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In these days of automated phone-answering systems, the importance of a good receptionist seems all too easy to overlook. More than just a pleasant voice on the line, the receptionist is the gateway to an organization, giving outsiders their first impressions. The manner in which calls are fielded and directed and the way in which visitors are greeted can say as much about a company as any top manager. And, while executives can sometimes separate themselves from the pulse of the office, the receptionist must always be ready to set the appropriate tone.
A formidable task at any organization, but especially so at Cotton Incorporated World Headquarters in Cary, NC, with its myriad of activities and services. But receptionist Joelle Collins takes it all in stride, with an empathetic demeanor. Beyond her engaging manner and temperament, Collins has developed a thorough understanding of the complex workings of Cotton Incorporated during her two years with the company. This is essential in handling the 100 to 120 calls she answers on the average day.
"The variety of calls I receive is what keeps this job interesting for me," says Collins. "A lot of callers want to know what it is we do here," she reports. "So I will give them a little background about Cotton Incorporated. There are also, of course, calls for specific people," Collins adds, "but many callers will pose a question or a problem, and it's my job to make sure they get to speak to the person here who can help them."
Among the most challenging calls for Collins are from those in the industry seeking technical information, especially if they are troubleshooting a particular problem.
"If the phone is very busy and I really need to expedite the call, I'll pass it along to Lee Snyder in Technical Services," she explains. "But if the switchboard's not too busy, I can usually figure out who should get the call.
"The questions can get fairly specific," she observes. "For example, I've had callers ask about things like oil contamination of fiber during processing and whether they can still spin it into yarn. That's a question for David Clapp or someone in the Fiber Processing area. Questions concerning the flame retardancy of cotton are also very common," Collins reports. "Say those words and your referred to Bill Rearick or someone else in Textile Chemistry. I'm also asked what mills produce certain fabrics, which is either a call for the Cottonworks® Fabric Library in New York, or the Fabric Development people here." Collins also gets calls from manufacturers looking to put the Seal of Cotton on their products, which go to the marketing department.
Collins also fields her share of calls that might seem a bit unorthodox. There's the grandmother who wanted a book about cotton for her grandchildren; the unhappy consumer complaining that her bottle of Tide detergent, which carries the Seal of Cotton, was half empty off the store shelf; and the TV viewer who enjoys the "Fabric of Our Lives" commercials, especially when seniors are recognized as important consumers.
Students also call with research questions. "One of the most interesting was from a student who wanted to know how long it would take for a cotton T-shirt to decompose in a landfill," Collins recalls. "Being that 'T-shirt decomposition' is not listed in my handy Call Reference Guide, I was left to really use my noggin! Consequently, both Dr. Gay Jividen, Senior Director, Agricultural Research, and Dr. John Turner, Senior
Chemist, spoke with her and both had interesting overlapping information. In a nutshell, the decomposition rate of the cotton T-shirt was dependent on both temperature, moisture, and bacterial content."
Quite a contrast to the situation at Cotton Incorporated's Consumer Marketing office in New York, where receptionist Victoria Bryant answers about 60 calls a day. "If I'm not connecting callers to the specific people they ask for, I'm usually giving the dates of upcoming events and forecasts," says Bryant, who joined Cotton Incorporated about two years ago.
"People have asked me who makes our commercials," she reports, "and I'll also get the occasional technical question -- for instance, several callers have asked about cotton gins and how they work. Then I'll use the call reference list and transfer them to Cary."
Both women receive their share of visitors. Collins greets about 20 people every day, from CEO's of major companies to the guy who services the water coolers. And that's not including groups of various sizes arriving for tours of the facility. Bryant says she's even welcomed "a few people from the industry that just happened to be walking by looking for information about cotton and using the Seal of Cotton."
Add this to numerous administrative tasks, and a receptionist's day can be a hectic one. "One minute it can be totally calm," Collins related, "then all of a sudden, there will be a hundred things that need to get done at once."
To help vent the occasional pressures, Collins likes to read and plans to begin work toward an MA in liberal arts. She has also become the office guru on all kinds of home crafts and brews a mean batch of beer. Bryant enjoys working with youth as a community volunteer.
More than anything, both clearly like people. As Collins puts it, "I often seem to fall into jobs where I'm on the front lines, dealing with diverse personalities. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing that I might have helped someone's day go a little bit better."
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