‘All right, Paul mate,’ greeted Dereck, his supervisor, as Paul walked into the large staffroom. ‘Just about to put the kettle on – you want one?’

‘Cheers, mate,’ said Paul, dumping his bag in his locker and double-checking the lock was secure. He had a few deliveries in his bag for a couple of the cleaning ladies, who had a nice little habit, which he would hand over once Dereck was out of the way. At this hour of the morning, there was only the two of them; the cleaning teams wouldn’t arrive for another thirty minutes and Paul had come to appreciate Dereck’s company as they sipped strong tea and reviewed the jobs for the week. It was one of the rare times Dereck wasn’t talking about his various health issues. Between them, they did the gardens, the many odd jobs around the hospital and oversaw most of the cleaning rotas.

When Gladys at the Jobcentre Plus had told him about the hospital vacancy four years ago, he’d laughed bitterly at the irony, the unexpected sound from her surliest jobseeker causing Gladys to spill hot tea on her blue flowery top. He was glad. He’d never liked her. She was always looking down on him even though she could barely use the computer. It always took her ages to bring up his profile on the system.

He’d been in and out of the jobcentre over the years, and Gladys was always there, her large rolls of stomach fat resting on the tops of her thighs. Her mouth was always moving, either taking large gulps of tea or sucking on her boiled sweets, but rarely talking. That was one thing he was grateful for. Gladys was not a talker, unlike Dereck whose frequent chatter occasionally irked Paul. But Paul hadn’t had the luxury of choice when it came to work. His last contract had finished, and he needed the job. Plus, if he was honest with himself, Dereck’s yakking could sometimes be a welcome distraction especially on Paul’s worst days when he struggled to believe that he’d ended up working in a hospital in the maintenance department and not striding around in a white coat followed around by adoring female nurses.

Dereck handed him his tea and the two of them sat down at the well-worn table, poring over the various printouts. Twenty minutes later, the staffroom door opened again, and the cleaning ladies came in, disgruntled before they’d even begun, their tired blue tabards little defence against the endless hours of cleaning up other people’s shit. He watched them, his eyes falling on Susie. They’d shagged a few times, outside behind the bins after their shift. He’d tried to invite her back to his place the last time, but she’d pulled up her jeans, lit a cigarette and walked quickly away, the smoke puffing out behind her in the cold air. Probably for the best.