by A. Archie
The moment I walked into the hotel, the thought of Faye started haunting me. The waiting staff escorted us to the table. We sat there and waited to be served while enjoying a glass of wine. “What is Faye going right now? I need you here, right now” I said to myself. I felt romance running all over my body. I lived the dream. I felt happy. I dreamt a dream. That might not ever materialise.
I talked very little. I was not interested in anything but was blinded by the thought of Faye. Love is felt stronger when you are in a romantic setting. I could not tell anybody what I was thinking of. Faye was not still mine. I had not asked her out yet. I did not want to be rejected. In the event of a rejection, I did not have much time to go begging. Time is precious. Life is too short.
I sipped another larger glass of red wine and felt merry. The dinner was served. I was not that hungry. I did not complain the al carte small portions. Time passed very slowly. I was sitting with my landlord and his partner. He asked “When are you getting married?”. I smiled. I tried to hide my shamefulness. I could not wait to go home.
There were few wedding cakes, just enough for one each. I picked up one. And that was for Faye. It was wrapped in a nice triangular decoration. I did not know what was inside.
PART EIGHT
Hard Times
Chapter One
I already had many worries when I first set foot in England. I was trying to come to terms with my father’s sudden death that happened less than a year before I came to live in the UK. Then the loans I had taken to come here, the university fees and my living expenses, money for my family and some savings for myself to spend on a rainy day. From mid-September to December, I was able to secure four jobs subsequently. When I was offered the job at the hotel, I left my very first UK job at the corner store. I never expected to work in a corner shop run by an Asian family, I though England was full of white English people. I did not expect it to be so diverse and multicultural. I did not know the word “racism” and the associated words like “Niger”, “Paki” or “Yellow” for the Chinese. However, it gave me some insights into and I would say an introduction to what I was going to explore later in my life about people, cultures and how the cog wheels of life worked in the UK. And how I was going to reset myself to a new way of life than the one I had been used to. Soon after I had left the corner shop, I applied for Cargill’s and I have two jobs now.
Chapter Two
My hunger for work or rather making money did not stop there. I managed to get a third job in the town centre, a temporary Christmas job at a discount store selling from cloths to home furniture and essentials including gift items. I used to work there on Sundays. There was no university in December thanks to Christmas and new year holiday season. However, I had to manage three jobs without clashing the hours and still do my homework and meet assignment deadlines.
That December 2001, with that temporary job on Sundays, I was only able to sleep about one hour on every Saturday night. I finished work at the supermarket at 7.00am then got home for a quick breakfast and go to bed by 8.00am and wake up by 9.30am to be there at work by 10.00am. I was extremely tired and sleepy but I had no options. Soon after I went to work, when I met colleagues and saw customers, my fatigue went away. I began to do a normal shift as everyone else. The good thing about that job was that we were never under pressure. I enjoyed working there. The work was light and plenty of time during work to relax and recover. What I did not tell you was that I did a night shift at the supermarket on Friday nights then come back home by 7.30am on Saturday morning then sleep an hour or two and go to the hotel to do a six-hour shift. Occasionally, I overslept only to wake up to a call from the supervisor. After completing the six-hour shift at the hotel, I come back home, relax and start the night shift at Cargill’s at 9.00pm on Saturday night. I did not mind it as my temporary job was for just over a month, extra cash was always good. When I looked back at it now, I wondered why I did work like that, I could have been smarter and earned the same amount of money by doing just one well paid job. Easier said than done. The reputed recruitment agencies did not give us a fuck.
Where did my money go? My university had an agreement with the National Savings Bank to open bank accounts for international students. They were at the university during the induction period. It was easy. I open my first UK bank account and my bank card and the check books came in the post in a couple of weeks’ time. I was not going to stop there. I already had a Commercial Bank credit card when I was back at home. I went to the Commercial Bank and the customer service person took my details and ran it on the system and said “You are eligible for a credit card as well”. I was only expecting a bank account. It was even better now. I signed the forms and went back home. Being ignorant of the fact that other guys in the house had already been there and been rejected, out of the excitement I said to them while having a chat that I opened an account with the Commercial Bank and they even gave me a credit card. For obvious reasons they were not impressed but did not say anything as they were shameful of already being rejected. The next day the guy who was declined by the Commercial Bank asked me if I could accompany him to the bank saying that he wanted to reason with them as to why I was accepted but not him. I was not going to let him ruin my chances and said “NO”. However, I heard later from another friend of mine that he had been to the Commercial Bank again own his own and asked why I was given an account but not him. What a stupid thing to do. I decided to distance myself from him thereafter. I heard that he had been told that it was the banking software system that decides eligibility. If you were low enough even to spoil my chances, you were not for me, friends do not do that kind of stuff but your enemies.
