Handling Emotions

Good evening, everyone (*^^*)
Thank you for visiting.

When I meet someone for the first time and tell them,
"I used to work in the customer service department,"
I often get the reaction,

"That must have been so tough (>_<)!!"
from them.

"It must be painful to have to endure
whatever the customers say to you."

That
accounted for the majority of the
"reasons why customer service is a tough job."

It is true that
the job of the customer service department is to

listen carefully to what customers have to say
and do your best
to resolve their concerns.

If you get angry and snap back,
or interrupt the customer while letting your anger take over,
you won't be able to do your job (>_<)

However... the troublesome thing is,
I amshort-tempered(laughs). If someone calls me stupid

without any clear reason,
I get irritated,
and when faced with violent attitudes or language,

I instantly feel a sense of "firm refusal."

I think to myself that
I am not at all suited
to be a customer service representative (^_^;)＼(laughs).

However,
in my work at the service department,

even if I get irritated,
if I show it,

not only will the conversation not progress,
but it will also become complicated, right?

So...
being short-tempered,
"I would observe my emotions."

It is natural for various emotions to arise
while listening to customers,

so when some feeling arises,
I dedicate myself toobserving that emotion.

For example... if I get irritated,
I think, "Oh, I'm feeling irritated right now."

It's as if
another version of myselfis watching.

Keeping a notebook or memo pad handy
and writing down the emotions that arise

is also recommended
because it allows you to view your emotions objectivelyand stay calm.

Have you ever
felt yourself suddenly become calm
when you witness someone else being angrier or

crying more than you are?
This is a method that utilizes that.
In this case...

since you are also the one in charge of that "someone,"
it might be a bit difficult (laughs).

It surprisingly calms your feelings down,
so I recommend it (*^^*).

Even then, if you still can't stand it!!
In that case...

I used to get through it by "imagining the worst-case scenario."

For example...
as a result of me responding in kind to a verbal attack,

・The internet blows up with backlash
・A boycott of my company's products begins
・My family is left destitute

These are things that
can be considered as the worst-case scenario.

It's not exactly a method that is
good for mental hygiene, though (^_^;)＼

When I imagine scenes like
my company's products being removed from shelves one after another...
no matter how irritated I get,

it acts as a powerful stopper,
telling me "this is not the time to be talking back."

It really exerted its power
as a strong stopper.

If you want a more mentally healthy method...

I think it would be good to decorate your desk with a photo of someone precious, like your family,
and look at it when you get irritated,

as it will soothe your heart and be effective as a stopper (*^^*)

Finally...
I will introduce a rather playful way to deal with anger (lol).
Please don't read this too seriously (lol).

That is
to have someone who seems unrelated to anger
live inside your head.

I often used to imagine
Gandhi, who is famous for non-violence and non-cooperation,

and when I got irritated,
I would throw the question "What do you think?"
at Gandhi.

When I did that,
a much more generous answer would come back
than from my own short-tempered self,so
that would calm my feelings.

However,
even Gandhi
would sometimes get angry, saying "That's no good" or "You've crossed the line" (lol).

Since I don't have an image of him being angry,
I almost laughed, thinking "Gandhi snapped!!"

Even though in reality
I was placed in a very unpleasant situation,

thanks to Gandhi,
I was even able to find the leeway to chuckle,
and I really feel like I owe it all to him.

While I feel very sorry
for using a great person for something like this,

even if it's just in your imagination,
seeking help from someone other than yourself
makes it easier to be released from feelings of anger.

I'm very glad that I was able to realize
that fact (*^^*)

I'm sorry for being so playful
even though this is my first post in a while (lol).

Thank you for watching
again today!!