Hi Girls,
Well Saturday came - the alarm woke me at 7am. Serious butterflies! Oh well, up and into the bathroom. Bathed the night before so just a good close shave (getting easier with the electrolysis) and a hair wash. Then hair and make up - nice and light with a little mascara and chocolate lipstick to match my outfit. Time to get dresssed!
I spent several evenings last week trying to decide what to wear - first day at a new job and I really wanted to blend in with the others. I'd come to the decision to go with a denim knee length skirt, a black top and black boots. So I had them out, ready for me. COMPLETELY changed my mind on the day! My latest purchase, a slightly below the knee A line skirt with chocolate vertical line detail, chocolate cami-top with matching cardigan and kitten heel courts. Contrasting jewelry and a really cute belt from Dune. A little perfume (Contradiction by Calvin Clein, my favourite) and I'm ready.
The shop is in a part of London where you have to pay for parking your car and since i'm doing voluentary work that didn't appeal. It's only a mile or so from my home and it was a really sunny, but really cold winter morning. So I decided to walk.
Arrived at 8.55am to find the shutters up but the door locked. i couldn't find a bell so knocked on the door and waited. My heart was racing! Anyway, Emma, the shop manager appeared with a big smile and opened the door. "Monica, lovely to see you again, come in". I felt at ease immediately. Emma proceeded to show me around the shop, explaining how she likes things to be organised and displayed. She showed me around the back area, where to make tea and coffee, where to hang my coat, gave me a locker etc. She talks A LOT! Which is good as I'm quite a quiet person, so that suits me well! Then the other member of staff arrived, a guy called Mem (think it must be short for something?!). "Mem, this is Monica, it's her first day". Mem shook my hand and said hello and asked if it was my first time in a shop etc. Very friendly guy. I was nervous about meeting new people as Monica but in the event it was easy. And I'm sure it will get easier every time. Then the best bit, Emma gave me my shop voluenteer badge! I pinned it to my cardigan, just above my left breast. Now I really feel like an employee!
By this time the shop was open and already very busy with people browsing for bargains. And so many people coming in with donations! I've never seen anything like it. Emma asked me to walk the shop floor for a while, keeping the clothes racks tidy and helping customers where required. A guy came through the door with a big sack of clothes and siad he had more in the car. I offered to help so followed him outside to the car and carried some bags in.
The rest of my morning was spent going back and forth from the shop to the back area, sorting and pricing new donations and then putting them out on the shop floor. Emma explained that it's company policy not to put new helpers on the till for the first three months as there needs to be a base of trust. All the sales are cash and it would be very easy for someone less honest to steal with very little chance of getting caught. She went on to say that she was a very good judge of character and would train me on the till after a few weeks - that will be fun!
I was only supposed to work 9 till 1 and when 1pm came the afternoon helpers arrived. Alice, in her 70's, who introduced herself to me and proceeded to tell me all about her recent knee replacement! She then went to the loo, leaving the door wide open ha ha! Bless! And Raman, a young guy from Afghanistan. Tall, silent type. Mumbled a lot. As I had no plans for the rest of the day I stayed till 2.30pm, walking the floor and looking after customers. All in all a really good day. The shop quietened down and the four of us stood around the shop for a while with teas and coffees discussing what we would do with the money when we won the lottery (there was a £50 million robbery in London last week, the biggest in history).
I left at 2.30, saying goodbye to everyone. Emma expressed her thanks to me for coming and said she looked forward to seeing me next week. What a brilliant day! I had to pinch myself a few times. I've dreamt of getting to this stage in my life for so long and now I'm here, working as Monica, working as a woman. It's such good experience for the future. If Emma knew, she certainly didn't show it. If the others knew, they didn't show it either. Ultimately it doesn't matter if they know or not, they simply accepted me as female, end of story. Fantastic. The day was full of "Monica" or "she" or "her" - quite overwhelming for me. If any of you are contemplating voluenteer work in your female guise, I cannot recommend it strongly enough. I've broken new boundaries (for me, anyway!) made new friends and given something back to the community. Next Saturday cannot come quickly enough. the only problem is, what to wear next week.............
Love Monica x
Thanks!
Originally Posted by RuthChambers
Love as always Jasminexxxxxxxx
