Tesco worker vows not to talk to customers for three months – but for good reason

Lee Clark, 40, has not spoken to any of his Tesco prospects since January 10, and can proceed to take action till April 10 (Footage: Essex Reside/BPM Media)

A Tesco worker has dedicated to keep away from speaking to a single buyer for 3 months with a view to elevate cash for charity.

Lee Clark is normally ‘noisy and chatty’ on the Southchurch Highway grocery store in Southend-on-Sea, however is presently present process a sponsored silence in help of Most cancers Analysis UK, the British Coronary heart Basis, and Diabetes UK.

Talking to Essex Reside exterior of labor, the place the problem doesn't apply, Lee stated: ‘It might be fairly draining since you strive to not slip up and attempt to focus.

‘It may be a horrible expertise however, once more, I’m fortunate I can put myself in that place to assist another person and I’ll fortunately do it each single time.

‘That’s what will get me by means of, it's normally each time as a result of the sponsored silence is a really lonely place. I really feel very lonely, it's fairly remoted in a way.’

It isn’t the primary time the ‘singing man on the tills’ has performed the fundraiser, with 2022 being his fifteenth 12 months of conserving quiet at work.

His first silent shift, which lasted 9 hours, raised round £800 for a neighborhood kids’s most cancers charity – one thing he described as ‘phenomenal’ and a problem which ‘gave me the bug for fundraising’.

He added: ‘I like giving, I give what I can or the place I can, supporting and serving to.

‘It’s like Christmas, you get extra enjoyment out of gifting presents moderately than receiving them and I get that by doing a fundraiser.’

Within the final 15 years, Lee has both arrange or took half in 108 fundraising occasions, producing £178,000 for 32 charitable organisations.

He hopes to run within the London Marathon and climb Mount Kilimanjaro later this 12 months.

The daddy-of-five has additionally inspired his daughters to fundraise, together with his kids receiving college and group awards in consequence (Credit: Essex Reside/BPM Media)

The grocery store employee continued: ‘It’s my fifteenth [sponsored silence], so it’s fairly an achievement in that sense and nobody will get bored of it. They love me being quiet.

‘If I’m not speaking to them, they're like “you’re the quiet one once more?” 

‘There are some that assume I’m being impolite they usually see the signal and realise that I’m not.’

Lee presently carries an indication round his neck to assist with communication, and has flashcards handy to reply continuously requested questions on points similar to Clubcards and gasoline.

He additionally has a countdown timer to encourage him in the direction of ending the problem.

Nonetheless, the Tesco worker stated 2020 was the toughest 12 months for the sponsored silence, after the carrying of face masks meant prospects couldn't lipread what he was mouthing to them.

Regardless of this, Lee went on to lift £4,000 for a similar three charities he's supporting this 12 months.

He added: ‘One of many hardest issues I discovered is when my colleagues are having a chat and I can’t even take part. I swap off, I attempt to zone out of conversations as a result of in any other case, I get annoyed I need to speak.

Lee additionally hopes to run the London Marathon and climb Mount Kilimanjaro later this 12 months (Image: Essex Reside/BPM Media)

‘It's the worst factor on the earth if you simply need to blurt out and be part of of their dialog.’

Lee started the sponsored silence on January 10, and is ready to complete the problem three months later, on April 10.

After this 12 months’s charity fundraiser, Lee hopes to increase the silent interval to a few months and a day for 2023.

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