The coat with the blue lining

Text C: an original fiction extract.

Jonas volunteered for the concert-hall cloakroom because he hoped to hear part of the performance without buying a ticket. The supervisor, Saira, gave him a numbered pad, showed him the rails and asked him to keep the short passage behind the counter clear. Jonas could see thirty identical hangers and thought the explanation might take longer than the work. Beyond the doors, the orchestra was tuning.

The first guests arrived together. Jonas began recognising coats before he remembered the numbers. There was a red one with a belt, a short green jacket and a dark coat whose owner turned back to say that its blue lining was rather fragile. Jonas hung it carefully. He was pleased that he could remember a personal detail instead of treating every guest as another ticket. Saira checked the rail and moved a box which he had left partly across the passage.

During the interval, a woman approached without a claim ticket. She said she had put it in her coat pocket before handing the coat over. Jonas remembered the blue lining and reached towards the rail. Saira asked him to wait while she followed the hall's procedure for an unclaimed ticket. The woman looked embarrassed. Jonas felt that his memory could spare her that embarrassment, but Saira spoke quietly and moved the conversation away from the next people waiting.

While they were speaking, Jonas saw another dark coat three hangers farther along. Its open front showed the same blue. He could no longer remember whether the first owner had worn glasses or carried a programme. The detail which had seemed wonderfully personal now belonged to at least two people. He left both coats on the rail. Saira completed the agreed checks and returned with the woman to the correct hanger. The ticket was inside, just where she had thought.

Afterwards, Jonas said he had nearly fetched the wrong one. Saira thanked him for leaving it in place. She did not congratulate him on identifying the lining. Behind them, an elderly visitor was waiting to collect a scarf. Jonas apologised and turned to the rail. The passage remained clear, and he reached the scarf without asking anyone to move the box. He began to understand why an instruction about empty floor space belonged to the same job as an instruction about numbers.

The final collection was quicker and less memorable than the interval. Tickets passed over the counter; sleeves and umbrellas disappeared through the doors. A guest asked whether Jonas had enjoyed the music. He had heard a few fragments and missed the piece he had wanted most. He almost said that nothing interesting had happened in the cloakroom. Then the woman with the blue lining stopped to thank Saira for not making her feel foolish.

When the rail was empty, Jonas counted the unused tickets and helped put the hangers away. There was no dramatic mistake to tell his friends about, which seemed a disappointing result for a story and a rather good result for the evening. He asked Saira whether he could return for another shift. This time, he would check the concert schedule before promising himself that volunteering and listening were the same booking.

You are Jonas. Give a speech to new concert-hall volunteers about your first cloakroom shift.

In your response:

• describe what you expected from volunteering and what the job required
• explain what the missing-ticket incident taught you about memory and considerate service
• advise volunteers how to approach the work and its less visible responsibilities

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.