Ode to Reception
Jul3120088:22 a.m.
Ode to Reception
On the penultimate day at this reception job I feel the need to pay homage to my position at CapGemini Australia.
I was only supposed to be here for 4 days after being called in via a temping agency to cover for someone but circumstances changed and my employment extended to 2 months.
I've never worked as a receptionist before and I have come to realise that it's actually a very powerful position 
within the company. I worked out that if you were deviously inclined you could manipulate this power and cause the demise of the entire business: intercepting mail; spreading deadly rumours; tampering with the expenses; circulating an airborne virus sealed within the international post…….
within the company. I worked out that if you were deviously inclined you could manipulate this power and cause the demise of the entire business: intercepting mail; spreading deadly rumours; tampering with the expenses; circulating an airborne virus sealed within the international post…….
I've noticed that the receptionist has a lot of control and a lot of people rely on you. You are exposed to a large part of the running of the business, from building management to couriering vital documents. You're the immediate impression a client has on the company when they walk into the office and the first person they speak to on the phone.
It was lucky for me that the company I landed was an extremely pleasant one with friendly faces and banter banding about like a ball in a squash court.
It wasn't the job itself, if you look at the actual tasks I had to fulfil like manning the phone, smiling a lot, franking the post, it doesn't seem overly enthralling but reception is a fascinating place to be.
The receptionist is privy to small talk between colleagues whilst they wait for the lift; the nerves of the girl coming in for an interview; the frustration of the delivery man fed up with serving the corporate world and the small habitual curiosities of all the characters that pass through reception on a daily basis.
Along with the people watching, the laughs and being the beholder of such power, the location of the CapGemini office was ideal; right in the heart of the central business district where I could step out in my lunch hour and observe the unravelling of the working day.
I witnessed the hysteria when the Apple store opened and the hoards of Catholic pilgrims walking through the streets when the Pope came to town and yesterday whilst looking out of the board room window I watched police talking a suicidal man out of jumping off a building and then his mangled body when he threw himself off it anyway.
Some good, some bad, but all interesting experiences that this stint at CapGemini has provided me with.
So this blog is a little thank you to everyone here in the Sydney office. Everyone has made my stay very entertaining in their own little ways and I will have fond memories of this job.
Cheers. L. x
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