Well the Coronavirus keeps throwing us curve balls at the moment. Beneath the horrifying stories of people getting ill, companies going bust, people losing their jobs etc etc there’s the rest of us, just milling along in our homes trying to make the most of the lot we have been gifted.
As soon as the Lockdown was initiated I went straight into panic mode.
- Where’s my rent coming from?
- Where’s my entire income going to come from?
- How on earth am I going to pay my bank loans?
- How am I supposed to stay in doors all the time?
- What am I going to talk to my girlfriend about?
The first thing I did was break the rules and drive straight to my local supermarket where I promptly became a night shift online shopper. That’s the person that runs around and collects all your shopping when you do Click and Collect, so yeah, when you get a Hamster Wheel instead of a Ham Hock and. a Wheel of Cheese, you know who to blame!
To the entire teams credit they were all lovely people and made me feel right at home right away.
I have to admit though, man getting up at 2am and working till 8am is brutal, it’s not so much that the job is hard, it’s not, it’s super easy, it’s just that my body doesn’t want to be awake at that time, and even worse, it doesn’t want to go to sleep at 10am. For that reason I wasn’t a massive fan of the job, nevertheless, money is money and that’s what we need at the moment.
So a week into my shifts and on my first day off I finally wake up at around 5pm and cant get out of bed. My back is on fire, i’m crippled. I’ve never felt so old! Where did this horrible pain come from and why on earth is it now?
I crawl downstairs, limping, somethings up with my right leg as well. I call in “I’m really sorry, I can’t come into work next week, I can’t walk.”
One week later and I call again. “I’m good to come into work again.”
Two days later, this morning, my leg collapses under me with shooting pains as I bend down to get someones deodorant from the Mens Care Aisle.
So now I’m at home and out of a job, which sucks, it really sucks. Back to square one and a knackerd leg to boot!
Not quite….
Working at Sainsbury’s has taught me a few valuable things.
- Working at a supermarket is not for me! I mean the people were lovely and the job was fine. It was easy and not at all challenging intellectually. The Sainsbury’s team trained me excellently, the rate of pay wasn’t too shabby and the hours were abundant. It’s just that it really felt like trading my soul for pound coins.
- It really got in the way of the rest of my life. Nightshifts are no joke! Man they wipe you out for the rest of the day, you’re just zombified, which meant that I could no longer do all the really important stuff, such as writing this post and updating my website and making all the Machiavellian plans toward watersport world domination.
- It reminded me why I went into working for myself in the first place. If anything doing what I do is harder work, but, and it’s a big but, it’s on my own terms for my own gain. I’m trading my life for pound coins but those coins will eventually line my own pockets and not Mr SuperMarketMan
- It also reminded me that if you really want to do something well, you have to dedicate your self to it fully. It would be so easy to wait for my leg to heal up and then call them again but the reality is, three hours a day spent on my own business, when I’m absolutely shattered is not enough.
So where to from here?
Well it’s onwards and upwards with The Hoxton Special! Also i’ll be keeping my leg up for the next two weeks and then go from there! Hope you are all well, safe and healthy!
