Cafe Supervisor
The Co-operative Group (The Co-op)

Kerry H

00:00:03 My name’s Kerry H and I’m the cafe supervisor. Day to day it’s dealing with customers and serving teas, coffees, various things really. It’s good because I can work in here but then when they’re busy on the checkouts I jump on there as well and if they’re ever stuck in the cash office I help out in there as well. So, I’m never normally just stuck in here, it’s different jobs I do as well. So, it’s good.

00:00:28 I was really, really shy at school. I wanted to be a hairdresser but that didn’t work out so this is what I’m doing now which I love though. I got 11 GCSEs at school and I went on to do a GNVQ business studies but I didn’t, at that age I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just…and then this was a little part time job for me to decide really what I wanted to do. But then I just loved the job so much and because it’s, I’ve gone up as well, I decided just to stay.

00:01:04 When I turned 18 I started working in bars and restaurants and things like that and I just fancied a right change. The hours didn’t suit me so my Mum works in here and she said there was a job coming up on the checkouts and I got the job on there and that’s where it started. I started on the checkouts and then eventually I got moved up to be the supervisor in the cash office and then just a few months ago I got moved. My manager asked us if I wanted to be moved into here and run this place and I said, “Yes.” Better money and better hours so.

00:01:36 No, I didn’t think about it long term. I thought it would be just like a little, a little job I would get but then when the manager asked me if I wanted to progress further I didn’t hesitate, I just took it and I think that’s a really good job that I did take it because it’s brilliant hours, it’s brilliant pay that I’m on now. So, yeah, it’s really, really good. I would never, ever have imagined I would manage my own, like, team. Even if it is just two girls, it’s still that. I would never have thought that starting out here.

00:02:06 When I went to the cash office, sorry, for my training the lady in there, she’s worked in there for 20 odd years so I sat with her for a whole week solid and she went through everything with us. So the training was really, really good. I knew straight away what I was doing. I’d done a GCSE in food technology and I got my basic food hygiene certificate then but because that was a while ago I had to re-sit it. So, me and the girl that works in here we done that about two months ago, we sat that and when we first started we had to go through a test as well about food hygiene. But we get taught it every eight to six…six to eight weeks sorry, we get different tests to do to see if we’re still knowledgeable about it.

00:02:53 The lady I worked with in the cash office, she’s a really nice woman and she taught me a lot about money and things like that and Chris, the manager, he’s such a good manager. Like, he tells you things, training-wise as well and, like, stock and cash handling and how to handle your team as well. It’s just little things like that that’s really, really good.

00:03:19 No, I don’t anything’s held me back, no. I’m getting support from my colleagues as well as my boss as well, so, I think nothing’s holding me back. I would like to, I think I would just like to go higher up and, you know, I would like to be a manager one day. I would love to do that and I think with the training I’m getting and with my manager behind me now, I think that could happen, as well, so, fingers crossed.

ENDS