Corinne van den Bosch is the familiar face of the AH to go supermarket in the The Base office building. The store is temporarily closed because of coronavirus, but she hopes to be back in her familiar environment soon. “It would be great to see everyone again.”
The AH to go in The Base opened in September 2017 and Corinne (known as Corrie to customers and colleagues…) has been there from the start. Before that, she worked at an AH to go in the outpatients department at VUmc Amsterdam. “My manager at the time asked me if I wanted to move to Schiphol.” Corinne started out in the bakery and still enjoys that part of the work. “The bakery is really my thing. Every day, I start at around 06.00 to make sure everything’s baked and packaged before the store opens. Between 11.30 and 12.00 at lunchtime, the shelves are packed full, because that’s when lots of people arrive at the same time. It gets really busy, which is great fun.”
Family feeling
She now recognises everyone, knows what they’ve come for and The Base feels like family. “It’s not especially formal – we’re more or less on first-name terms with the customers. The boys at the gym next door have training at 07.30 and are sometimes standing outside at 06.50, already asking for coffee. That’s fine by me. I open the doors slightly earlier and they can help themselves.” It doesn’t create any work for Corinne. “We have four self-scan checkouts, so I don’t have to serve them at the till. Everything in the shop is designed ‘to go’. We don’t sell steak or chicken fillets, but filled rolls, healthy cakes and some slightly less healthy cakes.”
Red Bull cans
There's always something fun and interesting going on. “When I first started working here, I noticed that customers were looking through the whole shelf of Red Bull cans. I thought: what are you looking for? Then I heard that the different Red Bull flavours are shown on the bottom with a coloured dot. You learn something new every day.” She even has customers who visit five times a day. “You start to wonder: don’t you have to work at all? But they’re walking around with earphones in, spending all day on the phone to business associates.”
Six pastries
Sometimes, her customers surprise her. “Two years ago, Ajax was doing really well in the Champions League. Then someone came into the store and said: if Ajax wins, I’ll treat you to a pastry. He then arrived a day later with six pastries. That’s what I like: people who keep their word. And I once did a deal with the window cleaners. They cleaned my windows in exchange for a coffee. Surely that’s allowed once in a while? It gives you a good idea of the atmosphere here, people have time for each other.”
Customer hospitality is one of the things Corinne enjoys most about her job. “Helping people and providing service. And working in the bakery. Preparing, baking and making sure everything looks nice and tidy in the store. New baking programs are being added all the time. A stroopwafel takes two minutes to bake and a croissant takes 23 minutes.”
My store
Because of coronavirus, the AH to go is temporarily closed and Corinne is working at other locations. “I’m in a pool of flexi-workers and have worked in Amsterdam, on a golf course, at the AH to go at Schiphol Oost and I’m now based in a restaurant at the Netherlands Cancer Institute run by my employer Vermaat. Ideally, I’d like to return to The Base soon. It’s my store and that’s how it feels. It would be great to see everyone again. I miss the friendly atmosphere, chatting to the people from The Base, the boys from the gym and of course my colleagues. Actually, I see The Base as one big friendly living room.”
