At Tait, we take great pride in serving the organizations that are so integral to our way of life: they keep communities safe, our lights on, transport flowing, and provide the raw materials for modern life. To provide them with the great support Tait is renowned for, we have a dedicated team of individuals all over the world that work hard to deliver results. In this blog we hear from Antonija Maravic, Customer Service Representative at Tait.
Antonija works for Tait as a Customer Service Representative, and is based in Vienna, Austria. She enjoys the variety that interacting with customers from all over Europe brings – no two days are the same – and working together with them to get to the best possible outcomes.
Want to get to know our team? You can find other Tait Staff Spotlight posts here.
Meet Antonija Maravic, Customer Service Representative at Tait
Antonija joined Tait in March 2017, and works in Operations. Her role is to offer our customers the support Tait is known for, helping them with any questions or issues, give information about products and services, and take orders. She works closely with engineers and salespeople to help customers understand the solutions Tait offers, and also coordinates repairs for Tait Europe.
“Building relationships with our customers, helping them solve issues and getting them the information they need is something I really enjoy. Working with people, you never know what to expect – there’s no predictable pattern in customer support and I love the challenges and variety that brings.”
Prior to starting at Tait, Antonija worked in Sales and Marketing in her native Croatia, before moving to Austria to work for a procurement software company in Vienna, managing their social media marketing.
To find out a little more about Antonija, we decided to ask her a few questions:
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Everything: it’s fun and every day is different. Building relationships with our customers, helping them solve issues and getting them the information they need is something I really enjoy. Working with people, you never know what to expect – there’s no predictable pattern in customer support and I love the variety and challenges that brings.
It is also a bonus that the whole TEMA (Tait Europe, Middle-East & Africa) team feels like a family. We’re such a diverse mix, spread out over several countries, but since our work is so closely woven together, we need we need to work with each other pretty much every day. It’s a real pleasure to work in such a supportive team.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I spend the majority of my free time outdoors with my husband and our 10 year old son. Vienna is great for bicycling, it’s really flat making it easy to bike everywhere. You can use it to go to work, sports, or get out to the green areas, parks, and canals.
Another great passion of mine is live music and I love to go to rock concerts. The last one I went to before concerts were postponed because of COVID-19 was Tenacious D – it was awesome!
Do you have any skills or talents that most people don’t know about?
I have a license to operate a forklift. Funny story: when I moved to Vienna in 2014, my German wasn’t up to a level that enabled me to work in sales and marketing, where you have to be able to communicate clearly and confidently.
So, I decided to do a course in Logistics to improve my German and give me an opportunity to move into a role that didn’t require top-notch German skills right off the bat. Unbeknownst to me, part of the logistics course was getting a forklift license, so I spent two weeks learning how to operate a forklift. So far, I’ve never had to use a forklift, but who knows… maybe it will come in handy someday.
What is the biggest professional challenge you’ve faced this year? How did you overcome it?
I think that COVID-19 challenged everyone professionally. It took me some time to adjust to working from home, and because schools were closed, I had to combine it with homeschooling my son. It’s still a logistical nightmare as there are less air freight lines available, and every country in Europe has its own set of regulations. Are borders closed, or are they going to be closed? How does this affect our timelines?
Before, we had direct routes from New Zealand to Europe, ensuring we’d receive goods within 2 days. Now, we have to take whatever we can get – each week, the flight’s delivering goods can be different. This makes giving customers updates or estimates really difficult. This was a lot worse at the beginning of the pandemic, now, people are getting used to it. It’s the same for everyone, all over the world.
What would the title of your autobiography be?
So, I work in Customer Support, and every day I try to make everyone happy. But things happen, and there’s always something that gets in the way – things you can’t expect. So a good title would probably be: She tried to make everyone happy – Failed miserably…
Do you have a favorite quote?
“Taste every fruit of every tree in the garden at least once. It is an insult to creation not to experience it fully.”
– Stephen Fry
This quote just hits the spot. I think this is what life should be like, we should try to experience everything. We should not restrict ourselves – we are on this earth only once, and it would be a shame not to try and see and feel everything that’s out there.
For over 3 years, Antonija has been an invaluable part of the Tait Europe team, providing our customers with the outstanding support they expect from Tait. Antonija reports to Catherine Tittensor, Order Processing Supervisor/Quality Coordinator at Tait.
Get in Touch with Tait
If there’s anything Antonija or the team at any of our regional offices can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
