Thanks for chatting with us today. To start us off, can you tell us how long you have been with the company?

I have been with Walsworth for 26 years, and the whole time in Customer Service.

I started as a CSR and as time went on, I became a senior CSR, then supervisor. Brenda Search, the previous Customer Service Manager retired in January, and I was then promoted.

Officially, how long have you been manager of the Yearbook CSR group?

I have been the manager for around three months. I was supervisor for three years before that.

Do you remember how you got started at the company all those years ago?

I was working as a banker, and a close friend of mine came in and said there was an opening at Walsworth for a customer service rep. He told me if I was interested, he thought I’d be a good fit but that I needed to jump on it, because Walsworth rarely had any turnover in Customer Service.

I applied, and the rest is history.

Did you know when you started here that you were going to have a long career in customer service?

I’ve always been a people person. Not necessarily the answering phones kind of customer service, but I’ve always been drawn to people and interacting with them. I have always liked to be in the background, helping people be better.

I’ve never really had to work too hard to make this fit. It fits me.

Are there certain traits, or a certain kind of personality it takes to be successful in customer service?

The number one thing you need is empathy. I just feel that’s the part of humanity we all need.

When customers call us, they’re usually frustrated. They’re in a time crunch, and we have to be more than a phone support group. There’s so much more to it than that. We build relationships; we have to be able to relate to them. Everything makes sense when we care.

I think it just comes natural for our whole group. They’re all like that. That’s something we look for in the interview process. We’re always looking for that perfect fit because we don’t want to settle for someone who’s just going to answer the phone.

When customers come in here for a visit, they’re amazed at how much we know about them because we share our stories with one another. They not only have their CSR – they have a team. It’s a neat dynamic.

You recently faced an unusual circumstance with several retirements in the department all around the same time and rebuilding the group quickly. How did you get everyone up to speed quickly?

Once we made the hiring decisions, we had eight new CSRs out of 10, and two of them had only been here a year.

It takes a full year to train a new CSR. To train the six, I had a desk set up in the CSR area, and I worked every day with them. By getting in the trenches with them, I was able to train and help build a camaraderie.

I’m not a “stay in my office” kind of person. I want to be out there with them. We have 140 procedures that we follow, but you can’t just give them the procedures and let them go because every situation is different. Every customer is different; they’re all unique. It’s really, day by day, call by call.

And you changed the seating, or the openness of the setup, right?

After I became supervisor, the plan was to remodel Customer Service – it was time for new carpet and things like that.

As a CSR, I knew what it was like to sit in PODs with one group of four sitting over here and a group of three sitting over there. When you do that, it can start to get cliquey. You don’t know what everybody’s doing. It’s just kind of segregated – not intentionally, but that’s just what happens.

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to mix things up to build closeness and teamwork.

So now we have one big open square where everyone sits on the outside and we can all see each other. We affectionately refer to it as The Compound. And we also now have a CSR queue, so if someone calls one of the CSRs and they are on another call or away from their desk, it bounces to the queue and another CSR will always pick up the phone. We don’t ever want customers to feel like they’re a number and send them to voicemail.

I imagine you’ve seen a lot of yearbook technology changes over the years. What about the students? Have yearbook kids changed much during your career?

Early in my time here, nothing was digital. The yearbook kids used layout sheets, rulers, cropping tools and grease pencils. We received hundreds of submission boxes filled with their hand-drawn layout sheets, pages of typed copy and actual photographs. There were so many different departments in pre-press, we nearly needed a map to navigate our way around the plant.

Now, the students submit everything online or in PDF format. It’s just a whole different animal. The kids will call in, and they are so knowledgeable about the technology. It’s amazing how smart they are, and they pick things up so fast.

You’ve gotten a chance to guide and mold this new team, but do you miss being a CSR?

I do miss being a CSR. I still get to talk to customers and sales reps. They’ll call if they need something specific, but yes, I do miss it. I also miss traveling to workshops. I love meeting our advisers, so I get really excited when we have visitors with the Show-Me tour and plant visits.

But I also love leading this team and know it’s where I’m meant to be. And that’s why when they’re busy, I get in there and try to help them. I want to stay on top of things. I like being able to still work beside them because it keeps me up to date on everything.

Are you from the (Brookfield/Marceline) area?

