Team OB Talks: Friendship on International Day of Friendship
Nothing quite beats the platonic love of your closest friends. Together is always better; whether it’s your work wife or your best friend from secondary school, it is these reliable long-standing friendships that help lift us and encourage us to do great things.
At OB we are proud to have a team filled with so many precious friendships – to celebrate International Day of Friendship we asked Team OB to share their OB friendship stories.
Tim & Olly – as told by Olly
Tim and I met at university in 1986 and bonded over the usual: sport, beer & not enough studying. But our friendship properly cemented when Tim joined me at OB six years after I had founded the business. Tim and I have opposite brains: where I sometimes see inscrutable numbers, he can clearly process and analyse; and where I see beautiful design, Tim can go completely colour-blind. As such, my wife says we make a perfect whole brain. There isn’t anyone I would rather be running OB with.
Sian & Tanya – as told by Tanya
We met at the Parkway store in 2014 – this was Tanya’s store and I was covering. We became firm friends at the staff party in 2015, and since our friendship has grown consisting of epic coffees, chats that turn into dinner and then drinks, treasure hunts and just overall general fun.
Collette & Rylee – as told by Collette
Rylee and I have been friends for 6 years now after meeting at OB Richmond. We often laugh about how both of us were both so eager to be friends. I told Rylee I liked her boots and she introduced me to the Paul chicken baguette – we instantly clicked. Shortly after Rylee was off to Canada for 2 and a half weeks and I genuinely wondered how I’d cope. In store we shared so many funny memories – Uncle Ben and Nando’s sauce for lunch, cleaning the garden, henry hoover up to mischief, the ghost, intense and impromptu after work tapas.
When I moved to SO it’s safe to say we were both heartbroken, it’s not often you get to spend every day with your best friend! On our last day we blasted a song and cried as we cashed up. After that I was on a mission to get Rylee to move to SO and within a year she was here. She also moved to Surbiton which meant we got to enjoy countless K2 journeys, crisps and dip on her bed, seeing Kate Nash play, cute days in London and more hilarious moments at work. We are soul sisters – we have both been there for each other through both the best and the worst of times and I cannot imagine it any other way.
Brendan and Luci – as told by Brendan
We met each other whilst working in Design Room 2 and have been besties ever since. When we hang out outside of work, we basically spend our time eating pizza, drinking gin and talking about how awesome our doggies are. She is basically just a total beaut of a human, and the best work bestie anyone could ask for.
Roz, Chris, Melissa & Louise – as told by Roz
Friendship is the reason I joined OB. Chris and met at uni in Glasgow in 2008. After uni, Chris moved to London to start his job at OB, and I was lowkey gutted. We still spoke every day, and while he was part of the Visual Team, he recommended me for a role in the newly opened Glasgow Store, and he’s been stuck with me ever since!
I made the move to London in 2015, and sleeping on Chris’s sofa for a month, went off to start training for my new role as Assistant Manager of our East Dulwich store. My first week of training was in Wandsworth, and that’s where I met Melissa. She always looked so cool with her incredible hair, cool dresses and battered converse, and it wasn’t long before we got chatting and made plans outside of work.
Evening and weekend get-togethers became a regular thing, and Chris would often join us too. On one occasion he invited Louise – she was working in the Canary Wharf store and Chris told us ‘she’s a great laugh, you’ll love her’. We went for burgers, it felt like we’d always known each other, and I nearly wet myself laughing at her wry sense of humour.
And then there were 4! Turns out we all lived within 20 minutes of each other, the WhatsApp group was set up, it was official – we were friends. We all progressed together at OB and worked Tuesday-Saturday, therefore Mondays off became known as ‘Monday Club’, a sacred day usually involving a nearby park and snacks. We grew closer and closer, and now we can’t imagine life without each other.
Luci & Natalie – as told by Luci
We met nearly 4 years ago in the Design Team and have been friends since day 1. Natalie oversaw showing me round and making sure I settled in ok. When I started everyone thought we were sisters and for a good few months would get the two of us mixed up. We bonded over the love of dogs, drinking, puzzles, tanning and trashy tv.
For 2 years we lift shared as we were both living down near Brighton, we would chat and laugh the entire 1hr 30mins every morning and every evening, playing along with games on the radio. We love going out for drinks with the rest of the design team but also enjoy a night in together, eating carby food and making hilarious observations while watching first dates. I know I’ve made a friend for life and OB wouldn’t be the same without my fellow blondie.
Saskia & Gintare – as told by both
Gintare – When I met Saskia at Waterloo store, as is typical for me, I got all the basic details about her, one of which is – her star sign – Pisces. I didn’t have a good experience with this sign (no offence Pisces), so I was kind of sceptical about us getting along very well. But as the days passed, we connected more and more, sharing the giggles and daily life struggles. Although our friendship is very young, but we have already attended one festival together and had a fun night out.
Saskia – I joined the Waterloo store six months ago, and one of the first people I met in the team was Gintare. We always catch each other humming to the beat of the songs in store because we love the same music.
