Helping and Learning from Others
I feel like I'm writing an essay on a word document with the new post layout :S. Anyhoo, I want to say about that within this short week, I've learnt so much about people. Both the good side and the bad side as well. I guess that's why I posted several posts on similar topics.
Not to condemn but rather to educate my dear readers, all er..two of you. You know people are people. Many of us are not saints, me included. Some people, even after helping them on numerous occasions, when you ask for a little favour from them, they hesitated so much and in the end, they are not even willing to help you but rather, they try to push you towards others.
I give this scenario. I conduct entrance exams in the school that I work in. I have two pupils coming and so far, the head of departments have been so kind as to provide me with the exam papers AND helping me mark them on the same day the pupils did the papers. No questions asked. But when it comes to English papers, the level head asked me to get two teachers to mark the papers from two different levels. Okay fine, since she is in charge, I'm sure she would rather ask other people to mark instead of themselves. Unfortunately this being the school hols, hard to find teachers to help me mark. Then I asked one of them to help me mark and she hesitated so much even though it was only ONE PAPER. I am not even asking her to mark for both. JUST ONE. In the end, she asked why the level head didn't want to mark (like in the first place, would i even dare to ask her that?!) and then she rattled at the top of her head the names of other teachers that can help me to mark. Thanks ah, like they are freaking around.
I asked again and in the end gave up already coz I know she die die won't help me mark even though her level head asked ME to get her to mark. I was disappointed because I helped her a lot on numerous occasions and she can be rather pushy about it and despite my increasing job scope, I help the teachers as and when because we are supposed to work together.
Honestly, I am not asking for a return in favour. I was asked to get her help to mark and she turned me away coldly because she said she had CCA. But then later she spent a considerable amount of time in the office. She even said to pretend that she is not here. How dare she. This puts me in a dilemma because I needed to get the papers marked asap so that I can do the paperwork to get them into our school and in time for some competition coz they are here on a CCA basis.
But God is great. Coz the next day, which is today, I saw a teacher coming in and she has taught the two levels before which the pupils were from. Even though she is not teaching those two levels this year, I took a gamble. I went up to her and asked her if she could help me mark and let me tell you this upfront, SHE DID NOT HESITATE. She immediately said 'sure!' and did not even ask like why she needed to mark. I gave her two papers instead of one and she did not complain unlike somebody earlier on. Even though she is also back in school for CCA, she could find time for it provided she gives the papers tomorrow as she needed to go look after the CCA. I said it's okay because I was so grateful for her help.
On another note, I've learnt many things too. I may have experienced the ugly side of people, but I have also learnt from other people who are even younger than me. I learnt quite a lot from the temp girl who is so patient with callers and walk in people and is so polite. To me, she has excellent customer service even though she has very little working experience having just finished her A level papers. She also has great initiative and she needs little prompting and doesn't question unless she has her doubts. Sometimes I feel quite bad coz occasionally she tried to ask me for help and then I wasn't much of a help especially when I'm pretty swarmed with things. Now that we have her as a temp girl and the receptionist, I don't have to take many calls unlike the last time so I slacked a bit. But sometimes I have to remind myself that answering phone calls and attending to customers are also part of my jobscope and I do try to perform them. It's just that I have gotten lazy, haha.
But then judging from my earlier experience at a ministry's call service center, where the staff are closely guarded on their actions especially when time is of essence for them, where even their visits to toilets are closely monitored, I must thank myself that I am not in such a line. True, I am also partly doing customer service but not fully into them that my main job scope is basically attend to calls, emails and walk in enquiries. There are so many different types of people out there who can be so rude and unreasonable that I just CANNOT imagine dealing with such people on a daily basis at work. I can go absolutely crazy. But the girl I was attached with just now was so patient with the callers and I felt that the callers, when they put down the phone, probably appreciate how she handles her calls tactfully and with patience.
I want to continue to be helpful to people because even though there are people out there who may not deserve our help, if you need help, someone else can in turn help you. I also want to be more pro active at work and help my colleagues as best in my ability. Just like in the show Undercover Boss, these high fliers also have much to learn from those of the lower levels who are also responsible in helping them run the business.
