The Adventures Of A Uncommon Man

Chapter 5 A Glimpse Of A Secret

The afternoon passed quicker than expected. I did not manage to entirely dispose of the cardboard as there was so much of it. It was a very tedious and slow process as I had to be careful with the rétractable Stanley Blade I was using. The Goods In, Goods Out foreman, Mr Daniel Kubrick was not happy with me using a knife without the right proper protection. I needed Kevlar gloves to protect my hands from cuts. Not to mention the fact that I also needed spécial métal capped boots for protection in a department where loading and unloading heavy goods is part of the daily norm. So I had to be careful and this took time cutting boxes without the right proper protection. To make matters worse, I had to put up with the cold chill of the bay doors that were left open and the noise of machinery like forklifts and lorries backing in their trailers through each bay door. The place itself was roughly the size of a football field with palletes of boxes stacked everywhere, boxes for parts just coming in to be checked, put away as stock, picked and repackaged and posted out. And there was all those forklift trucks passing in and out of the bays constantly. It was the biggest department in the building but one that needed more money to improve its facilités. Having never set foot in this place, I kind of felt like a fish put of water. But that was not bothering me as much as not being able to finish the boxes I was supposed to flatten out and palettise. I managed to do almost eight but there was still many more to do.
Mr Kurbrick told me not to worry about it, saying that his staff would clear out any excess.
"I know Bradshaw has got you in a rock and hard place but dont worry kid, we will finish it first thing and tell him you did a good job".
I thanked Kurbrick for this at the end of my shift and he just grinned and said "Just try to keep your head above water kiddo and you will not go far wrong. I know Bradshaw can be an asshole so dont give the guy any reason to fire you".
I thanked him again and breathed a sigh of relief as I clocked out of work. Another day done, but one that had me on the edge, where for a moment, my world had almost come crashing down on me. I could not even begin to imagine what I would have done had Bradshaw fired me. I do know that the guy had it in for me.
Why else would he have made me walk a very fine line?
Made me skate across thin ice?
It was all well Kurbrick saying that I need to keep my head above water. Thing is, we are all human and we make mistakes, slip up from time to time. Trying to keep a perfect record in a workplace that is so demanding, with deadlines that are near impossible is like trying to run a Marathon barefoot across a hot, arid desert. Impossible, yes.
I know I need to do something about this. It doesn't take psychic powers to predict what will happen if I stayed here. Bradshaw clearly has it in for me, he hates my guts and will make things nigh impossible for me to accomplish anything in this place. There was no doubt in my mind that he wanted to fire me. But somehow, I was given a chance. I almost wondered if it was people like Josh or Kubrick who had reasoned with him. I did not see it as much of a chance. More like I was living off borrowed time. That all it had achieved was a slight delay of the inhevitable, that things were not going to end well for me here in this place. Finding a New job was the only option right now. My writing projects were far from complete and it wasn't like myself and Natalya could move straight away from Stoke nearer to where I work. Money was tight, the country was still in the midst of a crippling recession and jobs were hard to come by. Peoples advice nowadays was that you had to be thankful for the job you got, that you got a job. Easily said, but hard to actually find those feelings of gratitude when you work in a dead end job with an asshole for a boss.
As I made my way out of the foyer, I caught a glimpse of Mr Bradshaw getting into his Bentley with the receptionist, Miss Simpson. The way they were making googly eyes at each other, and how close they were to each other told me that there was something going on. Adams was right that Bradshaw was inside the underwear of nearly every woman in the workplace. Even though Simpsons was single, she still lived with a partner.
I just shook my head in disbelief when she stepped into the Bentley with Bradshaw. They drove off quickly before all the other workers spilled out onto the car park.
"Unbelievable," I said aloud to myself.
"We all make our own sandwiches," said a voice behind me. "We make our choices and have to live with the consequences of our actions".
I turned and saw Josh standing behind me, watching Bradshaws car disappear onto the main road of the Winsford Industrial Estate. "Thats just so wrong," I told Josh as I walked with him to our waiting cars.
"Whether its right or wrong, it doesn't matter," he said to me. "People make their choices and those choices affect our reality whether we like it or not. Everything is a choice".
"So I shouldn't complain if my sandwiches turn out to be peanut butter because I hate peanut butter?"
Josh stopped at his car, a red Fiat Punto. He seemed to hesitate for a second. "Everything that happens to us is of our own making. All the great things, all the bad experiences, our circumstances, we put them there. But you already know that".
I nodded my head as if agreeing. I had read enough books on the Law Of Attraction to know the theory that you create your own reality by how you think and feel. I had even tried to apply the Law Of Attraction in my own life without any results.
"You want to know a secret?" Josh suddenly said. "The ultimate secret to getting everything you ever want?"
This stopped me dead in my tracks and I was clearly taken aback by this sudden offer Josh had made. I paused for a moment as if to think, but from the annoyed look on Joshs face, he was clearly frustrated with my hesitancy.
"Dont think kid!" he said. "You think too much. You finger paint too much when it comes to your life! So Im going to give you the secret to applying the ultimate system of thought to your life that will yield the results you want, that will enable you to create your masterpiece".
"What is this?" I demanded to know.
I saw the features of Josh's face contort into a wide grin as if what he was about to give me was a triple whammy revelation that would have me going WOAH!
"You really want to know what it is?" he asked me. "You think you are ready for what Im about to give you?"
"Just lay it on me," I said, wanting him to get to the point.
Josh smiled. "Well here it is..."