Vale & Kat – as told by Vale
We met whilst working together in Finchley Road, I was a full time team member and Kat was our Assistant store manager. We love to go out for drinks and dinner or to each other place just to hang out. We also went on a road trip together through California, Utah and Nevada.
Donna, Tasha, Dan & Sevda – as told by Donna
Tasha – We have worked together for 18 years in stores & SO. My absolute FAVE memory of our friendship is when Tasha had her first baby girl Marcelle, she was only 2 weeks old when I went to visit. I knocked on the front door, Tasha flung the door open in literally 5 seconds. Her hair was sticking out all over the place, and she was wrapped in a towel. She flung her arms around me gave me the baby and run upstairs for a shower. Came back an hour later and made me a cup of tea. Our friendship is so deep that it was my pleasure and she knew it and the tea was worth waiting for.
Dan – Like me and Tasha we have also worked together for 18 years in stores and SO. Dan and I car share every day – well I drive him, and he shares his mints with me. Sometimes we put the radio on and sing out of tune loudly, but we are so comfortable with each other it is never awkward. Sometimes we don’t even talk – and it’s a silent understanding of a hard day. Mostly we laugh, so hard I can’t see through crying and we have had to stop until we pull it together.
Sevda – We have worked together for 13 years stores & SO. Sev and I message each other no exaggeration from 5 -20 times a day, EVERYDAY, including Christmas Day as we are diet buddies. All we message about is the burger we want but shouldn’t have, or the 3lbs we lost or the new dress that finally fits and how happy we feel. This girl is my rock and support and is the biggest part of something that is very important in my life. My family loves reading our messages out loud, it’s like a sitcom – In fact I’m laughing out loud now!
Kate & Rebecca – as told by Kate
It’s now been 12 years, we met in 2007 when I joined, and Bec’s was already working in Buying at OB. We became firm friends and bonded over lunches in the Unit F kitchen, with a mutual love of leopard print, fashion, accessories, shoes and going out. Bec’s stayed, and I moved onto pastures new but remained good friends along with regular meetups with some of the old OB crew. Now that I’m back we try to squeeze in a lunch here and there and have sampled the delights of the local garden centres panini lunches.
Outside work our meet ups usually involves alcohol or food! We get together with a group of us that all worked together here and try out the bars and restaurants of London, but we’ve been known to venture to vintage fairs, bowling alleys, riverside picnics and sometimes the odd bit of culture thrown in too.
Lianna & Kelly – as told by Lianna
We became pals back in 2005 when I moved to SO and have got closer since then spending several birthdays, exhibitions, gigs, many dinners & cross-stitching dates together. Last year we had a lot of fun at All points east and we are already planning Glastonbury next year.
Emily and Gabriella – as told by Gabriella
Emily and I both work in the Quality Control Team – we make up half of the QC Queens. We met at OB 16 months ago when Emily came for her ‘taster day’, and like a child at school – I was super keen to befriend the newbie. Even after enthusiastically dragging her out to the food van in the rain, and asking her all the questions under the sun – Emily accepted the job at OB, and the rest was history. We share a love of 90’s music and all things food – after all, a friendship has to be built on good foundations right? Most recently we spiced up our lives at the Spice Girls tour, and danced the night away! On other occasions we have had movie nights, sleepovers (because you’re never too old), had an amazing time at the work party, and even joined in with the HSBC Netball Tournament.
Aaminah, Mirnesa, Leyla, Carina and Mariyah – as told by Aaminah & Leyla
Myself, Mirnesa, Leyla, Carina and Mariyah are the best of friends thanks to OB in Wimbledon! Leyla, me and Mirnesa all joined OB in 2013. Mariyah joined our team in 2016 and Carina joined in 2017 and lucky for us we’ve been friends ever since we met one another. We’ve all formed such a nice bond and friendship over the years, which believe it or not, happened instantly and was very natural. Working at the store would not be the same if it wasn’t for these girls. We’re there for each other through thick and thin, whether it’s to do with our work or personal life we lean on each other for advice and support. Outside of OB we keep in contact on a daily basis (not just because we’re always working a shift with one another), messaging on our “soulsisters” group chat on whatsapp is so constant sometimes it has to be muted haha and sending memes on instagram is a must. Every birthday, pretty much pay day, probably every other couple of weeks we go out. We love doing new things together, mainly eating at new restaurants, and if we can all get the day off we do random things like paintballing.
When I fell pregnant with my son Mirnesa was actually the first person to know, followed by Aaminah – we all felt such an ease with other, we are all mad as each other! When Benjamin was born I was so thankful for the support and love both in and outside of work, even during labour we were messaging. Since then we have all been inseparable, they are both Benjamin’s god parents, and have parental responsibility of him in case of an of emergency. There is nothing we don’t know about each other and nothing we don’t support in each other’s dreams. All our families are close, we love catching up over dinner – Lebanese is our favourite. We can’t thank Oliver Bonas enough for introducing us to each other, we are like long last family.
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