Callum Fraser

• Age: 31
• Location: Leith, Edinburgh, UK
• Occupation: Customer support lead at a sports equipment ecommerce store
• Income: £30,000 per year before tax
• Education: BSc Sports Science from Edinburgh Napier University
• Company size: Approximately 85 employees, with 24 in the customer operations and warehouse teams
• Years in role: 3

“I don't need every week to be brilliant; I just want to finish most weeks knowing I showed up properly for the people around me.”

Callum Fraser grew up in a semi-detached house outside Perth, the younger of two children. His father worked as a council electrician and his mother managed a dental practice, so he was raised around practical problem-solving, punctuality, and the expectation that you helped before being asked. He played football from primary school onward, tried rugby at university, and became interested in training after a recurring hamstring injury exposed how little he understood about recovery and conditioning. He studied Sports Science at Edinburgh Napier, where he was sociable rather than academically driven. He volunteered at student sports events, worked part-time in a leisure centre, and became known for organising teams and calming people down when fixtures went wrong. After graduating, he spent two years as a gym-floor instructor and then joined his current employer in an entry-level support position. He moved into team leadership after noticing that many recurring customer problems were caused less by individual mistakes than by unclear internal processes. He still remembers the awkwardness of being promoted over colleagues who had trained him, and he worked deliberately to remain approachable. His job is stable but not effortless. The company has grown quickly, and systems have not always kept pace. Callum is comfortable with Zendesk, Slack, Shopify administration, spreadsheet reporting, shared dashboards, and basic workflow automation. He keeps a notebook beside his keyboard because he remembers conversations better when he writes down names and next steps. He recently persuaded management to introduce weekly case reviews, though he worries the meetings will become another layer of administration. Callum and Megan have discussed buying a flat, but rising costs and a modest deposit mean the idea remains a multi-year plan rather than an immediate project. He watches money carefully without wanting life to become joyless. He will delay a night out to protect savings, then spend freely on a weekend in the Highlands if he believes the time together matters. Status has little appeal to him; competence, trust, and being the person others can rely on matter more. His main constraint is time. He has energy for many commitments, but not always the discipline to leave space between them. He is learning that leadership means setting boundaries as much as solving problems.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Callum usually wakes at 6:20, makes coffee, and checks the weather before deciding whether to cycle or take the bus. On training mornings he spends forty minutes lifting before heading to work, arriving slightly damp and overly optimistic about how alert he feels. He runs a ten-minute team huddle, reviews overnight tickets, and assigns anything involving delivery exceptions or complaints with legal implications. By late morning he is answering escalations, helping an adviser phrase a difficult response, and chasing a warehouse update. He eats lunch at his desk unless a colleague persuades him to walk around the block. The afternoon brings reporting, coaching sessions, and several unplanned calls. After work he walks Nori, cooks with Megan, and tries to leave his phone in another room. On Thursdays he plays football, then returns home starving.

Lifestyle

Callum lives in a rented tenement flat near Leith Walk, close enough to cycle to work when the weather behaves. He trains three or four mornings a week, usually lifting weights at a small local gym, and plays five-a-side football on Thursday evenings. Weekends alternate between seeing friends, walking Nori, and taking longer trips into the Pentlands or farther north. He cooks most weekday meals with Megan and keeps a loose eye on protein and vegetables rather than following a strict diet. Money is managed through a shared account for rent and bills, with separate personal spending. He enjoys a pub night but is increasingly selective because hangovers ruin his Saturday training.

Work life

Callum leads a nine-person customer support team for an online retailer selling equipment for running, football, gym training, and outdoor activities. Most days involve monitoring Zendesk queues, redistributing cases, coaching newer advisers, checking delivery and returns issues, and passing recurring problems to warehouse, logistics, or merchandising colleagues. He works closely with a warehouse supervisor in Glasgow and joins a short operations call each morning. His team uses Zendesk, Slack, Shopify, spreadsheets, and internal order-tracking tools. The difficult part is balancing fast responses with emotionally charged customers and incomplete information. He still handles complex cases himself because he dislikes asking advisers to absorb avoidable stress.

Relationships

Callum is close to his older sister, Ailsa, who lives in Musselburgh and has a young family. His parents are in Perthshire, and he visits roughly once a month. His strongest social circle comes from university, football, and the gym; several friends now work in sport, hospitality, or healthcare. Megan is more cautious and reflective than he is, and often helps him slow down before committing to another project. His football captain and former university tutor remain influential sounding boards.

How they decide

Callum is generally quick to form an initial view, then checks it against practical evidence and the experience of people he trusts. He prefers a short list of clear options to an exhaustive comparison. For everyday decisions he is comfortable acting on instinct, especially when the consequences are small. For career, housing, or financial commitments, he becomes methodical, writes down trade-offs, and discusses them with Megan. He is strongly influenced by firsthand experience and dislikes advice that sounds polished but vague.

How they sound

Callum speaks quickly, warmly, and with a noticeable Edinburgh accent that becomes broader when he is joking. He uses phrases such as "fair enough," "to be honest," "a bit of a nightmare," and "we'll get it sorted." He tends to explain things through small stories rather than abstract principles. At work he is clear and reassuring, but with friends he is sarcastic and fond of mild self-mockery. He avoids sounding self-important and rarely describes himself as ambitious, even though he regularly takes on leadership responsibilities. When annoyed, he becomes quieter and more precise rather than openly aggressive.