Stuck in a Lift with… Grace Stanford, Customer Service Team Leader

Techbuyer was ‘graced’ with her presence after she was poached from M&S. She soon became the only person to EVER fail the Techbuyer initiation (not as street as it sounds) and has since processed 14,996 orders. Have a read of our light-hearted interview with Customer Service Team Leader, Grace Stanford.

Where did you grow up? I’ve lived in Alwoodley, Leeds all my life.

What's your first memory? When I was younger and stayed with my grandparents, my granddad and I would always get up early and put on River Dance. I got so obsessed with it I learnt the WHOLE dance routine – I must have given my grandad a great deal of amusement.

What are your primary roles at Techbuyer? I handle incoming customer calls and email enquiries and process sales orders. We’re getting over 1,000 orders a week at the moment so I’m a busy bee!

What did you want to be when you grew up? Well, two things really: I wanted to be a vet but I also used to really want to work on the tills in a shop... I loved them for some reason. I guess I’m still processing sales now but without the satisfying *BEEP*.

Favourite memory at Techbuyer? Having a golfing tournament on the sales floor after work one evening and beating most of the boys!

How long have you been at Techbuyer and where did you work previously? Just over a year and a half now – and it’s flown by!! I used to work at M&S up the road where I was scouted for Techbuyer after getting chatting to Anna, a Techbuyer director. She invited me for an interview and the rest is history… In between M&S and Techbuyer, I also went travelling around America for two months where I held an alligator called Fluffy and swam with dolphins.

What were your first impressions of Techbuyer?! I’d never worked in an office before and presumed they were boring… but not this one! There’s a tradition on your first day to make up your office chair as quickly as possible. I didn’t manage to get one of the chair's arms on so I am officially the only person who never completed the initiation. I have an embarrassing ‘did not finish’ next to my name on the wall. I call it my open plan chair…

Tell us something we don't know about you... I broke my shoulder when I was about 13 years old falling off a horse. A pigeon spooked it so it shot off in all sorts of directions and I couldn’t hold on any longer. Looking back, I must have looked dramatic. Also, I used to be partial to a bit of karaoke until a holiday in Greece resulted in me singing a song from the film Grease with a random woman and a broken microphone… I haven’t sung since.

 More from the Stuck in the Lift series…

Stuck in the Lift with… Ellie Puddephatt, Sales Executive

Stuck in the Lift with… Rory Henshelwood, Goods In Team Leader

Stuck in the Lift with… Chris Pooley, APAC Sales Director