I’m a southern California native. I was born and raised there, grew up there. My childhood home was Pomona. Then we moved to Chino, and I went to Don Lugo High School. SoCal is where I will always call home.

How did you make it to the Midwest?

My mother was originally from Marceline and my sister, and her family lived here. Every year, we would either fly out here to experience a white Christmas, or they would visit us for Christmas by the pool.  As the years passed, the crime rate in Southern California continued to increase. My dad took an early retirement, and we decided it was time for a quieter life. And I’m super glad we did. I love it here.

Can you tell us about your family?

My husband Terry and I have three children: Brittany, Sarah and Richard. Richard lives in St. Louis with his wife, Chelsea, and their two sons, Preston (4) and Miles (1). Both my daughters live here. Brittany’s a Computer Support Tech with Walsworth. My daughter Sarah has two sons, Gunnar (10) and Beau (4). That’s pretty much our life, consumed with little boys, and we’d have it no other way.

What’s it been like working with your daughter?

I love having her here. When we’re on the phone with customers, it doesn’t come up that we’re mother-daughter. But when customers visit, sometimes they look at us back and forth because we do look a lot alike. (laughs)

I’m so proud to see her in the position she’s in. Usually as a mom, you don’t see your child working. And I love hearing her on the phone with our customers and how creative she is to come up with answers and unique ways to help them. She’s doing an amazing job.

Other than your kids and grandkids, do you have other hobbies?

I love to cook, and I think if I didn’t do this, I probably would’ve been a chef.

I also love music. When I’m in the kitchen, there’s always music playing. We’re always listening to music and cooking at my house. That’s a big part of our family. I love to cook for people, the more the merrier.

Do you have a specialty in the kitchen?

Not necessarily. I cook authentic Mexican food quite a bit and enjoy cooking outdoors on the Blackstone and grill.

I’ve taken many cooking classes, including several in New Orleans. I like to try new things.

What’s one interesting thing about you that most people wouldn’t know?

My husband and I love going to concerts, and we’re huge Elton John fans. I’ve been to over 20 Elton John concerts, and my husband’s been to over 30.

Have you seen him in any particularly exotic locations or anything?

No, but we were at his 60^th birthday party in New York. He was playing in Madison Square Garden and the day before we were out on the Elton John party yacht with a bunch of other concert goers. It was really fun. And at the concert, we sat with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

With all the travels going to concerts, do you guys have a favorite vacation spot you’ve been to?

My husband always books a really good vacation for us on our anniversary. For our 10^th anniversary, we took helicopters into the Grand Canyon and had a champagne dinner. But I think the best one we ever did was for our 20^th anniversary, when we went to the Virgin Islands. We swam with sea lions, ate wonderful food, and just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful island.

OK, let’s go through the fun list of questions we fire out to everyone: Do you have a favorite book?

The Bible is my favorite. No matter what is going on, whether it’s been a good day or a bad day, I can go back and become grounded and refocus.

Do you have a favorite movie or TV show?

My favorite movies are Top Gun (and Maverick), Scent of a Woman and all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And then of course, Christmas Vacation. I have a signed poster in my office with Chevy Chase.

Do you have a favorite food or meal?

I love tacos! And although I’m not a big dessert person, I do have a favorite. Gordon Ramsay’s Sticky Toffee Pudding with Brown Butter Ice Cream is to die for! If you’re in Kansas City, it’s worth the trip to his restaurant in Harrah’s, if only for the dessert. And it’s not pudding at all, it’s an English sponge cake with warm toffee sauce.

If you had a personalized coffee mug, what would it say?

Actually, I do. One of my CSRs gave it to me and it’s perfect. It says, “Turns out, this IS my circus, and these ARE my monkeys.”

 

Do you have a favorite memory or particular accomplishment you’re most proud of from your career?

I do. It was being the recipient of the 2021 Nebraska High School Press Association Friend of Journalism Award. It was an incredible honor to know that everything I did as a CSR meant something. You know, these awards are presented and voted on by some of the best of the best in scholastic journalism and for them to see my contribution and support of journalism meant everything to me.

In customer service, we take our jobs to heart, and we build lasting relationships with each other, our reps, and our customers. It’s so much more than a job, and I am incredibly grateful.