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Thursday, May 8, 2008
An extraordinary day in an ordinary day
I'd like to tribute this post to this word called "stress". Something that tingled my thoughts a little, yet something that has been lingering like a shadow in my life. Stress. My workplace happens to be at a call centre, where stress management is important for one to be even carrying out daily work, especially when handling difficult customers. Customers who don't give a hoot about what you have to say, customers who have that i'm right you must be wrong mentality. Thankfully, my calls haven't been tricky. And i'd like to attribute it to a few moments in my previous job at Dell, plus other nitty gritty stuff that made me see through all this.
I am someone who takes things seriously. A little too serious at times for my own good. Something that can be good, yet backfires on me other times. When i first started out at Dell i had goals. Goals to achieve, hitting sales targets, talking to customers, doing successful sales pitches, and at one point of time, i felt really great, as i accomplished my goals one after another. Till the point came when i got stressed. Not for the first time. Some customers are just plain difficult to handle. Just out making trouble for you, just because you're a salesperson, doing service for them, and the expectations of difficult customers tend to be very high.
I remember one stressful moment when at least a dozen chinese prc students came into the shop to order laptops. Well the bargaining began of course, and cuz they didn't have credit cards (duh) so i went with them to the bank to do a cashier's order, plus all the bargaining and stuff about "your colleague gave me a 50 dollar discount, why not you?" yada yada. Plus an indian couple who also went with us to the bank to do the cashier's order. Nothing less than chaotic. The bank people literaly had to quieten our whole expedition down cuz it was a din at the bank. My head went big. But at least i had the sales. However, the next time a dozen indian customers came into the shop, we were all like: noo.................!! In the end we sat by the side and watched one of our poor saboed colleagues get himself super stressed, buried in the avalanche of indian men. So much for the enthusiasm. This was when stress can be funny. At least for those watching.
Though..other times it ain't funny any more when the customer does not understand your plight, screams over the phone and demands stuff from you or he'll start complaining. Unfortunately, this case happened when i was on off at a chalet, damn i hated it when customers start bothering me with stuff on our off days. Well normally monitoring their orders already takes up a chunk of your time, and i thought i had settled my outstanding cases before going to the chalet. However, this particular customer had to call upon my hp, my mistake too in picking up, and sorta affected my mood for the night. After which thinking about that incident, i made a mental note not to be so "responsible" for my clients. Even if i was God lol.
That's how workaholics are born, and i know that i am a potential workaholic myself. Thing is, when to be a workaholic, when to just chill? Our minds are not computers. Even computers need rest. There must be a healthy balance. The other extreme, stoning, is also a definite no-no, btw.
So today, i saw this colleague of mine break down because of a customer's harsh words. Several people were looking at her, and at that moment i started to feel for her. Yes, being responsible for your customers is a good thing. But when the other party does not appreciate your efforts and demand more from you, then i suppose it might just be more worth to just take it easy and laugh at the customer's supposed angry expression, albeit innately that is. Why burst your brain cells for nothing?
Looking back (i somehow realised that looking back isn't such a bad thing, i used to resent it), i feel for myself too. Getting stressed over things which you cannot change, which is beyond you, or even shedding tears over it (wah that was super paiseh, but as for tears i'll leave it to next time), that's just not worth your time. 24 hours 7 days a week, doing little things that make us smile, should be the agenda instead. Have a break, have a kit kat! (When you're furrowing your eyebrows and tensing up that is).
What's past is past. However, stress in the past will become stress in the future if one does not know how to control this bad habit consciously. 3 years down the road, when our batch graduates from uni, our future selves might even be strangers to us now. Though.... strangers with better habits. 3 months left to uni, it seems a long way from army now, an even longer way from jc/sec sch, yet it's never been closer. Stress? nah. a little will do.
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