Business Wit & Wisdom: Kicking A Stone

Over the years, I have often found comfort, encouragement, wisdom, and even a few laughs from quotes and sayings. I believe that we can all grow and prosper from the words of others. It’s for this reason that I will be adding a new “Wit & Wisdom” feature to this site. I will also be adding my thoughts on the current quote. Feel free to join in with your comments. I love to hear what others think, even if they feel differently than I do, so don’t hesitate to comment. If you have a quote you’d like me to add, just submit it on the contact page.

Quote:

If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot.
Korean Proverb

This quote reminds me of when I first started working in customer service. Years ago, the people I worked for didn’t want the support team to use names when we replied to a support ticket. Our id numbers were just added at the bottom of the reply.

My first months were tough. I had quite a few people send through demanding and even haughty customer service tickets. They more or less had the attitude of, “Do you know who I am?” and “I’m too important to be polite or considerate.” I fixed the problems and answered the tickets. I was nice, polite, and helpful. I did my best to keep the customer happy but I never forgot the names of those rude people.

Time passed and I started a Parenting site/business. Lo and behold, I was contacted by one of these “customers” and was asked to do a joint venture with them. At the time, I had just agreed to work on a project with someone else so I politely refused the offer.

Now, had I not been busy, would I have accepted the joint venture opportunity? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that kicking this stone (me) in anger could have hurt the person’s own foot (opportunity to JV.)

What do you think about the quote? What would you do if you found yourself in my shoes? How does your customer service team handle “difficult” customers? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Be Heard, Speak Softly

I think Teddy Roosevelt had the right idea. He said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Of course, I’m not taking the quote literally and I don’t advise you to carry a stick everywhere you go. However, I do recommend that you speak softly and be prepared to put your foot down, when needed. There will likely come a time when soft and kind doesn’t work. This is when you will need a “big stick.” In other words, you will need to be firm and willing to take a stand. This principle can be applied in every aspect of your life. It works with family, children, and friends. It also works in business with clients, vendors, employees, and bosses, too.

When I was in college, I learned how the “speak softly” technique works with children. At the time, I was doing a teaching practicum, where college students helped to teach a kindergarten class. The kindergarten class had about 30 children with two official teachers and four college students to oversee things.

The weather had been yucky for several weeks. The children were antsy because they had been cooped up inside for far too long. The lead teacher, a college student, decided to do some inside activities instead of going outside. She tried to get the children’s attention but the kids were loud and couldn’t hear her. The practicum-teacher raised her voice so she could be heard over the children’s noise. Let me tell you now. You can’t out yell 30 kindergarteners! Finally, one of the supervising teachers started quietly singing a clean-up song and walking around. It worked like a charm! The children HAD to get quiet to hear the song.

Generally, when speaking to adults, you don’t sing. I state the obvious because I have been known to sing things to my husband, under my breath of course. One of my favorite songs was “Somebody’s gonna hurt someone, Before the night is through, Somebody’s gonna come undone. There’s nothin’ we can do.” Anywho, speaking in a soft tone of voice is a great way to talk to adults as well. People have to listen harder to hear what you are saying. Think about it. How many times have you spoken to someone in a soft tone and had someone else ask what you were whispering about?

Businesses have known for years that a soft voice or whisper gets people’s attention. Remember the Coty perfume commercial? The catch phrase was “If you want to capture someone’s attention, whisper.” Then there were the EF Hutton commercials where someone quietly mentioned EF Hutton and everyone stopped to listen.

The next time you feel that aren’t being heard, try a soft tone or whisper. You may find that it gives you the results you want. If that doesn’t work, there is always the “big stick.”

Back To School: Routines For Kids And Families

Well, it’s time for our little darlings to head back to school. Although my son isn’t home with me now, I still have nightmares about this time of year. Ok, maybe not nightmares but I dang sure have “lasting memories” about it!

When it came time for the kids to go back to school, I didn’t know whether to throw a party or hide in a hole. There was a big part of me that couldn’t wait to have some time to myself! Once school started, I wouldn’t have to stop what I was doing to referee a fight or check to see what the kids were up to because they were too quiet. I could actually finish a conversation and complete a project without a major amount of interruptions. You’d have thought I would have been in seventh heaven. Well I wasn’t.

I started thinking about all the things that had to be done to get ready for school. Next came the thoughts of getting kids back into a “school day” routine. I did NOT look forward to rousing a “night person” at 6 am! Nor did I want to deal with the morning whines. You know the kind I mean. “Just 10 more minutes, Mom,” and “Maaamaaa, I don’t waaanna go to schooool,” were bored into my memory. Notice how the last comment was drawn out. Did he really think by making the statement last longer he would be allowed to stay home? If he did, he was sadly mistaken!

I knew I had to get us both back into a routine. The routine would have to include things such as snack time, relaxing time, homework time, dinner, more homework time, another break, and bedtime. Most kids and adults, work better when on a schedule. Doing the things in a specific order and at a particular time helps us all to know what is coming next. After the routine becomes a habit, we even have a good idea of how long it will take to complete the tasks.

This may sound weird but in a way, routines allow our brains to switch into auto-pilot mode. Think about it. When you go get something to drink, do you have to stop and think where the refrigerator is? I hope not! Can you sing while you wash dishes? Sure you can. It’s because washing dishes is something you can usually do while on auto-pilot. When we don’t have to actively think about what comes next or try to remember where we put that paper, our brains can rest until it’s time to focus on the more important aspects of learning and working.

If you haven’t gotten yourself and your kids into a routine yet, start today! It’s one of the best things you can do for yourself, your child, and your family in general. Life’s too short to spend it running around in circles trying to remember what you should do next.