my role and am enjoying every aspect of the work challenge.

Phil at Tesco's.

The missing Tesco's badge appeared tonight from the depths of my rucksack and even though I swear that I have searched my rucksack several times I am still at a loss how it could have possibly have appeared out of the blue. Hey ho!