Farewell to Andres

30th June 2017

A little over a year ago a young lad called Andres joined the Strongroom team on a year`s placement as part of his university course. The year is now up and we are all sad to see him go on to pastures new. Before he leaves though we have asked him to put together a few words about his time with us.

“Hello fellow readers. My name is Andres Sinclair and I was one of the latest additions to the Strongroom Self Storage team back in June 2016. I applied to this company knowing that I needed a 1 year work placement related to business and marketing to help me with my degree. After meeting with Nigel Hurst, the managing Director, and Kevin Lobley, Gosport’s branch manager, I knew that this would be the perfect place for me. I could immediately tell that the team with in which I would be working would offer me the invaluable knowledge I would need to progress with my degree.

I had already known Nigel for some time before joining as my father and I rent out a workshop for our private classic car hire company. Therefore Nigel already had a good idea of what sort of person I was so I was shocked when even after knowing this he still offered me the job!!!! 

After the formalities of the interviews were over it was down to business. I would be primarily based at the Salisbury depot assisting the current manager Keith with all the day to day tasks, although Salisbury would be my base I was also set up to cover days at all 3 depots, thus giving me a broader understanding of the company and how the different sites operate. 

Due to my background in dealing with the classic car company, I was given the daunting task of organising the managing the company`s fleet of hire vans, I like to think the accolade of `Transport Manager` was earned, however I`ve got a sneaky suspicion that I got it down to the fact nobody else wanted the task!!!! I took on this role with utmost gusto and have implemented new ideas that I hope they will stick to after I have gone!

I am comfortably the youngest employee of the Strongroom team, however despite the large age gap (some age gaps bigger than others!) the whole team made me feel very welcome straight away. There is a really good comradery amongst the whole team, they are a great bunch who all work hard but have some real good laughs as well.

The training was fun and it wasn`t long before I was thrust into the frontline and dealing with all manner of different queries. I still remember the very first signing I did up in Salisbury on my own. It was very daunting as I had Keith there overseeing everything I was doing, however he just let me get on with it. It was such a relief to get my first deal done and was great to have not made too many mistakes under his watchful eye. Then there was my first Saturday where I would be on my own, that was a daunting experience however I survived and have since been responsible for opening and running all 3 depots at differing times.

It`s amazing how many different types of people you get to meet in the storage industry and can honestly say that there are some characters who I will never forget about!  It didn`t take customers long to get to know my love of all things fast! Being a Caterham racing driver really helped break the ice with some people and it`s great when they come in wanting to know how I got on in my last race, either that or to discuss the latest comings and goings in the world of F1!! I`m a massive Ferrari fan and I know lots of the customers enjoyed taking the mick out of me for their struggles in F1 last year! 

It never really dawned on me before joining just how many people need storage and why they need it. Businesses large and small use us, some you see virtually every day, some you never ever see! It’s the same with the private customers, some seem to be here drinking our coffee more than I`m here!! 

What have I learned from my time here at Strongroom? Well I`ve gained some invaluable business knowledge from everybody. It has been brilliant working so closely with Nigel and learning as much as I can from him. His knowledge, not only of the storage industry, but business in general will definitely help me in my future endeavours.  Keith and Kevin, I`m not sure what the main thing I`ve learnt from these two would be, certainly high on the list would be mickey taking! I`m pretty certain I`ve never met anybody like this comedy double act before but I will miss working with them, I won`t miss their jokes though, seriously lame!!!!! To the girls in Marchwood and Gosport, Clare, Sheila and Melissa, thank you for saving me from Keith and Kevin every so often. You are all brilliant and definitely deserve massive pay rises ;) 

I will take this opportunity to thank the team for giving me this opportunity and a special thanks to Nigel who has made this happen.”

Well those are the words of Andres, and we are all going to miss the little fella! Hopefully he takes some of the information on board that we have given him and that he forgets quickly all the abuse we sent his way over the year!!