Use of English PRO

I (0) STILL remember my first job, (1) ............ I left school, which was in a call-centre in Dublin, Ireland. At the time, there was plenty of work in the `teleworking' industry, due (2) ............ a recent increase in mobile phone ownership. I would connect customers to people with whom they wished to speak, making sure to be polite all (3) ............ time. I (4) ............ admit that I did not like that job very much: the hours were long (I worked a 12-hour night shift, from 9pm to 9am), the environment was extremely busy (each night I would receive several hundred calls, (5) ............ after the other), and the pay was not very good (after I had paid my rent, I had hardly any money for myself!). However, that call-centre was (6) ............ I met my future wife. In fact, I was her manager! At first, we did (7) ............ connect: she thought I was boring, and I thought she was annoying, but, after some time, we ended up developing a close friendship. Then, one morning, after our long shift, we walked home together and stopped (8) ............ a coffee.