How many people here have/had jobs in the customer service industry?
How many people here have/had jobs in the customer service industry?
Do you think that being forced to interact with the general public
helps shyness?
I briefly had a job as a waiter when I started college, and
occasionally I volunteer with a theatre group ushering and selling
tickets and snacks. In these roles I am unfailingly polite and
professional, but I am not overly-friendly or funny. When I am working
to a script or within the tight framework of a job I'm fine. When
conservation diverts from the script (a chatty customer, for instance),
I fumble and get embarrassed.
I don't think these things help my shyness a lot, but I think it is
good for me to have these kind of experiences.
The only service-oriented job I've ever been in was a helpdesk, and
even that isn't too customer-oriented. It was pretty annoying, though.
I had to take a lot of shit from stupid people. Thank God my current
job is one I could basically do equally well from the solitude of a
basement.
In 1993 I got my first job working as a till operator. At the time, the
thought of serving people scared me to death. I hated it. After a month
I had a meeting with the manager and he told me the following:
I wasn't polite enough to the customers.
I didn't smile enough
My speech was too "deadpan"
I wasn't friendly enough to the staff
To keep my job I had to improve and I started talking to the customers
and telling jokes. My Mother came in and couldn't believe what I was
like.
I think it definately helped with my shyness and I haven't been called
"shy" for 10 years. A few people in the last 5 years have called me
"chatty", "talkative" and "outgoing" so it proves I have changed.
I've probably improved in social situations as well but I think I would
still have problems approaching women.