Not to condemn but rather to educate my dear readers, all er..two of you. You know people are people. Many of us are not saints, me included. Some people, even after helping them on numerous occasions, when you ask for a little favour from them, they hesitated so much and in the end, they are not even willing to help you but rather, they try to push you towards others.
I give this scenario. I conduct entrance exams in the school that I work in. I have two pupils coming and so far, the head of departments have been so kind as to provide me with the exam papers AND helping me mark them on the same day the pupils did the papers. No questions asked. But when it comes to English papers, the level head asked me to get two teachers to mark the papers from two different levels. Okay fine, since she is in charge, I'm sure she would rather ask other people to mark instead of themselves. Unfortunately this being the school hols, hard to find teachers to help me mark. Then I asked one of them to help me mark and she hesitated so much even though it was only ONE PAPER. I am not even asking her to mark for both. JUST ONE. In the end, she asked why the level head didn't want to mark (like in the first place, would i even dare to ask her that?!) and then she rattled at the top of her head the names of other teachers that can help me to mark. Thanks ah, like they are freaking around.
I asked again and in the end gave up already coz I know she die die won't help me mark even though her level head asked ME to get her to mark. I was disappointed because I helped her a lot on numerous occasions and she can be rather pushy about it and despite my increasing job scope, I help the teachers as and when because we are supposed to work together.
Honestly, I am not asking for a return in favour. I was asked to get her help to mark and she turned me away coldly because she said she had CCA. But then later she spent a considerable amount of time in the office. She even said to pretend that she is not here. How dare she. This puts me in a dilemma because I needed to get the papers marked asap so that I can do the paperwork to get them into our school and in time for some competition coz they are here on a CCA basis.
But God is great. Coz the next day, which is today, I saw a teacher coming in and she has taught the two levels before which the pupils were from. Even though she is not teaching those two levels this year, I took a gamble. I went up to her and asked her if she could help me mark and let me tell you this upfront, SHE DID NOT HESITATE. She immediately said 'sure!' and did not even ask like why she needed to mark. I gave her two papers instead of one and she did not complain unlike somebody earlier on. Even though she is also back in school for CCA, she could find time for it provided she gives the papers tomorrow as she needed to go look after the CCA. I said it's okay because I was so grateful for her help.
On another note, I've learnt many things too. I may have experienced the ugly side of people, but I have also learnt from other people who are even younger than me. I learnt quite a lot from the temp girl who is so patient with callers and walk in people and is so polite. To me, she has excellent customer service even though she has very little working experience having just finished her A level papers. She also has great initiative and she needs little prompting and doesn't question unless she has her doubts. Sometimes I feel quite bad coz occasionally she tried to ask me for help and then I wasn't much of a help especially when I'm pretty swarmed with things. Now that we have her as a temp girl and the receptionist, I don't have to take many calls unlike the last time so I slacked a bit. But sometimes I have to remind myself that answering phone calls and attending to customers are also part of my jobscope and I do try to perform them. It's just that I have gotten lazy, haha.
But then judging from my earlier experience at a ministry's call service center, where the staff are closely guarded on their actions especially when time is of essence for them, where even their visits to toilets are closely monitored, I must thank myself that I am not in such a line. True, I am also partly doing customer service but not fully into them that my main job scope is basically attend to calls, emails and walk in enquiries. There are so many different types of people out there who can be so rude and unreasonable that I just CANNOT imagine dealing with such people on a daily basis at work. I can go absolutely crazy. But the girl I was attached with just now was so patient with the callers and I felt that the callers, when they put down the phone, probably appreciate how she handles her calls tactfully and with patience.
I want to continue to be helpful to people because even though there are people out there who may not deserve our help, if you need help, someone else can in turn help you. I also want to be more pro active at work and help my colleagues as best in my ability. Just like in the show Undercover Boss, these high fliers also have much to learn from those of the lower levels who are also responsible in helping them run the business.
Comments