Introducing Tom Glassey
I joined the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1992 after training as a
telephonist at Loughborough College. 

I wanted to do more than simply process calls and thread them through 
the banks' system like a conveyer belt. I have always been interested 
in telephone systems and how they worked. However, I was much more 
interested in the methods employed by telephonists. I didn't 
want to operate the banks’ switchboard in a parrot like fashion. I began by
tearing up the banks' script and starting afresh. I wanted to make it a
pleasant experience to phone the bank. It’s not a question of what you 
say, but how you say it! There is no point in saying "good morning" to someone
unless you actually mean it. I have never understood why people behave
differently on the telephone than they do when meeting face to face.

Talking to someone on the telephone 3,000 miles away should be no 
different than chatting to someone across the table. A telephone is simply 
a device that enables you to talk to somebody at any time, 
wherever they maybe.

People often remark that I have a good telephone voice. That is not so. I
have a voice, and it is the same voice they will hear in the pub, the
office, or on the telephone. My style became popular with the Banks'
customers and on many occasions I received calls from customers who didn't
require anything more than a friendly chat.

In the year 2000,  the bank decided to relocate its telephone team to
Jersey. This meant that my workload suddenly plummeted from 1000 calls a
day to less than 100. I found myself with lots of time between calls and
used this time to write a best selling autobiography “Who's Afraid of the
Dark”. The book sold out quickly and went to a reprint. It was also
serialised on Manx Radio. I knew it would only be a matter of time before
the bank no longer needed a switchboard and once the need for a fulltime
telephonist had gone, there really was no meaningful job in the bank I
could do. So in 2002 on the best of terms I took early retirement and with
the banks' best wishes, I set up Island Office Minder.

All our phones have visual display that enables our telephonists to
identify the company that is diverting to us before answering the phone. 
My biggest headache in setting up my business was finding a telephone system
that would display the information both in Braille and electronic speech
for me to use. With the help of the DTI and the Royal National Institute
for the Blind, we eventually located a company based in Birmingham called
Integral Communications, who eventually solved the problem by attaching 
a Braille display to a computer which was combined with electronic speech
software. I was back in business this time as head telephonist of my 
own company, Island Office Minder.


Setting up Island Office Minder is one of the best things I have done. I 
am now back on the switchboard once again and I have absolutely no intention
of relocating to Jersey, India or Timbuktu.


With support from wife Barbara and a small team of dedicated Assistants,
Island office Minder is continuing to grow from strength to strength.