Working Together

Everyone’s off – holidays, pre-booked post football hangovers and unexpected family illness. Suddenly it’s me, him and Tia (the 3rd year fashion student) picking and packing all the orders.

Me and my other half are busying ourselves in the warehouse. We don’t know where anything is. We’d give ourselves a verbal warning if we were better managers of ourselves, but we make do with giving each other verbal warnings and some passive-aggressive evil looks. We love each other dearly, but not in the warehouse – not working together.

Big-picture business strategy or wider political change for the area – he’s your man. Textile design, sourcing, buying and marketing – I’m your woman. What we both do agree on is that you’re the most important person in this equation, so there’s no waiting until tomorrow when the team are back in. We’re rolling our sleeves up and cracking on.

“What do you want Debs, a bloody medal?” Let’s face it, knowing me, I probably do, yes.  A really shiny one.

We need management so we’ve given Tia the job of managing us, and she’s fulfilling her role very well. She hasn’t even resigned. She’s just sent Darren back into the warehouse because he’s picked a three-pack underwear set rather than a bamboo four-pack. I’ve regressed to childhood and suddenly he’s not my husband or business colleague anymore – he’s my brother and I’m delighted that he’s got it wrong and I’m smug because it’s making me want to show off my correctness to Tia like she’s my mum and I’m 6.  

The van comes to collect the parcels and I revert back to adulthood. My husband leaves to do his normal work, and I crack on writing marketing copy, checking in on suppliers and making sure Autumn is all sorted. Tia’s delighted because she can crack on without us being ridiculous.

The grown ups, I’m relieved to say, are back in the room.

The Summer Sale is on at the moment, so there are no discount codes unless you want something full-price. If you’re buying something full-price and you’ve managed to read this far and not lose the will to live, then please go with the code SUMMER24 and you’ll get 20% off.