As the first episode of Ruby Speaking begins, Ruby (Jayde Adams) and others answer calls for Hellocom. Tom (Joe Sims) celebrates making a sale while Mark (Sam Swainsbury) urges Ruby to upsell. It doesn’t work though because the caller is skint. Tom reminds Ruby that even the new girl, Melons (Kiera Lester), has sold more than her today. Tom thinks she is a marked improvement on religious Katy. Cameron (Jamal Franklin) admits Katy was their choir leader and they’re going to need someone to take over for her.

Ruby doesn’t want to get stuck with choir when Cameron goes back to uni. Vicki (Katherine Kelly) comes in with the music blaring even though Mark says she isn’t supposed to be there today. She calls them heroes before giving Tom an award. She encourages him to thank himself. Once he does, Vicki tells him to try it once a day. Once Vicki leaves with Mark, the others laugh at Tom. He doesn’t know what they’re laughing at now that Vicki is there. Vicki brings Ruby into her office to say she has been late 11 times since they last talked. Ruby says she has been going through some stuff at home, but Vicki doesn’t want to hear it. Vicki says she was a right state just like Ruby when she was that age.

She explains that they need Ruby to change and to get better. Vicki thinks her problem is that she believes she is in customer service. Mark and Vicki remind her she isn’t taking the opportunities to upsell. They want her to find a way to help the customer and find a way to sell them something at the end of the call. Vicki says they’re giving her another chance thanks to Mark, but she has till the end of the day to make a sale. As Ruby leaves, Vicki asks Mark to send in Rohan. Ruby sits back down before Melons asks if Vicki minds that she is bad at her job. Ruby says Vicki is giving her another chance to prove she is Hellocom material. She gets to work in hopes of keeping her job.

Later, Cameron asks her to come around for choir practice again. Mark interrupts to tell her to get back to work. Ruby answers a call from Clinton. Vicki tells Mark that she is going to be placed there permanently now because this branch is underperforming on every level. She is going to make sure the workers get what they need to thrive. Mark thinks job security is important and argues they should be holding onto good team members like Ruby. Vicki agrees although Ruby seems to be slacking off already. Mark reminds Ruby to upsell while she speaks to Clinton. Tom gets another sale. Ruby tells Mark that she has to keep her job because she is now the sole bill payer in her household.

Craig (Dan Hiscox) pops up and frightens them because he is wearing a ski mask. Mark pleads with him to take it off. Craig warns him that he’ll pay for it if he ends up getting sick. Then, Mark takes Ruby to the training room. Mark asks Ellie (Amy-Leigh Hickman) if they can use the room since Ruby needs to go through some of the basics. Once Ellie leaves, Ruby suspects Mark fancies her. As they work through the training scenario, Ruby continues joking about Mark liking Ellie. Ruby worries she might be a lost cause. Mark confesses he just doesn’t want her to go. Before he can say why, Ellie bursts into the room and interrupts. Ruby tells Ellie there is something Mark wants to run by her before leaving. She tries to hide from Vicki and ends up at the choir practice.

Vicki comes in and reveals she is going to listen in on Ruby’s next call. When Ruby is back at her desk, Mark returns and says she said no. Ruby gets another call and encouragement from her coworkers. The caller is angry because she has been on hold for 20 minutes. She wants to close her account because her kids left home and her husband uses pay-as-you-go. She reveals he is sleeping with their marriage counselor. Ruby breaks from the script and says the last thing she wants to do is cut herself off. Ruby recommends calling her best mate. She offers to help her set up her face-to-face calling since her kids will still need her. Ruby manages to make the customer laugh and stay with the company. After the call, Vicki calls it amazing although she reminds Ruby that her job is about sales.

Vicki wants to let her go so Mark tries to talk her out of it. Cameron suggests Ruby was going to be their new choir leader. Ruby goes along with it in hopes of keeping her job. Vicki agrees to let her stay. She tells Ruby she is going to closely monitor her work from now on. Ruby offers to buy Mark a drink until Ellie interrupts to say she is free for dinner now. Mark says he was going to have a drink with Ruby who convinces him to go with Ellie. Once they’re alone, Melons asks Ruby if she loves Mark. Ruby tells her that Mark isn’t her type. Ruby drops off a gift at Clinton’s house later that night.

 

Ruby Speaking Review

The opening episode of Ruby Speaking wasn’t groundbreaking, but it showed some promise scattered throughout. This won’t be a series for everyone because this type of quirky humor isn’t going to hit home with all viewers. The episodes are short so it will take some time for the core storylines to develop, but Ruby’s interaction with the callers could become interesting in future episodes.

The humor didn’t really work for me although other viewers may like it more. The series feels a little unbalanced at times since it swings from serious scenes to silly scenes in the blink of an eye. Some of the characters and scenes can be a little annoying even though that is probably intentional.

Ruby Speaking didn’t do much to accurately portray working in a situation like this, but little about the series rings true. Truthfully, the opening episode was just okay and bland. If it leans on character relationships and Ruby doing nice things for broken callers, that may change in future episodes.

The opening episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Ruby Speaking will be available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.