I often get asked by family and friends what I do here at ACS. My reply is a receptionist and a jack of a few trades. I like what I do here; it’s a challenging role, and there are a wide range of interesting people that I get to have a chat to and meet.
Sometimes I feel like they are family, as they do express their feeling and thoughts to me often. A lot of clients make me laugh. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me saying; Cheryl Strangways always teases me. If I’m slow to answering the phone, she cracks me up with laughter, and we have a good banter.
Then there is David Ralph who keeps me in line and tells me how many more days I have to get my Christmas shopping done, and of late, he has scared me into how many there are left! I need to get my socks on. He is a champ.
I recognise a lot of the phone numbers too. I get to speak to Frances Chantrill, and just by seeing the first three numbers I know who it is, and I know she will probably like to have a chat to the Transport team.
There are many recognisable voices to me, Henry Love in particular. He just needs to say “hi Mary,” and I say “hi Henry.” Recently at the NAIDOC lunch I was ticking off the list of people who entered, he came up to me and said “hi, I’m Henry.” I immediately looked up, and I said “not the Henry Love?” and it was a delight to put a face to the voice.
Some Elders know me as the Eucalyptus lady. Since COVID, I must confess that I use Eucalyptus to the extreme at times. I do like to keep things clean, neat and tidy.
Christmas time is a time where I get to say hello in person to clients. It’s a wonderful time, when we all gather to celebrate. Everyone loves it, and why wouldn’t you? It’s amazing to see the delight in our community’s faces, some don’t get to see their friends too often, but this is the time of year when they put on their party frocks, do their hair, and catch up! They have a good yarn and eat some of the tastiest dishes.
Personally, this Christmas it is my turn to host it at my home with all my family and my husband’s family too. Probably around 20 of us gather in the evening after everyone has caught up during the day, and we have a Chris Kringle, and give presents to the young grandkids. We have 5 in the family now, and they make me laugh so much. They get so excited and overwhelmed. We also get to have a sing along. My brothers play guitars, and piano, and are very musical. I get to sing some tunes and harmonise with them.
My husband has been decorating out front for the last 20 odd years with Christmas lights. We also collected for Starlight Foundation, and kids with cancer. We have the whole neighborhood coming by! It’s a good time to catch up with them too, as our neighbours have become – as they say – good friends.
Wishing everyone the bestest (as my daughter would say) Christmas ever!
