You want me to train someone?

[Misanthropical]

Last night, when I came in my supervisor told me that I was going to be helping train a new girl. I haven't trained anyone since I was in security!

So, she listened to some of my calls. I told her of the procedures she should follow and ones that have to be followed.

She got to hear one of my crazy calls and got to see me asking our supervisor to translate crazy to English for me. I told her I never know how to note crazy and stupid, so I have to ask for a translation.

I was told to have her take one of the calls, she did pretty well, considering she was nervous. I had to whisper her some answers to the person's rebuttal about how they don't owe the bill.

I told her not to take anything the person on the other end of the phone says personally, because they would have said it no matter who was calling about the bill.

I asked her if she think she could handle the job and she told me it didn't seem that bad. Ahh, the young and naive.

She is pregnant, so we talked about pregnancy between calls too. I enjoyed it. Plus, I could understand when she had to get up to use the restroom. I do remember having to go NOW!

She seems very nice, so I have to wonder if she will last because the job can get to a person. Plus, a woman is very emotional when pregnant.

[Bright_Star]

>I told her not to take anything the person on the other end of the phone says personally, because they would have said it no matter who was calling about the bill.>

How do you that anyway? NOT taking what the SC says personally? I used to hear that from management at Wal-Mart all the time. Kind of hard to do when you have some idiot screaming at your face & you're doing your nimble best not to bitch slap the son of a bitch.

[blas]

I go through the same stuff when I get new people. I have to wonder if this person can stand 3rd shift long enough, if they can handle responsibility, etc etc.

My parents would not allow me to apply to any type of telemarketing jobs. This place opened in 2003 and nearly all the area high schoolers got jobs there at this telemarketing place, because it paid nearly $10 an hour. But many quit before their probationary period was over simply because of what they had to put up with from customers.

I realize you aren't a telemarketer, but it's almost the same idea. Still getting a new ass tore by nearly every call you make.

[crazylegs]

How do you that anyway? NOT taking what the SC says personally? I used to hear that from management at Wal-Mart all the time. Kind of hard to do when you have some idiot screaming at your face & you're doing your nimble best not to bitch slap the son of a bitch.

Some people find it comes naturally, others learn it, and some can never gain the skill (place yourself in whichever catagory fits). I'm lucky and its like water off a ducks back to me, I guess you just learn to catagorise you thoughts and those idiots just stay in the 'work section' of your brain and are locked in.

[digilight]

Some people find it comes naturally, others learn it, and some can never gain the skill (place yourself in whichever catagory fits). I'm lucky and its like water off a ducks back to me, I guess you just learn to catagorise you thoughts and those idiots just stay in the 'work section' of your brain and are locked in.

This is very true. My brother in law has worked security for the last 7 or 8 years and has no problem keeping people in check, dealing with their attitudes and everything else that comes up in that kind of business. He also has to authorize tows from different complexes that he patrols, has had to boot cars that aren't parked where they should be. And never has a fear about dealing a pissed off irate fool about their almost 300 dollar towing bill.

[powerboy]

I like to train people. I always look for a new and faster way of doing things. So when I do have to train people, I show them that way.

[Peppergirl]

As far as taking things personally, it's tough not to. I kinda go into a mode where the crap they say bounces off of me for the most part.

If they get REALLY bad, I simply offer them the bare minimum of service that I can get away with and get them off the phone.

If they are nice and work with me, I'll move heaven and earth to do what I can for them. Too bad most SC's don't realize this.

I know it's different for collectors, you guys never have good customers, I guess. - My hat's off to ya...I'm sure you really have your hands full with some of your calls.

[powerboy]

Oh crap, just realized that my turn is coming up to call the people who are late payments. Every month we take turns.

[Seshat]

How do you that anyway? NOT taking what the SC says personally?

I'm not dealing with customers anymore, but being large built and disabled, I get certain members of the general public saying rude things that are intended to be personal. I think I can probably help with a few techniques for not taking things personally.

You'll probably need to use a combination of these, but any or all of these have helped me from time to time.

* Think of what the person says as a gift. Maybe it's a really awful gift, like a wrapped box of 'fertiliser', but it's a gift. If you don't like it, you don't have to keep it. Imagine yourself handing it back saying something like 'oh no, you don't have to give me that, thanks anyway'.
When I was learning this technique, I sometimes found myself saying stuff out loud. 'well, thanks for the sentiment, but I really don't want it'.

* Think of the person saying the horrible thing as if they were a child still learning how to be socially adept. If you're not at work, you can even treat them that way. Consider how you'd react if your own child said horrible things to strangers.
This trick sometimes ends up with me talking patronisingly to the other person, but it's a hell of a lot better (for me!) than me taking their vileness into my psyche. And if they're cruel enough to try to poke fun at a visibly-handicapped person, I don't care about their feelings!

* Remind yourself that this person knows absolutely nothing about you, so how can they possibly make any sort of accurate assessment of your character? Trust the people who know you well to tell you accurate things about yourself, but don't trust strangers. They may as well be telling you the sky is green and grass is blue.

* Take their comments literally. If I'm called a 'fat pig', I sometimes pointedly look around as if looking for an overweight mammal of the porcine persuasion. If I'm called a 'bitch', well, seeing as I'm not canine, that's a bit difficult. I am female, so it's half right.

* Most of all, remember that the people calling you names are proving their complete lack of social skill, their moral weakness, their lack of imagination, and their lack of intelligence.
If they were socially adept and actually wanted to disparage you, they'd be saying insults of the grade of Groucho Marx or Mae West.
If they were morally strong, they would see no need to disparage you - especially if you are simply doing your job (or in my case, usually just 'walking' past in my wheelchair).
If they had imagination, they'd at least call you 'the illegitimate offspring of a diseased goat', or something more novel than 'ugly bitch'.
If they were intelligent, they'd actually develop a strategy for getting what they want, rather than making it less likely by disparaging the person who controls what happens next.


I hope that these techniques help. As you're learning them, it DOES still hurt. You have to practice, practice, practice. They say something hurtful, you remind yourself of whichever technique you're trying. They say something else, you remind yourself again.
Then when you can, you go find a friend and have a whinge about them and have your friend reassure you that you're not an ugly bitch/heartless shit/whatever it is, and you nod and square your shoulders and thank your friend and go face the world again.
That whining stage is IMPORTANT. You have to learn to process the feelings that get past your barriers - shutting them inside will just leave you with emotional poison in your mental 'guts'. Another thing I sometimes do is beat up pillows - which leaves them nice and fluffy, as a side benefit.

Eventually you only need to punch pillows or whine on really bad days - everyone else just slides off your genuine - not fake but genuine - indifference. And each time you succeed, it makes the next time easier.

Good luck.