That was not the only thing he did to me. My Cargill’s job was initially a full time job. I was able to balance it alongside my studies as it was an evening and weekend night job. The guys in my shared house was obsessed with running a weekly cleaning rota and a cooking plan. I declined to joining the cooking plan and they were not happy. I was hardly at home even to clean the house. Any free time I had other than sleeping, cleaning myself and studying, I used to go into town, meet friends from university or food shopping. One day this guy made me furious when he knocked at my door and said to me “The house needs hovering” while I was sleeping. They knew very well that I was doing crazy hours between different places of work and I hardly had any money. Obviously I was the poorest of all even form family backgrounds.
The tension between them and me was high. I refused to bent down. I had few heated conversations with them and this guy had phoned Cargill’s and told them that I was a student and must not be allowed to do full time hours. How I knew this was that the young girl who had her room next to mine told me “He phoned Cargill’s and told them something”. She could not figure out what he said but soon after this incident my line manager had a meeting with me to change my hours to a part time contract. However, he did not give any reason for doing so. The full time job helped me enormously to pay up my course fee and reduce my loans back at home. Perhaps they were so jealous of me that I was making more money than them and doing relatively well with my studies.
I was a bit down on money now but had more time for my studies. I had not taken my revenge on this guy yet. I had better things to do before I could sort him out. I stopped talking to these guys and after all I met them here in England. Not my friends and I had nothing to do with them. They crossed the line and I was done with them.
It was not long before that we were told that our landlord had died in his sleep. He lived next to the house in a two storey flat in the garden which was connected to the house with the back garden facing wall. He was discovered by his daughter a week after his passing and the police were called in. It was a very quiet affair. The body was moved out even without us knowing. The landlord’s daughter took control of the house and ran it for several months. One day she came to see us and announced that she was going to sell the house. Her dad had been heavily in debt and that was the only way she coul
d repay it. I did not know if that was really the case.
Number 72 it was and the house had been a very lucky one for me. Anything I did in that house was a success. I always felt some energy going through inside me whenever I was in that house.
I had another argument with the guys at home and I complained to the landlady. She came, had a chat with them and told them to leave. They had been seen drinking in the house during the day and was still drinking when she arrived. The empty bottles and glasses were on the coffee table in the longue. She knew that they were like. They all suspected that the landlady fancied me all the way through and sometimes used to jock about it. Everyone left the house expect me and another person who was ok with me. He was not really a part of the gang. I quite did not trust him though. He was crafty. After all I was not all alone in the house. However, I had a couple of months to find a new room before the house was sold. It was a relief to be able to live without them.
One day I met this old man living opposite my house. He enquired if I was all right. I said to him that the house was going to be sold and that I was looking for a new place to move into. He took me down the street to another house and said “I will arrange a room here for you”. We could not get into the house as the owner was living somewhere else. However, he was kind enough to arrange a meeting with him. I was shown the house. The room was being refurbished and not ready. I was asked to wait for a week or two. I decided to take the room. The rent was the same as my old room. But this room was much bigger with a double bed. I waited for a few more days for the room to be ready, went there and had a look. They said they were going to paint the room. I offered to take the room as it was rather than having to wait any longer. It was my new landlord’s dad’s bedroom who had passed away a few months ago. I have upgraded myself to a large double room now and was pleased to be in the same street. It was only a few houses down the street from my current house.
I only see my enemies at the university now as I have left the hotel. But I did not talk to them. About two months before I left the hotel, I nearly had a fight with one guy who was from my country and was also living in the same house back then. I managed to avoid the fight. He was tall and big but I did not care. I was not going to surrender. I also had problems with him at home when I was cooking he used to come and check their cooking ingredients. He always thought that I took theirs but I did not.
I was living in the new house now and my university fees had been fully paid. And also the other loans I had taken back in my country. I wanted to open a third bank account and went to the People’s Bank. It was a success again and with a credit card. My buying power has now increased and they kept upping my credit limit. With no lectures and only the dissertation left to do, I used most of the available time to work. During holiday time, I asked for more hours from Cargill’s, to be till trained and did overtime at the checkouts. That was something I always wanted to do and get experience in buying patterns, buyer behaviour, what they buy and how much they spend.
Chapter Three
On the other hand, in the shopping complex job I nearly did full time hours. At one point they had to relocate. The store was closed for few months. I had to do with only my Cargill’s job at the time.
The area manager for the store quite liked me. I was called back to work when the new store was ready. I did not think the store manager really wanted me there. She quite did not like me talking to customers and some of the staff. Whenever I did, she used to ask me to stand by the front door and keep watch. I was the most senior member of staff there after the supervisor had left. She was not in a hurry to get one nor did she want to give me the position.
