Darley Street: Season Two, Episode One – Mr Plum, I Presume
by Steve Gray
Previous Episodes
Tom at Ecelectica has noticed over the past few weeks that Mrs Mac hasn’t been her usual self. There’s been more difficulty than usual in her walking. On the ‘odd’ occasion she drops in for a coffee on her way down the street.
Today she was eager to grab a seat as a customer held the door for her to enter. She shuffled across into a seat and sat back and sighed. Francis took the initiative, wandered over and said hello, then promptly took her order.
Mr Mandal wasn’t far behind and he saw Francis take her order, he then smiled at Francis as she made her way back to the front counter. He gestured for her to come over as he gave her a broad smile, ‘It’s Mrs Mac, isn’t it? I see that she’s struggling a bit as she came down the street, poor old thing… I’ll pay for her order if I may?’ Francis duly took his payment and his order for a take away coffee.
Mr ‘M’ was soon on his way and nodded to Mrs Mac as he went. She made a minor racist comment to Francis as she served her order. ‘They come here, take jobs, smile and all that, I’m not impressed by any of it.’ Francis smiled and said ‘Oh well they come, they go, it’s what they can do in the meantime that’s all I’m interested in. He’s very friendly…’
Mrs Mac finished her coffee and cake, then headed out the door, stopping just by the door and turned awkwardly with her walking frame and said to Francis, ‘I did pay didn’t I?’ Francis smiled and said ‘All sorted Mrs Mac, it’s been paid for.’
The door opened as she turned to head out, a dashing tall blonde figure in an expensive suit and polished shoes held the door for her, she thanked him as she went. He said ‘My pleasure to be of service.’
Wayne Plum has entered the building. Francis liked his dashing smile and courteous approach. She had seen him in the street before and talking with Tom, today he was here for a coffee and to catch up with Tom, who excitedly came out from the back kitchen ready to greet ‘Mr Plum.’
Wayne smiled and added, ‘Oh please, call me Wayne.’
Wayne had an idea, he wanted to add to the grass roots of his business, which was business advice and training with a focus on sales and service. Christie Minns had introduced him to the street after her podcast showcased some of the business and caused a lot more customers to come and check out this ‘Devine part of Melbourne.’
Wayne and his assistant, came up with the idea to interview each of the business people in the street, no charge to anyone, he knew it would be good for marketing his business and help bigger business recall where they may have started from, being a smaller business or at the least being influenced by a small business as they grew up.
Tom was one of the first to ‘put his hand up’ to be interviewed and Wayne liked the idea that he didn’t have to spend a whole bunch of time focussed on this one project day after day, but instead as people came on board and thought about it, they would join in, so a bit of time ‘here and there’ was a good way for Wayne to use his time.
There would be a profile of the business, a picture of the Proprietor followed by a bunch of questions and answers. Wayne recorded each meeting, his assistant would then transcribe the details and together they would edit the final result.
He would then share it with the interviewee and if they were happy, bingo, it would be on his website. The aim was to make the process as fast as possible to minimise time wastage, after all ‘time is money.’
Before long there were three interviews done and the ‘Facey Page’ had links to each one.
The local media had a focus on local business and mentioned Wayne’s interviews, Christie linked to them as well with a focus on the ones she had already mentioned.
The ‘Facey Page’ lit up again, someone suggesting that next time they have a get together that Gail gets Wayne to be the focus person for the event. That was duly noted.
Wayne charmed his way around each person he chatted to, and created a fine set of interviews for his website. He also took the liberty of introducing some of his clients to personally check out what was on offer in the area, some already knew of the quirky strip of shops, others didn’t. When Wayne wanted to wow a client with something special, or needed flowers for an event, he knew where to head to first.
Sally noted there were more BMW’s and Mercedes frequenting the area and her ‘people counter’ for the shop showed a few more people in the shop each week. Sales… well they were up too, some of those were online to new customers, that’s always gratifying.
Various quotes on sales and general business success start to flow onto the ‘Facey Page’ from both Wayne’s and Christie's sites. Will these add to the overall business prowess of the locals? Only time will tell.
No two days were the same in Darley Street; people come, and people go. Today was loaded with interest and the promise of new things to come.
Stay tuned for the next episode of Darley Street!
More from Steve Gray
Steve writes with passion and intrigue, aiming to inspire and or raise awareness of topics. His poetry can take abstract turns, and his 'Odd Angry Writes' on his website are sure to turn heads with his aggressive approach to topics.
A background in Art and Design, as well as teaching, often gives his written pieces a unique creative perspective.
Like many, he is an ADHD person with some neurodiverse edges. A bunch of E books under his belt and some honourable mentions in the Geelong Writers Group puts his work in good standing.
