We all have interacted with someone who chooses to be rude or nasty. Call me crazy, but I have never understood why anyone would want to treat someone rudely on purpose.
The other day, I had an incident on the phone that actually made me lose my train of thought. I had called a client’s office to speak with a couple of the employees. The purpose of the call was to introduce myself and to let them know how I would be working with their office. Prior to my call, I had sent some introduction forms to the employees asking that they completed and returned to me so I would know a little more about what they did in the practice. Out of the three employees, I received one back.
I called the office and after the employee said hello and stated the name of the practice, I asked with whom I was speaking. She told me her name and I introduced myself asking if she was aware that I would be calling to speak to her and was this a good time.
I actually cannot remember everything she said to me after the introduction because she was almost yelling at me, telling me something about the paper that I had sent and that it was stupid because it was blank. I let her continue to speak (while I was a bit in shock) and when she stopped, I waited a long pause before I responded. I explained to her that the form I sent was one she needed to fill out and return, that is why it was blank.
I will not go into all of the details of our two-hour conversation, but I can tell you that this woman ranks in my top five “rude people” conversations. What I can tell you was that she told me several times that she was a woman of a certain age and that she believed in speaking her mind. What she does not know is age has nothing to do with being able to speak your mind. There is a right way to get your point across so people will be able to understand where you are coming from and there is a wrong way. She chose the latter.
There are times when we may be upset or angry and have to talk to someone. In order to have a good outcome here are a few things to remember:
Choose your words with care; do not use them thoughtlessly.
Stop and think how can you get a message across in a way that discourages defensiveness and arguments?
Choose neutral words and tone of voice.
Choose positive words when possible.
Listen with empathy and understanding so you can see things from the other person’s point of view.
Remember in dealing with anyone: “Keep your words soft and sweet in case you have to eat them.”
Comments