I've just finished my first week as an employee of Soccer Crazy and what an eventful week its been. It all started Tuesday when I was asked to unpack a delivery of jerseys we had received that morning from our supplier. I was sorting the shirts out into size order when I came across a little spider. Now, I'm not the worlds greatest fan of spiders. In fact I'm pretty bloody scared of them especially the big ones. Luckily for me, this fella was only small, so not wishing to appear a wimp in front of my new comrades, I wearily emptied the box ensuring the spider remained inside. When I'd finished unpacking the box, which didn't take long due to the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I took the box to the back door to get the beast out of the building and as far away from me as possible. On route one of my colleagues asked what I was up to, trying not to appear girly, I explained how I don't like to kill innocent animals and gave him a peek in the box. With a look of bewilderment he asked why I was petting a white tail and sharply handed the box back. I managed to maintain the animal lover front for about another 8 seconds, then he informed me of the white tail's venomous bite and my morals swiftly changed. I proceded to repeatedly splat the 8 legged monster with the first thing I could find and can confidently say that never again will I find a more appropriate use for a rolled up poster featuring the 07/08 Everton squad.
My next display of Australian naivety came on Wednesday when I was doing a shift in Soccer Crazy's partner store, Rugby Crazy. What I know about rugby could be written on the back of a public school boy's tie pin, but to get this job I had to extend the truth slightly and tell the manager I was a massive fan of the sport. I managed to wing it pretty well for the majority of the shift but then I got a little too confident. A customer came to the counter with a selection of items so I began to scan them into the till and struck up friendly conversation. I asked if he played Rugby?, League or Union?, What position? etc. At the end of the sale, I wished him luck for his game at the weekend and he departed. Another one of my colleagues then asked if I knew who I had just served, needless to say I had no Idea. It turned out to be some chap called Cameron Smith who's apparently the Australian national team's Vice Captain and plays professionally for local team Melbourne Storm. I've not been asked to do any shifts in the Rugby store since.