Right now, I am as close to a nervous breakdown as I have ever been in my life. Almost all of my stress is work-related, which is ironic, considering that my shop has been my passion for so long.
Fortunately, I am not in financial straits, nor have I missed any deadlines with customer’s projects, or taken any money for services not rendered. But I am barely keeping up with my workload, and having to tell very nice and very patient people that I cannot take on any more work. I have never had to do that to so many people before, and I sure hate disappointing people. I have to wonder if this is the dual-edged sword of success?
As you all have probably witnessed over the last few years, I spend a considerable amount of time trying to help people diagnose problems with their vehicles, and teach them a little about how to diagnose things themselves. This requires a good amount of patience. Unfortunately, because I am under a lot of stress, my patience is worn thin right now. In fact, it has come to the point where I am beginning to wonder if it will ever return. This is sad.
To make matters worse, right now there seem to be a couple of people bent on testing the limits of my patience. Though I do not have formal training, I think I am a decent mechanic, and have a decent understanding about how Landcruisers work. Nonetheless, right now I have a couple of customers who insist on starting off their conversations with me by accusing me of not having repaired something properly because their truck is not running well. While you all know that ‘A’ does not necessarily equal ‘B’, sometimes it takes a lot of explaining to make a customer realize they have overlooked other explanations. And when they start off their conversations with accusations, it makes it even harder to pull together the patience to walk them thru this. I am human, and subject to being tired and fed up.
For better or worse, I made the decision to take the phone off the hook and concentrate on the projects that are currently in the shop. It is productive, and productivity helps me keep my sanity. I am sad that I am losing out on the opportunity to talk with a lot of new and fun cruiser people, which is one of the highlights of my days at the shop. But I figure it’s worth it right now to avoid the possibility of ‘losing it’ with a shortsighted, short-tempered customer on the phone. I only ever want to put my best foot forward.
Any responses with more thought than ‘do whatcha got to’ are greatly appreciated. And if you’d like to leave a supportive message on my answering machine, that would be nice too.
Thank you one and all for just being you.
Mark A.
Fortunately, I am not in financial straits, nor have I missed any deadlines with customer’s projects, or taken any money for services not rendered. But I am barely keeping up with my workload, and having to tell very nice and very patient people that I cannot take on any more work. I have never had to do that to so many people before, and I sure hate disappointing people. I have to wonder if this is the dual-edged sword of success?
As you all have probably witnessed over the last few years, I spend a considerable amount of time trying to help people diagnose problems with their vehicles, and teach them a little about how to diagnose things themselves. This requires a good amount of patience. Unfortunately, because I am under a lot of stress, my patience is worn thin right now. In fact, it has come to the point where I am beginning to wonder if it will ever return. This is sad.
To make matters worse, right now there seem to be a couple of people bent on testing the limits of my patience. Though I do not have formal training, I think I am a decent mechanic, and have a decent understanding about how Landcruisers work. Nonetheless, right now I have a couple of customers who insist on starting off their conversations with me by accusing me of not having repaired something properly because their truck is not running well. While you all know that ‘A’ does not necessarily equal ‘B’, sometimes it takes a lot of explaining to make a customer realize they have overlooked other explanations. And when they start off their conversations with accusations, it makes it even harder to pull together the patience to walk them thru this. I am human, and subject to being tired and fed up.
For better or worse, I made the decision to take the phone off the hook and concentrate on the projects that are currently in the shop. It is productive, and productivity helps me keep my sanity. I am sad that I am losing out on the opportunity to talk with a lot of new and fun cruiser people, which is one of the highlights of my days at the shop. But I figure it’s worth it right now to avoid the possibility of ‘losing it’ with a shortsighted, short-tempered customer on the phone. I only ever want to put my best foot forward.
Any responses with more thought than ‘do whatcha got to’ are greatly appreciated. And if you’d like to leave a supportive message on my answering machine, that would be nice too.
Thank you one and all for just being you.
Mark A.
.
