GEOFF HAMMOND, manager of the Big Yellow Self Storage store, in Edge Lane, Liverpool, began working for the company back in January.
Here, the 35-year-old, who lives in Meols with wife, Lesley, and two children, George and Charlie, talks LDP Business through his working day.
6.30am:I’m usually woken up by our sons, Charlie, two, and George, five months. George is still having his night feeds so it’s a while since I’ve had an unbroken night’s sleep. There’s no game plan to getting the kids ready of a morning – you just do what you can, when you can.
7.20am:After helping Lesley get the children ready, I set off to work at our Big Yellow Self Storage store in Edge Lane. The drive takes about 25 minutes and I listen to the radio en route.
7.45am:I arrive at work in time to prepare the store for opening at 8am. People who have stored their belongings with us are allowed to come in at any time of day or night, so I have to check that everywhere is spick and span before opening.
8am:Our doors open and we get cracking on the morning’s tasks. Top of the list is helping people to move in. We need to check their ID, get proof of address and ask them to sign a contract before they move in their possessions. We also have to call people who have left phone or internet messages saying they’re interested in using our services. Because of where we’re located, we get a lot of students storing their stuff with us over the holidays, a similar percentage of house moves and the rest is made up by business customers.
1pm:I manage to stop for a half-hour lunch break. We’re a team of only three and we have 60,000 sq ft of floorspace to cover so I stay on site for lunch.
1.30pm:After a brief lunch I get on with the afternoon’s tasks. I check all the facilities, including testing the fire alarms and emergency phones. I’ve also got 32 CCTV cameras to check over – security is very important when we’re looking after people’s belongings. Working at Big Yellow is certainly a change from my previous jobs. I was a store manager for Game and Aldi before I started working in casinos on board cruise ships. In retail, it was all about just getting people through the doors, but at Big Yellow, I actually have time to talk to the customers.
5pm:It’s been a fairly quiet day, but then we suddenly get a rush. One John Moores student wants to move some stuff in and there’s a gentleman moving house and needs to store some possessions. There’s also a woman who has today moved up from Northampton to Liverpool and she needs to store her belongings while she’s in rented accommodation.
7.30pm:We close at 6pm, but because of that final rush we don’t get finished until 7.30pm tonight. I drive straight home to do my part-time job – being dad. Charlie’s mad on trains so we take a trip round the Liverpool loop before he’ll settle down to sleep. I have something to eat with Lesley before bedding down at 10.30pm.
