The Job/Role

I described the company, Superior International Industries, aka Superior Recreational Products in my "My First Job" post, so I'm just going to get into the job description. This was a typical customer service type role. I would answer the phone, provide excellent service with a good attitude and helpful demeanor. When the phone wasn't ringing, I would enter orders. I really enjoyed putting in orders, being able to enter part numbers and tab through menus was oddly satisfying. After I was out of this role, I occasionally helped the team when overtime was needed to get orders in. I was only in this role for a few months, which was my intention and upper manager's too. There was a large project coming up that I was going to be a part of, so it was important to have a good understanding of the current process.

What I learned

I was originally terrified of the phone, knowing that the person on the other side had the potential of asking a question that I didn't know the answer to, or the fear of saying something I shouldn't. What I learned over a few weeks though was that customers were calling to get help, just because I didn't know the answer right away though didn't mean I couldn't help. I was being an internal advocate on the customer's behalf. I also learned how to make people feel heard, which is all some of them wanted, just to call and tell someone how they felt about a product. This helped me years later when I became the Quality Manager. I also learned skills and an understanding of the products that are specific to that company that I have never used again, but if you want to know the difference between a residential and commercial swing seat, I gotcha.