Podcast transcript: My name is Allison. I book in all the maintenance visits that we have and deal with all of the customers. Some of them have been around almost as long as I have… 22 years this year. So, we have some quite good relationships with people. Never know anything about what they look like – it’s just a name, a voice on a phone or a name on an email! But yes, it’s nice.

What was it like when you started?

It was quite different actually. We were all in one building. And it was quite an old building and it was lots of small rooms, little offices.

We didn’t have email. No one had email to their computer. We had one email PC. We had to go upstairs to get that and then say, “Oh, you got an email in your folder.” And then toddle upstairs and get it. 

It just feels so different now. We progressed and got everything that we need and it works really well.

What does your typical day look like?

I spend a lot of time on my PC sending emails, usually talking to engineers while they’re out on site – if they’ve got any issues or they need me to do anything.

I contact customers to book in a visit. I do the paperwork after the visit to send them out all the certificates and things so they’ve got the relevant documentation. Deal with things like Ofcom licenses and background stuff like engineers’ hours, keeping check of those and booking hotels for them and things like that, really.

Have we got any customers that have been around for a long time? And you have got to know them.

There there was a time when a lot of our bigger customers, the people that we dealt with had also been around a long time as well, but in the last few years, it’s strange. There’s been a few that have retired, and I don’t know what that says about maybe how long I’ve been here, but in a lot of places, you’ll have the same people time and time again, but then there’s some places that it could be somewhat different every six months.

Whereas here, we’re quite stable. A lot of people stay for a long time, I think. And that’s really nice because the people that are here, you know them really well and chat, like, ‘What did you have for your tea?’ [Laughs] All the usual office stuff.

Favorite thing about working here is probably the people and the friendships that formed. I just met up with someone last week who used to work here and emigrated to New Zealand and now she’s come back again, about 18 years I think it is. And we just met up last week and had a great night. It was really nice.

It’s quite a ‘people place’. We quite, kind of, think about staff. So it’s not, we’re not just numbers. We’re not a big corporate place. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows enough about them to care about their lives and if they’re okay. There’s lots of flexibility.

I think it’s nice to, yeah, everyone goes to work and some days you like it and some days not-so-much. But it’s nice to know that what we’re actually working towards is helping people. You know, something I might have done or arranged or had something to do with, might end up saving someone’s life. So I think it’s it’s nice to work for someone like that where it’s not just all about profit. There’s actually a meaning to it.

Have you got any kind of memories, fond memories or favorite memories about working here?

With the social side of things, I think the Christmas do’s are always the things that you remember. We tend to go to similar places and obviously having been here so long they kind of blend into one a bit. But yeah, lots of memories of ‘oh do you remember them when they were dancing?’, ‘Oh, do you remember that place we went to afterwards one night?’ And everyone has fun and everyone feels like they deserve it after a long year. It’s really nice to to get that opportunity.