Mr Fahrenheit and the Christmas Shop
As I mentioned in the previous edition, the city centre of Hull, in the retail sector was rife for both opportunist and organised crime. House of Fraser is well known for its high ticket offerings and so this kept my Security team and I constantly on detect and deter.
Over a short period of time, I had gotten to know many of the main “faces” and they soon got to know me. In deter mode there was plenty of banter and ushering of potential shoplifting characters from the store and many of them we knew by name having apprehended them previously or from knowledge gained from the City Centre Watch. We also tended to give them nicknames…and they did the same to us…
My nickname?
Mr Fahrenheit!
At that time I was heavily into the Fahrenheit Eau de Toilette, so much so that some colleagues almost believed I had a bath with it before work.
The criminals latched on to it and the nickname stuck for the 5 years I worked there.
With my first Christmas in this job just around the corner and my impending divorce not far off, I immersed myself in my work…I wanted it all to blur past and somehow sort itself out. I found myself always wondering how this was going to work out with my boys and if the marital split would be something that would impact our father-son relationship forever.
In-store, the Christmas shop had been set up early in November, much like most retail outlets. Father Christmas booth, elves, lights, the whole show but also many high ticket products “ideal for presents” displayed within easy access of the sneaky “nawty eleves” (shoplifters). So spending time up there (it was on the top floor of the store), became a constant with lots of running up and down the public staircases or negotiating the escalators brimming with happy shoppers.
The sales assistant that I had formed a bit of an “at work” friendship had been put in charge of the Christmas shop, so I came into contact with her quite often. We had not seen each other outside of the workplace but it felt like we had a bit of a connection…or maybe not, for sure at that time I had no plans for any kind of relationship especially as my divorce had not been finalised.
And then the staff xmas party came along…now, if you think of the very social environment I left (the RAF), you would think I would be well up for it…too be honest, I just wasn’t, but, as the store Director pointed out, “The Security Manager and team are expected to attend”…yup.
The party was held in the store public restaurant, eat, drink and be merry kind of atmosphere and hey it was work, as usual, the next day so I didn’t indulge too much apart from the food lol.
As the night came to a close, the sales assistant with whom I had formed a peripheral friendship, came over and started chatting…a pleasant 15 or 20 minutes and then, as she went to leave, she stuffed a note into my hand and scurried off.
Ha…it was like something from when you were a kid at school…note passing…in our thirties?
The note, which I read once back in my flat, basically said that she also felt a connection and would like to go somewhere with it, she did however state that she wouldn’t, as everyone in the store knew my situation, whilst I was still married…an ultimatum?…perhaps, but actually how I felt also…perhaps in the future.
Anyway, Christmas and New Year were, as expected, a blur. Theft or attempted theft was on a high throughout the Yuletide season and well into the New Year's Sales…retail eh?
If we weren’t apprehending thieves in our store we were running the length and breadth of the city in assistance to other security officers or teams. And at night those plate glass windows kept on popping…whilst the newly installed bollards deterred big smash and grabs there were still attempts and of course the nightlife revelry with fights and brick throwing in “high spirits”, ha.
Twelve-hour days and six to ten-hour night callouts were constant.
To be honest the callouts were quite a money earner so hey, lack of sleep aside, money in the bank is never a bad thing!
The New Year brought the final stage of divorce and I had to come to terms with being a single person after 13 years of marriage and still coming to terms with Civvy Street…in many ways, with my historical military family background and personal experience, I found it hard to break the conditioning…even to this day…there is something, just something that remains “military mindset”.
Until Next Time
Make sure you check out next week’s issue:
“Time to Move”
“Financial Strife”
“The London Powwow”
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