Genies and other Spirits

After working in the same job for nearly twelve years, you get to 'know the ropes'.  I have said before, two or three words can be sufficient to tell me where to collect, what I shall be collecting, where it will be going, and provide a fair indication of who I shall meet at the delivery point.  We certainly know something of the business of our regular customers.  Monday's collection was a case in point.  Although I hadn't done any work for them for some while, I had a fair idea, from the fact that the collection was from a hotel, that it would be promotional material of some kind.  Often we are called upon to attend before and after an exhibition, conference or sales gathering, delivering and collecting banners, literature for hand-outs, and so on.

In this case the name of our customer added a different twist for, while it may not be their sole activity, this particular firm uses us to service whisky tasting events.  So my collection was the remaining spirits, and all the paraphernalia used on such an occasion.  When I delivered it, I commented that some of the boxes were empty, and was told that this is their normal practice, so that they can be re-filled for the next occasion.  It seemed a praiseworthy nod to the business of recycling.  So it was that the 'repeating genie', of which I have spoken much over the years, sent me back to this customer on Thursday, to collect some of those same boxes, now checked, replenished, re-labelled and secured, and deliver them to a certain café in Cheshire, the proprietor of which would be hosting a tasting event that evening.

The 'repeating genie', so-called, has also been active this week in other directions.  On Monday, after my post-whisky-tasting collection, I was assigned a local job, collecting instructions and paperwork from our customer in Letchworth, collecting the goods on his behalf from his supplier in Luton, and delivering these four miles away in nearby Dunstable.  On Wednesday, one of a number of local jobs - fillers while waiting for something more significant - was a repeat of the very same sequence.

Back to the subject of booze.  One of our customers is a beer, wine and spirits wholesaler, and on a Friday afternoon it's quite often the case that we get sent to a distant pub with urgent liquid provisions in advance of a special event, or simply to fill in because their own drivers have left off or have no hours left in the week.  I was surprised, therefore, to be sent there on Tuesday in order to take some wine and a cask of ale to a hotel in Norwich.  But the week's drink theme doesn't end there.

I've spoken about getting to know our customers' businesses.  One advertising firm seems to specialise in the beauty trade, but I was taken aback on Friday to be sent to a distribution centre to make a collection on their behalf and to be presented with . . . four cases of whisky!  No questions asked, of course.  As long as they get what they ask for, delivered safely and promptly, our service is completed, and our interest at an end (except for side-views such as this blog, that is!)

And finally, a word about genies of a different kind.  A few weeks ago, I wrote about a cousin in the US, from whom I had received lots of information to add to my own family tree.  We are fourth cousins, which means that she is descended from a sibling of my great-great-grandmother.  The operation of amalgamating her data with my own therefore fell into two distinct parts. First came the exploration of my great-great-great-aunt's family, leading down to my cousin.  This week I'm feeling not a little satisfied to have finished this first, and possibly greater, part of the task.  Now I move on to phase two, looking back to the earlier generations, ancestors which we both share. Needless to say, there is less information about people born in the 18th and early 19th centuries, so the immediate challenge will be smaller, although there is that ever-open door leading deeper into history!