Maybe if it was blue...
Shortly after university, I had a job working the desk at a gym in Windsor. I got to hang out and talk with people who were genuinely trying to improve their health, and I find talks like that very encouraging. I had to show people how to use the machines, keep the club tidy, answer the phones, and generally be a pleasant and encouraging person. Sometimes I would sign up a new member, and part of the sign up process was to have them refer some friends or family members. It was my job to call those people and invite them to check out the club.
I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. It felt like solicitation. I hate having my life interrupted by people I don’t know trying to sell me stuff, and I didn’t want to be that person. I’m not a sales person, and I’m not great over the phone to begin with, so the two things led me to dread going to work a job I otherwise loved. I talked with the club general manager about the problem I had doing it, and she let me pass those names and numbers onto another staff member who was great on the phone. The regional manager had other ideas though, and pressured me about this one thing to the point that my social anxiety started bothering me so much that I had to quit the job.
My next job was at a call centre. I know it was probably a bad idea taking a job where I had to talk on a phone all day, but it had to do with computers, and I desperately wanted something that was even sort of related to my degree. Besides, the person in the interview told me the job was straight up problem troubleshooting and resolution, no sales, no cold calling, no outgoing calls at all. She was partially right. There were no outgoing calls, and those are the ones that bother me the most. However, my manager’s interpretation of problem resolution was selling the caller a new laptop. I was terrible at sales. I just don’t lie to people very well over the phone. I don’t lie well in person, either, but I’m worse on the phone. Also, all I did all day was take abuse from people.
Now, I’m a code monkey. I come in to the office every day and talk to the same half dozen people every day about the weather or the crazy stuff that exists on the Internets. I like the job. Lately, my boss has been having me do ‘webinars’ where I demonstrate our applications to prospective clients. This is over the phone. It brings up all my old insecurities about talking on the phone, and I get very nervous right before the webinar. However, there are some big differences. First, webinars are always done by more than one person. Second, our prospective clients contact us, not the other way around. Third, I wrote the software. I know it inside and out, and could talk about it for hours. Fourth, I don’t have to do webinars all day. If I do three in a week, that’s a lot. That makes them a nice change of pace when I want to hit my computer with a mallet out of frustration.
But phones still freak me out. I would never be able to do sales calls. I only feel comfortable talking on the phone with people I know, or people who have initiated the contact. I don’t think this is something I need to ‘get over’ so much as it’s something I need to accept and deal with, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job at that.
