Whenever my supervisor listens to me work it's a post just waiting to be written. Let me preface this story with a couple of tidbits of information about myself. I used to do collections and I loved it. Here is why I am good at collections:
1. I have never had personal financial problems sufficient enough to make me empathize with anyone who can't pay their bills every month.
2. I can count on one finger the number of people that I care about that isn’t related to me by either blood or marriage.
3. I hate sob stories. (Complaining about why something happens doesn't do anything to fix the problem)
4. I am stubborn (like a freaking mule)
5. I love a nice justified sense of entitlement (the kind one gets when talking to someone who owes them money)
There are more reasons for which I was so successful at collections, but I will go with the above for argument's sake. I don't relate well to other people, in part because I don't really like people with my own interests (many times I find other writers to be arrogant, self absorbed, megalomaniacs who's reviews of their own talent far outweigh their actual talent), and I am a terrible liar in things that I just couldn't care less (talk to me about the weather and it's hard not to notice how visibly uncomfortable I am with a mixture of boredom and frustration).
I know that sounds selfish, but it's more that I just suck at relating to people and therefore have grown a distaste for it.
So what am I doing as an insurance agent? ...... I .....hmmm.... you got me, but really, what job to you give to a hermit?
A couple of days ago my boss was listening to one of my calls. The woman talked about an auto
accident that she was involved in. She lives in Michigan and was hit by a teenage boy who was high on something (or so she says). She was hurt for a couple of weeks but all in all no long-term injuries. I expressed sympathy as best as I could and moved on to the next question.Customer: It was awful, he was on drugs and he hit me and it hurt blah blah blah
Me: Oh that's terrible (2 second pause) what's your home phone number?
Customer: ###-###-#### and you wouldn't believe it, Michigan is a no fault state so nothing happened to him and we live in a small town and so his dad knows the judge here and he got off free and clear.
Me: That is so unfair (2 second pause) with whom are you currently insured?
Customer: You know what the worst part is?
Me: What's that (exasperated)
Customer: That my insurance had to pay for my own repairs because Michigan is a no fault state.
Me: Ya, that doesn't seem fair (2 second pause) what was your social security number again?
I thought I was doing great, I was expressing understanding and moving the conversation along. I just wanted the conversation to end so I did everything in my power to end it. I tried to be sympathetic, but there is little hiding that I just don't give a crap. I tried to sputter out some form of sympathy, but I just can't relate to people that just don't deal with it and get over it. Back to a previous post that I wrote, I think that we all feel a desire to justify ourselves to others (in this case this woman was embarrassed that she was involved in an accident and had to go out of her way to prove to me that she was not at fault). I often feel the desire to do this, but I have to constantly remind myself that no one else cares. You marry one person because they care and that is who you share all that garbage with, but remember, no one else cares, so just keep it to yourself, unless it's funny. It's okay to share tragedy if you make it entertaining, but if you are just endlessly complaining, best to keep that to yourself.
So my supervisor pulled me to his desk after the call and said that I talk to fast.....shocking! and regarding the sympathy, "just fake it." The sad part, I was faking it. I was faking sympathy as best as humanly possible. On a side note if I would have gone in the polar opposite direction and been super sympathetic and not moved along the conversation I am sure I would have been called on the carpet about not controlling the conversation and staying on topic. There is no win at work. Work is a double edged sword into which I slam my face on a regular basis.
I don't mean to sound like a selfish jerk, but.......I got nothing....
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