Funny Stories: The office
If you have read my introduction page, thanks very much; at least you know a little bit about me. I haven't always been a salesman, a long time ago I used to work in a call centre.
It was just one of those things that happens, I had just moved to Manchester and needed any job I could get my hands on to ensure I stayed in the area. I looked at jobs mainly in fashion stores, hoping my long hair and Czech fashion sense would win over the managers of boutique stores, but I had no success in this field whatsoever. I joined an agency as a last resort and they offered me two interviews, one was to be a packer in a tissue factory or work in a call centre that handled surveys on behalf of other clients. I went along to the Manchester serviced offices for my interview not expecting too much to happen career wise, but I hoped to nail this job instead of packing tissues. I rolled into reception and introduced myself, I was then put into a room with a green screen and a camera. I sat patiently for 20 minutes as the anxiety built up in my body. A man came in and was courteous but I have to say he had the limpest handshake I have ever encountered, he then asked me to stand up straight on the green screen and asked me questions. These questions were so bizarre they surrounded around my opinion on the local area and how we could report news better directly. He then asked me to do the "acid test" I squirmed as I had no idea what this phrase meant back then, he put on the camera and asked me to do what I normally do. So I just recalled my story of moving from Czech Republic to a Manhattan office suite, then to England. He was baffled asking why I wasn't doing my usual reporting style. Then the penny dropped, I had turned up at Manchester Evening News who were trailing new presenters, one who happened to be called Marek. I laugh about it now but my word this caused me some stress at the time!