Nice People Thread Number 11 - A Treasury of Nice People

Doozergirl

Nikkster wrote: »

I am 10% posh. I can live with that.

A Pashley bicycle is on my list of things I would like though, as they come from somewhere I know and love and I would like a sit-up bicycle. Which reminds me that I keep meaning to bring back my bike from my parents' house. It is a Raleigh Lizard mountain bike that I got when I was probably about 12. Once my dad has made sure that the tyres are pumped up etc I'm planning to teach myself to ride again in my back garden. Last time I tried to cycle was about 17 years ago and I proved you can forget how to ride a bike.

:rotfl: My Raleigh Lizard is in my in laws garage! It has a warped wheel. Maybe cousin can fix it for me!

I wanted a purple Raleigh Mirage but the Lizard was cheap as I bought it from a neighbour. I went everywhere on that thing, had leg muscles that I'd kill for now.

PasturesNew

I just googled Raleigh Lizard, seems it's a mountain bike.... my bike is for going on roads, not off road.

Generali

Doozergirl wrote: »

had leg muscles that I'd kill for now.

No need to kill, just spend about £300 on a decent bike and ride 10 miles a day.

Within a few months you'd be able to do 10 miles in 40 minutes max. 25 minutes if you try hard.

What's a gym membership? £500/year I guess.

Doozergirl

I may give the bike to DH.

He left for work (we won't talk about working over Easter) about 30 minutes ago, but his car is 'broken' so he called the garage here to see if it was open. It is. On his way.

Cue phone call just now for recovery service number. Where is he? On the motorway car is caput with smoke coming out of it. Because he thought he would 'just' collect some wood from 15 miles away with a broken truck.

It cost over £2000 to fix it, two months ago. I am told there is no use getting angry with him. He is absolutely right. I need to resign myself to the fact that I live with a f&@£wit.

SingleSue

Spirit wrote: »

Hope this goes well for you. You have good transferable communication skills, are used to helping people, you provide a service to others through your other forum responsibilities . A new direction in retail may be just what you need.

I remember Nikkster has posted about family who have moved to retail and happily stayed there.

You have described needing to use a wheelchair on a day out and not being able to go places when yours was out of action. What have you got in mind about how you will manage your mobility/health or is it a sitting down job?.

Your first paragraph is pretty much what I wrote on my covering letter to answer the query of having no retail experience.

Re the mobility, a stool to perch on in quieter times or between chunks of customers is all I need. There is very little walking involved as the shop itself is quite small, so a happy mix of sometimes sitting and sometimes standing should (she says very hopefully), be enough. I do believe though, that my mobility issues is going to be the bigger issue rather than the lack of retail experience, they may feel it will be too much despite how much I think I can do it.

Doozergirl

I loved working in a shop. My first job was in Blockbuster Video.

I'd happily work in a little shop again. Lots of giggles and regular customers.

Doozergirl

If I chose not to drink my wine last night, does that qualify me to be able to drink it now?

They're putting some more new roof on. I guess this is karma for H going out to work. I think I may have to relinquish my car soon, for the rest of day.

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

I loved working in a shop. My first job was in Blockbuster Video.

I'd happily work in a little shop again. Lots of giggles and regular customers.

I suppose it depends on what the shop sells, how old you are, how far away it is then ......

Videos etc are easier to stack/unpack/etc than a lot of foodstuffs.... and they don't have the potential to spill/split open and need cleaning up. A video shop these days will be much cleaner/tidier than an old fashioned "stack em high, sell em cheap" bagged foods shop of the 70s.

I know nothing about films .....

I don't know what sort of shop I'd like... they've all got aspects I'd not enjoy - the major one being the goods in, unpacking, stacking, storage, legislation on recycling, doing the disposals, etc.

I did have a Saturday job at a small Co-Op in the late 70s - I used to slice the meat/cheese, then I was on the till - the old fashioned tills where you pressed several buttons/levers together like this http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-NCR-Cash-register-1970s-retro-shop-till-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/z/bA8AAMXQBwlRWZ3e/$T2eC16d,!)EE9s2uiPpvBRWZ3eZCrQ~~60_35.JPG

That wasn't a busy shop and I didn't have to do any shelf stacking, or cleaning, or storeroom work at all.

I also had a job in a jewellers the following year. That was OK - had to show people what they wanted to look at, then hand write the receipts (two books as two levels of VAT). We also took in jewellery repairs and sold/replaced watch batteries. I also used to do some small repairs myself - e.g. if somebody bought a watch strap I'd fit it, or I could remove watch strap links. £7/Saturday for that, 9am-6pm.
There was no till at the jewellery shop - at the end of the day the total sales were summed in both books then cross checked with the till. When they matched we could go home (it only took 10-15 minutes so we left on time as it was quiet towards 6pm)

tomterm8

It's very difficult to get a crisp crust on bread using a domestic oven. They aren't hot enough. It's not humid enough either. You need to use a stone that you heat in the oven first, and spraying the bread in the oven to stop it burning.

First loaf, not enough humidity but hot enough = crispy and burnt
Second loaf, not hot enough.

It's possible to make a wood fired oven in your garden that makes better bread and pizzas than you can get in a shop for not much money.

Been there, tried it, too much hastle.

Also... 10 miles a day? Eeek.

tomterm8

Working in a shop is much better than working as a kitchen porter...