Budding grocer Tim Frampton is a young man with a bright future according to his Four Square boss Satnam Bains.
The 11-year-old from Whatawhata decided he wanted to own a supermarket one day and turned up at the Raglan supermarket asking if he could learn the ropes.
“He just randomly started asking me questions and then he was back the next day at 6am,” Satnam says.
That was Christmas Eve and Tim has been a regular fixture ever since.
As well as the usual supermarket work of stocking shelves, Tim is also Raglan Four Square’s social media star with his weekly Tim’s Specials videos on Facebook.
Already well-known to campers at the Kopua Holiday Park – he’s been camping there with his family since he was a baby, Tim frequently helps out with camp security patrols.
On New Year’s Eve Tim put in time at the Four Square until closing and then headed to the campgrounds to do night patrols.
“He’s a very hard worker,” Satnam says.
When he’s not staying at the campground, Tim still manages to find his way to work from Whatawhata with Satnam picking him up off from time-to-time or he hitches a ride with the bread truck in the early hours of the morning.
Satnam says Tim is like family now and has become a valued staff member, he was a life saver during the recent power cut and kept the supermarket open with his advice to use the portable scanner to verify prices at the checkout.
“I also went around letting customers know it was cash only,” Tim says.
And he was the first one to offer help after a car crashed into the Four Square’s storage area.
In his spare time, Tim heads to the campground and skate park to hang out but Satnam says he always back at 9pm to help with pack down.
Janine Jackson