Personal Victory

I went on a course last week called  "Dealing with Difficult People" which incidently, I organised for our department as we seem to deal with this type of people regularly...anything more that I would say about these difficult people would have to go in my venting blog...but just isn't worth the effort right now...

The main thing that changed after the session was my attitude. It sunk in for me that really, I am in customer service. The people in my office, the people at the terminals, the people at our Head Office and the customers are actually all my customers. And I have to give good customer service. 

With this in mind let me share an example of what happened this week, where I was able to implement a tiny bit of what I learnt. While I was out the office, on work related matters, someone had an issue. They sent an e-mail to IT support and to me. IT support directed them to me as they could see that I had intentially blocked an account so none of the terminals could use it. IT cc'd me in the e-mail. The user then e-mailed me too. I was still out the office. But only out for a couple of hours, so no 'out-of-office' was deployed on my e-mail, as I'd be back in time to respond to any e-mails sent that day. 

By the time I was back I had a further e-mail from the user, who is 2 or 3 levels below me, all in capitals saying that she has not had a response from me yet, definitely not the way I'd speak to my boss, never mind the way I'd speak to my bosses boss. So, I was presented with my "difficult person".

Happy to say I responded to her in a polite way and it was the cherry on top when she was trying to do something the wrong way so ended up looking stupid as well as rude, while I was left looking polite, in-charge and had my dignity intact... 

I also learnt the "broken down record" technique. I didn't think it was a good technique, but I have discovered that it is. You decide what your answer is going to be to a difficult person and you stick to it. By the time the difficult person has heard the same response 3 times, the average person will understand that the response will not change. And then you can start talking properly or the difficult person will go away. 

Sounds boring in writing, but I really enjoyed going to a course that I could actually walk out of and remember something that I learnt and could implement it with positive effects.  

The Pamper...

Having been the co-hostess of a couple of pamper parties / kitchen teas, I was determined to not be caught by surprise for my one. My mom carefully ensured that I didn't know when my sister-in-law, (who was also a bridesmaid) was going to be next in Durban, otherwise my suspicion levels would be raised...

I decided that the most obvious time for a kitchen tea would be if I was invited over to my parents on a Saturday afternoon. At the beginning of the particular week, Andrew informed me that my dad had asked him to help him with some anti-virus issues he was having so he was going to help out on Saturday.

Being a bit slow at times, this didn't sink in, until the Friday before, where suddenly I realised that this visit met the criteria for a surprise kitchen tea.

Sooo.... not being content to just leave it at that, I decided to start digging... So I asked me dad what Andrew needed to help him with... their stories matched up... So I had to move onto the next question, "would he like to come to our flat to watch rugby?" After some consideration, the answer was "yes". But this still didn't throw me off, as I also asked if Andrew should help with the anti-virus in the morning, and the answer was "no". So, that meant they didn't want to change the time...

But I was not 100% convinced yet, so when a friend phoned, I straight out said to her that I thought my kitchen tea was that day. She coped very well, but knowing her well, I was more suspicious by the end...

At lunchtime we went off to Andrew's house and then we had what is called "a difference of opinion" and I wanted to leave. Andrew then had to employ the "stall-tactics" which then made me super-supicious, this coupled, by Loren's request for Stuart to drop her and Heather off at the Wilby's, with their plate of eats, at the pivotal time of 2.30 made me know that "this was the day".

Andrew and I then left on our 2km journey to the Druce's and who did we see driving along the road, all by himself, in the opposite direction to where the Wilby's live? Yes, you guessed, Andrew's dad!!!

The afternoon was a whole lot of fun though, with a lot of forfeits being endured, having to stick my head in a bowl of chocolate sauce and remove a marshmallow for each incorrect answer giving.

I truly felt special being surrounded by so many ladies, wanting to show their love. The gifts were great too! And I'm looking forward to making some of the food that they gave me recipes for too!

Here are some photos of the fun day (1.3MB)

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In the beginning...

It all started with a request by my boyfriend to start going to fancy restaurants once a month... Starting with the Revolving Restaurant... I was slightly suspicious about this, but Andrew put my suspicions to rest.

We spent the day together on the 31st of May and in the evening drove off to the Revolving Restaurant. While we were driving Andrew snuck glances in  my direction, which I thought was weird, but once we reached the restaurant I was only admiring the view and selecting my food. As I was sipping my grapetizer and gazing out the window, I heard a crash - Andrew had knocked over the wine stand behind his chair. He looked very uncomfortable with his chair half sticking out from the table and a trapped look on his face... I became aware of a "snapping shut" sound and my suspicions kicked into gear, but before I could process the thought, there was Andrew, down on one knee in front of my chair saying "I love you, will you marry me?" 

And so it all began... 

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