Thursday, April 28, 2011

Day 12

Day 12: Mirror Mirror

            Guests like to ask the front desk staff for ludicrous requests and bits of information. Examples include, exchange rates for Finland, requests to cut their hair, and how to pack a bow and arrow set for flights. My coworker and I developed two different approaches to dealing with ridiculous guests. My approach is to slow my speech, appear doe eyed, and act stupid. I figure that the guest already thinks that I am young and stupid, so I play up this fact.
            My coworker developed the perfect mechanism to cope with guests. She mimics them. She adopts their speech patterns and cadence. If they are loud and boisterous, then she is loud and boisterous. If they are overly sweet and condescending, then she is overly sweet and condescending. The results are amazing. Once the guests hear themselves reflected in her speech, they change into a normal speaking voice. 
            Often I wonder if the guests know that they sound ridiculous. She proves that even the guests don’t like to spoken to in the way that they speak to us.

Below is an example of a conversation between a front desk staff and a guest.


>

Hope that this aids your survival.
            Good luck. Godspeed.

2 comments:

Rex_Mole said...

Easy lesson is what goes around comes around, and treat others the way they treat you.

Unknown said...

Next time this happens to you, instead of trying to appear stupid, try to appear way too intelligent for them to keep up. Quote every philosopher at any chance you get, answer all of their questions with questions of your own, and if they question your competency at your job, start asking them random questions that they wouldn't know the answer to and scoff abruptly when they fail to answer you.

Customer: Hello. I would like a room?

Employee: "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself."

Customer: Excuse me?

Employee: *rolling eyes* It's a quote from Maya Angelou, only one of the most important American writers in our history. Don't you read?

Customer...

Employee: Anyway, we're sold out.

Customer: How is that possible?

Employee: Well, according to most physicists, two volumes of mass cannot occupy one volume of space. It's a physical impossibility. Can you explain string theory?

Customer: What? No!

Employee: *laughs* Wow! No wonder you weren't smart enough to make a reservation!

Some people say that the customer is always right. I tend to think of the customer as being right next to another customer who is probably willing to pony up the dough if the first guy isn't willing to. People are a dime a dozen and are just as forgettable as they are disposable.

-Darth Nerd