When Frank finally reached the Sainsbury's car park, after a holdup because he was the cause of two cars colliding, he looked confused at revolving doors which lead into the shop.
He pondered over how to approach it as he watched shoppers leave the building.
"Well this is ridiculous, there must be a way in," he said to himself.
Gingerly, he moved forward and clenched his fists. Frank felt very unnerved by the door, it reminded him of the ones Betty's brother George used to have, years ago. Frank bit his bottom lip and hunched over as he prepared to jump into the opening.
Once inside he gave a huge sigh of relief until he realised he wasn't actually moving. The shop seemed to be getting further away.
"You have to walk and push it." The woman in the adjacent glass canister shouted over to Frank.
"Oh," he grinned before following the woman's instruction.
Unfortunately for the woman and the rest of the shoppers, Frank went the opposite way around the door and the force of that resisted with the other people trying to get back to their cars.
Frank failed to hear the three other people inside and the other shoppers wishing to use the exit yell he was moving the wrong way. He took their angry gestures as a warm greeting and haplessly waved at them for a good ten minutes.
About that time the claustrophobia began to sink in and Frank felt the back of his neck begin to perspire and his throat close up.
"Betty, I'm trapped!" He yelled frantically banging on the glass, failing to hear the staff telling him not too.
About half an hour later Frank and the rest of the shoppers were freed from the jammed revolving door, the fire brigade managed to cut them free. Dusting himself down and composing himself Frank picked up his briefcase and headed in the direction of the manager's office.
"Can I help you?" A smart looking blonde asked Frank sharply, as he approached Mr Wallace, the manager's office.
"Oh yes. I'm looking for Mr Wallace, I'm here for the position of cashier," Frank beamed over enthusiastically.
"You are rather late. I am not sure if he will see you now."
"Yes I am sorry about that. I did get here on time, only I had a bit of trouble with the spinning door." He replied looking ashamed.
"Oh you were caught up in that commotion, very well if you just wait here and I will explain to Mr Wallace as to why you were late. Oh what's your name?"
"Spencer, Frank and thank you, Miss."
Once approved by the manager, Frank was ushered as quickly as possible into Mr Wallace's office.
The office was plain and brown but full of the latest gadgets, including a coffee machine.
"Thank you for agreeing to see me Mr Wallace, I am sorry I'm late," Frank said taking off his beloved beret and extending out a hand which Mr Wallace shook firmly.
"You are forgiven on this occasion Mr Spencer; due to unforeseen circumstances but take note we pride ourselves on punctuality here.
"Aw that's nice," Frank replied smiling.
"May I take your coat?"
"Oh thank you, very much." He said undoing his trench coat and flashing his braces at the manager.
"What are you doing man?"
"They are my RAF braces," Frank said proudly. "I thought I would show them to you, so it would indicate I can be organised and follow instructions."
"Oh, well please, have a seat," Mr Wallace offered, sitting down himself.
"Thank you," Frank said sitting down timidly.
"Now Mr Spencer, why do think we should set you on?"
"Well I like it best when I am working and I enjoy helping others and I am always smiling," he said demonstrating his greatest smile.
"What can you bring to the company?"
Frank looked stumped at this question, he thought hard before answering. "Well. Well I work hard and efficiently and I can take orders easily, that comes with the RAF training. I will always help my fellow shop workers too if they are in a bit of trouble as I believe in team work." Frank stuttered remembering everything Betty had told him in preparation for the interview.
"Very well Mr Spencer," Mr Wallace said standing up. "I think I have heard enough, let's see how you fair on the shop floor." The manager concluded reluctantly.
"You mean I got the job?" Frank cried with happiness.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Mr Spencer. No I am willing to give a trial shift, can you start now?"
"Of course I can Mr Wallace, thank you." Frank said shaking the store manager's hand a bit too aggressively.
Mr Wallace was rather taken aback by Frank, as he had never met anyone so excited to be given a trail shift.
"Very well Mr Spencer, if you'll follow me, I will show you the shop floor."
Frank stood up from his chair and followed Mr Wallace through is office door.
The shop floor was extremely busy for a Monday morning.
