When Ollie and Erika began working together, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. “She didn’t like me at all and saw me as a big, noisy northerner,” confessed Lancashire-born Ollie. “I turned up late on my first day, so she also thought I didn’t care about my job – and said so in front of other staff. I was so embarrassed.”
But Ollie, 29, eventually won Erika round and after initially joking that she thought he was a lout, she agreed to go on date with him. However, they got more than they bargained for when they decided to go out for dinner, especially when they realised they had chosen the most romantic day of the year for it, Valentine’s Day. But that wasn’t the worst part.
Ollie explained, “I went to pick her up for dinner from her parents’ house, and they opened the door. To my horror, they were wearing their coats and shoes. It clicked – they had invited themselves to dinner. Erika’s face was everything I needed to know. She clearly had no idea this was going to happen and felt so bad. I started to think I was going to be running some sort of gauntlet.”
Erika – who met Ollie at Bolton’s new Amazon Fulfilment Centre – was “absolutely mortified” and was terrified Ollie wouldn’t pass the parent test, admitting, "I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I couldn't believe it. I thought to myself, 'well, there's no way I'm getting a second date after this!'”
And things went from bad to worse when Erika’s dad decided to do his own impression of The Apprentice.
“Once we got to the restaurant, we all sat down at the table like it was Lord Sugar’s boardroom,” Erika revealed, “Ollie got absolutely grilled by my dad, and I was just praying he wouldn't get 'fired'. He was asked about his intentions, his life goals and 10-year-plan – as well as who he hung out with and what his family did for a living. My parents asked every question you could possibly think of. I just sat there in shock. It was turning into a complete Valentine's Day date disaster.”
“Luckily, Ollie was brilliant; he held his ground and did a great job. They insisted on paying for the meal and invited us back to have drinks. By our third date, we’d already booked a holiday to Miami – and now look at us… We’ve been together for five years and are getting married next September.”
Ollie popped the question during a recent weekend away to Anglesey, Wales, on an early morning walk to the Tŵr Mawr lighthouse where he presented her with his grandmother’s ring, while down on one knee.
Ollie said: “We certainly didn’t get off to a flying start, but in a year and a half, we’ll be jetting off to the Algarve, Portugal, for our wedding – where Erika’s family spend their holidays. So, if anyone experiences a date disaster on Valentine’s Day, just remember this story. There’s always hope.”
Ollie and Erika’s story comes as a unique survey of Amazon’s 70,000-strong UK workforce reveals an unrivalled snapshot of modern-day relationships, including biggest turn-offs and how it now takes the modern–day couple 68 days to meet each other’s parents. They feature in Amazon’s new Chatterbox series, which is designed to create a barometer of opinions among one of the UK’s most diverse workplaces.