THE PARAMEDIC
Dr Carrie Stevenson, 32
A paramedic based in Redruth, Cornwall
There's always more alcohol-related stuff at weekends and you do get
aggression. Usually it's fairly minor and you can calm it down. As you go on
through the night you get more serious cases, sometimes overdoses, and as
you get into the early hours you get people with heart failure, heart
attacks, breathing difficulties and cardiac arrests. On a bad night I can do
up to 150 miles.
It peaks in August. You get people slipping off cliffs in the dark, going for
long walks and injuring themselves, big gatherings such as surf festivals,
people fainting or with chest pains, boating and beach accidents and a lot
of road accidents involving alcohol. There's always fatalities.
You do get people panicking if they don't understand what's going on or think
we work with the police. Fortunately we've got a dark green uniform, which
is good because we don't look like the police and it doesn't show the
stains. We're a benign service, we don't report unless it's pretty serious,
we're there to help and usually once you establish that, they're OK. Though
I've had people chasing me with a meat cleaver and a carving knife. They had
probably taken so many drugs they didn't know what was going on.
You never get used to the things you see. You learn to cope but there's always
something that's going to get to you, usually because it triggers memories;
a child the same age as your own child. Sometimes it's just frustration when
there's not a lot you can do except pain relief. Other times it's really
good - somebody having a heart attack and you can thrombolise them and make
a real difference.
THE KEBAB SHOP OWNER
Philip Hatch-Barnwell, 56
Owner of Kebab Kid in Fulham, southwest London, for 19 years
We prepare around 50 chickens, and 45 shoulders of lamb on a Saturday. There's
three of us in the shop and two down below, preparing and cleaning. We get
perhaps 350 people. There's a continuous queue, MPs to street cleaners -
they spend about £8 each.
Of course you've got young people coming out of balls and parties, completely
pie-eyed. You do get fights, we've had blood all over the walls. But most
people are jolly and the problems are verbal. Some people come in who think,
“this isn't a decent restaurant, so we can be rude”. It's just the way they
order their kebab, you know: “Gimme a kebab.” I find it difficult to say:
“No, only if you say please.” Which I have done on occasion. All sorts of
people are rude, well-bred, well-educated people, can be incredibly rude.
Self importance, I suppose. Alcohol is the main key.
The other problem is litter. People are animals. They rip open their kebab,
throw the paper in the street. When we close at 2am we pick up all the
litter on the four side-streets. The florist next door has a big doorway,
people pee in there, they sick in there, you find all sorts of nasties, we
clean that up, it's a courtesy thing.
My background is colonial, public school and people have said to me, “why
don't you get a proper job, you speak like a toff”. I say “no, I like
working here”. I don't say it's my business.
THE STRIPPER
Mai-Ling Lau, 31
A Yorkshire-based stripper
My first strip was a pub in Bradford. I was that nervous I whipped everything
off in my first record and had two more to go not knowing what to do. I just
took a bow and ran off. But the applause was unbelievable and after a few
more jobs I got my confidence. When you see the lads going “Weyhey!” it's a
good feeling. I've been dancing ten years now, it's just normal.
This Saturday I'm in Blackpool. It could be a stag party, or a pub. I've got a
maid's outfit, PVC, schoolgirl, rock chick. I do fire eating as well. Some
places it's topless, the majority is fully nude, but it's done tastefully.
As soon as I walk into a bar I clock where the fire exits and the doors are,
and I can sense what people are going to be like. You can go into a rough
joint where the windows are boarded up and inside the people are fantastic.
Whereas I've done hotel jobs where the guys have been grabbing and touching
and think they can treat you like crap. But I've never had any trouble, like
drinks thrown at me.
On a stag show you get a guy up and you can whip his bum - things like that.
They're nervous, because they don't know what to expect. If I want to go up
to a guy it's my choice - I can always stay on the stage.
I love the work. I enjoy the attention. It is only short term - it's not about
my body holding up, it's more a mental thing. I'm getting married next year,
settling down, having kids. I've been with my other half since school. He's
a hypnotherapist. At first he wasn't sure, but he said give it a try. I was
at college so I needed to pay my fees. The money can be good, £130 is the
average for a stag show, lapdancing you can do up to £400 for a weekend in
Blackpool.
