gwEm's Last Night at Work - Gameboy Camera Diary Images taken on the 11th of September 2002

Maybe this will be my weirdest diary... I don't know. Anyhow when people found out I worked for 5 years at Sainsbury's (a UK supermarket chain) they got interested and wanted to find out more. This diary documents my last night there, and what I used to do for ca$h!!

The walk to work
It takes about 20 minutes to walk from my house to the supermarket. I used to drive, but the walk is enjoyable, even if it rains, and I can use the time for excercise and to call my friends. I have to walk past 2 of my old schools, down a dark alley, over the motorway, past lots of playing fields and though some other streets. This takes me to 'The Swan Center' which is Leatherhead's premier shopping arcade, and also one of the largest in Europe...

The bit at the bottom of the sign says something like 'and 16 other shops'

Sainsbury's is the the largest store in the Swan Center, and has this huge sign:

Above the sign there is the multi-story car park, and below there is a plant room

Back in da house
The first thing I do is to store my coat in my own personal locker. I also store my money, but illegally I keep my phone on me, set to vibrate. In order to evade the frequent security searches I put the phone into my shirt pocket - which no one ever checks. During my time at JS I have used my phone to mastermind raves, record releases, girl problems, drug deals, and holidays - without anyone ever noticing.

Once my possessions are put away the next thing to do is to 'clock in'. I type my secret code (1248), which I must never reveal, into a special machine:

This clocking in machine stores entry and exit details for all staff

Because I was early into work on this particular day I relaxed for a couple of minutes in the staff canteen before clocking in.

The canteen has such facilities as a pool table, and food vending machines

For the first part of any evening at Sainsbury's I have to stack the shelves with new products. My products are all refridgerated aand must be stored in what is known as 'the chiller' - a giant walk-in fridge. In the chiller new products are stored on 'rollers' (big wire frame cupboards with wheels) and 'l-shapes' (special heavy-duty trolleys for staff use). Additionally cartons of milk are stored in their own kind of roller - known simply as a 'milk crate'.

Inside the chiller. You can see milk crates in the top left, and rollers in the center

Dressing it down
My main task when working at night time is to ensure the store is clean and tidy for the next day. I handle all the products which are chilled - thats is kept to 3 degrees centigrade. This department is called 'provisions'. Bizarrely I also have to tidy the eggs - this is for historical reasons, and I am so proud to have to do it that this is the first thing I tidy.

The process of tidying the products is known as 'dressing down'. It is a big responsibility. All the products should be neatly stacked at the front of the shelf, with labels facing forward. In addition the oldest products must be at the front of the display. During the next day my co-workers and the customers will destroy my work, and when I return I must create perfection again. This is why I spin out into an irrational depression after each nights work.

OK, so first up I dress down the eggs:

Before I organise them the eggs look like this

On this occasion I do not drop any eggs on to the floor. I frequently drop whole boxes of eggs, and it was nice not to have this on my last night.

The displays for fish, cream cakes and special cheese are dressed down next. The reason for this is that they are not on one of the main aisles, but on what is known as a 'plinth' - which is the term we use to refer to the small area of shelving at the end of an aisle.

Making bargins
At this point I am interrupted by a friendly face!

Ted

He is a regular customer who talks to me whenever I work. I enjoy his interruptions and over the years we've discussed many things. True to form Ted has found some products he would like to buy which are soon to be out of date. This means we reduce them in price to create a bargin! To do this I use a special tool:

Reduction gun - it sticks orange price labels on things

Watching for out of date products used to be my main job - I am glad that this changed! Damaged and out of date goods are stored in the chiller in a dedicated area called 'crap corner':

This is the smelly part of the store for nasty things

More dressing down
Soon after this welcome distraction the store is closed to customers. This makes work much faster, and also means we can have a musical accompaniment. By now I am the only person left on my section - everyone else went home. Because it is my last night I have been honoured with the choice of the first Black Sabbath album. The work gets really boring and head-fuck now, but these are the things I dress next:

This aisle is the worst, and takes 1.5 hours. It contains cheese, yogurt, cream, desserts, fats, juice and milk.

Here is where dead animals are sold - even though I am not vegetarian I hate to do this aisle

A much nicer aisle containing pies, ready meals, pizza and vegetarian products

The last aisle has the fresh pasta, soup, sauces, homous-style dips and coleslaw-style salads.

At last I am finished!!!! All the empty cardboard boxes, and plasic packaging I have removed from the shelves must be compacted for recycling. This is done with this piece of equipment:

This bailer crushes packaging into cubes for recycling

The kru
Over the years I have worked with many cool people. They making a bad job less bad, and there are some real diamonds. I could fill a whole diary with pictures of them, but thats not possible, as I could only take pictures of people who where working the day when I had the camera. None of these people work with me on the chilled foods, but they work late into the night, just like me.

Anne is the main woman on late night grocery stacking. Though she is she is chilled out and cool she rules with a fist of solid iron

Pete is under the strange illusion that Led Zeppelin are better than Black Sabbath, but I don't hold this against him.

Trish - these aussies get everywhere ;-> Shes a real sweetie.

Going home
Anne gives me a touching leaving card signed by other members of the night shift, but I clock out of the store and leave unemotionally. Sainsbury's was always just about the money for me. I did my best job and worked professionally, but the monotony of the work sucked big style. But even so I think one could do worse than work at a supermarket, the people there are so wicked.

20 walk minutes later and I make myself a well deserved bath and have a big slice of cake!

(c)gwem 2002
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