"I was halfway down the street when I realised I'd been here before. I was on a quiet walkway, just behind Victoria station, and as soon as I saw the corner pub, the memory pieced itself back together. Nearly 30 years previously, I had taken a live-in bar job in this very pub, but had only lasted one night. The tiny room upstairs had no TV, and a window that looked out onto a filthy brick wall."
"The tiny room upstairs had no TV, and a window that looked out onto a filthy brick wall. The manager, who seemed sort of fine in the interview (the way those who are interviewing you for jobs tend to do), had turned out to be a 24-carat creep. And so I panicked, picked up my rucksack and left through the back door without telling anyone."
A quiet walkway behind Victoria station triggers a sudden recollection when a corner pub comes into view. The memory returns of taking a live-in bar job at the same pub nearly thirty years earlier and abandoning it after one night. The upstairs room was tiny, lacked a TV, and faced a filthy brick wall. The manager had seemed acceptable during the interview but then revealed predatory behaviour. Panic prompted a hurried departure: the narrator grabbed a rucksack and left through the back door without informing anyone, leaving the job and situation immediately.
Read at Independent
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