Page 43 - James Caan - The Real Deal

4 · Teenage Kicks

I had to go out and buy Jif and bleach and that the cola that had
spilled on the table wouldn’t wipe itself up. As a son in an Asian
community I had been smothered: I had never cooked, or cleaned,
or done my own laundry. When I had to spend a couple of hours
at the launderette on Sunday watching the spin dryer go round, the
shine started to wear off my new life.
I was also missing my mum’s cooking. At first the idea of eating
junk food was exciting because I’d always got a lecture about it at
home. Being able to eat takeaways and Pot Noodles was cool, but
I was useless at shopping for myself and often I’d get in to find my
cupboard bare.
My next job was definitely a step in the right direction. I had
always been quite good at maths at school, and so the recruitment
agency put me forward for a position in the accounts department
of Grand Metropolitan, a conglomerate that owned Forte Hotels
at the time.
As soon as the agency mentioned it to me, I knew I wanted it,
but because I didn’t have any relevant experience they took some
convincing to put me forward for the interview. ‘I was always
good at maths at school,’ I told the consultant.
The moment I walked into Grand Met’soffices I was desperate
to work there. They were based in a gorgeous cream-painted
terrace overlooking Regent’s Park. Not only did it remind me of
the plush buildings I’d admired from the bus when I was a kid, but
when I walked into the reception it was full of people in nice suits
– and it was warm. I didn’t care that I didn’t even know what an
accounts department did. I had helped my dad fill in invoices and
make his VAT returns. I’d be able to work it out.
The job involved processing expenses – taking the receipts from
the senior employees, writing them up, adding them up and
passing them on to someone else in the department for payment –
and I was determined to show the woman interviewing me that I
was up to the job. She kept coming back to my lack of my

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