Regret
What I Should Have Done, But Didn’t
I don’t believe in regrets, something that no doubt that I will contradict in future posts, in general, I have enjoyed my 45 years on this planet, I had a wonderful family growing up, some really close friends, and now a family of my own that I am very proud of.
Many children hate school, well I enjoyed that also, it helped that I was fairly popular and captain of the school rugby team for six years, everyone loves the captain.
I remember one year, when I was in primary school there was a knock on the classroom door, the headteacher walked in and asked for me. I stood up and followed her out, grabbing my coat and bag on the way as instructed.
When I walked into the office my father was there, how odd I thought, he told me to hurry as I was late for the dentist, “What dentist?” I asked, he gave me a stern look as if to say shut up and we left the school grounds.
It turns out that he took me out of school to go and watch a local dolphin show, I was delighted and a bit confused at the same time. It was very hard not to talk about it the following day, my father told me not to and he was a beast of a man and one that I obeyed for most of my life.
I worked many interesting jobs in my life also, from being a milk delivery boy to a bingo caller and even working for a period of time in the adult industry.
After being made redundant for the 2nd time in my career, and losing my girlfriend about three weeks earlier I found myself, alone paying a mortgage with no job, I had about a month to find another job, if not I would be in trouble.
At first, I was a bit of a snob with the types of jobs I applied for, no surprise I was not even getting to an interview stage, the jobs were a level above job I had just lost and it was demoralizing not even getting a rejection, at times I did not even get an acknowledgment.
With money running out and my pride lowering by the day I decided enough was enough, I simply had to earn some money, I applied for a call center job on minimum wage. My theory was, I had to pay the bills, no one had to know about the job I was doing and it would be easier to find a job I wanted when I already had employment.
I worked 10 hours a day trying to sell high-interest loans to people who had a bad credit rating, I did not feel like the best person in the world, however, it was a means to an end, and by the time my first pay packet came in, 50% of it had to go to my sister who covered my mortgage payment so I did not go into arrears.
I spent the best part of six months in this role before something very unexpected happened to me, I heard my name being called “suit, the boss wants you” I was the only person in the call center who wore a three-piece suit every day.
My aim was always to show pride in my work, and I was told by a previous mentor, your job interview is every day, not just the day of your interview. That line always stuck in my head and I still follow that philosophy today.
The owner of the company was a scary man, he had the ability to walk past you, and you felt the need to say sorry for being in his very presents, he ruled with fear, however to this point I had never spoken to him.
“Ralph, why the f**k, do you wear a suit to work?”
“Because I have pride in what I do sir” was my reply, the boss simply laughed, he told me he had been watching me for a few weeks and had daily reports on my work. He said I had been a top performer, although he had seen better before me.
“I’ve looked at your CV Ralph, why are you working for me? You have run places like this in the past, are you ill or something?”
I explained about my last position and how I was desperate to pay my bills so took a job after adapting my CV to tailor for the job role I was in.
“Ralph, are you undercover?” very confused I said no, and this was the truth, the boss had found a CV online with the jobs I had actually done rather than the CV his company had on me showing more minimum wage jobs.
“You sneaky f**ker” he said, I like you, I’m promoting you”
A bit unsure I asked what he was promoting me to, his response was he wanted me to run another company for him, it was a secure loans company (I was qualified to do this) a bit surprised, I accepted but wanted to discuss salary.
He let off another laugh, “Your basic is £28,000 take it or leave it”, since I was currently on £18,000 a year I was not going to argue but did manage to negotiate a commission package, it was a small percentage, however little did I know, this was a masterstroke on my part.
At the time the business was making a little under 2 million pounds per month gross, within a year I turned it around to making just over 9 million, remember that small commission I negotiated?
It took my earnings to over £100,000 a year, so what was the mistake, what should I have done? But didn’t? I should have paid off my mortgage, I could have been mortgage-free very quickly at that point it was around £45,000 left to pay.
Oh no, I was a big man, living the high life, I p**sed it all up the wall, when I left having been made redundant again, I had around £25,000 in my current account, instead of investing it or paying a bit of my mortgage, what did I do?
Nothing, I sat in my pants, drunk beer, and played video games for a year…….If I could go back in time and have a word with myself, things would have been different today.
What a silly boy I was.
Written by Robert Ralph
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