Kris

Interviewee: Kris (Kristopher)

Interviewer: Archie Cornish

Date of recording: 125 July 2022

Recording location: in person at the Broken Bridge pub in Pontefract.

Length of recording: 52.00

Subjects (key words): Pontefract, family, gardening, floristry, retail, hospitality, escape, Wolverhampton, computer science, teaching, Telford, York

Abstract

Summary of conversation:

Kris lives in Pontefract where he works at Curry’s. He grew up nearby in Upton, but came to Pontefract regularly to visit family. He moved and went to school in Pontefract aged 11. Growing up he didn’t think much about what he’d like to do for work, but did have many interests – oceans, space, sharks – and these inspired daydreams of ‘escape’. His father’s interest outside work was gardening and his mother’s floristry. Kris studied Computer Science at Wolverhampton with his mother’s encouragement. During this time he worked at the fish counter at Morrison’s as well as for the first time at Curry’s. Having moved back home, he found a job at a small IT company in Telford. It was a bad experience, with a lack of support and structure compounded by isolation. He moved home, worked briefly at Wetherspoons’ and then returned to Curry’s. He enjoyed many aspects of working there for five years, including teamwork and the pleasure of passing on skills to new team members. He’s aware of a sense of owing the company for taking him back. Recently he has committed to his ‘next adventure’, a PGCE at York, though has offered to stay on at Curry’s in the short term if required. He wants to inspire those he teaches and convince them to be more adventurous and active in life.

Sequential summary:

[00.16 – 03.01] Growing up in Pontefract and Upton, visiting family.

[03.01 – 08.01] Description of parents’ work and hobbies: hospitality and retail jobs, floristry, gardening.

[09.18 – 13.22] Memories of thinking about the future; intense interests (sharks, oceans); thinking of a job involving escape.

[13.22 – 17.41] University – Computer Science in Wolverhampton; lectures seeming out of date; expectations of a job, having done the work.

[17.56 – 19.56] Jobs during university: working on the fish counter at Morrison’s, learning skills. Initial work at Curry’s.

[19.56 – 26.03] Description of a job in IT in Telford; lack of support and boredom; a return home.

[26.03 – 29.13] A brief job as a dishwasher at Wetherspoons’ in Pontefract.

[29.28 – 33.28] Description of a second long stint at Curry’s. Training people, working as part of a team, reflection on lack of progression to manager stage, a sense of owing the company for taking him back after experience in Telford.

[33.44 – 37.47] Committing to a change of direction, a PGCE at York University, breaking through the sense of owing Curry’s; after a life-changing medical alert aged 25.

[38.32 – 40.32] Reasons for the PGCE: wanting to inspire learners, empower them to have adventures.

[40.32 – 43.21] Changes at Curry’s, a shift away from person-to-person interaction accelerated by changes brought in during the pandemic, enduring loyalty to the company.

[43.21 – 49.41] Formative experiences and influences from childhood forming these attitudes: King Arthur and the Power Rangers, an obsession with honour and heroism.

[49.41 – 52.00] Returning to the idea of escape, discussion of hobbies: absorbing painting of miniatures during lockdown.

Excerpt

[28.26] KRIS:

I got a message back from a guy called Johnny. He says, look, the manager’s in on Sunday. You’ll know him, cos he pretty much worked with you anyway, he’s the guy who trained you, go in and see him. So I did, went in on Sunday. He then got me into a meeting with a, er, guy called Paul who’s left now, but he was sort of a deputy store manager role. So I went into see him. He managed to get me onto the system. He gave me a few, like, sort of shifts and things, we had to write it in pen because obviously I wasn’t officially in the system at the time. And he said, look, just keep a track of all these notes, and I’ll tick ’em off when you come in. And that way, I can say you’ve been in the system for this long. We can say System Error, and you can just claim everything back, we can get you on there, cos it’ll take a bit of time, and you can start work next week, next week, so that way it’ll be next Sunday. So I thought, great, after two days, I can go.

So, I went back to Wetherspoons, let ’em know – you know what, I’m quitting this early. Think in total I lasted twelve days there, with days off, so, there you go. And, er, yeah, that was me finished in Wetherspoons. Went back to, er, Curry’s in 2017 and I’ve been there ever since.

INTERVIEWER:

[…] You’ve mentioned the camaraderie there, er, is that still there?

KRIS:

Yeah, it’s still there, I mean like I said, I don’t think there’s any person in that building who I don’t get along with, I mean yeah there can be frustration at times I mean for example with the heat, because no one’s sleeping so it is a bit, it’s a bit hard to get that thing when no one’s really sleeping, it’s a bit difficult but it’s still there. As I said I don’t think there’s a single person in that building who I don’t get on with.

INTERVIEWER:

And has your role changed over time, in that five years?

KRIS:

I think… I have wanted to progress but it is a bit difficult with how management structures worked, so for example when I got back there, because when I first went there I was, sort of good at it, you know sort of good at the job, I wasn’t terrible, but you know customers liked me, I got on with them, sometimes they got what they wanted, sometimes they didn’t, but you know that’s fair enough, it happens, that’s retail. But mainly across the board, because I got on with everybody and I just knew the job and stuff, that’s what got me on, so, but this time when I got back I thought, right, they’ve put themselves out for me, I am now going to put myself out for them. So I didn’t want to be just OK, I wanted to be, the best.

[31.40]