Starting new job, talking in the kitchen
September 4th, 2006
I started my new job today at a Surrey(UK)-based Online Marketing Agency. My role is to bring in new business through telesales and online marketing. Wicked. Much better than my last one.
So, on with it.
The company is based in an office centre, sharing an office with many others. I was put in the kitchen to do a test. There was a TV in a corner of the kitchen, and it was showing the news. An ExoticHB7 from another company walks into the kitchen. The news was on the death of Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin.
- Me
- Isn’t it terrible
- ExoticHB7
- (turns around) Yea, it is.
- Me
- Well, I guess that’s what you get when you play with fire.
- ExoticHB7
- (she didn’t hear me) Sorry?
- Me
- (stutters little. It always unnerves me when someone does not quite hear me. It’s a small complex of mine) I guess that’s what you get when you play with matches.(I thought I’d change the word slightly for her to better understand me)
- ExoticHB7
- Yea, I always thought he’d kill himself some day with the stuff he was doing.
- Me
- (I changed the subject here. What I should have done is carried on with the topic: “Yea(with enthusiam)! that crazy nutt. You’d never get me doing that!”) So, do you work here?
- ExoticHB7
- Yea(lots of yea’s in this convo), I work for blah blah fire equipment recruitment agency
- Me
- (some small talk) What’s your name?
- ExoticHB7
- Maysa
- Me
- (I motion to shake her hands, and shake her hands) I’m King Pin
- ExoticHB7
- King Pen?
- Me
- (I should have lightened up and made a joke of it. “haha, everyone says that”) No, King Pin./dd>
I then asked whether she was Indian. I think she got offended at this. I have seen this happen before. Don’t do it! Just say it’s an interesting name and ask how her parents come up with it.
Social Lessons:
1) Be more ethusiatic. Have more PASSION in my speach! I am going to start attending my local chapter of ToastMasters
2) Don’t ask if someone is a certain race/ethnicity. If you get it wrong, they might be offended.
3) Carry on conversations. Continuing with same topic
Entry Filed under: Social Interactions
4 Comments Add your own
1. Stephen | September 5th, 2006 at 5:11 am
This is a great idea crazyge - recording your conversations and thinking about them. And it makes interesting reading too.
I agree with not mentioning peoples race/ethnicity - even if you get it right people often aren’t very impressed. I think it’s because it seems like you are pigeonholing them - like “I’ve worked out your background, so I know a lot about you,” - whereas they probably think of themselves as a unique individual and don’t want to be categorised. So I’d leave it ’til they bring it up.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
2. Nikki | September 14th, 2006 at 10:02 am
I think this is a great idea for a blog!! I spend a fair amount of time analysing social interactions after they’ve passed - I suppose it’s something that I do with my friends a lot, especially female friends. We can describe entire encounters, and we know which questions to ask each other about exactly where someone was looking when they said this or that, or whether we felt that they were being entirely truthful, or what else might have affected the way in which they were behaving that day…
A blog is a great way to develop social interaction experiences in a positive way, thinking about how you will actually improve them in the future… Cool!
3. King Pin | September 14th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Stephen:
Definitely. That’s preciously what I was doing. It is funny how you don’t really pick up on it untill you analyze what you do!
Nikki:
I like the kind of things you talk with your friends, very interesting! I need more friends like yours;)
Thanks for the comment guys, I really appreciate it. Just so you know, I will be updating this blog at least once a week.
4. King Pin | September 14th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Oh, I spoke to a colleague of ExoticHB7 at a company outing recently. She said ExoticHB7 actually mentioned our little chat to her, and said I came across very confident!
Always nice to hear people thinking I am confident, even though I might have been shaking in pants. Well, a little.
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