The End Of The Beginning

Hello Dear readers!

This week's offering finds your friendly neighbourhood seated person in a muddle of mixed emotions. In fact I had something entirely different planned but what follows just had to be written.

Those of you who have been following my attempts at blogging will possibly remember my sense of purposeless ennui upon finding myself made redundant. You may remember my search for a change of direction, for something meaningful to do... and I'm pleased to say I finally found it.

The role I find myself working in is not necessarily as much of a change as I was envisaging (It's still customer facing phone work, still in financial services.) but the company I have found myself working for has, thus far, proven to be everything I could have wanted from an employer. In short, my employer rocks.

Culturally, they are spot on. There is a huge focus on individuality, hard work is suitably rewarded, and they remember that a workplace should, above all things, be a pleasant and fun place to spend your time. Work/life balance also seems to be at the forefront of who they are and when I found out I had been a successful applicant I was offered a choice of shift patterns that took into account my preferences for days off I had discussed at my interview.

The other thing I've noticed in my time there is the amount of disabled people this company employ. The disabled staff cover a wide range of conditions, from my fellow seated people, through those who can walk but are a bit wobbly, to those who have conditions at least resembling dwarfism, and who knows how many others. Of course I'm not going to go into specific conditions, partly because it would be rude to do so, but mainly because that is not a conversation I've got into with people. Let’s just say that the disabled people and the disabilities they represent covers a number and range I've not seen at any other major employer. And that’s not even counting those with less obvious or hidden disabilities.

Now, I have to admit that the above information is not entirely new, at least to me, as I have now been working for my deliberately mysteriously unnamed employer for seven whole weeks. Seven weeks! That's nearly two whole months! The most amazing thing is that for that whole time, I've actually been in training! Again, this fact just astounds me. Seven whole weeks of training. Saying that they have been needed. The amount of raw information necessary for this job is immense. Yes indeed, they have been weeks jam packed with facts and figures, chockful of procedures and phrasing, but they have also been weeks full of fun and camaraderie too.

All of which brings me nicely to the title of this post; for, as of Monday morning that training ceases and I will find myself thrown into the real world (albeit with a humongous amount of coaching help. They really do take onboarding seriously). So, as you can probably appreciate, it really does feel like the end of the beginning. I have had the considerable good fortune to have trained alongside a truly amazing bunch of people, people who have come together to build a real sense of mutual support and togetherness through what has been an intense and often trying time. I think that without their presence I would personally have struggled far more than I have. Now, nobody is dying here and our lovely little tight knit group is not being split up just yet, although the trainers will be moving on to new victims. As the phone lines beckon though, it will necessarily mean a distance will be enforced. There will be customers on the lines and a coach to listen to which will mean the banter, puns, five minute challenges and really bad jokes (guilty your honour) will have to be pushed to one side. Sure, there will be times for such, but those times will start to become fewer and farther between and that starts now.

So there you have it, in a slightly long winded and meandering nutshell. The reason that as I left work on Friday I was a maelstrom of sadness, excitement, fear and a subtle sense of loss . As the weekend has progressed some of those emotions have changed, some have come to the fore and some fallen back a little but all of them are, in some way, still there. As Sunday eve continues its relentless progression it's possible that fear is maybe just starting to edge it. I do know though that whatever happens from here on in, the last seven weeks will always stay with me.

Until next time.