Tag Archives: dailyprompt

What does freedom mean to you?

It was the beginning of her shift,she had resigned two weeks ago, and tonight, after five years ,she would leave and never come back.Well ,she might come back as a customer at Christmas , Wankroses Christmas Food had been quite good and they usually had quite a good range of spices which were handy at Christmas.

The experience of working in a mainstream supermarket had been new to her, and she felt she had fitted in quite well.

Being on the till had seemed quite daunting to her at first ,but she had soon realised that it wasn’t really that difficult,that the powers that be felt they had reduced the complexity of the task to scanning a bar code and swiping from left to right.

She laughed to herself whilst sitting there that her slender wrists movement and a gentle rotation of the hand were done with such aplomb that the customers were in awe of her deftness.

In truth,the customers were in awe of her friendliness and understanding.Something ,she learned that Wankroses Management needed lessons in.

So here they were, an hour and a half into her last shift.She wasn’t allowed near the tills or running the self checkout, which gave the duty manager an absolute headache but made her smile.

“Rules was rules”.

She, on the other hand, knew there was a lot that needed done; so she wasn’t going to be bored on shift. She began by pulling products forward on the shelves which had been in dissaray.There was a spillage by a customer of a fruit yoghurt,she cleaned the squidgy mess up,and put the yellow warning sign over the wet patch  so that no one would slip on it,while the wet floor dried.

It was as she came out of the back of the shop;she saw the young man with a rucksack on his back go straight up to the Lottery and Cigarettes area.

Definately, an 18-25 check she thought to herself,and watched as one of the young shop assistants who was as bright as a  button and that she really liked went behind the counter and served the young man.

She wasn’t paying much attention as she tidied up some giftwrap and noticed that the young man had left the store. The young shop assistant came over and said to her.

“Would you have age checked him?”

“Well, yes,I think I would,no harm in asking for ID.”

“Oh ,I should have done,I nearly did.”

Just then, the young man returned and walked up to the young shop assistant with a letter and handed it to her.The young lad had been a mystery shopper and the store had been caught selling restricted  goods to an underage shopper.

Too late,the Duty Manager came out and started telling everyone that he had heard from another shop that the mystery shopper was in the area and that to be extra careful.

The young shop assistant burst into tears and held out the letter.

Funny, she  tried a month or two back to warn the Store Manager that things were not as they should be  when the duty manager was on.

It was the second sale of restricted goods to a minor in one month.

All that happened after her talk with the store manager  was she  had been subjected to further sexist behaviour by said Duty Manager, and things went from bad to worse.She decided it was time to go.If there isn’t a willingness to improve things will never improve.

The said Duty Manager that they were  now so short staffed that she would have to do all the things that the rules said she shouldn’t do as the poor bright as a button shop assistant would have to be interviewed and do her training again in the back of the shop.

At the end of the shift, when the shop staff were standing at the door waiting to leave and saying their  final goodbyes to her . 

The Duty Manager passed by  her, and she said “Freedom ” straight in his ear. Knowing that the Duty Manager certainly was not a free man,but she  was free now.

What public figure do you disagree with the most?

I can feel the frustration of the mob ,how dare I?Our Sacred Sir Paul,who never has done harm to anyone and has done so much good.

Yes,but he is not my favourite Beatle, and I don’t like his sense of humour when I see him being interviewed.

I also am not vegetarian and will never be,although I’m not in total disagreement with Sir Paul’s views on this and have definitely reduced my consumption of meat and increased my culinary expertise with the more common vegetables.(My carrot Byrriani is to die for).

Also,I look for good animal welfare standards whenever I shop and am concerned that gung-ho trade deals by governments may let unacceptable imports enter into the food chain.

However,I will never be vegetarian, and neither will my dog.

Anyway,my disagreement with Sir Paul started with the break up of the Beatles(I think it was his fault).I  never knew what really happened  and my  disagreement may  be totally illogical.

However, the Mull of Kintyre debacle was the decider.He was living the “Good Life”even before Tom and Barbara(Richard Briers and Felicity Kendall) on a Scottish Peninsula, that he bought.He now lives between London and New York.I don’t believe that is compatible.

Plus ,the bagpipes and the video of that record.No wonder he produced Band on The Run.

Anyway, what I know of Sir Paul is only the Publicity Sausage Machine(albeit vegetarian).I  know nothing about the real man,so no hard feelings; and my virtual  nice clean tee shirt has been ruined by the virtual  rotten tomatoes thrown at me.

Sir Paul is well loved.

Sir Paul McCartney

What is your career plan?

Career is not a bad word as long as you don’t take it too seriously.Otherwise, you go careering into Death… which is a fate worse than Life.

Oh, and pages of cv’s are mostly boring, and no one cares about your hobbies, which  really  are far more interesting and tell them more about what kind of person you really are.

Indeed,recruitment for most jobs now is analouge and homogenised.They want to fit the peg to the hole  and not the other way round.

Anyway ,thanks for reading and the prompt.

Career Ladder

What was the last live performance you saw?

I will have to view the prompt slightly differently,in that I hope it wasn’t the last live performance I will see and that I have more theatre, concerts and comedy to see.

It was Macbeth in a field at Buscot Lock. The  Touring Theatre Group’s name escapes me for the moment ,but they were all male and had great voices and had no problem portraying their characters.

I love sitting on camp chairs with a small picnic beside me and a plastic beaker of apple juice and watching a different version of my favourite, life unravelling play.

I like to be at the back and move my chair if anyone sits in front of me and I can’t see.I try to get on higher ground.It was a nice evening and I didn’t buy a programme.

What do you do to be involved in the community?

Community is not some posh middle class village life view of life. Community is really caring about those around you who you interact with.

Don’t trust badges of award or credits,or multimillion pound charity benefits.Trust the people who help where they can,make people feel better and keep an eye on those less fortunate( not to see what they are up to) but to act as a safety net if things go astray for them.

In other words, live and let live.

What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?

I would like to be Head of MI6 just for one day and find out just what is going on and stop all the killing and misinformation.

After my one day in charge  ,I certainly  would be listened to.😉

What are your favorite brands and why?

Jo Brand, comedy wizardess and all round purveyor of real life stories.

List the people you admire and look to for advice…

That pureness of thought,that indelible logic,that freedom to query  and to investigate the world. These are the people I admire, and if they thought it appropriate to proffer me some advice then of course I would listen.

However,those exchanges would be few and far between.Those “thinkers” care about others and understand that excessive advice giving is detrimental and sometimes harmful to the individual.

In our social media dominated world,advice is everywhere and has to be paid for. We are flooded with recommendations and solutions from the right haircut to how to cope with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

So ,obviously,it’s important to be discerning.

What I need are “good thinkers.”There are many of them,but I’m afraid they don’t appear on any lists because by their nature, they are rebels and do not like to be categorised like a research article in a university library.

I shall raise a glass of iced  sparkling  water (with a slice of lemon) to you, and should you feel it necessary  any time you will definitely have my ears.

Do you vote in political elections?

Recently, we’ve been away on holiday for local council elections and didn’t get around to organising a postal vote.

Today, we were at home and  made a political  vote for one  local Borough Councillor and one  Police Comissioner. I voted to the best of my ability.

Didn’t make it up to the polling station until 8.20pm and the photo I’d publicity worked as I brought my drivers licence even though the photo,much like a passport photo,looks pretty scary.I was verified and voted in the funny little booths.

I’m pretty certain it was a pencil to mark my X.Which I thought strange.Suppose they use an eraser to rub my vote out?

Any way I voted.

What gives you direction in life?

A la derecha,a la izquierda.