Chris B
master brummie
A few More Memories LEWIS'S LTD>
Just a quickie,
Mr French was the Manager of the HOUSE STATIONERY dep’t, and he and the lad who worked with him used to dish out all the bags and string etc, so down you went with your requisition and if you asked for 6 rolls of Sellotape he would give you 3, and this is how it went on with other requisites as well. so, to get what you actually wanted you asked for 12 rolls of Sellotape knowing full well he would cut it down to 6. Old Frenchie never did cotton on as far as I know, we used to say you would think he was paying for this stuff himself.
More meandering,
Mr Harry Fields was the House Superintendent in my day, a very tall smart man balding with grey hair and glasses, he was in charge of the porters, the cleaners, the lift drivers etc. One of the cleaners / porter was a nice chap named Hughie, very well spoken, a little bit eccentric, but a good worker, you would see him in his boiler suit with his big broom sweeping away in the sub-basement. Now Harry told me for a special occasion he had been saving to treat his wife to a meal out at an exclusive restaurant in Edgbaston, they had sat down for their meal waiting to be served when just across the room Harry heard this educated voice call out "Good Evening Mr Fields" and it was no other person than Hughie, apparently he went there regularly to dine as his people were well off and it turned out that Hughie had suffered a mental problem sometime previously, so to put it nicely the difference between genius and the other state is a thin line, and in fact Hughie was a very clever person who had gone slightly passed the limit.
A Merry Christmas To All......
It was Christmas Eve with last minutes presents being purchased and the store having its busiest period I was topping up the shelves when Mr Cashin the Merchandise Manager, who had been enjoying some hospitality with his colleagues on his travels around the store approached me and asked if I could do him a favour, he said he was travelling up to Manchester for the Christmas and he had intended to bring a parcel of extra cutlery etc from his flat in Sutton, so could I get on my motorbike and go to his flat pick up the parcel and bring it to the store, and here was ten shillings for my petrol. I said I would do that just as soon as I had finished filling up. So, I carried on with the job and about half an hour later and a few drinks more Mr Cashin approaches me yet again and we have the same conversation as previously, even to another ten shilling note being offered, but being the honest lad I was I refused the offer and told him that we had already got it sorted and I was in fact just going, so off I went and got the items for him, then back to the Store. I then went on to do my other job in the Store and operate the express lift from the Toy Fair to the Ground Floor, as the Gardening Dep’t wasn't very busy, everyone having already bought Dad a new pair of pruners or a fork and spade etc......... And To All A Good Night.
Just a quickie,
Mr French was the Manager of the HOUSE STATIONERY dep’t, and he and the lad who worked with him used to dish out all the bags and string etc, so down you went with your requisition and if you asked for 6 rolls of Sellotape he would give you 3, and this is how it went on with other requisites as well. so, to get what you actually wanted you asked for 12 rolls of Sellotape knowing full well he would cut it down to 6. Old Frenchie never did cotton on as far as I know, we used to say you would think he was paying for this stuff himself.
More meandering,
Mr Harry Fields was the House Superintendent in my day, a very tall smart man balding with grey hair and glasses, he was in charge of the porters, the cleaners, the lift drivers etc. One of the cleaners / porter was a nice chap named Hughie, very well spoken, a little bit eccentric, but a good worker, you would see him in his boiler suit with his big broom sweeping away in the sub-basement. Now Harry told me for a special occasion he had been saving to treat his wife to a meal out at an exclusive restaurant in Edgbaston, they had sat down for their meal waiting to be served when just across the room Harry heard this educated voice call out "Good Evening Mr Fields" and it was no other person than Hughie, apparently he went there regularly to dine as his people were well off and it turned out that Hughie had suffered a mental problem sometime previously, so to put it nicely the difference between genius and the other state is a thin line, and in fact Hughie was a very clever person who had gone slightly passed the limit.
A Merry Christmas To All......
It was Christmas Eve with last minutes presents being purchased and the store having its busiest period I was topping up the shelves when Mr Cashin the Merchandise Manager, who had been enjoying some hospitality with his colleagues on his travels around the store approached me and asked if I could do him a favour, he said he was travelling up to Manchester for the Christmas and he had intended to bring a parcel of extra cutlery etc from his flat in Sutton, so could I get on my motorbike and go to his flat pick up the parcel and bring it to the store, and here was ten shillings for my petrol. I said I would do that just as soon as I had finished filling up. So, I carried on with the job and about half an hour later and a few drinks more Mr Cashin approaches me yet again and we have the same conversation as previously, even to another ten shilling note being offered, but being the honest lad I was I refused the offer and told him that we had already got it sorted and I was in fact just going, so off I went and got the items for him, then back to the Store. I then went on to do my other job in the Store and operate the express lift from the Toy Fair to the Ground Floor, as the Gardening Dep’t wasn't very busy, everyone having already bought Dad a new pair of pruners or a fork and spade etc......... And To All A Good Night.
