Storytelling Sunday - Thank you for calling Wickes, how may I help you?

I actually answered our phone at home like this a couple of times, I said it so often at work. My Saturday job while I was doing my A Levels was in the very unglamourous Wickes DIY store! 4 of my college friends and I  started there when a new store opened near my home. We were there begging for autographs at the grand opening with Chris Tarrant and his then Capital Radio sidekick, Kara Noble. Every Saturday, and 2 evenings a week, I dressed in my gorgeous red jumpsuit and went out on the shop floor. Sitting on the tills and counting bricks was tedious. Shelf filling was boring, but at least provided the opportunity to slacken off and have a chat. The worse job of all was cleaning the kitchen and bathroom displays. At least once a month a toddler would mistake the display toilet for a functioning one!

No, I absolutely DO NOT have a picture of myself. They seem to have updated the uniform a bit since my jumpsuit!

 It was much more interesting when I became senior enough to work the phones and deal with queries on the customer service desk, even though most of the queries were complaints. One customer came up to me on a Saturday and placed a small box on the desk
"I bought this box of 100 nails on Thursday." He announced
"Yes, Sir?"
"There are only 96 in there. What are you going to do about it?"
When I stopped laughing, I gave him his 4 nails!

Another day, on the tills, a customer approached with half a dozen boxes in his trolley. They said 'White Downlighters. £4.99' and at the time I knew the product code off by heart. I picked one up and opened it to make sure it was intact. Oh dear. There was a brass downlighter inside. Not what the customer wanted, I innocently assumed. I opened another. Another brass one (price £9.99). All 6 boxes had been opened and the contents deliberately replaced with the more expensive item. Funnily enough, the customer didn't wait around for me to ask the manager to get the white ones for him!

I worked at Wickes for 2 years, but left when I moved away to college. Then, going from the sublime to the ridiculous,  I landed my dream holiday job. In A Chocolate Shop! Posh, handmade Belgian chocolates, no less. My name is Kirsty and I am a chocoholic. I was in heaven!

Every Christmas, Easter, Valentines and Mother's Day for the next 4 years I worked there, hand-wrapping beautiful boxes of luxury chocolates. I worked hard; there were always queues out of the door at peak times, but I revelled in it. The smell of cocoa, the pretty lengths of ribbon.  I learned to wrap and decorate a box in under a minute. I can still wrap a mean birthday present, as long as it's square! I even I got 50% discount, and I was encouraged to try all the produce so I could give the customers helpful advice!

Those are the only non-teaching jobs I have done. What about you? Any work experience to share? or any other stories? If so, head over to Sian's Storytelling Sunday and link them up.