Relaxation

i'm passing this along, because i feel like everyone needs to know this, and to use it in their everyday work experience. it was shared with me over lunch last week, and (as it seems like everyone is having shitty times at work lately) i feel like i'm not the only one who might benefit from the advice. there are a few things that you (the lowly employee) can do to lighten up your work, and make your experiences there more relaxed, and therefore less stressful.

- use a calm tone of voice. no matter how frustrated you become, talk in a soothing, low, quiet tone. it helps in the same way that it's been proven that smiling makes you feel happier, i've found. and when you seem more calm, the people you're around will feel ridiculous being high-strung about everything, and they will calm themselves, and everything will move more smoothly. you know how, when everything seems incredibly dire, it seems to go as rough as it possibly can, and when things feel relaxed, everyone seems to move more in sync? it's a reverse psychology thing.. it really does work, i've seen it. (this is a little dependant upon you -the pretender- being a good actor)

- apologise. profusely. to co-workers, to customers/clients, to bosses. not only that, but sympathize, and mean it. there are so many times when i've been apologised to, when i could tell outright that the person doing giving said apology didn't mean a word of it.. and it made things SO much worse. but, again, if i could tell that the person really truly felt my distress, i was much less angry, and felt as though they were really trying. try to see things from their perspective. understand that from their standpoint, there are different priorities, and don't try to force them to see your point of view.. just let them know that you're working as hard as you possibly can, and that, given the circumstances, things are actually going rather smoothly - let them know that all that's required is the tiniest bit of patience, and everything will be fine.

- do everything in your power to please them. there have been several occasions in the past week-or-so that i've had to offer things to people that didn't seem attainable, or realistic. i've offered to mail people their prescriptions, when it would be more viable to just have them pick them up (not to mention, more cost-efficient). the funny thing is, though.. if you offer these things out of sympathy for their troubles, they're less likely to take you up on them. only one of the six people i've offered this in the past week has actually had us mail them the goods. the other five realized that i was doing everything in my power to help, and going way out of my way, and chosen to make that extra trip in to pick up the things they were (are) owed.

- when things get too hectic, remind the people in closest contact with you that everything will work out. keep reassuring the people around you that everything will be fine, let them know that everyone is doing things to the best of their ability, and keep the flow going. be grateful to them, when things work out.. over-compliment them.. and mean it. because, no matter how you could have seen things through better, they did the best they could. know that. no one wants things to be difficult.

- get personal. ask people how they are doing, compliment them on how they're holding up, let them know how vital they are. because, as silly as it sounds, when things get crazy, people feel useless. the more they're trying to do, the less efficently they tend to do things. let them know that their extra work means something to you, and to the customers/clients. even if the clients don't notice. this applies to the customers/clients themselves, as well.

this is collective advice from many many people i've worked with, also plain observations i've made. i hope you guys take it with a grain of salt, but also (more importantly) that it makes a difference.