Hello, dear internet and people therein.
This is a bit different to the norm. Today I would like to tell you about my Job.
I have recently started a new Job. I like it. This may not sound much, but let me fill you in on a bit of background. Since I started working at 16 I have had an impressive number of jobs. My CV runs to pages. This is mostly because I have been in retail of one sort or another, or other customer facing roles. I have worked in a betting shop, a food kiosk inside a factory, for a financial software company, hotel, waterslide park, golf promotions, real estate, construction, bakery, catalogue distribution, retail clothing, bookstore, computer sales, printers, video rental store, mobile snack distribution to offices, nail technician, chinese restaurant, regular restaurant, motorway services, Post Office and freelance artist. I have worked in roles from stock girl to store manager, volunteer to business owner.
This type of job is generally underpaid and overworked. The 'Company' often takes advantage of staff who don't know their rights and often don't care as they will be somewhere else in six months. It is hard to get recognition for work well done and easy to get noticed when mistakes are made. In almost all of these jobs, I have moved on of my own choice, for various reasons.
In one role, the tills were left open for any member of staff to access at any time, and yet they were assigned to specific members. In the four weeks that I was in that job, my till was £50 or so down maybe 60% of the time. As it had always been like this and the nature of the job ensured total confusion most of the time and no way of keeping track of who does what when, I assumed that this was just how it was. I was therefore shocked and devastated when I turned up for work one day to find someone from head office there to interview me. I was in tears by the end of the interview, which resulted in me being suspended with no pay, pending investigation. They did all but accuse me out loud of stealing the money.
This was not helped by the fact that I had given my last store manager's name as a reference. Now, according to that company's policy, all references should go through head office, but as a till girl, I hadn't known that. I had left that job due to the new manager being as bent as a toilet's plumbing. I had elected to get out before grief befell me as it had most of my colleagues in the weeks following his appointment. Unfortunately, I gave his name, as I had left without blemish, to the new company. He had gone to town on me, culminating in telling them that had I not left, I would have been under investigation. Of course, my fate was sealed right then and there.
Mostly it's not been that bad. I have usually left due to a change in circumstance; moving house, having a child, or simply finding a better offer. I have made friends and have been sad to leave more often than I've run out of the door. I loved the waterslide park the most and I hated my two day stint in dodgy telephone sales where I couldn't give out my real name and had to pretend I was in Zurich.
But anyway, back to my Job. A lot of you know that I am a nail technician. This is not my new Job. My new Job is as a Virtual Receptionist.
Sounds posh, hey? I have actually done this job before, I did it for a year a couple of years ago. The company was fairly young then, full of bounce and learning new tricks. I gave it up in the end, very reluctantly, and after trying very hard to stay on there with reduced hours, because I had kind of fallen into the nail thing. The nail thing took off in a big way and I was extremely busy. I got, in fact, too busy. My son spent an inordinate amount of time sitting outside the house waiting for me to come home (He could have gone to the library, or hung out with his friends, but no, he had to sit outside the house, apparently). They got palmed off on friends and family or dragged with me to clients' houses. The constant travel wore me down. So I cut down my workload and became part time. I had time for the kids again, but of course the disposable income disappeared. I had a few health issues and everything suffered. So I decided to once again take up my virtual mantle and hit the internet running.
Now I work for a company called Norango and I love it. There's not too many people there so we can all stay friendly and keep up with eachother's news. The company itself is easy to get along with. If you have a problem, you can take it to someone who will sort it out. If they have a problem, they will speak to you quietly and discretely and with a can-do attitude. The people are all so friendly and I have learnt a few life skills in my time here that have helped me immensely in my personal life. Not least, I have received the support and encouragement necessary to promote myself as a small business and to increase my belief in myself to the point where I volunteered to be my church's warden.
So that's the company. They're all loves. And the job is great. It's almost two jobs depending on what hours you do. We answer the phone/internet for various companies and direct the callers to their best option. We cover everything from PA work to engineer callout lines, helpdesks, accident reporting and confidential staff helplines. We also field online orders, queries and problems. I would say that we never know who we are answering the phone to, but the system in place gives us all the information that we need on screen with greetings and everything. If you can't for any reason find the info you need, there is full backup right there with you on skype. You are constantly plugged into the main chat room, job specific chatrooms, shift runners and management. You are not alone! Of course, your work is monitored very closely, more closely than any other job that I have had, but as I have already said, praise is swift and problems dealt with.
I love the variety. I have a working knowledge of how a shower is put together and how a thermostatic tap works. I can do basic diagnosis of wifi server problems. I know the common problems of air traffic monitoring systems. I can tell you the usual heights of dining chairs and I know more than I ever wanted to about blocked drains. I have a good working relationship with travel agents, engineers, people in training, finance, education and aviation. I speak to people from around the world and I need the time in New York and Denver on display on my screen. In my work I am helping people with everything from screws loose to reporting abuse. My handling of a call might affect commercial dock trading, staff paychecks, refugee travel. Or I could simply be a set of ears to listen and a friendly voice to assure you that something will be done. I am making a difference, and I'm doing it from the comfort of my own home, doing the hours that I want to do. Norango and I are both flexible and might need help at a moment's notice and I know that we are there for each other. I am glad to be back and I won't be leaving again any time soon!
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