Belinda is Celebrating 30 years with Aurora!

Belinda Carr is celebrating a momentous milestone—30 years with Aurora this week!

For those of you thinking, ‘hang on, Aurora hasn’t been around that long’, well, you’re right because Bel started off her career with a Customer Service role at the HydroShop in Burnie.

“I had just finished my traineeship with APPM (Australian Pulp and Paper Mills), so I was on the hunt for a full-time role while I was still working casually in the Deli at Roelf Vos in Wynyard.  For those of you who are too young to know what Roelf Vos is, it is now known as Woolworths,” said Bel.

Bel successfully applied for a Customer Service role at the HydroShop in Burnie.

“I loved the fact that I would be dealing with customers face to face and over the phone and doing a variety of tasks. The job was initially for three months, and here we are 30 years later.”

At the HydroShop, people could come into the office to pay their bills, make bill arrangements, arrange to move in and out of properties and sign up for temporary building supplies.

“We used to make appointments for our Sales staff to visit customers' homes to do heat loss assessments to determine what heating would best suit their needs."

“Something fun to note for the younger generation, we would have to send handwritten ‘memo’s to Head Office to get reversals done, or sundry debtor charges raised as there was no ‘email’ back in those days.”

When asked if Bel could remember her first day, she said, “Well, to be fair, that was 30 years ago, and I have trouble remembering what happened last week, so you are pushing the memory bank now.”

“However, what I can say about the Burnie office was that we had the most amazing team environment; everyone was so friendly, helpful and encouraging. This team became my family. I also got to work with one of my best friends from Highschool, so the office was always fun. One of her favourite memories of me is when I was singing along to the radio in the Hydroshop at the top of my lungs to ‘I’ve lost that loving feeling’, unbeknown to me that there was a customer in the shop that was hidden from view by our heating display. The customer let me know he was pretty impressed with my singing ability, though."

“My boss from the Hydroshop, John, was like a second dad to me. I am still close to him to this day. In fact, this is what he wrote about me to congratulate me on my 30 years ‘I remember when I employed you. Quiet, Shy and unsure of herself and from Wynyard…. No…. Then you settled in and used us as a dating organising (more to follow); look at you now 30 years down the track… well done, congratulations on sticking it through the good times and the hard times, and you found the love of your life, congratulations.”

Over the last 30 years, Bel has learnt a lot and has a few words of wisdom:

“Some of the incredible people you meet at work end up becoming your closest friends/family, like Miss Jane Evans, she is my sister from another mister, and if you are lucky enough, you may even find your life partner, 26 ½ years and counting Craig."

“I met Craig when he visited the Hydroshops to teach front office staff about a new product to sign customers up to, called Easy Pay, so this North West girl made the move to the Big Smoke back in 96 (yes, I know, some of you weren’t even born yet).” 

“I have been around for so long that I’ve seen four customer billing system implementations and have used a bunch of other systems that are no longer in existence.  I was around when the first PAYG Meter was installed in Queenstown and when we started retailing on the mainland, and I used to work in PAYG when we installed meters in South Australia." 

“I’ve had over 14 Team Leaders (and I’ve probably forgotten some), had numerous different roles and worked in 8 different offices, and lost count of how many times I’ve moved desk!” 

Bel is now a Metering Services Coordinator, and her favourite part of her role is the amazing team.  

“Everyone is so knowledgeable, helpful and keen to learn. I also love the variety of things I get to do and the relationships I get to build with external stakeholders."

“I have been lucky enough to be a part of some incredible teams during my 30 years and worked with so many different people internally and externally who have taught me so much. A lot of fun has been had over the years.”

Speaking of fun, Bel recounts that back in the day, a good game of hallway cricket in the office and monthly cakes to celebrate everyone’s birthday.

Bel is celebrating her 30-year work anniversary by heading out for Pizza at the beach, “With my drink of choice, an Ice Cold Coke. I might even get a sneaky Nutella calzone afterwards.”

Her fur baby Arnold (AKA Cyclone Arnold), who can’t be trusted to be left on his own just yet, is to thank for this low-key but delightful celebration.

Congratulations Bel!