I was and still am a bad communicator. If I were to have it my way, I would live and work in a box. And I found myself in the school counsellor’s room one day, asking “Is there any job that does not require me to deal with people?” Her response was,” I am sure there is, but you probably will not have a successful career. Why else do you think a lot of emphasis is placed on EQ nowadays?”
Having had a few holiday jobs, I would say that a lot of my distress came not from the jobs themselves, but from the people I had to deal with. Take my first job, for example, where I worked as a clerk in a forwarding company. It was only my first day and I answered a call. I was supposed to transfer the call to the person-in-charge but she had just gone to the toilet. The man, having learnt that, introduced himself and launched into an endless speech of his purpose of calling, in the hope that I would convey the message to her when she returned. Too bad he was wrong. The whole time he was talking, I could only make out words like consignment and container as I was too busy looking around hopelessly for any helpful soul who would take over and attend to that man. I guess he sense the dead silence at my end for he asked “are you listening?” You can imagine the wrath I had to endure when I told him I had forgotten his name and company.
I guess what I should have done was to interrupt him politely when I missed out on some details and not to panic easily. And you would have thought I had learnt my lesson…apparently not after what happened on Friday. Thank God there was no yelling man this time :)
UCS1001 MME Tri2 2023-24 Dynamic Thinkers
4 weeks ago
Hello Wan Wei! After reading your blog post, I realized that one of our readings that mentioned that we act as active listeners by acknowledging to the speaker by either nodding or saying ‘yes’ or ‘uh huh’. Perhaps on the phone, a verbal acknowledgement would be the key to letting the speaker know that he/she is being listened. However, I found it a little bit hard to get into your story from the first paragraph. It seemed to be a little confusing for me but subsequently I managed to orientate myself into the story flow. In a matter of fact, I did not really think that you committed a similar mistake on Friday as to the telephone conversation. Perhaps we tend to space out a little every now and then.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Ivan
Thanks for sharing your personal encounter. Many people, including myself, also made mistakes at work. Perhaps you were just nervous on your first day, so please do not brand yourself as a 'bad communicator' after that incident. Self-confidence is a key factor in communication.
ReplyDeleteCheers~
Wow! I guess you must have been really put off by this customer! Like what people often say, customers are always right. However, since communication is a 2 way issue, I think we should not only blame the people providing services. The customers themselves should also learn to slow down their speech and make themselves more coherent. I guess this is far too ideal. =)
ReplyDeleteHi Wan Wei,
ReplyDeleteLike you, i do not have good experience with phone calls too. I will always try to avoid them. This is especially so when it is on a topic that you are not sure or unfamiliar with.
I am sure we will be able to handle them better next time.
Cheers,
Chee Siang
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Wanwei, for this "confessional." (Now I know why you should be taking this course, but I'm a bit surprised that you volunteered.)
ReplyDeleteIn any case, you express your ideas clearly and concisely here with the tale of the phone call and with the revelation of how much you dislike communicating.
Despite your ill feelings, you write quite well. There is one sentence that stands out as problematic:
I guess he sense the dead silence at my end for he asked “are you listening?”
Let's see if we can help you along with that and with your fears.
Hi Wan Wei, I can sympathise with your situation at work. Over the recent holidays, I was in a telemarketing job. During the first few calls, I had the tendency to forget the customers' personal information, resulting in me having to ask them to repeat the information. This was difficult for me as I could sense their impatience and annoyance, even over the telephone! I feel that speaking to someone without looking at them indeed poses a barrier to communication, as we have learnt last week.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Abigail