I just had one of the most peculiar days at work today. I was able to assist two clients with two opposite personalities. My first client was an irritated customer who was so upset for getting an incorrect information, when he last asked the bank about his concern last Friday. He sounded irate and was even calling unpleasant names to the previous employee who assisted him. I am proud of myself for not being emotionally swayed by the customer’s frustrations. I guess, I am now learning how to choose my battles wisely.
This is how the conversation went with my first client :
Irate Client:” That Dumba** told me that I can get my replacement card today while saying ta ta ta ta ta.” ( he was mimicking the accent of the previous Employee).
Calm Me:” I can understand the frustration on where you are coming from.” “I will definitely correct our mistake for this not to happen again moving forward.” (perfect spiel ey?)
I could feel how he was itching to throw his phone because of his anger. With the help of all the powerful empathy words from the deepest part of my brain, I was able to pacify him. I knew he was mad but I find him funny. Why? He was like telling me about how the previous employee responded to him using exactly the same accent of the banker. Wow, aside from being an angry customer, he also got another talent of changing his voice! Interesting.
The second client today that caught my attention, was a retired woman patiently asking about the details of her concern. She was the exact opposite of my first client. She was reserve, calm and pleasant. In the middle of our conversation, she said something that made me pause.
Reserved Client: “I know I am being a PIA to you.” “Do you know what PIA means?”
Confused Me: “Umm, ah.” “No, I don’t.”
Reserved Client: “Holy Moly!” “You’re born from what decade?” “No, I’m just kidding.” “It actually means P-ain I-n the A**.” “I am not going to tell you the third word.” “It’s for your to guess.”
Our conversation ended up with laughter. I felt so old for not being able to relate with those new slang words of today’s generation. Thanks Madam for teaching me a new expression. See, talking to random strangers can make our day happy. How much more if we would spend our time talking to those people whom we consider as special to us.
I have learned two lessons from these two clients that I had a conversation with today. Mr. Irate Customer helped me realized about the importance of picking my battles wisely. His anger wasn’t intentionally directed to me. Winning an argument over him isn’t going to correct the damage done to his account. It will instead aggravate his disappointments towards the company. For my reserved customer, she helped me appreciate the value of communication and the joy that it brings to humans. We are blessed to have experienced the digital age where everything is possible through computers and hi-tech gadgets. Using them to make our workload easier is totally fine, but getting so much into those new technologies while neglecting the time that we can spend to talk with our families and to those dear to us is completely absurd. I would still prefer to have a hearty talk with the people I love, rather than browsing the net.
My two favorite chat-mates♥
If you have a moment, we can talk over a cup coffee.(wink)☺
Live♥Love♥Laugh♥
Mich