It’s our Financial Controller Sarah’s 16 year anniversary with us! A whole 16 years with the Essential team – Sarah is one of the longest serving members of staff at Essential, joining us in 2007 after we were founded in 2006. Sarah is such a lovely person to work with and supports the whole of the branch network within her role, here’s some random questions we asked Sarah so you can get to know her even more…
1: You’re offered the position of mayor of your city, what’s the first 3 rules / introductions that you will implement?
1st rule would be to treat people how you would want to be treated, hopefully this would lead to a more peaceful and respectable place to live and people would be happier. I would want people to help each other where they can and make sure that no one is going without at least the basics.
2nd rule would be to make things as environmentally friendly as possible, managing emissions, recycling as much as possible, planting trees and flowers, putting solar panels on as many buildings as we could.
3rd rule would be for everywhere to be as dog-friendly as it could be, plenty of green spaces and activities for them, and don’t forget the pubs.
2: Pick a fictional character or real person that you would love to have a 7 day camping retreat with – No phones, internet or access to the outside world…
Steve Backshall, his enthusiasm for nature is amazing, he’d be able to show me how to look for all the animals in the area and which food was safe to eat. I’ve already met him in real life when I took my niece to one of his shows and he’s such a lovely person, he would have lots to talk about from all of his adventures and could arrange activities such as kayaking, hiking and climbing. From watching Deadly 60 I know that he would be prepared to evict any 8-legged critters that dare come into the tent, so I wouldn’t need to worry about that.
3: Whilst working on the company finances, you have to pick 3 celebrities/fictional characters to help you, which 3 would you choose and how would they help?
This was a really tricky one as I’m not that great at delegating or sharing my workload so deciding who would do what is difficult.
Rachel Riley, she’s super-smart so could help if I get stuck on any of the maths, she could also bring her husband Pasha.
Pasha Kovalev, (with Rachel Riley) so he could teach me how to dance in my lunchbreak.
Ben Barnes, he’s very easy on the eye but can also play piano and guitar so I could switch the radio off and have live music played for me instead. I’m sure he can make a decent brew too.
4: What social experiment would you love to try the most?
Well, since I’m super-old, I can remember a time before mobile phones, no really, I can!!! It was a simpler time and you had to put faith in people being where they said they were going to be at a certain time, as there was no way to check up on them I think it would be interesting to try going back to that, rather than everyone being glued to their smart phones all the time. People used to have conversations in pubs instead of staring at tiny screens and not talking to each other, or even if they do speak to each other it’s about something they’ve just seen on their phones. I know it’s nice and handy having a wealth of information at your fingertips 24/7 but I feel we’re missing out on actual social interaction.
5: It’s your 16th year of course. If you could tell brand new starter Sarah anything back then when she started, or any advice from 16 year anniversary Sarah, what would you say to her?
As most people know, I’m not always the best person when it comes to coping with change or embracing new ways of doing things, but I would have to tell myself that sometimes change is good and beneficial. It’s not always scary and most of the time it’s really helped our department and the company as a whole when we have made adjustments to how we process things. I’d say it’s really interesting seeing the company grow, when I first started, Mansfield and Ripley were already established and the Chesterfield branch was just opening, since then branches have come and gone but we have solid roots in the branches that have stood the test of time. I’d also say try not to doubt yourself as much, have a bit more confidence in what you’re doing and remember that there’s always someone there to help if you need it.
