Sue Button - Visitor Centre Assistant

Age: 48

Lives: Faversham, Kent

Career: Sue grew up in Faversham and attended Lady Capel School for Girls, which was amalgamated into Abbey School. At the age of 16, she left school to work in the agriculture industry, learning her trade with local farmer David Simmons, before moving five years later to work in the agricultural division of Invicta Motors.

Aged 25, she transferred to retail, managing two greetings cards shops in Canterbury and Ashford, before having twins Abbie and Anton. She took a seven year career break, then returned to work at Faversham gift shop Obidosh, starting as a part-time assistant before being promoted to manager. After 10 years with the shop, she was made redundant in October 2012 when it closed, and joined Shepherd Neame in July 2013.

Favourite Shepherd Neame beer: India Pale Ale

Favourite non-Shepherd Neame beer: I would rather have a cup of tea!

What are your main responsibilities? I am based in the Visitor Centre shop, so my primary role is to serve customers, restock the shelves, organise the window displays and generally make sure that the shop is tidy. I am responsible for processing all the internet orders we receive, both the paperwork and packaging them ready for delivery. I also carry out stocktaking and ordering. In addition to my work in the shop, I also sometimes help out behind the bar when we have beer tastings in the Visitor Centre.

What does a typical day involve? I start at 9am, beginning by checking the emails and printing off internet sales from the night before. I then start processing the orders, before opening the shop at 10.30am. The rest of my day is dependent on how many internet sales I have to work through, as we aim to provide next day delivery, so I will keep working on putting the orders together in between serving customers. When I take my lunch break, my colleague, fellow Visitor Centre Assistant Joe Easter-Deed will step in to cover for me. The shop closes at 4.30pm, and I tidy up before finishing at 5pm.

What personal characteristics help you in your role? Being a good communicator, as the majority of the role is interacting with customers and providing excellent service. You also have to be organised, in order to ensure that the internet orders are fulfilled correctly while still attending to the shop and its customers.

What are the most rewarding parts of your job? Getting good feedback from customers. It is really lovely when they pop back in just to say hello.

What is tough about the job? Trying to keep on top of all the different elements of the role, particularly at Christmas when we have lots more customers in the shop and the number of internet orders trebles. But I find the key to keeping up with the pace is to plan your day well, and if I ever do get overwhelmed, there is always help available from the other Visitor Centre staff.