October 1995 is when Cheryl Haines joined JET PRESS. She is now at the heart of the Marketing Department, but she joined us way back then as a receptionist.
“I was working at Barker Insurance Brokers in Sutton for 5 years when I saw the advert for a receptionist at JET PRESS and thought I could do that. No one shouting at me because their claim is taking a while to be settled or their premiums have gone up.
I thought being a receptionist would be a piece of cake. But the type of switchboard we had meant that most of the time I had 4 or 5 people on hold whilst talking to another customer. I had to keep a note of who was on line 1, 2 etc. and remember to cross them off and put the correct customer when they rang in. On top of this only being a “young un” I didn’t have a clue what towns were in which county so I had to learn about towns and counties. This serves me well now when I’m doing a quiz and a county question comes up.”
Cheryl knew from the very start that she had made the right choice.
“My first day was great, I was working with some lovely people who I’m still friends with 25 years later. JET PRESS seemed a great company they took me out for lunch to welcome me to the company which was a nice gesture. When it was reception and Admin ladies birthdays Ian used to give us a bit of money to treat ourselves to a drink, what manager does that! I was 21 and could borrow Ian’s company car a Subaru, I was in my element.”
A lot has changed during the time Cheryl has been with us. She started as a receptionist then progressed through the Admin Department until she joined the Marketing Department in 2007. But some things are just the same.
“A memory from the early days that I will never forget is Diane Gill always correcting me on how I pronounced the letter H. To this day nothing has changed.”
We all look forward to Cheryl working with us for many more years to come.