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by Charlie

lie… in

A lie-in could be taken in several different meanings when your a rep. The little white lies we tell to get through the day and a decent lie-in would be amazing.

I would love to sometimes not have to listen to the most annoying alarm in the world and just hide under the duvet.. no chance in this line of work. We are there for you 24/7. It actually amazes me how much the travellers of the world ever manage to leave the UK without a representative at all because as soon as some of them reach a resort they cannot do anything or think for themselves. This is quite scary. We are NOT your mothers and fathers!

I think i can universally hand on heart say that each and everyone of us have told white lies to get ourselves out of doing something or hidden the truth to cover our own backsides.

I feel like this morning – i feel like curling back up in my bed (with an amazing book i am reading at this moment) and pretending the reason why i couldnt get to each hotel is because my other hotel had problems. Such is the dream of my reality. This will never happen.

It’s airport day today, the joys of saying goodbye (some i hope never to see again-they were that rude) and the joys of welcoming a high expectation and shattering that illusion.

Don’t get me wrong i do love my job just sometimes, well sometimes i wish i we’re a millionaire!

My worst lie i have ever told in this job was to my manager when she asked me honestly if i had been out the night before “no, i was tucked up in bed” translated – i was dancing on the bar until the wee hours making a right spektical of myself i’m sure M remembers this night because he fell off said bar and broke his wrist. I denied until i was blue in the face that i had been a part of this, “no, i went home as soon as you left” wrong answer to have given really as my guests the next day complained that i clearly had a wine problem (not my fault i had only gotten home 3 hours before i had to start work) as i smelt of wine, and then the pictures appeared online. Good old facebook who i have stayed true to and royally screwed me over, or was that SB? Lesson learnt from that episode – 1. spray perfume on your neck tie. 2. get in four hours before your due to work. 3. wait a couple of days before putting pictures up.

Ahh the good times of a night out and having to deny that you were the one seen crawling home – with me it normally was SB who had to deny these accusations, but there were a few that i can hold my hand up to!

by Charlie

Life changes.. For the best

I remember the phonecall that would lead on to change the rest of my life. Rewind back to April 13 2009 and you will have the day that has led to me becoming the person i am today.

T “how do you feel about being a rep?” the reply i found myself saying (which i regretted at the time) “why not? – when do i start” T replies in a voice so calm “tomorrow”

Back to the present day i am now in my fourth year and 6th season and all i can say is baby it has been a bumpy ride but i have loved every minute of it, even the low points (i’ve had a few). I’ve realised a few important things about myself; 1. Three glasses of wine becomes my descion point of whether i’m going to stay out. 2. five glasses of wine my morals disappear out the window and i disregard anything in my pathway. 3. you win some and you loose some (friends). 4. No matter what i do my family always support me…..

That very first terrifying moment you have to stand up infront of your collegues – this happens alot with being a rep.. you litterally feel that the world is going to end. You know that they know if you mess up. The stutter starts you start to sweat and then you realise your five minutes into your speech and the world is still spinnng around you and that you can do this.

My first week as a rep consisted of alot of paperwork, how rude that my guests should complain about every little detail – thanks for the warning T. That they would get ill whilst on holiday – how dare they. It was almost as if i had this attitude of them interferring with my dream of this job. After that first week i wondered three things. 1. This isn’t what i signed up for. 2. what possesed you to do this. 3. how long did you have to work your notice.

Oh how the tears ran whilst on the phone to my mother screaming at her that this was all her fault – no matter how old i’ve gotten and how long i have been doing this job now i still find on a monthly basis to blame her for convincing me to do this. What i also do is say Thankyou because without her encouragemant i would be stuck in the UK in THAT relationship without being able to escape.

I moved to Crete in 2009 with my “boyfriend” by this point we had already started our rut and this was our way of staying strong and proving to all those doubters that we could do this – i should of listened to those doubters because, lets face it they were right. The thing was i truly believed at that point Crete would save us and it would be the two of us forever, he was my everything & in my eyes my one.

Introduce a lifestyle of a holiday rep to me and add in the equation of a non holiday rep (him) and you know it’s going to be explosive. There was a whole new world for me to go out and explore, new friends and party lifestyle i had put on the back burner because the patner liked to have a drink (alot) nd you always had to be the sober one to ensure he didn’t kick off (once again this happened alot). I found freedom and a brilliant new best friend – still to this day we have memories and a love for each other that i know will be with me for the rest of my life – she no longer works as a rep, to be fair she lasted 3 seasons but she goes wherever i go there isnt a week where we do not speak.

When you become a rep you need to be able to balance your social life and your work life. Translated this means know the days you are able to have a hangover. I would just like to point out that don’t ever do this on a airport shift it is hell on earth only took me 6 occassions to work this one out and a really bad delay that ended the dream of “i’m hardcore”