This post about my new role as a volunteer in our community-owned village shop first appeared in the Hawkesbury Parish News (August 2016)
A few days ago, I entered the village shop with some trepidation for my first ever shift in our new community-owned shop.
I am not sure how I got to be this old without ever having worked in a shop before. The closest I’ve come was is during a very brief career as a waitress in a York tea-shop when I was a student.
After just two Saturdays, I retired, defeated by the need to manoeuvre a cake-laden tea-trolley laden up and down steps between three different rooms in the tea-shop. Any tips I earned were left out of pity rather than gratitude, while the waitresses for whom this was a full-time job boasted they’d collected enough to buy fur coats.
Fortunately, my first shift at the village shop was less traumatic. Despite there being much to learn, I couldn’t have had a more positive and encouraging teacher (thanks, Kath!), nor a cheerier clientele, all of whom were full of praise for our new-style stores.
Even so, it’ll take a few more shifts before I can stand behind the counter without feeling like a pupil who has sneaked in to the staff room while the teachers weren’t looking.
- Like to know more about the Hawkesbury Stores? Visit its website here: www. hawkesbury-stores.co.uk
- Whether or not you live near enough to shop there, you can show your support by liking its Facebook page here.
FURTHER READING
A collection of my columns for the Hawkesbury Parish News 2010-2016 is now available to buy in paperback or as an ebook. It includes as bonus material some essays I wrote when I first moved to the village over 25 years ago.
Naturally, the paperback is for sale in the Hawkesbury Stores, but you can also order it from any bookshop (just quote ISBN 978-1911223023) or online.
“Totally charming… just makes you want to pack up and move there straight away” says Spabbygirl’s review on Amazon UK.
