How do you work when you have to deal with people?

[buggy]

I think it is about knowing what is and isn't right for you at the moment. Right now I work in a restaurant but I don't interact too much or too little with people, it's about right for what I can handle. If I would have to be around people all the time it would probably drive me insane so it's about finding something that suits you. In the past I did a lot of work that I could do alone but nowadays I feel like I can tolerate more and maybe in the future I can step up my game and do even more socially oriented work if I feel like it.

 

[lurknomore]

I'm working two jobs right now where one of my main duties is being a cashier. It does drive me a little nutty at times, and I like it when I can get away from the register and do other things. At one of the jobs, I'm a shift leader and usually have a coworker who can handle things while I go in the back office and run reports, count money, etc, generally getting ready for closing. My other job is retail, and sometimes I'll get pulled to put away freight, which I like a lot better, of course customers still approach me to ask questions, but it's not too bad. When I am on the register at either job, I mostly get by because I'm following a "script," saying all of the same things and asking the same questions of all of the customers. Sometimes there will be very talkative customers who will throw me off of the script, and I'll forget what I've said already and end up asking the same things twice, and I am soft spoken in a town with lots of older hard of hearing retirees and I'll have to repeat myself a lot in that case, it's very frustrating and annoying. In addition, I have certain metrics to meet at my retail job, and the managers and supervisors get downright hostile, or just talk down to me like I'm a child, when I'm not meeting them. After an encounter with the manager, I usually spend the rest of the shift trying not to cry.

 

[twiggle]

My current crop of colleagues are alright but I've struggled in the past - one job in particular where I was often the target of jokes and rude comments.

I would just keep calm and get on with the job but there were many days when I would come home and cry; and I used to feel sick at the thought of going back into work. I HATED it.

My response was to write a letter of resignation and book a month-long trip to another country. It was a very satisfying moment, but I know that running away isn't always the answer.

I have felt anxious in jobs since and find that the best thing to do is to just compartmentalise it as much as possible. Focus on the tasks at hand, then as soon as you leave the office - just switch off completely.

It's good to have longer-term aims as well. Rarely is a job a job for life, often they're just another rung of the ladder towards the job you'd ultimately like to have. If you can focus on doing as well as you can in your current job, then you can comfort any associated anxiety by thinking about how the next rung up is getting closer because you are improving your skills at wherever you're working now.

 

[Richey]

Much of my anxiety is centered around peers my age. As long as I don't work around them it is not too bad.

Some of the cliqueness is really intense, like for instance, there are often cliques that channel each other, they are sensing a joke or sarcasm between each other all the time, even from across the room, so that it he hardest thing to really break into, its much easier for the smooth, loud, unselfconscious people to do, then there is the nice group that don't feel intimidating so that's generally who i will talk to at work more often with.

gossipy, cliquey, playful, really close nit groups are just hard work to feel completely accepted into, especially if they know each other outside of work or have known each other for years, its often best just to be on the outside of that anyway, you can always slowly try to approach them and chat over time but sometimes its best to be more independent but still helpful, if that makes sense.

I am seen as the outsider/quiet one and a nice helpful, funny person at the same time at work, because i swing from one to the other.

 

[Littlewilly]

I have just been given a 6 month contract with Royal Mail after temping with an agency for the last 6 months or so for them. its my first almost fulltime job for nearly 10 years sinse i was made redundant from the BBC after 25 years because the operation where i worked closed down & after that i became a fulltime carer for my parents for the next 4 or 5 years so its sort of nice to be back at work again knowing there is regular money coming in & im not having to go to a job centre to claim benefits so im thankful for that

 

[this_portrait]

I dunno how I do it, but I've gotten pretty good at pushing my anxiety aside in work situations. Probably because it's (mostly) all business, whereas if the situation is more casual, I have a harder time connecting with people, though I'm getting a little better at socializing in those instances, too.

These days, I have a hard time at work because I feel like I drag almost the entire time, possibly due to my medication.