The Reason For My Silence

Well, hello there!

My face after surviving a night shift and finishing at 4am

I know I've been silent for over the past six weeks or so. I've wanted to write about how things have been going at my new place of work (I can tell you that now) but since my laptop died I've not been able to post without a trip to the library to use the computers there. It involves a lot of mental preparing as I'm not that keen on sitting in a library full of teenagers who are trying to give the world the impression that they're studying but are actually making a lot of noise (even during the holidays its been noisy). I know that we've had long summer break and a lot of families have gone on holiday, but its still been busy. So today, I needed to collect a package for Andy from the Amazon locker at Crawley library so decided to write, since I was here anyway.

I've been at The Beehive for six weeks. today, and am really enjoying working in such a lovely pub. The hours might be long (9 hour shifts, 5 days a week) but its really rewarding. The management team, and the rest of the staff, really want to see me improve and aim to help me do so. They're really keen that I learn the Wetherspoon way of doing things and they're all really willing to answer my questions and help me give the best service I can. I've done an odd mix of shifts, mostly during the afternoon but a couple of night shifts (which were killers). I also have a few morning shifts coming up and think I'll cope better than the night shifts I had a few weeks back.

My landside pass!!

The lovely thing about working at The Beehive is that its an landside pub, so I don't need to worry about getting through security to get to work. If I worked at one of the other pubs at Gatwick (The Red Lion, The Flying Horse or the London Bar) I'd have to get through security and the same restrictions that are in place for travelers are also in place for Gatwick's airside staff. The checks are also stricter in terms of getting your airside pass. I'm fortunate. I have a landside pass (pictured here), so even though I can't work at one of the airside pubs, I can still work at Gatwick. The pay is very good and I also get discounts on my bus fair to and from the airport, as well as getting a 20% discount of food and drink bought at any Wetherspoon pub. They also give us a selection of free food to eat (we can choose of a list) or we get 70% off the rest of the menu if we decide to have something that's not on the staff menu. On a slightly more serious note, I've got my six week probation meeting tomorrow and I'm ready for it. I thought I'd be more nervous about it but I'm not. I'm sure I'll be fine. Fingers crossed it all goes well.

Another good thing about working at an landside pub is that I've been able to see friends and family who were passing through. Two of my cousins turned up the other week to collect their son and I was able to say high and give them a hug (and let them use my discount). It was a lovely surprise.

Until next time!