Week 2 of Senior Projects
This week was pretty good overall. The days seemed to go by much faster because I didn't need to learn anything new. I could just throw on a pair of headphones and zone out while I did my work. I have a funny-ish moment that I can share but this week was pretty uneventful overall.
I completely failed in every way while getting the mail on Tuesday. To start off the day, I had a horrible headache. I hadn't had anywhere near enough water the day before and hadn't had any coffee yet. Regardless, I had a fifteen minute walk ahead of me. I grabbed the mail bin, grabbed a key fob, and started walking. When I got to the post office, I walked over to the PO box and reached in my pocket for the key, but it wasn't there. I had forgotten it at the office and had to walk back to get it. Luckily the second time worked but the failure didn't end there. As I sat down I realized I had lost my wallet and was forced to retrace my steps during my lunch break. Once again, I got lucky and found it but I was pissed at that point.
I didn't complete all of my goals this week. I was able to shred twice this week which is honestly better than expected, but I still didn't complete it. As far as calls go, I was nowhere close. This week was a lull in calls and I only answered 10 in an hour which is great because answering calls is the worst. Clearing the "table" was looking achievable until 3 out of our 7 front office people were out on Friday. It was almost entirely full at 3PM on Friday and I highly doubt anything changed with only 3 people left to answer calls and scan.
Last week Blythe asked if I picked up any skills to help calm down upset clients. Short answer...no. I try to just talk to them like I would someone I had never met before. You try to be as polite ass possible and most of the time that is enough but every once in a while, it isn't. In those cases I either try to explain the situation or just hand them off to my advisor. She has more experience than I do and if there is something I couldn't do, she would take it for me. This hasn't happened yet but it is what they told me in training.I don't have any pictures this week. I did just forget but even if I had remembered they wouldn't be very interesting. I work in a super generic office building that is not unique in any way.
I'm excited to see photos of your basement lair, no matter how generic you consider the space, Milo! I think you're right that simply listening to the cranky people is helpful for them to vent and feel heard. Even if you can't reconcile their situation, it's important they get to share their experience with someone who'll validate it, even if you can't fully resolve it.
ReplyDeleteMilo! Great to hear that you do have a strategy for listening to people - just talking and being polite. People need to feel heard. Veronica nailed it above that even if you cannot reconcile a situation, you do your best to listen. Keep dialing it in Milo! I think pictures of your walking to pick up the mail might be interesting, or a single capture of your awesome shredder or phone! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, your listening strategy sounds like a good one, and it must be working if you haven't needed to hand off a caller to your supervisor yet! (And I'm glad to hear that your walk, while frustrating, turned out OK).
ReplyDelete