Ways to cope!

[Naomi Glee]

I wanted to ask the ones that are in customer service to share the way they cope with disappointed callers?

We are telecommunicators and relaying a message to the callers about receiving an appt for the Covid 19 Vaccine and that is IF appts are available.  Me personally iam just seeing as relaying the message of there is not any available appts; try back later, and there is appts and lets get you one. I do not take it personal any longer.  At first, it was kind of heartbreaking because I can see the people really want the vaccine. Do you have any input/feedback? How are you coping?

[Meg Holbrook]

Hey Naomi, welcome to the community. 

My heart goes out to you for being in this situation and for all of the callers who are having a hard time receiving a vaccine right now. 

We're all going through so much right now and my advice is to make space for the negative feelings, accept that they are part of our humanity, and don't try to 'grin and bear it'. Talk to peers about your shared struggles. Empathize with your callers. The way you speak to them on that call may be the only time they've spoken to a live person that day. We're all in this together. 

I hope many others join this conversation - sending hugs your way!

[Naomi Glee]

Thank you Meg that is such a beautiful reply back...

[Daniel Eads]

Hi Naomi,

My experience is along the more technical nature of "no"s, rather than the much more personal experience you're having right now. I'd like to say thank you for the important work you're doing. It seems like that could be a thankless job and difficult to keep yourself above the disappointment of callers. That work is essential though, and so necessary for society right now. Thank you for doing the work - truly.

For myself when delivering disappointing news, I like to go for a walk afterwards (weather permitting) to try and reset my mind. Desk plants are mood boosters. When I had more desk plants, I found that watering them brought me some well-being and would time that activity for when I was feeling down. Research also shows that strangely enough, just looking at pictures of nature scenes for as little as 5 minutes can have significant effects in recovering from stress (as measured by heart rate and blood pressure in that study). That's a great help if you're not able to leave your work area, and especially if you can't have plants or can't keep them tended to.

Another thing I've been encouraged by lately is finding ways to pay compliments to teammates or send them short messages of encouragement. That type of interaction spreads positive feelings back to the giver just as much as the receiver! Atlassian writer Sarah Goff-Dupont has an article of 17 random ways to be kind at work for some inspiration (and more research on why it helps).

[Naomi Glee]

Thanks so much; that is encouraging feed back. I love the water and i do go swimming at times to free the mind. especially when i lay on the back and look up at the ceiling; or sky wherever iam swimming at. Much relief! Thanks for sharing...