Introverts and the Challenge of Customer Service

I am antisocial.

No. I don't have antisocial personality disorder. That's a whole different thing.

What I mean is, I have always been an introvert. But it was my bad social skills and habits that led to situations which caused people to hate me.

There is nothing wrong with being an introvert but that personality trait can garner a collections of bad habits.

In Jamaica, being social is a lifeline. 

It’s worse because I worked in a job where being social was important. 

I had to learn how to socialize. 

At my first wholesale, I was scared to speak loudly. I was self-conscious. What would they think once they heard my voice?

In that work environment, loud voices are normal. It was not a office with air conditioners and patiently waiting patrons. 

Customers shouted orders like machine gun bullets and workers matched the volume with their own return fire.

‘Get used to stuff’ or as a former Navy Seal said inoculate yourself to your environment. If you keep doing something you’ll learn more than if you think about it.

Practice is better than theory.

Constantly speaking to customers loudly, asking them to repeat themselves, making inquiries, made it easier for me.

Hearing my voice doesn’t unnerve me like it used to.

Another habit I had was I assumed I was the background character of other people's stories. Meaning I did not think other people's lives revolved around mine. So there is no way I'm going to assume that people are thinking about me or care about me. 

This goes along with my constant humbleness and my need to avoid attention. 

Jamaicans are generally not like this. They like to seek other people's attention and be the center of everybody's world.

Because of this I will be accused of ignoring people when I'm at the front counter of the wholesale. 

When in actuality I'm not, I'm usually hyper-focused on what I'm doing which is usually two to three people either asking me questions or trying to get me to fulfill their orders. 

For example, people will try to call to me but unless the person calls me by name, I always assume it must be somebody else they're talking to. I generally assume I am that unimportant that I don't get called to or should not be called to.

In one case, a customer was calling to me and I didn't factor that it was me they were trying to talk to because there were other men around. I assumed it was one of them. It couldn’t have been me right? 

It was me. 

They got angry with me and said I was ignoring them.

Which, I was, to some extent, but my assumption made it worse. That’s my fault.

I needed to learn how to confirm and give information.

If someone tells me something, then I would confirm if that was what I heard. 

Because, yes, they may say something but I could have misheard or not understand the instruction.

If I am busy, I would leave short pieces of information that help alleviate their worries.

“I am serving a customer. i’ll soon come to you.”

It is one sentence but that one line makes all the difference in customer service. People like to be seen or heard. 

They want to know that they are going to be attended to. It feels way better than them not knowing if their order was heard or if they will be served at all.

The last thing we’ll touch on is distancing myself from people. This one was the hardest to overcome.

As an introvert, social situations drained me. That doesn’t mean I hate being social or hate people.

It means that though I want to be around people, I cherish my alone time more.

An extrovert thrives in social situations and generally never gets exhausted of being around people.

Introverts get exhausted after a while. It is like a life bar in a video game, once it eventually reaches zero, I like most introverts want to be alone.

I’m still working on all of these habits and tendencies I have. Progress had been made on my part, but i’m not perfect. 

It would be the same with a character arc. Readers must see the gradual change in the character to believe it, like how I did with the volume of my voice.

But I do try my best where my job is considered and where people around me feel seen.

That is what being social is all about, being seen or heard by others.