I first applied to volunteer with the Royal Voluntary Service on the 24th of June (this year) and was quickly accepted. Eager to start, I immediately finished all of my online training modules the next day, and so I got an email saying I would shortly hear from Volunteero about starting - great! Only I never heard from Volunteero. I got so confused that I started doing more online modules, as my app still said that I had to complete "Hospital Specific Training", so I thought I had missed something. I did this for a month, until I gave up and emailed the team who managed the online training. The Hospital Specific Training is done in person.
I was never made aware of this, so I started trying to contact them about how I never received a follow-up email, but I didn't know which email to contact. So I googled it! I emailed them, and very quickly got a response. We went back and forth until I discovered:
I had emailed the wrong RVS.
I could never have comprehended or fathomed that there could be two RVSs. I had contacted the Rushmore Voluntary Service rather than the Royal Voluntary Service. I'd never even heard of the former. I felt so bad for wasting that poor worker's time. So I tried contacting the RVS again through the app.
Coincidentally, this week, I started getting calls from unfamiliar numbers, so I ignored them and their voicemails! A week went by, and still, I heard nothing back. So I contacted them again. I received a phone call again from an unfamiliar number, and decided to be brave and answer. It was the RVS employees ringing me the whole time. I felt soo bad! I was so scared that they would hate me for it, but hopefully not...
I had just thought this shift would carry on similar to my taster session (where I was just using the coffee machine to serve drinks), but with the addition of working the till a bit, maybe. But I was wrong; I was using the till for practically the whole shift! I'm not complaining too much, though; it was a good experience to interact with customers. It was much busier than my taster session was - though my taster was in the coffee shop and I was in the café on Monday - but it just meant I had more of a chance to gain experience! I think the most popular coffee out there must be a cappuccino, because I feel as though that's the one coffee I'm constantly making! I also made my first ever caramel iced latte. I've never had one before and had no idea what went into them, but it was actually really easy to make, and I also made my first two smoothies - one was blueberry with some other fruit, and the other was mango, passion fruit, and some other stuff. Not my cup of tea, but it didn't look too horrid, and it gave me a chance to use the blender.
My least favourite task was restocking. I enjoyed restocking the drinks as I could easily spy them, but as soon as I had to start looking in boxes for things, my life was a horror.
At one point, I was asked if I could bring back some 12oz cups. I had no idea what size that was, but thought I remembered seeing somewhere that they were the size of small cups - luckily, I knew where they were as I had a look for decaf coffee beans in the storage cupboard earlier, so I knew which box they were in! They were sooo heavy, so I struggled to load them onto my little trolley when I had the thought to ring and check the size small were the 12oz cups. I'd rather ring and ask than manoeuvre the trolley all the way there, and have to take it back if I was wrong - it's a pain to move for reasons unknown to me; maybe I'm the problem? Anyways, the 12oz cups were NOT the small ones; they were regular. So I moved another heavy box, trying to turn it to see what size they were. Wrong size again. They were 18oz cups. My back was in AGONY at this point, but I was determined to find them. I saw a box that was slightly open on the side, but it had other boxes on top. So I had a feel of the open gap, and it felt like bags of stacked cups. "Hallelujah!" I thought. I was wrong. I moved the boxes off the top, which were only a little bit heavy, and moved this heavy box onto the trolley where I could have a look in. It was plates. I put everything back, and with my back feeling as though I snapped my spine from heaving those heavy boxes around, I headed back to the café with my tail between my legs to let them know I couldn't find the 12oz cups. Thankfully, I wasn't being stupid; a senior staff member went to have a look, and they were mistaken, and the 12oz cups were only in the downstairs storage. Easy mistake; at least the storage room hasn't killed me! Yet.
The end of my shift was quite easy, in all honesty. I spent a lot of it chatting with the other volunteer who was there - she came up from the coffee shop - and then I helped to tidy up the café and seating area when most people had left. I also took advantage of my free hot drink! I obviously had to get a hot chocolate as, unfortunately, I'm not a massive hot drink lover, and I only like hot chocolate. I used a pan and brush, but for the first time, I used a brush that was longer than, like, 15 cm- it was weird to use compared to the little hand ones, so I wouldn't say I'm fully used to it yet. I'm lucky enough to be on the 'closing shift', so I was able to take home food which would otherwise be thrown away! Every day I prevent food waste is a good day.
Everyone I've met at the RVS so far is lovely! I really like my boss; she's really kind considering how many stupid mistakes I make, which makes me feel much better about it - I think this is really helping to boost my confidence for the workplace. I also spoke to her about the fact I'd be going to university, and sort of asked if I could be a 'seasonal' volunteer, where I only come in when I have holidays (since they aren't open on weekends), and she said yes! So I was very pleased with that.
I would definitely recommend anyone looking to gain experience to volunteer with the Royal Voluntary Service! There are a lot more roles than just Retail Café Volunteer - which is one I eyed up since I already volunteer in a charity shop, and hopefully it will give me some experience I can use when applying to coffee shop jobs and such! I think it'll also double as practice for pharmacy, as I'm getting experience speaking with customers, even if it is something as basic as sorting coffees rather than prescriptions. I really do enjoy it though, and since I'm a volunteer, I can just pick my own hours since there aren't many people there - at least where I am. It's also weird to me because I'm the youngest one there! The person closest in age to me there is 54. But it is nice; I get to work with loads of nice women - I don't think any men volunteer there from what I've seen on the rota. I look forward to volunteering in future, and gaining more experience!
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