Missing two of our nicest Tesco fish counter customers as they return home to Turkey.

Written whilst on holiday.

When at work it is always nice to see familiar and friendly faces amongst the daily customers and no more so than two regular visitors to the fish counter. In particular we would welcome a man and his young son who always seemed to carry the sunshine around in their warm personalities. Believe me this degree of genuine personal warmth and friendliness is relatively rare in our daily encounters. Of course we get friendly customers and people passing by for a chat with the folk on the counters which is nice. However, I have never met two such outright friendly people as Recep and his son Mehmet. On top of their welcome smiles they always got very enthusiastic about their purchase of fish, especially sardines.

When I first encountered these delightful people Recep (the dad) had an odd request that we fillet his fish with one side of their fish left with the back bone in. He wanted his son to see the bones in the fish. Over time we got used to his requests and Recep and Mehmet became regular customers at the fish counter. Even when they weren't buying fish they would always stop by for a brief chat. I know that my colleague Paul especially enjoyed their visits, as did I.

Paul and Phil. Tesco Beeston.

It was with great surprise, very recently, that Recep told me that he and his family were going back to Turkey after studying and working in Nottingham. They wanted to be with the other members of their family and he had a job lined up that is better paid than here in the UK. It was hard not to get emotional over this news as seeing them around the Tesco store was always a little ray of positive sunshine in my day. I was given an open invitation to come and visit anytime and thanked for being friendly and always having a smile for them as customers and as foreigners temporarily based in Beeston. We had this nice selfie taken in front of the fish counter.

Well, I may not be able to afford a trip just yet Recep and Mehmet but your friendliness and smiles will always shine in my heart. Take care and keep in touch. And just in case you miss our sardines here are some pictures for you.