I told Tony that it was no good, the young Sam only coming back at six, as I was in need of help with the prepping for dinner. I couldn't see why he could not come an hour earlier, and then leave an hour earlier, but Tony said that this was decided with his parents, as they did not want him to finish too late! I thought that it was one of the government's decisions, and that I had to abide but that, but in fact, they had to work only a certain amount of hours, but it wasn't specified when this had to be worked.
Dinner was a nightmare, and within an hour I was so fed up with the youngster that I could stick him in the frying pan and fry him till he got some life into his body. As he was so slow on the potatoes earlier, we did not have enough chips, with the result that I had spent precious time peeling potatoes when I had so much to do, so I instructed him to stop looking out of the door and cut the chips! I was given one nasty look from half closed eyes, but he started on the chips, doing it as slowly as he possibly could! Within an hour I was so tired of keeping Sam on the go, that I was ready to run away!
He was no better than the kids I had over week-ends, and I was forever asking for plates, and utensils, and pans, all this stacked up miles high on every available space! I saw him looking out of the door continiously, and giving hand signs and pulling faces, and decided to take a minute to see what was going on outside. Sure enough, behind the rows of cars a couple of heads peeped out, and they were also doing the handsign thing, and I realized that they were waiting for Sam to finish!
Of course. ten o'clock sharp, Sam took off his pinny, and I saw with amazement how the half dead youngster came back to life, and he bid me a good evening for the rest of my shift, then legged it out of the door and on to where his mates were waiting! They laughed and made one heck of a racket, before shouting: nighty-night Christine', and blew kisses at me when they saw me looking out of the window, before they assembled in a group, and set off to who knows what devilment!
Sam had done very little, and the piles of stuff to be cleaned and washed was enough to knock every bit of energy I still had out of me! This was not working, as my nerves were at breaking point with the continious begging for clean stuff, and Sam was not at all trying to be helpful by establishing where everything lived, so that I could send him around fetching stuff for me. And the hours he worked was just not suitable. as over week-ends we were busy till late, with me sometimes cleaning the kitchen at around twelve.