The area manager recruited another manager and the existing manager, Karen was made the assistant manager. The new manager was again a lady and was originally from London. Sally liked me. The fact that I had been there for some time, she was not going to advertise for the position of supervisor. I even overheard Karen saying to another member of staff that probably Sally wants to make me the supervisor.
Few weeks went by and it was roamed that money was going missing from the safe. This had not happened before. Karen at once suspected of Sally. The area manager had to come to the store few times to investigate it and no culprit was yet not found. I heard from Karen that Sally had hinted that I might be taking the money. She had said that it was not a possibility. I was angry on hearing that. I also strongly convinced that the money going missing had something to do with the new manager. One day the area manager came and had a meeting with Sally upstairs. Moments after, she stormed out of the store and did not come back ever. It might well be Sally had been sacked upon discovery of her stealing the money. Karen was back again the manager now. One good thing about her was that she knew her staff and never let us down on wages or the hours worked. Most importantly she protected me from the lie Sally had told. With Sally gone my chances of being the supervisor was in tatters again.
With her position reinstated, Karen decided to recruit a new supervisor. She put out a notice on the window and a few applications were received. Her attitude towards me proved it impossible to suggest to her that I was interested in the position. She even did not bother asking me if I was interested.
A sort of DJ was recruited as the supervisor. He lived round the corner and a university graduate. He wore worn out clothes, small built and long curly hair. Aaron did not talk much, bit arrogant and was also DJ’ing at a bar in town a night a week. One girl at work took interest in him. I believed even Karen was interested in him. He was not good looking may be because of him being a DJ or he had a house in town, actually it was his parents. So everyone at work went to see him DJ’ing after work and I was invited too. It was a nice atmosphere at the two storey bar, not very spacious but full of young people. Aaron played old music tunes on vinyl not songs. An alternative sort of taste for the thrill seekers and lovers to chill out.
One day I finished work from Cargill’s at 7.00am in the morning after a night shift as usual, came home, had a quick breakfast and went to bed briefly to wake up at 8.30am to be at work by 9.00am to start work there. However, I did not wake up till 8.50am or so. I quickly got ready and nearly ran to work, it was just gone pass 9.00am. I even phoned the store to let them know that I was going to be only a couple of minutes. Bang at 9.00am the new supervisor had opened the store and was not happy. Without any hesitation he grabbed a staff disciplinary form and asked me to signed it for being arriving late. I was very angry and told him it had only been a few minutes and that I phoned him. I had no option but to sign it. After that incident he was not going to play games with me. I decided to keep him at arms’ length.
I was not going to stay in that place much longer. My basic money problems were over now. It was time to take a step back, think and find another job, a second job as I always have. The fact that I was not offered the supervisor job stayed in the back of my mind. It was very difficult for me to work under a person who was less competent than me. I left the job with notice to the surprise of the manager, Karen. She made no comment. Neither did she ask me to stay. She knew very well what had gone wrong and it was her fault not wanting to promote me. My last salary was paid in full. Now I have the time to refresh myself and contemplate.
After 2004, with the mass European migration, the landscape of British retailing job recruitment has changed. I would say the outlook of British culture was now just different. Earlier it was very easy to get a part time or even a temporary job. Now the influx of Eastern Europeans often less qualified than those who are from the rest of the world and not even in education has replaced the need for commonwealth citizens and the international community. Which is not fair. I never had any luck with recruitment agencies. I tried a few even when I first came to live in England. They did not really give you a shit if you are a student. I said to myself when I set up in business I would never ever work with recruitment agencies and that has been the case now. They want to please their clients and maximize profits but not help you with fi
nding employment.
I took things into my hands once again, not relying on anyone else for help in finding jobs, printed out some CVs and walked into businesses and handed them in. I had a couple of interviews and Max Mara one was successful. In fact, they phoned me for an interview on my way back home after handing over my CV to them. I was on foot and answered the call straight away and arranged an interview. It was a full time job again. I kept my supermarket job part time.
PART NINE
Life in Ceylon
Chapter One
I had fallen out with my parents. I hardly ever visited them when I was working in Colombo. When I first moved to live and work in Colombo in 1998, I did not visit them for over six weeks and then once a month or twice if not once every three months. I had been falling out with my parents gradually since I was a teenager. They did not like me setting up in business. They just wanted me to find a job and be an average typical person. My ideas and their ideas often clashed. I was bursting with ambition, hope, dreams and energy. No one was going to stop me, not even my parents. Even though they were supportive or pretend to be supportive of me running a poultry farm, they tried their best to discourage me whenever they could. Every time my father went to see our buyer and settled the accounts, I had to ask for the money through my mum. He never gave me the money that was from my hard earned enterprise. But he wanted to keep it to himself. Yes, I used their money to set up the business. I built it up. Undoubtedly and indirectly, I had already paid back by helping the family with the newly generated money.
