Customer Service

The bulk of my responsibilities at work fall into the realm of customer service on one level or another. Whether or not it is a librarian in the department or a patron off the street, I'm here to help them. I have worked in this type of position for several years now and for the most part and I handle myself well in situations, even the sticky ones. Working at the library affords me interaction with the entire gamete of people; the stupid, the kind, the arrogant, the obnoxious, the demanding, the understanding and the seriously attractive. Having such diverse interactions is one of the things I love about my job. I could never be satisfied in a job that did not involve face to face interaction with other human beings. A few choice encounters at work have left me thinking about how fickle our emotions are, how different our interactions can be and the feelings I walk away with after a customer service interaction.

I try to do my best at work. Granted I despise shelf reading, (browsing our reference collection to assure books are in call number order) it is such a mundane task, for the most part I am a stellar employee. My job performance earns me the safety of feeling quite indispensable to my employers. This is something I work hard for each time I interact with someone at work and is made all the more easier when dealing with rational calm and understanding people...it is the nutters who require a little more patience.

When the incessant noise blower approaches the desk, I know immediately that this interaction will require copious amounts of patience and tolerance. He never looks me in the eye, stumbles over his words, and grumbles when I seem to be able to fix his "computer problems" with relative ease. The reason being that they usually have something to do with the new edition of Microsoft Word, and are not in actuality technical malfunctions that he finds impossible.

The interactions that leave me frazzled are the ones that come from demanding, lazy people who are not familiar with library operations or even how to find a book, their requests are usually unrealistic. A professor on campus made a rather hefty request the other day and without enough authoritative personnel here to handle the situation, I was left to proceed despite any real knowledge of protocol. I don't mind making decisions that are perhaps not my responsibility to make, I did essentially run an entire housing office once upon a time so I grew accustomed to playing manager.

There is just such a different feeling when you conclude your interaction with a patron who respects your efforts as opposed to those who put no thought into all the work you are doing on their behalf. My frequent caller professor is probably just peeved that I didn't give her exactly what she wanted and didn't feel inclined to come and do some of her own bidding. Another patron I helped this morning had been looking for a book for weeks. Even if I had not found it for him, I feel confident that he would have still been a calm and respectful person to me.

My mood fluctuates dependent upon the type of interactions I have at work. A good quality interaction resulting in a satisfied patron leaves me feeling happy and assured. I know that my personality and willingness to help patrons affects their day too. What I am trying to say, with all this rambling is that it is just so easy to be the person to make another's day.