remote cards

At first there is only one girl at the information desk, then two. There are announcements for members of staff to call a number. Couple minutes later there are 4 girls at the info desk. All dressed differently, but the name badges on lanyards and the red uniform shirt. Three of them chatter. One disappears to be replaced by a guy. He carries his shirt screwed up in his hand - just starting his shift as he puts it on when done here. He picks up the card, reads what everyone else wrote, then adds his contribution. Another member of staff’s birthday? The rest summoned to the information desk hidden at the back of the store to take turns signing it in secret.

Labels: event, giggling girls, glasgow, signing, staff

The staff take their breaks in the gardens. A coffee and a book, with his feet up. When I arrive it’s a guy, highlighting key sections of that books. When I have my dinner it’s a girl with curly hair and red framed glasses. Beneath the table she has an Obama bag, fist pumping victory. She eats a salad, then reads a floppy book, makes a phone call, receives congratulations from one of the other girls who stops by between clearing tables. When I talk to you on the phone its an American girl. She complains on the phone how they have too much staff, how she has to keep taking breaks. She leaves through pages of a magazine. She drinks coffee, while explaining she has a change of clothes, she will buy booze on the way to the party. Then someone else she tells about missing family and how hard it is to be so far away. We chat and laugh till my phone goes dead. So I go back to reading my book, drinking a cold drink.

Labels: dinner, glasgow, hidden gardens, staff, tramway