"Ooh it's very busy, Mr Wallace, is it always like this?" Frank asked enthusiastically.
"I'm afraid so Mr Spencer, but usually Monday mornings are a bit quieter than it is today. Will that be a problem?"
"Umm, I don't know I've never been put in a situation like this," Frank replied apologetically.
"Not to worry Mr Spencer, we all feel nervous when we first start, but you will soon get used to it, we will put you on light duties today. As you can see the checkouts are at the far end of the shop towards the exit."
"Well that's handy; they don't want to be walking miles now do they?" Frank uttered.
"Who, Mr Spencer?"
"You know," Frank beamed.
"I'm sorry Mr Spencer, are you talking about the customers?"
"Yes, did you think I meant something else? Frank questioned.
"Mr Spencer I had no idea what you meant, but anyway let's move on, as I was saying the checkouts are toward the exits, at the entrance of the shop is where the vegetables and fruits are kept, next to the fruit and veg section is where the bread and cakes are, at the far end of the store is the frozen food and cold drinks, such as milk, and the rest of the shop is your tinned, packet and everything else you may need," Mr Wallace explained with a forced smile.
"It's very well organised."
"Well it has to be Mr Spencer, are there any questions?" Mr Wallace asked.
"Well yes, when will I be on the checkouts?"
"Let not run before we can walk Mr Spencer, you will need special training for that, let's start of nice and slow, why don't we get you to stack some shelves?"
"If that's where you think I belong Mr Wallace," Frank uttered a little sourly.
"It is, now follow me. Ahh Stuart just the man I'm looking for, would you mind showing Mr Spencer the ropes?"
"Mr Wallace, I'm only stacking shelves, anyone could do that." Stuart replied busy with his work.
"I know, but Mr Spencer is different, He's Jessica's Spencer son." Mr Wallace whispered into Stuart's ear.
"You're kidding, why have you hired him? You know what the Spencer's are like, if he's anything like Jessica Spencer, we'll not have a supermarket left." The shelf stacker stuttered nervously recalling his father's run in with Jessica Spencer.
Frank heard the mention of his mother's name and felt a sharp tug at his heartstrings, causing him to be upset.
"What you saying about my mother? Frank questioned.
"He is not saying anything about your mother, Mr Spencer." Mr Wallace reassured Frank, shaking his head at his employee.
"Taking my mother's name in vein…. I'm a man." Frank said clenching up once more.
"Please calm down Mr Spencer, why don't you help Stuart stack this shelves with tins of baked beans," Mr Wallace instructed a very flustered Frank.
"Talking about my mother, you're not a very nice man." Frank said instantly disliking the man he was working with.
"Mr Spencer that is quite enough, if you can't work as a team then this trail will be over quicker than you can say baked beans," Mr Wallace warned harshly.
Frank was silent for a few moments, before telling himself that he must try and get on with Stuart for Betty's sake, as he did promise her he would try his best.
"I would like to continue with my trial Mr Wallace," Frank smiled pleasantly.
"That's what we like to hear," Mr Wallace beamed, slapping Frank on the shoulder.
Mr Wallace retreated back towards his office, leaving Frank standing awkwardly looking at Stuart.
"Well man, just pick up a tin and put it on the shelf, even you can't mess that up," Stuart chuckled to himself.
Frank took hold of a tin and placed it on the shelf; pleased with himself Frank smiled and carried on stacking the tins for half an hour, without either him or Stuart speaking to one another. This was perfectly fine with Frank as he didn't like him very much. Everything was appeared to be going smoothly and Frank's trail was almost over when an announcement was made over the tanoy.
"STAFF ANNOUNCEMENT COULD STUART PLEASE COME TO CHECKOUT NUMBER TWO, STUART TO CHECKOUT NUMBER TWO."
"Will you be alright to finish up here, Mr Wallace will be back soon to see how you getting on?" Stuart asked, not overly concerned.
"Mmm" Frank muttered.
Frank carried on stacking shelves which he was beginning finding extremely boring, but at least no disaster has happened yet he thought.
