Next time you take a trip around a Colchester supermarket, you could get religion as well as a can of baked beans.
Asda, in Turner Rise, is looking for representatives from any religion to act as an in-store chaplain ministering to customers' and staff needs.
Those offering this "friendly shoulder-style approach" will be on hand to offer advice on a whole range of topics ranging from the price of eggs through to more weighty issues such as relationship problems.
They will wander around the shop so shoppers can stop them for a chat but there will also be an interview room for anyone who wants to talk to the chaplain in private rather than at the fruit and veg or fish counters.
Forty of the company's 256 stores already have a chaplain.
Tim Hyatt, Colchester's general store manager, said: "The job is certainly not about preaching. The chaplains have a very low presence and are there just to chat or listen to customers and colleagues, whatever their faith.
Published Friday October 25, 2002
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