My Best Job Ever by Victoria Chatham

 

AVAILABLE HERE

Apart from a love of writing, many authors have come from a background of teaching, and specifically teaching English, or working in some capacity with publishing or books. So, it is no wonder that from August 1972 until August 1985, I worked for Alan and Joan Tucker, owners of The Bookshop, in Station Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.

During those years I have no idea of the number of books I handled. I sometimes unpacked stock for 

the children’s shop, the adult shop and, very exciting as you never knew what treasures you might find, the second-hand shop. These dedicated shops were all managed from the hub of operations, the old Station Master’s House. Here, in a room with large windows and bare board floor, surrounded by bookshelves (what else) and that dry-as-dust smell peculiar to old books, I unpacked, re-invoiced, and repacked school textbooks for over two hundred school accounts.   

 

I was fortunate enough to get the job as, the first time around, I turned it down. I was looking for something that would not interfere with my family life and I thought this would fit the bill. Invoicing schoolbooks sounded like just the thing. I’d get school holidays off, right? Wrong. That was when the school supply department of the business was busiest. Teachers submitted their book orders right at the end of the summer term or crammed them in (we neeeeed them now!) before the autumn term began. The timing did not work for me. I thanked Mr. Tucker for the opportunity and went home.

Two weeks later everything changed. I received a letter from Tucker’s offering me the position. Would I be interested in going to the office to discuss my hours? As I had just hired a new child-minder, I phoned to make an appointment for a second interview. How could I be so lucky? My hours during the school holidays were from 9 am to 1 pm, Monday to Friday, ideal for me and my child-minder who was also looking for more hours. During term-time, I worked from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm, perfect for dropping my kids off and picking them up from school. There was never a problem with making up hours on the weekend if we needed time off in the week because a kid was sick or we needed to make an appointment for the doctor, dentist, or whatever.

The Bookshop, Station Road, Stroud
Photo credit: Sylvia Giles

Those were golden years. My bosses and my colleagues, as a group we were nicknamed the Tuckers’ Angels, were more like family. We could do each other’s work when necessary, knew each other’s ups and downs, knew each other’s children who all came to work with us at some time or another, and all the while the businesses hummed along like clockwork. Most importantly for me, I had a dedicated group with whom I could discuss my writing ambitions.

Alan and Joan Tucker are now deceased, Joan in 2013 and Alan in 2017 at the grand age of 83 years old. The Station Master’s House became a funeral director’s premises. For a while, the children’s bookshop was an estate agent’s office and the adult bookshop has long been a taxi business. The business may be long gone, but those years were special and will always be lodged in my memory.

Victoria Chatham

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