Customer Service, could you do it?

Zarrix

Well-known member
I couldn't. There have been times when I could of been dropped into that end, but I didn't know specifically about SA at those times. I couldn't think of anything worse. We are very vulnerable to the judgment, and the customers do that left right and centre. I would be damn near dead by the end of the day, or as red as a tomato, with a really fast and thumping heart.

So is the ritual of fire the best way? I don't think so. But that said, we should start in the shallow end. You never go in the deep end of a pool first. It would make me even worse than what I am now.
 

Ky

Member
Ugh...I couldn't either! So many people use customer service to take out their aggressions for the day. I couldn't handle being yelled at like that.

Actually, it's time to get a job and I don't know what I'm going to do. Most people start working at the cash at our local grocery stores or waitressing, and Lord knows I can't do either! What if I give them the wrong change? What if I get their order messed up? What if they yell at me? :oops: I can't seem to find any jobs behind the scenes that don't require schooling or experience.
 

livingnsilence

Well-known member
I've done customer service and it wasn't all that bad most days b/c you have standard lines you say to everyone and if you can smile and be nice you normally have no problems. Most of the time I didn't have more anxiety in my customer service job than my job where I stocked shelves. The only time it got hard was when someone asked me a question I didn't know/wasn't prepared for or I screwed up but this sometimes happened at my stocking job as well. The next couple days after I'd screw up something or think I screwed up something I'd think about quiting b/c the anxiety but be to afraid to quit without notice though.
 

Sacrament

Well-known member
I do customer service over the phone, which means it's not THAT bad. Of course, I had to go through an interview and a month of training to get to where I am now.
 

xSleepy

Well-known member
I guess Ive done customer service. And I ddi get mean people who raised there voice to me and stuff. But thats when I would get someone else to help them.

I think it depends on where you working really. I dont think id beable to deal with answering phones all day. Or haveing to help younger people. Like people my own age. When I was doing customer service before it was mostly with adults in there 30s and up.
 

Danfalc

Banned
I have a friend who use to post on this site,and she was really poorly at the time,couldnt go out be around people ect ect the whole deal.She now works at a call centre for a bank doing really well for herself and I think its helped her so much.So i think its a good idea if you honestly think your up to it and ready to move forward :) Would really help your communication skills.

Like anything with this illness i dont think it would be good for someone to be forced into before they was ready as it might make things ten times worse.And its not for everyone anyway... i hate the idea of being cooped up all day stuck infront of a phone and computer id rather be out in the frsh air.And as anyone whos done it before knows... the genral public can be such an ass to deal with :?
 

livingnsilence

Well-known member
Answering phones all day is something I don't think I couldd do. My first job had several different areas you could work as customer service but one of the positions required answering the phone, I pratically had a panic attack each time it rang. Sometimes the manager would be standing by you when you answered, and I shook so bad, that one of them used to joke with me and say the surgar junkie is going through withdrawals again (the first time he saw me shaking he asked why and I told him I always shake and that when I go a long time w/out eating my blood sugar and caffiene levels drops so I shake worse)
 

PhantomPod

Well-known member
Oh God, I really don't think I could work customer service. I cannot deal with answering phones. I panic.

Just this holiday season I got a job working at the store Target. I thought all that I would have to do for the job was walk around straightening out and folding the clothes. But no, they made each employee carry a walkie talkie around because instead of having an intercom system throughout the store that they would make announcements on, they would do it through the walkie talkies.

Sometimes other employees would call through the walkie talkie looking for someone to answer in another department (like if a customer asked an employee in the electronic department about a clothing item, the employee obviously won't know for sure, so the employee will call to another employee who is in the clothing department to ask the question).

I would turn the volume down on my walkie talkie so that if it went off I could pretend that I just hadn't heard it. And if they called my department I just wouldn't answer hoping that someone else would answer or that the person would just give up and stop calling. Then I got all paranoid that that the person calling might be in the department right near mine and they may see that I was blatantly ignoring the walkie talkie and would come over and call me out on it.

Yeah, this got real long, but long story short, the stupid walkie talkie caused me so much anxiety that I quit the job after four days. :(

So I don't think I could ever work in customer service after that epic fail.
 
No way. Customer disservice, maybe. It's bad enough just trying to get *any* job since most of them involve social interaction, but when social interaction is the job, there's no way I'd be able to do that.
 

ismibrandy

New member
No but I have to...I'm tired of getting yelled at over the phone. I can't hang up. I can't yell back. I can't cry. All I can do is sit there and take it. I'm in the middle of nowhere Montana with jobs to match...so this is pretty much all that's available right now and I'd rather not be a homeless bum under the bridge...although sometimes it almost seems better
 
I do to a degree, that is I work as a computer technician and help others, but the job is lax, I have very little customers, and when I do it can be hard. I can't do something that requires be to always be there. Even doing something like register at a business would mess with me, I am one to work in the background, at jobs in which I can go hide for a moment if needed etc.
 

emmasma

Well-known member
I was a Dennys waitress for 10 years and now I am a nursing assistant in a rehab facility. (Its is really the same job, but now in stead of running back and forth with peoples food, I run back and forth cleaning their butts).
It was really bad at first, but I got used to it. I have alot of really good communication skills that I use at work that just do not transfer socially. I am fine talking with smiling and eye contact and everything as long as it is work related. The second anyone starts trying to talk to me beyond that cant do it anymore. I really hate when there is no work to do and everyone sits and talks.
 
I have alot of really good communication skills that I use at work that just do not transfer socially. I am fine talking with smiling and eye contact and everything as long as it is work related. The second anyone starts trying to talk to me beyond that cant do it anymore. I really hate when there is no work to do and everyone sits and talks.

I can totally relate to this. I think I've figured out that I do fine talking to people when it's "structured"- like work related, or conversations where I pretty much know what to expect and how to respond. Anything outside of that- such as anything socially related- and I clam up and either have nothing to say or are afraid to say it, unless I'm really comfortable with the person, which is rare.
 
I can totally relate to this. I think I've figured out that I do fine talking to people when it's "structured"- like work related, or conversations where I pretty much know what to expect and how to respond. Anything outside of that- such as anything socially related- and I clam up and either have nothing to say or are afraid to say it, unless I'm really comfortable with the person, which is rare.

wow same here! I have actually had many customer service jobs and i was fine once I got the hang of it. I also did phone customer service and was really good at it. I'm also very good at job interviews. I figured I was good at these things because i knew (most of the time) what i was talking about and i knew what to expect!

Once i step beyond those boundaries and become social based on my personality, it goes south. My anxiety kicks in and I become at a loss for words, or feel like i am awkward in the situation.
 
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