I am a receptionist. I took this job because I wanted structure and rhythm in my life without having to take work home with me.
I ditched the previous day job I had held, thinking it would inspire me to write full-time.
It didn’t – and yet, here’s the funny thing. Never have I learnt as much – and been as inspired – as I have since I sat on a chair, in a fixed position, behind a reception desk.
It is a barrier that separates my world from the other world that I am more than willing to write about. There’s no magic to it: without a full-time job my head was filled with nothing more than lethargic despair.
“And why do you want to work as a receptionist?”
The interviewers were not convinced. It took an insider’s connection to pry the door open. In the eyes of the interviewer I am viewed as a UAE national, well- versed in English, with a US degree.
I came across as an odd-ball in stripes: “You see, most people fail to see the real value of a receptionist. A receptionist is more than just answering phone-calls, a receptionist’s responsibility is to...receive people.”
I said the latter with wide eyes and a deep voice of appreciation for the role. I even used my hands to accentuate the event of “receiving people” and cast a hypnotic trance on my interviewer. It worked.
“You’re American,” an Emirati colleague said to me at work, another receptionist. I froze. She responded with words closer to reason: “You’re practical.”
Was she also inferring that Emiratis are, impractical? Is this true? Would another Emirati with the same qualifications accept a post as a receptionist?
In the film Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett plays an American socialite who lost her wealth and works as a dental receptionist. She talks about going from “hosting dinner parties with friends to measuring their shoe size” as she collapses towards a nervous breakdown.
Different cultures carry different conditions that shape our experiences.
The American population has shaped a strong cultural identity that drives their work ethic, and if we pay closer attention to Blanchett’s role, she plays a person who starts from the top and hits rock bottom overnight.
I have struggled with my social standards at work, even when the choice was absolutely mine.
The oppression I felt was cultural not financial. I struggled for the first few days with clearly stating my job as a receptionist to family and friends, and even to colleagues I met at work.
I feared getting picked on. I was paranoid at the mere thought of bumping into a highly competitive former friend, who would thrive at the image of seeing me answer phones at the front desk. I bumped into her sister. I struggled, with a phobia of some sort, it took much focus to pull myself together and persist.
Our culture is a representation of our job title and payscale reflected through our fashion for Tiffany earrings, Chanel handbags or the drive and engine of a BMW.
I made a unique choice I can call my own and this is by no means self-congratulatory talk. The point is, dear readers, choices, good choices make a good receptionist.
Bad choices, however, make a very good receptionist – there’s more to experience when you least expect it.
Sara Al Nuaimi is an avid supporter of the UAE’s empowerment of women