The receptionist I usually work with was going on maternity leave. She was generally quite lazy, really not flexible, and not really into the whole receptionist buzz, so I was looking forward to seeing who they’d get to replace her for a few months. The receptionist contracted from the agency turned out to be the complete opposite, and the change was really refreshing – for about the first hour! But when he began trying to change all my reception procedures, ‘improve and update, improve and update’ he’d say with zeal, while the words ‘frying pan and fire’ sprang to mind. He’d begun his new system of confirming which meeting room clients would be going to before the actual day. Which meant when we needed to slyly shuffle people around to keep some of the big wigs happy and slotted into their fav meeting rooms, we had to send another email around to everyone with their latest room change. He’d been in reception for longer than me, and seemed to assume he’d been brought in as a ‘head receptionist’ when we were meant to be on the same level. I guess the worst part of those hellish 4 months was when he started volunteering us for Saturday conferences – without asking me if I was even free.
He said it was our chance to prove to the rest of the company how we could do them proud and show our corporate image even at the weekends.
I remember him even punching the air with delight when we were chosen for the conference. I just wanted to strangle him. I never complained again when my colleague returned, I don’t think I let her lift a finger, I just wanted her to stay forever!!
Anecdote contributed by Beth
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