Fast forward eight months. I’m running a pub of my own now, having moved in with its landlord and overnight becoming a landlady. A chance to start putting all of those business management textbooks to some use.
I think I was pretty good at it, notwithstanding some glaringly obvious errors like:
- actually paying out the significant rebates the then clunky, paper-based PAYE system seemed to be telling me to pay, then having to grovel and ask for it back
- trusting nice people not to steal from us
- thinking it was necessary to stay up late with people who came in late, even though I had to also get up early.
I learned! I wore a smiley face, for the most part. I was friendly with most of the people, most of the time.
Some people don’t take an 18 year old pub landlady seriously, possibly with good reason, but I was the only one they had and hopefully I proved myself to them in the end.
I now know to be true this thing that I’ve often suspected: age really doesn’t matter. What matters is what you say and what you do. And most of all, whether you do what you say.