Southend U3A

April 2023

The Walk - Avril McOwen

I work in a very tall building in London, housing a plethora of companies, one on top of the other. For me to get to my 16th floor offices each week-day I have to always squeeze myself into the crowded lift. Our lift man, Henry, complete with a peaked hat and very smart uniform, pushed floor buttons as they are called out from within the crowd behind and alongside him. The lift then takes off like a rocket blasting off at Cape Canaveral Space Centre in Houston, Texas in America but then gently, imperceptibly, suddenly reaches the various destinations.

By the time it reaches my floor, the 16th, the lift cabin is now half empty so I leave it with ease, then walk straight ahead to the double glass entrance doors to the advertising company I work for and, after entering, wave back to friends who have called out to me and said hello to other colleagues on the walk to the office that I share with Robert, tall with ginger hair and smiles a lot; Andrew, who comes up to Robert's shoulders, he enjoys his food a lot so has to exercise often so as not to gain weight; Phyllida, (her mum and dad's idea) but insists that we call her Phyllis or Phil; Geraldine, forever on some diet or another so she can get into her size 8 clothes and always looks like she comes off the Vogue magazine front cover and me.

I am Susanna, but generally answer to its shortened version of Sue and I have blond hair (natural, not out of a bottle) and love my food but watch my weight. We have worked alongside each other for 2 years and get on well together. We often socialise together after work and have supported each other when someone has a difficult situation to deal with. So, the latest advertising project handed to us by our Manager, Denis Humphries – who has a real gift for advertising but which, unfortunately, is not matched with a pleasant personality – could, if not carefully handled, spoil the relationship that we have enjoyed with each other.

The new client sells milk, cheese and eggs from his farm and wants us to devise an advertising campaign that will increase his sales. Mr Humphries has sent us all off on our own, not as a group as usual, to come up with our own individual ideas which must not be revealed to the rest of the team. On a set date each one of us will be called to his office to meet with the client and show him their ideas. After all 4 of us have met with the client each of us will be separately called back to the Manager's office and advised if they had been successful but then would have to leave the office and walk out of the building and go home. If it was discovered that someone had texted the outcome of their presentation then they would lose their job.

Everyone was on their best behaviour. It would be a real test of the strength of our friendship. Whether it was worth destroying a great friendship for a job promotion.

We had discussed this and now each of us had to decide for ourselves after the outcome of the meeting with the client and our manager. Each one in turn walked the short distance from our office on one side of the corridor to the manager's office on the other side of the corridor. Our offices faced each other. No-one looked back after their own meeting but they left the building to go home as instructed by Mr. Humphries.

I was the last, so when the call come to join the client and Mr Humphries, I took a few deep breaths, make sure my hair was tidy, straightened my back and opened the office door and, as confidently as possible, walked upon that short stony uneven surface towards the Manager's office, knocked on his door and went in taking my rapidly beating heart with me.

We all shook hands with each other and I was invited to sit down and waited. Then without any preamble, Mr Humphries and our client congratulated me on my advertising campaign plan and said it was simple, unadorned and inspired. My mind went totally blank in surprise. I had to control my inner euphoria that felt like a rocket blasting off from that same Space Centre in America.

Nowadays food is marketed as a super food with healing abilities to improve a variety of areas inside the human body. Then along comes another food marketed as being better than the last vegetable, fruit etc. and so it goes on. I suggested that our client's milk, cheese and eggs be advertised unadorned without slogans and just to advise customers about where they came from and how they were made without any distracting labels attached to them. Allowing the customers to see them as they actually are, solid, dependable and reliable, for them to make up their own minds whether they were worth buying or not with no-one trying to convince them what to do.

After being congratulated by the client, Mr. Humphries handed me a sealed envelope and I was told to open it when I arrived home. I left his office 6 feet off the ground and began the walk towards the lift and suddenly realised the floor surface was no longer uneven but was smooth, with not even a hint of a minute pothole. It was raining when I got outside and I couldn't care less. I walked to the nearby tube station which would take me home, smiling all the way, like the Cheshire cat from the Lewis Caroll novel that I had read ages ago. I now had the weekend to compose myself, read the sealed letter and know that on Monday morning I would be the Team Leader with a salary increase and bonus. That very short walk from our office to Mr Humphries office had totally changed my life for the foreseeable future.