Work Experience A.K.A Life Participation: Part Two
It is expected that you will complete 2 Weeks of work experience at school. What should she do? What does she want to do when she grows up? Answers on a postcard, she had absolutely no idea. Some of her friends had ideas and eagerly started applying for their chosen placement much to her annoyance. Must she decide immediately on her future career? Some are equally at a loss of inspiration and leave their fate up to the school to decide. She considers this option. The form asks about hobbies and interests she assumes in the hopes of finding the perfect placement, although it didn’t always seem to work out that way. She had heard of a boy the previous year who had expressed on the form his love of animals, clearly hoping perhaps for a job at a vets or a zoo. It was not to be; sadly he was given a job at a Butchers shop.
Near deadline with no answer, her friend suggested she might like to come with her and go to work at M&S, so she decided to apply.
It was great having a friend to go with everyday and share the experience with, getting changed into the hideous uniform that consisted of a blouse and skirt although somehow resembled a busy brightly coloured potato sack. Still it was a novelty and the girls giggled about the fact that they would only have to wear it for 2 weeks. Unlike the poor souls destined to wear this outfit for eternity.
The friends were not kept together, once the clock struck 9, they were sent to different sections to work in but they eagerly met up at break times to exchange stories. The canteen was the stuff of legends. For a start there was free food, the girls were given a card with a generous amount of money on it and it wasn’t just any old food ‘it was M&S food’. (Ok pretend that the advert had existed back in 1999) At the end of the day before they departed they were allowed in the staff shop which amongst an array of clothes and bits and bobs contained cream cakes and foodstuffs that were irresistible and only about 5p! They considered this as a definite perk of the job.
M&S girl spent the two weeks all over the store in different departments; some were decidedly preferable to others. The best thing about being on ‘work experience’ is that you weren’t allowed to serve anyone as you couldn’t be trusted to handle money, which meant you could avoid customers. The drawback being on the occasions where members of the public sought out your unsightly blouse hiding behind a clothes rail, that they asked lots of questions that were impossible to answer. ‘Excuse me could you tell me the lingerie section is? Do you have this is in a size 12?’. In a word…No. ‘I don’t actually work here I’m pretending’ didn’t really go down awfully well. Not least for the confusions as to why someone would actually choose to wear the uniform if they were not being paid to.
The thought of the supermarket department had filled her with dread, but surprisingly she found that she liked it. The staff were relaxed and entertaining, she got to wear a fleece to hide the blouse and found that filling up stock enabled her to retreat into her own little world for a few hours without interruption. Aside from that the giant fridge room was certainly exciting, if a little chilly. It definitely seemed preferable to facing the horror of being given an entire rail filled with a hundred pairs of black trousers that all looked the same and being asked to put them back in their correct places in the women’s wear department. This unfortunate incident had occurred the previous day.
Home ware too was a favourite section being one of the quietest areas of the store, where she had to make things look pretty on display. Unlike the children’s department which was hectic with screaming children and frustrated mothers trying to put shoes on their offspring’s feet while they proceeded to kick them in the face. Attempting to avoid contact with children at all costs she suggested to the staff that a new display of soft toys piled into a giant toy mountain would help sell the stock. Somehow this idea was deemed a good one & required her to plan and play with toys for the entire day.
During the second week one of the school teachers came to visit, presumably to assess how much mischief they were causing, although M&S girl found it amusing that the teacher had to ask ‘what’s your name dear? after having been taught by her for 4 years prior. The teacher clearly had no memory of the Mexican waves she used to start when the teacher was facing the board or the fact that she was awful at French. She supposed this positive.
The girls spent one day together working with security in which they both developed a keen interest…in the security guard. Spending most of the day (when the other security guard wasn’t looking) zooming in and watch the appealing male specimen guarding the shop doors. The power of the cameras and security features impressed her, however for several years afterwards on entering the store she felt that she was being watched and found herself doing all the ‘key movements’ which she had been told security look out for when watching for suspicious characters.
When the two weeks drew to a close, she considered her experience to be a good one and the employment know-how she had gained had presented to her both good and bad points to retail. She made a vow with herself to never work in a clothes shop as she shuddered at the thought of black trousers. She could not have known at that point that she was about to embark on a detailed discovery in the realm of retail over the next eight years.
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