The Musings of a merchandising sales girl... t-shirts, programmes, you know the kinda thing

Last week I spent two days at concerts. At one of those, I was a last minute guest, having scored a spare ticket from a friend. The other one, I worked at the event in a role that I had not done in about fifteen years. In the wake of the recent terror attacks, there was, for some, a sense of fear and concerns about safety. For me, I'd not felt safer with full credit going to venue security at both stadiums and the atmosphere immense showing the spirit of people carrying on.

The motivation for writing this is more a reflection on the gig that I worked at. I've always maintained that no matter what direction Portfolio People takes, I shall always maintain my own personal work portfolio. Let's be candid here, my main motivation for working this particular day was cash flow.

But what did I learn:

• I got to spend the day with two of my best friends - neither of whom were there to work for the money. Both to some extent because the opportunity was there, they were asked to help out and frankly we all got to hang out together and got paid for it, how cool is that?!
• It led to a conversation about future supplier relationships and ideas about another facet of my portfolio. Call it 'Del Boy' like, but once again an example of opportunities being everywhere.
• My two friends are quite senior in their respective day jobs. I continue to believe that it is healthy to be put in different environments and respect other's positions. Many people may have a work persona and a home persona, but putting yourself in environments that force you to hold a mirror up to yourself can only develop your self-awareness.
• There was something quite heart-warming spotting the kids that had developed some sort of financial responsibility like the ones who gave their parents a hug or a kiss for buying them something, or the ones who had clearly been given pocket money for the day and had to decide what they would and wouldn't buy with their given budgets or finally the ones that out and out said 'I'm not paying X for that!' - Made me chuckle

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Perhaps the most important takeaway - and constant for me, is the 'raw' customer facing aspect. In fifteen years, some things have changed....like how we take payments. But the things that matter haven't; banter with customers (which we now excel at!), the odd complainer, or chancer and the importance of manners. In a world where customer experience is a buzz word, maybe it's time for all those involved to get back to basics.  

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