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Flyboy: Ever get that feeling you took a wrong turn somewhere in the past four years?
All the time, babe, all the time.
I love how this thread is becoming a Beginner's Guide to Reception - probably because with the rubbish job market a lot of people have to temp and it's one of the easiest jobs to get (if not keep) for girls. The blokes' equivalent is security guard or night watchman. But always keep the receptionist sweet, that's definitely a good idea.
* Pet hate alert *
And don't for Christ's sake open the conversation with "you sent me a letter" or "you called me". Unless you are the receptionist's mum, the sender or caller was most definitely not the receptionist and the implication is that you are going to hold said receptionist responsible for the content of the letter/call. Plus it's a stupid, lazy, inaccurate thing to say.
Also, don't mither on about nothing without clearly stating either what you want or who you want to speak to. Especially not in an incomprehensibly thick accent. The receptionist is not your spouse, or your psychotherapist, and is not paid to listen to your tedious burblings. Ze is paid to put you through to the right person as quickly as possible in order to be free to take the next call.
* end of pet hate *
I should add that due to my looong experience as a temping receptionista (some of it in the NHS - yes folk, £6 an hour for verbal abuse behind a bulletproof screen. It was the people from the mental health and addiction unit upstairs, too, so most of the time it was tought to reason with them ..) I always now try to make friends or at least not directly insult/accuse people in call centres, because basically I genuinely feel sorry for them. After all it's not they who are providing a shitty service, cutting off your phone, messing up your bill or whatever - it is is other nameless and untraceable employees of the greedy ubercorp, and you will never find them so you might as well not bother trying.
What you should never do (what I try never to do) is take it all out on the person at the other end of the line. The way I see it is that we're both being shafted by the ubercorp - me by the bad service and ze by being paid minmum wage to sit in a call-centre listening to me whinge. I will usually rant about the rubbishness of their employer (which they must know more about than me) but make it clear that I know it's not their fault. I don't imagine that this endears me to them much more, (although they obviously can't side with me thanks to call monitoring, although I often hope and think they secretly do, having worked in call centres myself) but at least I'm not blaming them for everything.
Er .... where was I? Oh yes, work. The cabaret last night was paid in kind (free drinks) and I have to say that was the most fun work I've done in a while, apart from the acting job where I got to dress up as a Georgian tart. Basically it's work if someone pays you for it, isn't it, and if it isn't ... well, it's just a hobby. And you're not a "professional" whatever until you can support yourself from the income you make in that field. Which is why I am still a professional temp and only a jobbing writer/actor, and why most actors I know are really professional waiters. Your job is certainly not what you are, but sometimes it sure feels like it, in a bad way. |
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