Helping Hands

This strange looking picture is of a box-cutter, which I have been using over the last two days as part of the "Helping Hands" initiative operated by my employer - Tesco.

I work for the new banking division but everyone is encouraged to muck in and help our colleagues in the Stores in the run-up to Christmas. This is my second year and I quite enjoy it because it is different from my own job in IT which is very much a desk job - spreadsheets, checklists, meetings, diaries and a bit of abstract thought.

Over the last two days I have primarily been helping out meat aisle (I stuffed vast amounts of sausages onto the shelves) and on the alcohol aisle - putting security tags on the bottles.

The latter exercise I think sees me covering the full lifecycle of the whisky industry over the years, looking at the maltings, understanding and witnessing malt and grain distillation, understanding the operation of the bonds and the cooperage, understanding the bottling process - labelling and capping and the maintenance aspects (and I actually glued boxes and palletised crates as a student), the anti-counterfeiting and export ordering and now finally the distribution of the amber nectar to the supermarket, the tagging and today watching the stuff fly off the shelves.

I am now consuming the same and would wish everyone who drops by a peaceful Christmas and New Year. Best wishes - Chris xx