Copyright Oggbashan July 2019
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.
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I was still annoyed with my employers. I was a paralegal clerk dealing with house purchases and conveyancing. I had wanted to study a part-time postgraduate course. If I had that qualification I would be more likely to be promoted. The course lectures were in the evenings with two weekends each year. It would interfere with some of my sporting activities but although I was good at them I wasn't the best regionally or nationally. I wouldn't have had to take any time off my normal work for the course. The employers' sponsorship would have saved me several thousand pounds. Their refusal meant that I had to finance that myself. If and when I qualified, yes, I could apply for promotion but also I could look for another better-paid position with a different employer.
But I still had to find the several thousand pounds to repay the bank loan. I could have asked my family but they had made it clear that they wanted me to earn my living unaided. A previous generation had produced a few who had expected to live in luxury on inherited wealth. My parents hadn't been in that few. My father had joined the Army as an officer cadet, rising to Major before he and the Army decided enough was enough. My mother, a distant relation but also part of the extended family, had trained as a teacher. They now had access to some of the family fortune but didn't need it. They wanted me to make my own way except that they might help with the deposit on the house I intended to buy eventually.
My newish girlfriend, Linda, had a suggestion. Like me, she was another paralegal clerk employed at the same company, self-financing for the same course, and also a distant relation. Neither of us had surnames that hinted at the connection with the larger family because we were descended from daughters.
Linda was working some evenings and one day a weekend at the local caravan holiday park. She would be employed every evening she wanted during the school summer holidays. During the evenings she was either behind the bar in the clubhouse or helping out in the kitchen. On Saturdays she was cleaning caravans after the previous family left and before the next family arrived.
The holiday park had a problem. They had been for static caravans only but this year they had set aside an area for touring caravans. They had equipped the new area well but they hadn't appreciated the full implications. Normally their reception office was open until six pm. But touring caravans usually arrive later than that particularly if the local roads were congested, as they were at weekends and school holidays. They hadn't expected so many foreign visitors. The site was convenient as a last night stopover before using the Channel Tunnel or the ferries from Dover. They didn't have any staff that were competent in any language except English.
"Tom, you can speak French, can't you?" Linda asked during the coffee break at the college.
"Yes, Linda. Why?"
She explained that the holiday park needed a temporary, part-time evening receptionist particularly for Friday and Saturday evenings, and preferably one who could speak one or more European languages.
I knew that Linda worked at the holiday park. Arranging dates with each other had been complicated by our studies and her work. Sunday afternoons were the only guaranteed time when both of us were free.
"They pay reasonably," Linda said. "It's taxable, on the books and legitimate. I had to notify my employer that I was taking another part-time job. You would too. It tells your main employer that they aren't paying you enough to finance your studies, or home purchase. It's seasonal and temporary. The site closes from mid November to mid March but the hours they need from me are fewer in the early and late season."
"Cost of studies?" I said. "That's a sore point. I'm saving hard for a home of my own. I'm paying for this course with a bank loan because my savings are in a time-limited account. That and the extra costs for text-books etc. are nearly breaking me. I'd like to take you for a good restaurant meal. I can't afford much more than a cheeseburger."
Linda laughed.
"I know, Tom," she said. "I'm not much better off than you. We are both suffering from the conditions of the family trust - no money until we have established ourselves. When we go out together we might buy a cup of coffee. Neither of us have spare cash. My job at the caravan site helps. Why not apply? We would see more of each other, get free coffee - and you would get paid."
"Sounds good," I said.
+++
Things moved fast. Linda spoke to the site managers, Albert and Carol, and I had an interview three evenings after that coffee break. The interview was very brief. Linda had recommended me. As soon as I told them that I could speak French, German, and Spanish fluently, had basic Italian, and could understand some Dutch, the job was mine.
I had to see my main employers' Personnel Department. Within a quarter of an hour I was in the Personnel Manager's office. She understood why I wanted the extra money. She regretted that the organisation's finances had prevented them from supporting my course, and admitted, off the record, that she thought that policy was short-sighted. What mattered most to me was that she gave me permission to take the part-time job at the Holiday Park.
I started work on the Friday evening. I had taken some time-off in lieu of overtime to be trained with the reception staff from 4pm to 6pm. After 6 until 9.30 I was the receptionist. Albert and/or Carol would be available on the staff intercom system if I needed advice. I had a list of duties and responsibilities, which included monitoring the site's CCTV system for any incidents.
The weather forecast for the weekend was for continuous rain so I didn't have much to do. I had two families arrive for the few hired static caravans, later than normal because of flooded roads on their route. Both families had stayed on the site before so they knew, better than I did, what I had to do. I handed over the package prepared by the daytime reception staff.
Linda had suggested that I might have time for some course work in between bookings. I had brought my laptop. By 9.30, starting from nothing, I had written three-quarters of an essay.
Albert came to lock up the office. We talked for about ten minutes.
"Now you are an employee, Tom," Albert said, "You have access to all the park's facilities - the spa, the swimming pool, the clubhouse and bar. You can even invite friends to the bar as long as you pay for their drinks."
"I do? That sounds good."
"What might sound better is that Linda is on the bar tonight and it's quiet. As long as she doesn't neglect the paying customers, you can be with her. One thing. As an employee in uniform, even off duty, when you are on site you are expected to assist the holidaymakers if they ask, and of course, always be polite. Some of them..."
Albert paused.
"Some of them can be assholes, particularly when drunk. You'll have to be diplomatic. The owners don't treat customer complaints about bad behaviour seriously enough for the site's good running. There are some people we would prefer to leave the site because they spoil things for other customers. You'll soon find out who they are, or Linda will warn you. Be careful, Tom."
"Thank you, Albert. I will be. At my main job I'm used to dealing with some very unpleasant people. I don't think the site's assholes are in the same class."
"You might be right, Tom. Just watch yourself, particularly for the first few days. Some might try to bully the newbie."
"They might make comments about my tight shirts, Albert."
He grinned.
"Sorry, Tom, but they are the largest we had. Your new giant-size shirts and sweater with the Park logo will arrive on Wednesday. You'll have to make do until then."
"I will. I'm pleased to have the job."
"It won't always be as easy as this evening, Tom," Albert said.
"I would be surprised if it was."
We left the office. I went through the staff area to the back of the bar. I could hear the rain beating against the roof of the passage. Linda was busy at the other end of the bar. I walked around to the public area and waited for her to finish serving drinks. I looked around. Apart from the man Linda was serving there were another man and two women paused in a card game. That was it.
"Hello Tom," Linda said. "Want a drink?"
"Lemonade, please, Linda." I'm driving."
"Haven't you got a bike? It's not far."
"Usually, yes, I'd use the bike but in this weather? No."
An elderly couple walked into the bar. He was shaking his umbrella before putting it in a stand beside the outer door. They walked across to us.
"The usual, please, Linda," the man said, "and can you call maintenance for us. The electricity has gone again."
