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Jul. 3rd, 2007 05:31 pmIn my present state of mind, the last thing I needed this morning was a woman who, despite this being the last time round on the survey for her, flatly refused to do it, out of nothing more than sheer bloody-mindedness. Within the opening five minutes of the shift.
And then, a mere two calls later, came a woman who immediately berated me because we'd apparently not kept an appointment (actually we had called her at the appointed time only for her phone to be engaged). Knocked off my guard, I asked her whether there was any time today that we could call her (today was the deadline for her batch). She said no. "Not any time before 9 pm?" I enquired. She replied irritably "No, I'm working."
When she'd hung up, I said to the screen "Who works from 9 am to 9 fucking pm?" A little too loud, as Carol #1, in the booth next to me, first glanced round (to make sure I wasn't actually on the phone?), then said "My husband works from 7 in the morning till 10 at night."
"Without a break?"
"Yes, he's a self-employed plumber."
Mercifully, the rest of the shift went calmly - and my internal e-mail included the monthly staff communications pack, which took me off the phones for half an hour. There were more lovely goodies on the table but I maintained my resistance, partly because I knew I'd have to get a take-away this afternoon as my mother's gone to Hampton Court for the day. My sole concession to luxury was accepting a tasty foreign sweet when a tray of them, donated by Lynda, passed round.
Halfway through, I remembered that the Blue Square South fixtures were being released today. So at the end of the shift I bombed down to the library, only to find a bloke on the PC doing his e-mails. I sat at a table and waited, but he was still going strong when I had to go for the bus. And then as I was at the bus stop the rain started - just little spits at first, but when I got off in Gosport an hour later it was chucking down.
To the kebab shop, then home to learn Hawks are at home on the first day, to...Braintree. Oh, what fun.
And then, a mere two calls later, came a woman who immediately berated me because we'd apparently not kept an appointment (actually we had called her at the appointed time only for her phone to be engaged). Knocked off my guard, I asked her whether there was any time today that we could call her (today was the deadline for her batch). She said no. "Not any time before 9 pm?" I enquired. She replied irritably "No, I'm working."
When she'd hung up, I said to the screen "Who works from 9 am to 9 fucking pm?" A little too loud, as Carol #1, in the booth next to me, first glanced round (to make sure I wasn't actually on the phone?), then said "My husband works from 7 in the morning till 10 at night."
"Without a break?"
"Yes, he's a self-employed plumber."
Mercifully, the rest of the shift went calmly - and my internal e-mail included the monthly staff communications pack, which took me off the phones for half an hour. There were more lovely goodies on the table but I maintained my resistance, partly because I knew I'd have to get a take-away this afternoon as my mother's gone to Hampton Court for the day. My sole concession to luxury was accepting a tasty foreign sweet when a tray of them, donated by Lynda, passed round.
Halfway through, I remembered that the Blue Square South fixtures were being released today. So at the end of the shift I bombed down to the library, only to find a bloke on the PC doing his e-mails. I sat at a table and waited, but he was still going strong when I had to go for the bus. And then as I was at the bus stop the rain started - just little spits at first, but when I got off in Gosport an hour later it was chucking down.
To the kebab shop, then home to learn Hawks are at home on the first day, to...Braintree. Oh, what fun.
