Working For a Living

It wasn’t just a long lost old master that I pulled out of the loft last night - I also found my work bag, which had presumably been languishing there since the last time I actually did any proper work, about two years ago!
Given that I’ve been officially retired for over twelve months, I thought I’d better go through it and get rid of anything that was no longer relevant. Training notes, recipe cards, cleaning instructions - everything I needed to deliver a training session in fact - all dispatched to the bin or shredder as appropriate. All the little bits and bats I used to carry for adjusting the set up of the various machines also got chucked.
And what I was left with is what you see in the photo. And it effectively represents all 42 years of my working life. The bulk of that (30 years) was spent working for Barclays, but all I have to show for it is the bag itself and a red pen! And all I have from my two year venture as a self employed cosmetic vehicle repair specialist is the “ChipsAway” pen.
The last ten years were the most enjoyable and were spent in a variety of training roles. The work took me all over the U.K. (and Ireland on a couple of occasions), firstly training supermarket staff in looking after self scan tills - hence the Asda name badge. It says I have 5 years service as we were supposed to look as if we were all experienced members of staff! Then I did a project involving auditing Tesco Direct ( the forerunner of click and collect) in several stores. The Tesco badge is more descriptive of who I am and who I actually worked for.
And then we got some work with Costa Express training service station staff how to look after the coffee machines that were being installed there. Which ultimately led to doing work for Costa Proud to Serve (any outlet serving Costa coffee that is not an actual Costa Coffee Shop) and those were definitely the best training jobs I had. I mean, I was effectively being paid for drinking coffee - what’s not to like!
But all I have to show for those years is an ID badge with a pretty grim photo on it, a rather nice notebook and another pen. Oh, and I’m a fully qualified barista - always nice to have a transferable skill in case I impetuously decide to open a coffee shop in my dotage!