So this working week has been a little… hmmmm how do I express this best… SHITTY!!!!! Yes that’ll sum it up nicely….

MP and the rest of the bosses at work have known for months that both myself and Barbie will be out of the office for two weeks starting on 19th September… as the time has got closer and closer it has become increasingly worrying that they haven’t done anything about getting cover for that time. I mean.. normally if Barbie is off work I do all her work… so to have both her and I out of the office at the same time causes a HUGE headache for everyone… but it is the first time in 5 years that we have taken a holiday together… and more importantly… its her wedding holiday…

Now add to this the fact that I have made the decision that after I get back from my vacation I’ll no longer work any overtime (meaning I’ll leave at 3pm every day) they’ve gone into panic mode somewhat.

And so… on Monday of this week… The New Receptionist (from this moment onwards to be called TNR) started work. Now… I ‘m easy as all hell to get on with.. and this girl really needs to get on with me.. because basically.. unless I’m cool with her.. shes going to have a pretty shit start to her time with The Firm. So how come by Tuesday morning.. shes pissed me off….

I’ve have been the Receptionist at The Firm for the majority of my almost seven years being employed by them…. and.. without blowing my own trumpet… I’m bloody good at what I do.. I started on Reception almost 7 years ago… after about a year I went off and moved departments and got myself halfway through a degree… and then shit happened and they looked after me and let me go back to the position as Receptionist because I’m damn good at it… 

My parents owned hotels from when I was 12 years old and I learnt how to deal with people from my first day answering the phone in our first hotel…. and yes… it was when I was 12 years old…. 25 years ago…. I’ve been answering phones and dealing with people on a face to face basis for a long ass time…

Other companies have tried to tempt me away from The Firm…. and I’ve always turned them down because… despite problems and faults… I still love my job and The Firm. I have alot of respect for the people I work with (though sometimes you might doubt that because of what I write in my blog).

Now.. TNR arrives last Monday and is safely released into my hands for me to train her firstly (in the words of NMDP) “Getting the phone answered properly”. Now theres a shed load of boring stuff I could tell you about how “We”… as a firm…. like our phones answered… I take on average 120 calls a day and they can range in subject matter hugely… a 10 minute period can throw up a huge variety of phone calls.. not all of them easy to deal with…. especially if the person they need to speak to is PMS’ing or just being awkward about taking calls or extremely busy or not in the office…

I can take a shed load of different calls and… seriously.. this is a diverse as they can be in a 30 minute period….

• A call from a client to tell us how contact with their child was screwed up over the weekend….
• A call from potential client saying they got screwed when they bought a car…
• A call from an estate agent….
• A call from PSNM to tell me I’m a fat ginger bitch….
• A call from a client to ask if they can pay a bill…
• A call from a dickwad trying to convince us to buy a watercooler…
• A call from a potential client who wants a quote The Firm to deal with the sale of their house….
• A call from PSNM just to tell me he wants to kill me….
• A call from an estate agent to say they have been told we are acting for someone selling a house…
• A call from a potential client who has been accused of child abuse…
• A call from a potential client who has kicked his wife out because shes been having an affair….
• A call from an elderly client to tell us that their spouse has died….
• A call from PSNM to let me hear his pig snorting impression….
• A call to say our stationary is ready….
• A call from client to tell us they have been picked up for shoplifting AGAIN!!!!
• A call from someone in India trying to make us change our Electricity provider
• A call from a not so potential client who has been kicked out of her house because she was having an affair….
• A call from an estate agent to confirm address details because they were too thick to take the details last time they called ….
• A call from someone trying to get an appointment to send someone to try to sell us software/it crap….
• A call from the Court to say that a client has been picked up for breaking bail conditions and are in the cells….
• A call from a client to ask if we have a car park…
• A call from a potential client to who needs to be protected immediately after being beaten senseless by their partner….

Its really that varied. And you need to know how to deal with every call…. you need to find out quickly what the call is about… without wasting the callers time… or being insensitive to what they are going through…. and you also need to figure out quickly who they need to speak to if they are potential clients and get them through to that person as quickly as possible.

Now you can’t teach someone all that in one day… but… apparently TNR (who has never worked in a solicitors office before) doesn’t need me to tell her anything else. She doesn’t need me to guide her when she isn’t quite sure… She doesn’t need me to tell her who deals with what specifically… she doesn’t need me to tell her what to do when someone calls to inform us of a bereavement but no-one in the Probate Department is available. She doesn’t need me to tell her what to do when the Duty Solicitor Call Centre phone looking for STCS….

I guess she doesn’t need me to tell her what to do when PSNM calls… or what she needs to do when someone calls into the office demanding to see a solicitor for free because its their “right”….

She can go blow as far as I’m concerned….

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SOD IT… I can’t be assed to even moan about.. but you get the picture… I don’t like TNR….

Add to this the fact that she cleared my desk pretty much in one swoop on her THIRD BLOODY DAY.. I’m pretty damn pissed off….

What part of “Please leave all my stuff where it is” is hard to understand??? And why was she surprised when I was pissy when she then proceeded to still clear my stuff up and then come out to the back room and hand it to me….. HUH??? HUH?????

Has she been offered the job??? Has she finished her month’s trial period??? Has she??? Has she????

*mumbles*

What part of “Please don’t use Outlook until we have set up an account for you” is hard to understand????

What part of “Please.. DON’T use Outlook until NMDP has set up an account for you” is hard to understand????

What part of “Please would you stop using Outlook” is hard to understand?????

Meh…..

It could be an interesting week next week…..