Not sure what country you live in, but where I live, a receptionist doesn't have access to any data processing tools that are not within the realm of a receptionist, and therefore this mobility does not happen. The receptionist ends up redirect the query to someone who has access to the relevant systems.

What sort of companies are those were receptionists have access to tools beyond their role? and why are people approaching the receptionists asking for data queries?

Like having to run a script on that data when your machine doesn't have the permissions to run arbitrary software without permission from the IT team

You're still thinking too much in a "tech company" mindset. At the kind of company I'm talking about, concepts like "access" and "permissions" are irrelevant. Most of the company's employees barely know how a computer works.

You seemed vaguely tech savvy, so someone asked you for help and emailed you a file containing the data (or perhaps just handed you a laptop and turned you loose). The rest is history.

It's a modern invention that companies have separate software engineering orgs, software engineering roadmaps, software engineering managers. At older companies, a software developer is just another businessperson in a cubicle. Your manager probably has an English degree.

> What sort of companies are those were receptionists have access to tools beyond their role? and why are people approaching the receptionists asking for data queries?

It's a fair question. I questioned myself all the time doing the job. The couple of competent doctors couldn't see other patients as the doctors couldn't get paper records themselves. The old retiring doctors (one had a genuine diagnosis of vascular dementia) sometimes hid the paper records for themselves. Admin staff stopped bothering sorting the records properly some years back too. You needed to just know where some group of patient's records were in which cabinet. The workflow for accessing records, in the morning:

    1. study the appointment book
    2. open delivered snail mail, set aside ones for patients who had appointments that day
    3. get each patient's records, attach any new mail (real attachments with paperclips!)
    4. place them on each doctor's desks

Despite this strict paper workflow, there were 3 PCs on the front desk to be used by any admin staff at any time. No password to log in ("too slow" otherwise). The password to log in to the medical software was "1234" ("too slow" otherwise... again). The practice purchased computers only to be able to bill patients using credit/debit cards and to get rebates more quickly from the government.

> ... permissions to run arbitrary software without permission from the IT team

There was no IT team. The practice called an IT support company who billed per 10 minutes - no contracts - if the "server" didn't come back up again after a disk failed or somebody kicked the cables. The practice staff stopped calling the IT team once they saw that I could do the job myself (see my longer comment)

Many small business.

The first job I had where I did anything technical (basic JS and HTML) also had me cold calling, answering phones, designing brochures, fiberglass repair, and some other stuff I’m forgetting. Small businesses frequently have more niche jobs than people and are more than happy to have people help where they are interested.

My first full software job was a direct to consumer company, and during the Christmas rush the entire front office was on the packing line.

Larger companies tend to appreciate people staying in their lane.

In a small business, the receptionist may be responsible for inputting much of that data in the first place, and it may just live on the receptionist's computer.

>receptionist answering phones and scanning paper records in

They were also converting paper records to digital. Asking the data entry person where the data is or how to find paper record xyz in the digital system doesn't seem odd.

Microsoft Excel is the #1 tool at the top of that rather narrowly envisioned slippery slope, since you ask. Followed by any web browser.

As for data access; the vast majority of firms, worldwide, in every country, have abysmal internal controls, and in many cases, none at all. The filing cabinet is unlocked all day, everything from payroll to posters is in a share that every network login can R/W, and nobody cares.