{"id":4132,"date":"2025-12-15T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bio.bolster.nl\/?p=4132"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:00:57","slug":"the-great-thing-about-customer-service-is-that-in-the-morning-i-dont-yet-know-what-ill-be-doing-that-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bio.bolster.nl\/en\/the-great-thing-about-customer-service-is-that-in-the-morning-i-dont-yet-know-what-ill-be-doing-that-day\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe great thing about customer service is that in the morning, I don’t yet know what I’ll be doing that day\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe great thing about customer service is that in the morning, I don’t yet know what I’ll be doing that day\u201d<\/h1>\n

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From questions about growing vegetables and processing telephone orders to listening to stories about the ups and downs at allotment associations. There’s never a dull moment for Iris Pedonomou, who works as a customer service representative and reseller agent. \u201cI love working with so many people and departments within our company.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Meaningful work<\/h2>\n

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Four years ago, Iris decided to change course. With a degree in Sensor Engineering, she had previously worked mainly in sales within an industry that did not align with her values. She explains: \u201cI felt like I was working for companies that were breaking the world. I wanted to work on the solution instead of the problem. Then I saw a job opening for De Bolster on Facebook and immediately thought: I don’t care what I do there, I want to work there. I spent a morning shadowing the team and the atmosphere was immediately great. It has stayed that way ever since \u2013 it is a fantastic company to work for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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From questions to improvement<\/h2>\n

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Iris mainly gets a lot of questions from home gardeners, for example about germination problems. She says: \u201cI always try to get the whole story clear and work together to find out what went wrong, such as the weather or pest damage, and what the customer can do differently. Sometimes it is simply a matter of patience: not every crop germinates at the same speed. If I often get the same question, I discuss it with colleagues from the marketing department. They can then, for example, adjust the growing instructions on the website or address it in our newsletter.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Orders and delivery<\/h2>\n

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In addition to answering substantive questions, Iris also handles orders and delivery issues. \u201cThere are still people who place their orders by phone or email. For example, customers who are less tech-savvy, such as the elderly, people who aren’t digitally active, visually impaired individuals, or someone standing in the middle of a field who has run out of seeds. I process those orders. Less enjoyable is dealing with lost packages. But when you ship 35,000 packages a year, things are bound to go wrong sometimes. Fortunately, that happens a lot less often than it used to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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\u201cThe nice thing is that people who treat nature with respect often treat me as a customer service representative with respect too\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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Solving problems and listening<\/h2>\n

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Iris continues: \u201cWhat I like is that I am allowed to solve most problems myself. So it\u2019s not a call center like at big companies, where you mostly forward calls to other departments. I do consult with other departments, like breeding. As a result, I\u2019ve learned an incredible amount about growing vegetables.<\/p>\n

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I also have nice conversations with people. For example, about the ups and downs at allotment associations. You often see conflicts arise between organic home gardeners and conventional growers. For instance, they sow green manure and then others complain that the \u201cgrass\u201d is too tall. The nice thing is that people who treat nature with respect often treat me as a customer service representative with respect too. It almost never gets truly unpleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Works Council<\/h2>\n

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Since the beginning of this year, Iris has also been a member of the newly established works council (OR) of De Bolster. She was one of the driving forces behind it, having experienced in her previous job how important a works council can be. Together with four other colleagues, she is now getting to know the ever-growing company in a completely different way. \u201cYou get a look behind the scenes and suddenly hear a lot more about other departments that you normally have less contact with. That is very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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New developments<\/h2>\n

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Iris has no concrete plans to grow further within the company for now. She says: \u201cBy nature, I don’t necessarily feel the need to move higher or do more: I am very happy with what I have now. But if something else comes up within the company that I get excited about, I am definitely open to it.<\/p>\n

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That doesn’t mean I am standing still. When I arrived, I brought more structure to the customer service workflow, because I like that. And now we are looking into whether we can use artificial intelligence (AI) to set up an internal knowledge base, so we don’t have to ask as many questions of colleagues in the field who are busy working. We always want to maintain personal contact with customers. That is precisely the strength of our company.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Latest news<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
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\u201cI find it absolutely fascinating to watch seeds germinate and eventually grow into beautiful crops\u201d<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cI find it absolutely fascinating to watch seeds germinate and eventually grow into beautiful crops\u201d<\/h3>\n

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\u201cWith organic innovation, we help both organic and conventional growers move forward\u201d<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cWith organic innovation, we help both organic and conventional growers move forward\u201d<\/h3>\n

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\u201cThanks to the heated greenhouse, we can breed and react to the market much faster\u201d<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cThanks to the heated greenhouse, we can breed and react to the market much faster\u201d<\/h3>\n

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\u201cA transition never happens overnight\u201d<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cA transition never happens overnight\u201d<\/h3>\n

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\u201cOrganic growing comes from the heart, not just a business perspective\u201d<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cOrganic growing comes from the heart, not just a business perspective\u201d<\/h3>\n

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\u201cI don’t want to keep up with the times; I want to stay ahead of them.\u201d<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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