After 18 years in customer service, Joanne Sullivan will be leaving NBP at the end of 2015. We asked her to recap her most memorable moments on the job.

When I say I work in customer service at National Braille Press, people envision a bank of phones with reps waiting to handle orders. Actually, there’s just me and Jamie. After answering more than 10,000 calls, I can honestly say our customers have become like family. “Hi, Joanne, it’s me.” No need for introductions, “Hi, Jeffrey, what’s up?” I know the voice and I probably remember the order.

But people don’t just call to place an order; people call NBP when they’re looking for anything in braille. In the early days, I had a five-drawer filing cabinet filled with braille resources to share, but now I rely on the Internet. The most challenging calls are from parents who have just discovered their child is visually impaired. Emotions are heavy. We navigate this loss together and then we move on to more practical things: What is Braille? What resources can they access? What about education, parent groups, agencies and blindness organizations? I pass along as much information as they can handle for now. I tell them about the blind people I know who work at NBP, practice law, teach, parent, live full lives. The dream is not lost, but it has changed and it will take a different path to get there.

I’ve sent out more technology books than I care to remember, dating back to the early ‘80s. I’ve personally distributed over 8,000 braille literacy bags through the ReadBooks! program, umpteen children’s books, bazillions of Harry Potter books, and so many other exciting adventures in the publications department—from kids’ cookbooks to print/braille Valentines. But my fondest memories are the many conventions of the blind where I exhibited and sold braille publications.

 

I love meeting some of the people I've chatted with throughout the year, adding depth to my initial over-the-phone impressions.

I am not able to put into words the feelings I have about the people I have worked with at NBP through the years, and it would take a few more blog posts to acknowledge each and every one. I am grateful to have shared my work life with them and will cherish many lifelong friends. But, I would be remiss if I did not recognize the person who hired me, Diane Croft.

I interviewed with Diane, and former president Bill Raeder, all those years ago and knew from the start that NBP would change my life. Diane and I did not stay within the traditional question-and-answer format of an interview. We connected on so many levels and our discussion that day was all over the place. We had to continually remind ourselves to get back to the facts. How often does that happen at a job interview? Diane took me out to lunch on my first day on the job. We were talking non-stop as we walked to our lunch destination and somehow ended up in a liquor store. "Hmmmm,” I thought to myself, this is NOT the impression I had of Diane. “What kind of lunch is this?" She saw my perplexed expression and started laughing. There was a deli at the back of the store. Whew!

I’m near the end of this blog and I can’t say good-bye. It’s too hard. So I’m ending this post by saying, let’s stay in touch. My email is: reallylowtide@yahoo.com or you can write me at 12 Florida Street, Marshfield, MA 02050. I will miss you all more than you know.

December 18, 2015

 With love & gratitude from the tens of thousands of blind children and adults whose wishes you fulfilled with the gift of literacy, and from our employees to whom you gave your heart for 18 years at National Braille Press.