good deeding

so, for the past few years the company I work for has offered the services of the call centre floor as well as a bunch of staff and their family and friends as phone operators for sports and comic relief. last year i was new at work and scared and did not know anyone and so didn't play along. this year, i am definitely not new, still a bit scared but made "team captain" by the powers that be so was more than willing to chip in some time in lieu of money and take some calls for charity.

what an amazing turn out. minus a few poor i.t. boys running around like headless chooks and a few dodgy phone lines, the night looked to have been an amazing success with loads of food and drinks donated and discounted, hoards of supportive friends and family willing to give up their time in the name of a worthy cause, and better still, the constant flow of generous donations called through to us in support of sports relief. In the 3 hours I spent on the phone, i took £500 in donations from a range of people including the elderly, the unemployed and even the hard of hearing (fun on the phone). by the time boyfriend and i left work at 10pm we had raised just under £20,000 as a company with the total tally in the £4 million+..

i've never really been involved in a way like that in the past, and although I do donate to charity from time to time and (only very recently) have a standing order with cancer research u.k., this type of involvement kind of makes my heart happy. is nice to see people still do genuinely care enough about each other and our world to want to contribute their hard earned money or precious time for such a great cause. i'm really glad i took part, cos i genuinely got a kick out of finishing every call with "thanks so much for your donation" rather than "please stop yelling at me sir, and i'll see if i can help".

maybe i'm in the wrong job. food for thought.

erica x