I could have been Mark Parton’s morning paper boy
May 12th, 2009 at 08:03am
I note with interest that part of Mark Parton’s morning routine is to visit the Caltex Woolworths service station in Belconnen to pick up the newspaper:
I usually whip on down to the Woolies petrol station at Belconnen first thing to grab a Canberra Times. Laurie’s usually on deck there. He’s been working the graveyard shift there for a while. He seems like a nice bloke. He’s always the same. He’ll say ‘g’day’ and have a brief chat, but he knows that most people who are coming into the servo at 3:30 in the morning, probably aren’t up for a long involved chat. He is refreshingly ‘old school’.
If we go back a few months, that could have been me instead of “Laurie”. I was nearly employed there earlier this year, but baulked at their deceptive recruitment practices when I was told during induction that I was being employed in a role which was not the one I had been interviewed for, not the one I had applied for. I would have taken the job if it hadn’t been for this…in hindsight perhaps I should have, but with recruitment being a virtual con-job, I couldn’t bear to stick around and see what other footwear would eventually fall.
I suppose it would have been an interesting sight…me ranting back at the radio during Jim Ball’s show, oblivious to the fact that a fuel pump needs to be authorised! I wonder how different Mark’s story would be if that had been the case.
Samuel
Entry Filed under: Canberra Stories,Samuel News
2 Comments
1. legshagger | May 13th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Were you going to “bare to stick around” by disrobing ? I suppose it would have been an interesting sight – indeed!
2. Samuel | May 17th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Spelling mistake corrected, thanks for noticing it legshagger.
That said, a naked console operator at a petrol station…that would give Mark something to talk about on the radio!