Monday 20th September - Friday 24th September 2010.
It was an intriguing week with lots of changes and one very disturbing scene.
The previous week i had been bed bound with a case of "man flu".The night sweats were savage and at times i felt like i was in Dahab lying on a flea ridden mattress with mosquitos buzzing around my head looking for my blood.
There have been numerous contract discussions with the King's assistant and so far they have proved fruitless.
She has offered me night hours because she claims these are the only permanent shifts available even though there are never enough staff.
I have impose a deadline of 2nd week of October to get this sorted or i will move on from this depressing establishment.
Monday was uneventful at work just the usual grind and the pleasure of working with the 3 thickest members of the organisation namely:Slow boy,the actor,and the brain dead Somalian.
The Cockney scrubber and the Legend have been notified of disciplinary hearings due to consistently poor TPS.The scrubber was almost in tears and fell head long into a depressive state for the rest of the week.She was due to move into a houseshare at the age of 30 and was worried this hearing may lead to dismissal.
The Legend was more circumspect about the disciplinary and already had his case mapped out.Obviously,this news travelled like wild fire around the staff and the theory is that the PLC are trying to sweep out the dead wood and this is a good way to begin.
The food fridge broke down on Tuesday with large pools of water swilling across the shop floor.The Algerian was more interested in blaming me for not informing him of rising temperatures in the fridge which showed up on the temperature probe.I told him i've had no training for this process but i suggested politely that they get the fridge repaired before they are on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
However,an incident occured which disturbed me greatly.It was Wednesday morning at approximately 8.15am when i looked out of the unit and saw an argument between a mentally ill middle aged homeless alcoholic and a copper from the British Transport Police (BTP).The copper did a leg sweep on the homeless man whilst muttering "lets get you on the floor then".They both fell on the concrete surface and after writhing around on the floor another 5 old bill arrived as back up.
There were 6 members of the old bill holding down an unwell man.Of course this was in full view of members of the public.I immediately tried to form a steering committee to gather opinions on the incident.Most people were appalled at what they saw and some tried to raise complaints on the spot with the plastic police aka Community Support Officers.
I made a decision to make a formal complaint to the authorities on the grounds of excessive force.
After work on Wednesday i went to the BTP office in the station and attempted to make a complaint.Eventually,i was dealt with by a senior career copper with a white beard and probably 25 years service.I have seen him before and appears very chummy with all the shop units,and in fact saw him get a peck on the cheek by one of the iron hoof's who works at Boots.
The conversation i had with him was very interesting because he tried to manipulate me into dropping all enquiries.I told him that i was ashamed to be a Londoner and had never seen that type of brutality used against an apparently defenceless individual.
This was like a red rag to a bull.He claimed that i should have assisted his colleague and not automatically assumed that the BTP were in the wrong.
He then used the CCTV angle on me claiming that the offender was known to the authorities and was caught stealing from our unit.
I was present in the unit from 6am on the morning in question and i maintain this is a fabrication.The attitude of the senior copper was arrogance and he maxde me feel that i was in the wrong and let them do their job however they want.
Little did he know that his arrogance has made me even more determined to pursue this potential case of police brutality.
Friday was the king's final day!!He has kept it quiet for weeks and is going to another unit within the PLC.He had printed out a letter for all the staff "wishing us all the best in the future and he had thoroughly enjoyed working with us for these last 3 years..."
The supervisors were buzzing with lots of conversations taking place in dark corners.The new manager is a Bangladeshi and as a white boy i need to be careful.Ginger surfaced today which was a pleasure to converse with someone who can hold a conversation in unbroken English and he knows the score.He informed me that one of the Bangla weekend supervisor's is a racist and said "Israel is a boil".
I let this brush over me but made a mental note to provoke him the next time i see him and then make a complaint about racism in the workplace.
I'm on the 6am shifts again next week and will be regularly updating again.
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