THE CHEF
Stephen Terry, 41
The award-winning chef, runs The Hardwick, a gastropub, Abergavenny
Most head chefs of my generation are millionaires driving nice cars. I'm still
kicking the s**t out of an old T-reg Passat and getting the s**t kicked out
of me every Saturday night. I find it very difficult to let go. I've got a
team, but I can't just leave them without the support, and they support me.
The average on a Saturday night is 85 covers, average spend about £35. In the
kitchen there's myself and five, myself on the pass. I put all the food on
the plates, I control the service, I orchestrate it all. There's no
software, it's all in my head. I tell you, it's like Saving Private Ryan.
The film starts, they're on the landing boats going to Omaha beach and you
know what's coming: the first lot get mullered, bullets from the Germans.
It's like that down at the pass, just waiting, and you know it's coming.
People say well, he doesn't cook - how odd is that? Why does he stand on the
pass just sending the food? It's difficult because you've got to time it. If
I let them send the starters too quickly they get called for the main
courses quickly, and the main-course boys are getting hammered and it starts
backing up. That's the pressure. It's like great comedy, it's all in the
timing. Obviously, when it's kicking off there's no time for messing around,
but I've got a little flat-screen television in the kitchen on a swivel. I'm
a big Man United fan and we don't miss any sport.
It's almost like you need a little oxygen tank on to stop you hyperventilating
because it's so, like, 100 miles an hour. You so have to focus, you've got
to get your blinkers on, forget about the rest of your life. By the end of
the night you feel like you've been battered and everyone is soaked through.
THE POLICE OFFICER
PC Kelly McTighe, 33
Police officer working in York city centre
In the tourist season a lot of people start drinking on Friday afternoon and
drink right through the weekend. My shift starts at 10pm, I patrol on foot
or on a pushbike. I deal with whatever I come across: people falling asleep
in weird places, doorways, park benches, in the fountain - that was a good
one - fights coming on to the streets, general disorder really. The younger
element, they've got to prove something, puff chests and chin out, but you
do get some of the older guys who won't tolerate what someone else is doing,
they'll sort it out themselves. Especially on race days. If we can go the
whole night without having to arrest anybody, then that's a good job because
then we've obviously defused any situations. The last one we arrested had
been ejected from a pub after trying to throw punches at the bouncers so he was
dealt with swiftly. Sometimes people argue: the man said it's because you're
all bullies. Well it's not, it's just you're not welcome any more because
your behaviour is upsetting other customers.
Very rarely we'll have a serious assault. I had a guy walked into a subway,
unprovoked, went up to another young lad, and proceeded to beat him
repeatedly. When I tracked him down and arrested him he was adamant he
hadn't done anything. I said, “let's have a look at the CCTV” and he was
gobsmacked. It was him. It's upsetting to see lads fighting, when someone's
on the floor it's the feet that are going in. I don't think they realise
that potentially someone could die. We get the odd person who carries a
knife, but that's not a big problem here.
I love being out with the public. I'll often stand on a corner and
people-watch. I've been serenaded, I've been proposed to, you've got to have
a laugh with people because then they know that you're human.
THE BUS DRIVER
Sue Jones, 51
A bus driver at the Oxford Bus Company
To a certain extent you're your own boss. I've got rules and regulations to
abide by, but I'm pretty much left to run my little section on my own.
That's what I like about it. I go about six miles out of town, then back to
the train station, which is a lively place.
Older people, they're well behaved. Sometimes young lads or girls are a bit
worse for wear, but I'm lucky as the night clubs don't close until two or
three in the morning and I finish at 12.30am. The last few buses are full.
Sometimes lads sneak on alcohol, which is a bit naughty. I ask them to get
off the bus, tip it away, if they say “no” they've got to get off. They
generally do abide.
I try to be stern and polite - it usually works. I think if you do it the
wrong way you can upset them more, make your life more difficult. They do
look at women drivers a little bit differently. You hear some of the men's
stories in the tea rooms and you think, they've gone about that the wrong
way. They're more confrontational, might blow it out of proportion. I just
get rid of the situation. I've never been threatened.
I've had to stop students singing and dancing. They were having fun but it was
so noisy I had to say, “calm down please”. Another night some lads got on,
I'm sure they were Oxford University students, and they did barber shop
singing. I quite enjoyed that.
We can not forget the poor people that work in hotels.Weekends,holidays and crazy hours too.Bless them!
Juliana Machado, London, United Kingdom