Author Archives: David Miller

Two weeks and counting

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It’s been two weeks since I started working for The Co-operative, and I’m really starting to enjoy myself. There are a couple of people I have to give shout outs to, because they have helped me integrate myself into the shop and for teaching me all that I need to know. So these thanks go to, Sarah, Darren and Adam.

The past two weeks has been all about learning the role of a team leader and how they differ from the customer service assistants ( or basically, till ops ). My main duty as a team leader is to the store, while the CSA deals with the customers. Duties that I have to complete are such things as bringing out all the chilled stock and getting it out, reducing items, facing up, price checks, cashing up, sorting the tills and locking up the store of a night-time. There are more things on my list ( 27 in total ) but I won’t go and bore you with listing each and everyone.

I finally have my own uniform now, and it’s very comfortable. The down side to it is that it’s too big. I need a smaller size, but I suppose I could live with it.

On Friday, Adam and myself took a trip to Brighton to go on a training course to get a Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders qualification, which allows us to sell alcohol with out the need for someone else being present. That morning I was up at 4.30am, one of the earliest mornings I’ve had in a while, but it gave me plenty of time to have a shower and take my time getting dressed. We stopped off at a Sainsbury’s in Chichester on the way to grab a cooked breakfast, which was amazing! After leaving Chichester and got closer to Brighton, the traffic got real bad.Luckily though, I had the foresight to see ahead and we left very early. Even with the bad traffic, we arrived 25 minutes early!

The time we spent learning what we needed to be able to get our qualification was an excruciatingly boring one. The tutor was going over everything that we had to learn in the E-Learning just days before. However, he did manage to do this in a way that was entertaining and did lighten up the mood.

It’s official – I now work for the Co-operative!

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As the title quite simply states, I now work for the Southern Co-operative. Today I had my induction in Basingstoke. I got to meet four other new employees starting at various times over the next few days all as anxious as I was.

The induction wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It was a lot more informal than what thought it was going to be. There wasn’t any definitive dress code but I went along in my shirt, trousers and shoes just to be safe. The induction, from what I experienced, is basically an introduction to the company, what other branches of it there are, and what is expected of me as an employee; pretty basic stuff.

I will be starting in my store tomorrow evening from 6pm until 11pm. I will be doing some “e-learning” after which, I will be taught how to work on the till and what needs to be done before closing up the store for the night. Although I already work there as a cleaner I’m now a real part of the team, which makes me quite anxious, but I’m sure I will overcome this quite quickly. Until then, I will be relaxing in the knowledge that I now have a better job, better pay and the prospect of management after six months!

Go team David! wOOp!

Good news!

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I got some good news through the post this morning. I got a letter officially offering me the Team leader position I applied for at Co-op. The induction takes place at a store in Basingstoke on 13th April and I start in my store the following day where I will learn how to do everything from serving people to cashing up and closing the store.

coop letter

I really am looking forward to starting this job. Not only is it a higher position than what I would have normally applied for, it also pays more than what I currently get for cleaning the store. I’m also loving that I will be able to work many more hours than what I do now, meaning more money which makes me happy!

Learning how to ride

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We took Chloé out for the afternoon to teach her how to ride her bike with out stabilisers. I found a nice stretch of path near the St. Catherine’s Park and ride car park that gets hardly used.

She’s had a while without them by herself, but I thought it was about time to actually teach her how to ride a bike properly. So I packed it in the car, picked Kate from work and headed down to the Park and Ride.


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Not quite what I wanted but…

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After being told that the last job I applied for was no longer available, I decided to look around at other opportunities in my local area.

The Co-op where I currently work has had a notice up in the window for some time now saying that they wanted some more staff. Seen as I already work there as a cleaner, I might as well apply for the position. I grabbed an application form and filled it in.

I was in early one morning with the store manager, so I thought that this was the perfect time to speak to her and get my application form in. I have now been officially offered a team leader position with the Co-operative. The down side is that I have to wait until the 13th April before I can do my induction, then go on an alcohol course on the 26th in Brighton. It’s not totally bad, because I get to travel, with my fuel paid for me!

It’s not the quite the job I want, but I already work there and I get along with all the staff, and it has the possibilities of progression, which is what I want in a job along with job satisfaction! Not forgetting that it will keep me out of the house and I’ll actually be doing something worth while with my time instead of wasting it watching TV or on the PC rotting my brain, which I’m sick and tired of.

I hope I don’t hear any more bad news.

