A Day In The Life: Mel Baker – Doors & Floors Assistant
March 8, 2023 | News | By Dalen Vile
As part of National Careers Week, we have interviewed a variety of our staff to hear what a day in their role consists of. Here’s what Mel our Doors & Floors Assistant had to say:
How does your day start?
Coffee is my priority when I wake up and turn on the radio. Without it I can’t function properly. Luckily my dog is not an ‘early bird’ who insists on a walk every morning. She’s a Romanian rescue dog who is half-wolf and half-retriever and not good at getting up so she gets taken out every evening instead by my fiancé or my daughter who has just turned 17.
I get into work about 0715 although my day officially starts at 0800. I work in Doors, Floors & Ironmongery and if we’ve just had a delivery, my first job of the day (after getting a coffee) is to put all the new stock away. On other days, I will look at the paper work, phone customers and locate stock. Some days I will do the cleaning. I hate dust so always try to keep my area spick and span. Every day is different.
What is the best aspect of your job.
I love the banter we have. I have some great colleagues and we work hard but have fun too. We laugh a lot. I’m quite a chatty person so I like meeting the customers and solving their problems by finding the best products for them.
We have regular training and reps from different companies come over and update us on everything. That is a big help as its great knowing the advice I give customers is right up to date. I used to be a painter and decorator and sometimes help out in the paint section so I get training for that as well. I like the variety.
What is your biggest challenge?
For me it’s the lifting side. Some of these doors are solid and very heavy so I have to get someone to give me hand with most of them. We get some big fire doors and I just can’t lift them but everyone is happy to help.
How does your working day finish?
At the end of each day I like to have a tidy up, make sure all the paper work is finished and I like to help other departments complete what they need to so they can go home.
What do you do after work?
If no one else is around I will walk the dog but I love to do the cooking! I hate doing the dishes and cleaning up after everyone but I love cooking. But, my favourite is a Chinese takeaway! I love it. I tried cooking Chinese food during lockdown and it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the same as the real thing unfortunately. But not Thai food. I hate that. It has to be Chinese.
Travelling is very expensive these days but we love having regular family trips away to Jersey normally a couple of times each year. We spend most of the time in the hotel pool or at McDonald’s. Maybe have the odd Chinese too!
