Obnoxious Teenager Makes History

A True Life Story...About Me

Photo by Different Resonance on Unsplash

I will open by admitting, I was not the best son there ever was, mostly when I turned 13 years old. The devil was in me and whilst up to that point I had been “A” streamed in the educational system, suddenly the only subjects that offered many any creative outlet (that I actually enjoyed) were English and Art.

I loved and still love to be fair, being creative, however, I had heard about “real life”, “making your own way in the world” and “making money”.

So, at 13 years of age, my concentration on schooling was, to say the very least, minimal.

Coming from a family, very strongly in military tradition, my parents kinda expected, or maybe hoped, I would follow suit and join up at some point, that or go to university and get that prized “Degree” gong…

You have probably guessed how all this went by now.

I did what little I could get away with in regard to school and exams, eventually making 2 significant passes: English and Art (you guessed it lol). I did not prepare for any of the exams I had more of an interest in a bar that languished just 5 minutes walk from the school gates. I must point out my preparation for my Maths exam…well…it was a couple of hours in the pub. Not unsurprisingly that was one of my biggest fails.

Having kicked against the system, I have to say, I felt a deal of regret that I had in no way met with the hopes of my parents, so I agreed to carry on further studies in order to get grades that may at least get me through college.

Hmmm…couldn’t keep to it…2 months of the “refocus”…I struck it off my “to-do” list.

What next eh?

Again, a disappointment to the family, I decided my only way forward was to leave the family home and get a place to start up and a job. At 16 years old, that is exactly what I did.

I took a risk on a small, and I do mean VERY small box room. It had a bed and a table, no running water, nor cooker, nor bathroom…some shared facilities, but hey, the adventure began.

The local evening newspaper became my focus, scanning daily, sometimes thrice daily. Scribbling applications (there was nothing digital about this time in the world) and posting them, keeping my fingers crossed.

I actually didn’t have to wait too long and got a letter (yup you know those paper things) asking me to attend an interview. The interview was for a trainee salesman at a Bespoke Menswear store in the City.

And, yes, of course, I mustered myself for the interview, ensured all of my “kit” was well presented, turned up 15 minutes early…and you know what?… I got the job!

Being honest, it was not a bad job for a newbie of my age, the basic wage was something like £3.00/week (just over 3 dollars US), not a lot I know, but like many sales jobs, the incentive was in the upsells and extra commissions. You learn fast when you have a goal…that goal was to keep the room and feed myself…so hey.

A couple of months rolled by and I had started making my way and adhering to the pecking order of the sales team, plus my commissions more than doubled my take-home pay.

And then something quite bizarre happened.

I seem to remember it being one of the slow summer days in the shop, with very little footfall and most of the team skiving in the office, leaving me to be in front of the shop.

A woman entered the shop, well-dressed, mature and clearly on a mission, heading straight for me. I readied myself for a bunch of tailoring questions or customer complaints.

“Are you the new assistant here?” she asked.

“Yes, madam, I have only been here a few months but I am of course able to help you”

She looked around the shop, furtively, as if checking we were alone.

In her hand was an envelope…which she showed the front of to me.

“Is this your name?”

Oddly, yes it was!

“Errm, yes Madam, it is…what…” and before I could finish my sentence she thrust the envelope into my hand.

“Do not look at it now, pop it into your pocket until you leave work. We want you for an interview on Friday”. With that, she turned on her heels and scurried off.

I kid you not, this is exactly as it happened, a bit of a “B” movie opener eh? lol

Obviously, I had zero idea what was happening, but also thought I best keep the envelope delivery to myself until after work.

Leaving work and walking home, just a couple of miles from the city, I scrambled to open the letter.

Inside was a letter in response to an application I had made at about the same time as the one for the Menswear job. It thanked me for my application and that they would like to interview me on Friday of that week. The time of the interview was actually after we closed up shop, so that would work well.

The headed paper came as a surprise for me: “Marks & Spencer”, the prestigious retailer that had a massive (well it was at the time) outlet in our city. The role, of trainee shop assistant.

So, hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

To say the interview went well would be an understatement.

They offered me the job, they spoke of progression to trainee supervisor within the year and the starting pay was more than I could attain even with a good commission week. Plus they had a subsidised cafe for all breaks and discounts on all purchases even the small grocery section they had been experimenting with.

I was straight on it, oh and by the way, the woman who delivered the envelope, the Head of HR at Marks & Spencer, had happened to be in the store a few weeks earlier and had heard the team call me by name and put two and two together in light of my application. (Perhaps she had been a spy in a previous life lol).

And I bet you are still wondering how I made history eh?

Well, I had just become the very first MALE shop assistant in that city store. And you guessed it, that also meant working in a predominantly female environment…ha…and I was NOT complaining…ask me to tell you the story about the bra department….another time perhaps!

Moral of the story?

I am not sure there is one as such, but that setting out to achieve can take many forms, of which I shall probably speak more of in the future, and results and life events may always set challenges. Remember human beings are kicking about this planet because we adapted to do so, things are possible to achieve but only if your take some level of action.

Best Regards

Dominus Owen Markham

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