Donington Race Circuit

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Last weekend I got invited up to Castle Donington in Derby, to Donington Race Circuit so be with some friends on a track day. Everything was arranged for us to meet up at 9am, so I got up at 5am, had a bath got my stuff ready and made my way up there.

After a lovely 3 hour trip I finally arrived at just gone 9am. I was expecting my friends to be there. No such luck. I got a call about 10 minutes after I arrived to say that my friend had been in a car accident. I panicked a little and hope he was ok. I didn’t get any more information from him until they arrived at 10:35am.

Turns out my friend blew shit out of proportion and made it sound a lot worse than it was, as most people do these days. He arrived with a little dent and some scrapes down the side of his car, what a tit. All cosmetic damage – panic over!

After getting all registered to either go out driving on the track or being a passenger ( me ), we headed back to the cars and the track day began. Sadly the photos I took haven’t turned out so great, because they were through a wire fence, but here are some photos of the cars:

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It was all inevitable

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I officially got offered the job I applied for back in January (installing the chip and pin machines in and around Hampshire). They received my reference from my current employer, finally. I was told that I was an excellent candidate, although I did not meet all the expected qualifications they desired, they said I aced the interview and I showed a real interest in the job and progressing further, which meant much more to them than some drone who just wanted to be paid, which was awesome news for me. A real ego boost!

On the 26th of February I got a call confirming the receipt of my reference and a start date of the 13th of March. I was over the moon with excitement. I phoned my current employer and told them that I was giving my two-week notice and that I would finish on the 12th March.

The very next day, I got a call from the new company. It was not good news at all. Their contracts had changed and they no longer required the engineers. The job was gone. There was nothing more for me. I was devastated. Needless to say I got very drunk.

Luckily my current employers are amazing. They graciously redacted my notice and I continued to work for them to this day. I’m still looking for work.

So yeah, that happened!

Have I Done Something Wrong?

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Everything seems to be going just a bit wrong for me as of late. I just don’t know what to do.

  • My monitor died on me, which cost a pretty penny to replace.
  • I injure my knee when I fell over at the kid’s school after it snowed last Wednesday afternoon.
  • I have had to take some time off of work because of my knee.
  • I got a call from my step dad saying that my mum had been rushed to hospital with chest pains and they think she is having a heart attack.
  • I got flashed by a speed camera in Kent after picking my sister up on the way to the hospital.
  • My current employer doesn’t want to give up a reference for me for the new job I applied for, which unfortunately they wont continue with until they have it, plus I have just been notified that I may miss out because of it.

Everything seems to be falling apart. The most annoying thing about this is that everything was going so well, then it all fucked up on me. I am hoping for some good luck, I really need it. I have been trying so hard to better myself, and this just puts a real downer on life, which I do not need!

My delivery experience

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Buying new shoes, gadgets, clothes etc should be a good and easy experience. I recently bought some trainers from SportsDirect.com who use Yodel as their courier.

A few months ago I was watching a show on BBC 1 where they exposed the crap service that Yodel provide to its customers: non delivery, damaged goods, lies about deliveries etc.

Just the other day, I ordered a new pair of trainers because mine are just shite and were letting water in, mainly because of the huge gaping holes in them! Anyway, I paid £3.99 for delivery.

I eventually got a tracking number from SportsDirect for Yodel. I eagerly awaited the delivery of my trainers. Delivery day came, my new long-awaited trainers were on their way. I anxiously checked the Yodel tracking website. Nothing new, still out for delivery. 5.30pm, it finally updates with some new information: “Delivery attempted, unable to gain access” it read. What the hell? 5.41: “Returned to local service centre” What?! At this point I got quite mad. I had been in all day. I live in a building which a buzzer system and the main door is usually unlocked. How could he have no gained entry?

A while later I noticed that the package was at their Southampton Service Centre. Yodel allow customers to pick up packages if they have missed a delivery, so that’s what I decided. I would go to Southampton and collect my new trainers. When I looked up the address of the service centre, turns out that it was in Fareham, so it begs the question: How the hell did the driver get from Winchester to Fareham in 11 minutes? Even if I read the address wrong and some how it was in Southampton, 11 minutes is still very far-fetched at the height of rush hour 5.41pm

yodel

Thankfully, Yodel’s twitter support is much better than their delivery counterpart. They gracefully arranged for my package to be delivered the next day and I made it clear that I would be in and there would be no excuses for not delivering it. A guy banged on my door at around 5pm despite what the tracking website says.