I knew they were going to call me at some point the next day and couldn’t stop shaking and was terrible. I was at work when I got the call. I was really happy but they needed me to go on the course that Sunday (I think it was a Friday when they called me!) I spoke to my boss and she was fine with it!
That Sunday I boarded a train for a LONG journey to Blackpool.
I didn’t arrive until 8pm. I went to the resturaunt and met two girls. And they were the only ones there. After dinner we went into town for a few drinks. Where we bumped into the rest of the group!!! They were very drunk! WARNING: THOMAS COOK HAVE SPIES EVERYWHERE AND THEY KNEW EVERYTHING WE GOT UP TO! After a few more drinks some of us went back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep ready for the following morning!
The next morning we got a telling off!! Some of the group had been clubbing and invited people back to the hotel and had a party in the rooms! One was sacked on the spot and the other five people were given final written warnings!
WARNING: Ok you aren’t getting paid but the company are providing your meals transport costs and also a lot of time, money and effort into your training. You are an employee of the company so you need to treat it like work and behave! You have an opportunity to let your hair down on the final night!
After that little blip we got to work!
We had a presentation about what to expect and what was going to happen throughout the week. Sorry it may be a bit vague was over four years ago!! They go through reports, welcome meetings and how to deal with complaints!
They go over all of these over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We didn’t leave the hotel once and were up late every night with activities and preparing welcome meetings (in twos).
Thursday was the most horrific day! We were woken up at 4am with an emergency call. Most of us legged it down to reception to be told there was an emergency, we were sent into the car park to find a car registration and report back, make, model and colour of the car. Some people went to bed others stayed up chatting before getting an early breakfast and putting finishing touches to welcome meetings! At 9am it is welcome meetings where you have to do a full welcome meeting and deal with two customer service issues.
After lunch we were taken to the ball room where we were told we had three hours to put together a cabaret to perform at 8pm!!! After a quick discussion about what to do we split into groups to get organised! At 8 pm we put on our two and a half hour cabaret!!
After which they told us that we had all passed!!! We went out on the town and got slaughtered, trainers included! Mine got me hammered!!! Finally got to bed at 4am!!! So had been up for 24 hours!!! The next day we checked out and had our final presentation on how to look after yourselves and what to expect. Some of them shared personal experiences.
Then we had to sit in reception while we were called in one by one!
They tell you what you excel at and what you need to work on. They are also telling you where you are going! I was off to Cyprus!!!