Dimitri Hari is a fishmonger at Sydney Fish Markets. Raised in a family of fishmongers, he filleted his first fish at the age of seven. This year is his 10th time serving at De Costi Seafoods during the Christmas rush.
23 December
1am: The alarm rings. Dimitri wakes up from the office floor and gets ready for the biggest shift of the year. It's crazy, busy, smelly and he works hard hours, but he loves it. Every year, he says it'll be his last. But every year, it's his favourite shift.
Dimitri's workers arrive and he starts barking orders: dig the ice, get the fish out, check the stock. Everyone works to transform the shop into an artwork of colour: oysters, crabs, lobsters, squid and fish. Prawns – the star of the show – line the front and back of the store.
5am: De Costi officially opens. The wisest customers arrive now. During the day, it's not too difficult. Everyone works together like clockwork. It's the night-time shift when things get crazy.
7pm: Besides a few 10-minute naps, this is the only time Dimitri has to sleep. His boss books him a room at The Star and he manages to get four hours of shut-eye.
11:45pm: Dimitri gets back to the shop as things really start to ramp up. Customers begin piling in for the night-time rush. There are two types of shoppers: the experienced ones who love the thrill of the crowds and the rookies who mistakenly think that late-night shopping will be the calmest time to go.
Christmas Eve
2am: Peak-hour traffic hits. Everyone is crammed in like sardines. Kids in pyjamas stare wide-eyed at the array of fish. Men run around with buckets of fishy water.
House music blasts across the shop, making it feel more like a nightclub party than grocery shopping. Security guards stand out front like bouncers, blocking the entrance when the store reaches capacity.
5am: By now, some of the workers have fallen off the grid. The enthusiastic first-timers with all their bravado have slept through their alarms and missed the final shift. Dimitri is busy on the phone, pulling his hair out and chasing up on people.
3pm: The crowd dies down by the afternoon. Red bulls and soft drinks are passed around in celebration. The workers have done a month's worth of work over two days.
A few frantic fathers burst through the doors with unfulfilled shopping lists. "Shit, what have you got? I'll take anything."
6:30pm: The Christmas shift is finally over. Dimitri stays back to pack up and count the money. There have been 9000 transactions at De Costi alone. Across Sydney Fish Markets, 600 tonnes of seafood have been sold.