"Excuse me sir, I wondered if you would be so kind to help me?" a soft spoken elderly lady with fuzzy white hair asked politely.
"How can I assist madam?" Frank asked proudly.
"Well, I can't reach a tin of tomatoes on the top shelf, and I wondered would you be able to reach it for me?" the old lady asked kindly.
"Of course madam," he smiled.
Frank took the step ladder from where Stuart was working and put it in place, so he was able to reach the tin of tomatoes. Taking one of the tins in his hand, as Frank pulled it from the shelf he managed to somehow get his sleeve stuck, causing Frank to pull once again, this time with quite a lot of force and the whole shelf came crashing down. A sea tins and chopped tomatoes flooded the aisle, leaving Frank and the old lady looking like an island.
"Oh I say," Frank responded as his index finger hooked round the corner of his lip, yanking his jaw down into his trademark way to express misfortune.
"MR SPENCER!" Came the roar of the supermarket manager.
"I'm ever so sorry Mr Wallace, I had a little accident." He said tugging at his miraculously clean trouser suit.
"I can see that," Mr Wallace said trying to stay calm.
"You see, I was trying to help this old lady reach a tin of tomatoes and my hand got caught..." He explained feebly, feeling ashamed. "I'll pay for any damage."
"That's quite alright Mr Spencer, if you would just escort this lady to the checkouts and then you can clean this mess up," Mr Wallace instructed giving him a final chance.
"I will thank you Mr Wallace."
A few minutes later Frank returned to the place which looked like a crime scene and began mopping up the damage. He was feeling a little deflated but began singing 'Early One Morning' to himself to boost his morale. Getting carried away with the song, Frank didn't realise that when he rang the mop out a load of dirty water splashed out the bucket and onto the floor. Unfortunately for Frank he didn't realise that Mr Wallace had been standing a few feet away observing him, so when Frank stepped back to mop, he lost his footing and slid along the floor, taking Mr Wallace down with him.
"Mr Wallace? Mr Wallace?" Frank asked panicked as he slapped the manager's face to try and wake him.
Staff and customers were crowding round and Frank began to feel uneasy.
"Hmm," Mr Wallace finally said as he came to.
"Mr Wallace, I'm ever so sorry, I slipped," Frank said trying his hardest to explain.
Mr Wallace had forgotten all the commotion as he had momentarily blacked out, but Frank's apology had reminded him.
"Get out Mr Spencer," he said struggling to get off the floor.
"I'm sorry," Frank muttered pulling the man up.
"GET OFF ME MR SPENCER! And would you kindly leave my supermarket."
"Is my trial over then?" Frank asked getting to his feet.
"Yes, yes I think it is." Mr Wallace said almost sliding again as he slowly moved past the puddle on the floor.
"I expect you'll want to have a good think about me," Frank smiled.
"I will be thinking about you for some time to come Mr Spencer, don't you worry."
"I'll be off then, goodbye," Frank said walking out of sight and towards the exit where the revolving door was still being fixed.
As he reached it he saw and out of order sign and remembered that day's commotions, he also remembered that he had left his raincoat and beret in Mr Wallace's office so he nervously made his way back down the aisles.
"I left my beret and my coat in your office Mr Wallace," Frank said as he approached the man who was picking up ruined tins one by one, looking on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He whimpered and let Frank proceed, hoping the quicker he got there the quicker he left.
Taking his hat and coat from the hook on the back of the door, Frank noticed a metal door with a bar across it. "Oh," he said as he registered the fire escape. Thinking it was a back door he decided it would be best to leave via this way as to ensure Mr Wallace wouldn't get angry again. Pushing on the metallic bar the door swung open and Frank stepped out onto the terrace and made his way down the steps. However, as he began the process the alarm began to blaze, informing staff the emergency exit had been breached.
Senior members of staff began to chase him down the steep steps; Frank caught his leg on one of the steps as he ran down. Because he had been holding onto the handrail he went flying and landed flat on his face after quite a significant drop.
Satisfied Frank had left the building staff returned to their duties and left Frank to pick himself up. He dusted off his jacket and began walking in the direction of his home. "Oh." He stated. "I forgot the wine."