A day in the life of a Demontage Assistant
8.20 am - I am rather rudely awoken by my alarm clock, which is so loud it wakes upeveryone in my tent. I can hear muffled groans from under sleeping bags! I go to the tent door and have a look outside - the weather is surprisingly good for September. I pull on some clothes - t-shirt, jeans and some sturdy shoes - and go for some breakfast in the cook tent. For me, breakfast is usually French bread, jam, and a good jug of coffee - some of the others have coco pops and sugar puffs. By 9 am I’m starting to feel vaguely human again and our demo leader calls us round for our list of jobs for the day.
As we gather I have a look round - there must be about 12 or so people in our team. Most are like me and have gone out just for demo, but there are quite a few couriers that are staying on. It’s helpful having them around because they know what’s good in the surrounding area. They can also tell a few stories too! In the morning I’ve been put on tent dismantling duties - the past couple of days we’ve been emptying out the contents like beds, units, cutlery - everything! It’s quite easy once you know what you’re doing and we are paired up so there’s always someone to talk to.
By lunchtime I’ve worked up quite a hunger and make my way back to the cook tent. There’s always more than enough to eat, and after lazing about for half an hour I’m ready to go back to work. In the afternoon I’m put on van duties, which means a lot of loading and unloading and trips to the local depot. It is quite hard graft but we get to listen to the radio, and the banter between the three of us in the van keeps us going. If there’s one thing that can be said for the job it’s that it certainly keeps you healthy.
Finally it gets to 6 o’clock and I’m absolutely famished. We take it in turns to cook, fortunately it’s not my night tonight, so before the evening meal I head down to the shower block and get myself cleaned up. For dinner we have chilli, and it is much appreciated by everyone on the team. This evening everyone is staying at the cook tent, but we all went down to the beach last night and into town the day before. As the night goes on I start to feel the day’s exertions taking their toll and I finally give in and go to bed.
Montage/Demontage Job Description