When I got in on Friday, the stress was palpable. An email had been received from the regional office informing the examiners of the month’s targets, and which local office was in the lead on the board. The impression I was receiving was that it was not us. Our numbers were down and results were poor. Our waiting list was long – students were having to wait up to two months for a test date and then up to three months for a retest, in the case of failure.
Jeannette greeted me at the door – there was to be a staff meeting that evening after work and it was imperative that all colleagues attended. As I asked what time it would start, something was nagging at the back of my mind. I was supposed to be somewhere, something to do with the kids.
It was playing on my mind all through the morning, as I greeted the nervous novices and their instructors and set up with their clipboards and personal data sheets. I was just about to go for a coffee when a mobile phone rang out in the waiting room and it was a disco classic. That was it!
School Disco – I was supposed to be helping. Well my husband would need to fill in for me. I had made a commitment to school but also to my employer and the sad difference was that this helped pay our bills. How many mothers went through this every day – everybody wants a little piece and one day there is nothing left to give!
I rang around, adjusted arrangements and finally was able to get into the swing of things, tense though it still was. All through the day students came and went and the stress seemed to diminish. Some of them even passed – examiners returning to the office with smiles on their faces was becoming a more regular sight. Use of the coffee machine slowed in proportion to the water dispenser being emptied. As I went to collect another pack of cups from the store cupboard, I could see just how true this was, and told myself to remember a purchase order for them when I returned to my computer.
At lunchtime, one of the examiners came in saying that the prison had been on the 1 o’clock news – a prisoner had broken free and police were conducting a major search. No-one was to approach him but he was not thought to be too dangerous to the public. The sort of news report that actually was not very helpful especially as no photo fit had been shown so how were we to know who he was. After all they did not tend to wear striped jumpers and carry swag bags – nor did they wear boiler suits with arrows on!.
As the working day came to an end, I made sure my overtime had been logged. We had all had a busy time and thoughts of the prisoner had all but left us. We had had no visits from the police themselves, so the overall assumption seemed to be that the prisoner had been recaptured. Finally the last student returned and left again, Pass paperwork clutched in sweaty hand, learner plates cut into small pieces by nail scissors -placed by a thoughtful parent, in the glove compartment.
As I went round shutting down computers, a decision had been made to head off to the local restaurant to hold the meeting and only two of us remained to lock up. The office was permitted two cars which could be used for examiners who were required at short notice to travel to other centres and stand in for absent colleagues. I went out to the rear car park to make sure these cars had definitely been locked, and glanced over towards the prison with a shudder. I just had the weirdest feeling I was being watched. I decided it was just the shadows and re-entered the building where Jeannette was doing final checks also. We had just set the alarm, and were about to walk the short distance to the restaurant, when a figure stepped out in front of us – brandishing a sawn-off shotgun and wearing a mask.
Tags: coffee machine, glove compartment, mask, nail scissors, prisoner, purchase order, sawn-off shotgun, school disco, water dispenser
