Danny, the post re your Wine Member duties reminds us of the various and innumerable tasks that can be one's lot under the general title "secondary duties". You can be required to hold Inventories of items of service equipment (usually of the barrack room variety), be responsible for non-public funds (usually concerning Mess expenditure) as well as a host of other jobs which for the most part have one thing in common, ie that you have had no training or experience for doing any of them! Indeed the very people that could do them standing on their heads, such as Equipment and Accounts Officers are respectively barred from the first two examples quoted. One can see the logic in that requirement, to avoid possible corruption, but it can be at the cost of efficiency to say the least. In your case it clearly wasn't as, but for your day job, you could clearly have made a good fist at being a Licenced Victualler, though the practice of consuming excess stock to increase turn-over could be injurious to one's health and happiness if taken to excess.
