After yet another lockdown, being stuck at home, not being able to visit anyone, not being able to go to the office, having to listen to 127465 questions asked by my three bored at-home children, sometimes simultaneously!!
Teach them long-forgotten ways of how to multiply and divide, confusing us all (pause for deep intake of breath). I've concluded that I'm not cut out to be a teacher!
However, working from home, being cut off from everyone has given me a new appreciation for my role as a customer service advisor and for office life.
In the pre-pandemic world I'd sit at my desk dreaming of a time where I could do my job like some kind of working Stepford wife from the comfort of my own home (which I could then keep immaculate! domestic goddess to the max!) with dinner cooking, washing done, happy content children skipping about, brains full of a good day's learning and all this whilst, maintaining the upmost professionalism during hours whittled away on my laptop.
Wonder Woman eat your heart out!
However, the reality was quite different! I spent many a day, downing coffee like it was my life source, trying to work while the kids were on various forms of technology and having to explain to customers that if you hear any strange noises, I haven't lost the plot, gagged, and tied my children, they've probably just died midgame and it's now the end of the world. I may deserve the award for worst home schoolteacher EVER. I'm pretty sure we had quite a few Inservice days and wear your pyjamas to school days.
Dinner times were a chaotic shambles, washing was piling up and the children who were bickering, what felt like from dawn till dusk, were desperate for some social interaction that we had all been deprived of for so long.
As time went on, I was longing to get to the office, I couldn't wait to have an excuse to put on smart clothes, do my hair and makeup and do my job in the peace and quiet of the office...it was my new daydream... never in my life did I think I would be so excited to get back, but I couldn't wait. My first day back, was the best day in weeks, the feeling of being free to make a phone call without having to explain that "Mummy needs to work now, please keep it down" was euphoric, I felt a real sense of job satisfaction that I haven't had before.
The pandemic had given me a new lease of life and drive. I've always been someone that's worked hard and wanted to do the best job I could and give the best customer experience possible, but now rather than it being something I just had to do, it's now something I love to do.
This blog was written by Sonya Claire, Customer Service Advisor at IMP