Ignoring Problems
Yeah, so when I first moved into this apartment, I was using this thick apricot scrub facewash that I believe semi-clogged the drain to my shower. "Ahh, that's not a big deal if it takes hours for the shower to drain, I only use it once a day, right?" The apartment manager speaks very broken English while I speak even more broken thai, and it leaves me with this fear of a) expressing myself, b) causing a problem. Isn't it somehow my fault that the drain is clogged? I should have known not to use that face wash? What was I thinking? Now, I know that I would be able to get my point across and that they would understand no matter what the language problem, but I again I start to think, Well I shouldn't even try unless I can do it perfectly? Again, I am reminded of learning french through complete immersion as an exchange student and how traumatic it was. Ahh, I'll just leave the drain that way... it's not really that big of a deal.
So, now the water won't drain at all, and I'm reminded that problems stick around until you deal with them. I am reminded of all the other farangs I know here who also have about my level of language skill but who aren't afraid to just go for it, make a fool of yourself, maybe you'll be understood, maybe not, but just speak, and try, and eventually that is how you learn. So, today I am going to face this little problem which is a small metaphor for all other problems, and perhaps I will cause a little problem by telling them the drain doesn't work. I really don't think they'll mind. I'm remided that just because something stops working doesn't mean its my fault necessarily, right? I also think of all my customer service jobs where I would take every complaint, every problem as something personally wrong with me. Funny how we do that, eh??
I remember working with one black girl from the south who started to teach me a little bit about standing up for myself. She would never take any crap from customers and would always talk about how she would go off on people if they really bothered her, "Excuse me, you need to get out of my face, and take your business somewhere else, cause I am about to go off, and you don't want to see me go off!" She wasn't quite that direct to their face, but I learned a lot from Catherine.
Speaking of customer service, I'm rather enjoying the lack of here. If the food takes a while to get out, the food takes a while to get out, if you have to wait an hour to see the dentist, you have to wait an hour to see the dentist.... That wouldn't work in the US where time is money, but it also builds all these people with overinflated egos who take themselves too seriously. "You don't understand, this is unacceptable that I should have to wait this long for this." I guess that things also cost a lot more in the US, so you expect a lot more. The chaos of all my customer service jobs: waitress, bank teller, customer service representative, being yelled at by people, when really it's the system that's flawed, not me. A little Buddhist philosophy in the the US certainly wouldn't hurt though. That is life, sometimes you have to wait...
So, now the water won't drain at all, and I'm reminded that problems stick around until you deal with them. I am reminded of all the other farangs I know here who also have about my level of language skill but who aren't afraid to just go for it, make a fool of yourself, maybe you'll be understood, maybe not, but just speak, and try, and eventually that is how you learn. So, today I am going to face this little problem which is a small metaphor for all other problems, and perhaps I will cause a little problem by telling them the drain doesn't work. I really don't think they'll mind. I'm remided that just because something stops working doesn't mean its my fault necessarily, right? I also think of all my customer service jobs where I would take every complaint, every problem as something personally wrong with me. Funny how we do that, eh??
I remember working with one black girl from the south who started to teach me a little bit about standing up for myself. She would never take any crap from customers and would always talk about how she would go off on people if they really bothered her, "Excuse me, you need to get out of my face, and take your business somewhere else, cause I am about to go off, and you don't want to see me go off!" She wasn't quite that direct to their face, but I learned a lot from Catherine.
Speaking of customer service, I'm rather enjoying the lack of here. If the food takes a while to get out, the food takes a while to get out, if you have to wait an hour to see the dentist, you have to wait an hour to see the dentist.... That wouldn't work in the US where time is money, but it also builds all these people with overinflated egos who take themselves too seriously. "You don't understand, this is unacceptable that I should have to wait this long for this." I guess that things also cost a lot more in the US, so you expect a lot more. The chaos of all my customer service jobs: waitress, bank teller, customer service representative, being yelled at by people, when really it's the system that's flawed, not me. A little Buddhist philosophy in the the US certainly wouldn't hurt though. That is life, sometimes you have to wait...
posted by meagan at 9:28 PM
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