Oh Henry! (part 1)

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An accident in the snow

It was snowing. Christmas coming. Henry, maintenance manager at ‘Focus On The Child Residential Children’s Home’, was up a ladder, stringing out the fairy lights above the entrance to the Home. That’s when it happened. The screwdriver slipped and Henry skinned his knuckles.

That’s why Henry is sitting in his shed in the grounds of the home, brewing some tea, feeling sorry for himself. Just at this moment Siobhan, the general manager, comes looking for him. She has just slipped on the snow covering the steps of the home. Snow she’d asked Henry to clear up first thing this morning.

Henry gets his orders

Siobhan does not usually rush to judgement, but Henry has a track record of doing things in his own time, and not taking instructions from those placed in authority over him. Siobhan has often given Henry a verbal warning about his attitudes, but never anything formal, ‘in writing’. After all, Henry is, despite his spikiness and sometimes uncooperative attitude, a jack-of-all-trades who can fix anything – given enough time to get round to it!

“You are going to clear the snow from the steps, aren’t you, Henry?” Siobhan asks, with an edge in her voice. Henry grunts incomprehensibly. “Today would be good,” she adds sarcastically, “please!”

Siobhan heads off to her meeting to discuss finding volunteers for the upcoming Children’s Christmas Party. She won’t make an issue of this now, but will speak to Henry later… maybe.

Henry begrudgingly sweeps the snow from the steps, muttering, “It’s not worth bothering, it’ll snow again before sunset.” Job done, Henry goes off to the Millpot Café for lunch.

Lunch, interrupted

As Henry tucks into sausage and chips, three men he knows slightly, come and join his table. “You still work at the children’s home, Henry?” asks Bill.

“For my sins!” Henry replies.

“We’ve just been made redundant last week from Watkin’s Electrics factory,” says Bill. “…Early retirement. Any jobs need doing up at the Children’s Home?”

“It’s non-stop, mate, one job after another up there. And it can be tricky sometimes,” says Henry holding up his scraped hand,  “but they’re not taking anybody on.”

“No, we’re not after a job,” says Bill. “We were thinking of voluntary work that might need doing. We’ll turn our hands to anything.”

Henry feels threatened. “Oh, you wouldn’t want to work up there,” says Henry. “Rules and regulations. Management interfering all the time.  And the staff are nearly all female – you know how fussy they can be. Drives you mad! And you’d have to have a C.R.B. check. Criminal Records Bureau! What a rigmarole that is. They look into everything about you. It’s a kid’s home, see?” adds Henry, darkly.

Bill and his colleagues nod. This doesn’t sound like what they’re looking for at all. “I see. We’ll, er... look elsewhere then, Henry. Thanks for that.”

What Henry doesn’t realise is that sitting at the adjacent table, in full earshot, is Joan, a friend of Siobhan’s who runs Age Aid in Millcaster. She is shocked at what Henry has just said.

Brought into disrepute

That night Joan rings Siobhan and tells her all about it. Siobhan is furious. “How dare Henry rubbish the charity in public! How dare he discourage voluntary workers, just when I’m desperate to find them?! ” She thanks Brenda and, as she puts down the phone, decides to confront Henry about this in the morning…

Have your say

• Sam Goldwyn said, “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” How should verbal warnings be recorded?
• How far are employees entitled to criticise their employer in a public place where they may be overheard?
• Do your employees and volunteers understand the basis of CRB checks?

Past episodes

Catch up with past episodes of Millcaster Tales.