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The woman who made me who I am

The tale of my manager

By Caitlin BishopPublished 4 years ago 4 min read
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I started working for her in August 2018. I was in visiting family in Scotland the fist time I spoke to her. The first time we met in person on shift we clicked instantly, and we got along well. We would call each other names, things that employees and employers should not call each other, but we both knew it was all just a bit of fun.

She has an amazing sense of humor. Very dry and condescending at times, but sometimes she is a bit clueless. We were working together one night, and we were neatening up the stock on the shelves. She was doing the fruit and the veg, and was pulling off the ones that did not look very nice. About halfway down one aisle I walked past her, and she said to me "there's a weird smell down this aisle" and I laughed. A bit later on, she had gotten to the end of the aisle and she looked at me and said she thought the smell was following her. Then she opened her hand and realised what it was. She had picked up an old piece of spring onion and was holding it in her screwed up hand all the way down the aisle and that's what the smell was.

She told me a lot about her life, and her family and friends. She lived with her mother and her brother, whom she disliked, and wanted to move out on her own but could not afford it. She told me about her sister, her 2 other younger brothers, and her friend, who, even though she was on benefits, was adamant that it was still called payday, and how much she hated that her friend said that.

She told me when her sister passed away, on the 6th April 2019. She had cancer. She was 34, and had 2 young children. The eldest was 7 years, and the youngest was 6 months old when their mother was cruelly taken away from them forever.

She told me that the worst thing about it was that she had had cancer before, when she was pregnant with her youngest, she had treatment, and she was told that it was gone, and she would never get it again. However, 4 months later, it came back with a vengeance, attacking every organ in her body, and there was nothing that the doctors could do. 2 months after it started again, she was gone.

This woman will always inspire me, because not only was she at her sisters bedside when she passed, but she came back into work only a week later to support the shop. She was the person that I could go and talk to when I found out that my Granddad had cancer. I could talk to her about the treatment he was going through, and she would tell me that it may be hard to see, as he would be in excruciating pain, and she had seen it all with her sister. She was the one I could talk to when I thought he was doing much better with his treatment, but we'd found out his condition had deteriorated, and was being moved into a hospice for end of life care.

Without her, I would not be the fierce, strong, motivated person I am today. She encouraged me to go for a promotion. She would help me and train me in all of the practical things that I would need to do a great job. She recommended me for a 6 month training course to help me learn the behaviours I need to be a good manager. Without her, I would not be the manager of a shop at 22. She pushed and encouraged me even when I was ready to give up.

Even though I have been moved to another location due to the promotion we always keep in touch. I know that I can always pick up the phone and will always get the same greeting; 'Heeeeeellllllllloooooooo'. The game is to make the hello last as long as possible without running out of breath. It is wonderful to know that we can always count on each other. I have a set ring tone for when she messages me, and she is the only person to have that tone: 'knock knock knock'. It is always good fun to see other people who have never met her go 'Hi Carla' when I get a message from her.

friendship
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About the Creator

Caitlin Bishop

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