David had been on the phone for 20mns waiting for the airline operator to tell him the status of his afternoon flight reservation. Impatient and nervous, he lost his usual control when the lady told him that she couldn’t find it. “What do you mean you can’t find, it is ridiculous, I made the reservation a month ago and I am due to leave this afternoon”, David yelled at the airline operator.
As soon as he heard himself saying these words he felt sorry as he knew he was alienating the only person who could help him solve this critical problem. By now his level of stress was at its peak and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
Interesting enough the lady helped him out when she calmy said, “When you are raising your voice, I cannot concentrate sir.” He was lucky, she had just given him a chance to apologise without losing face.
Two minutes later they were conversing like two adults working on how to solve this problematic issue. As soon as David explained how crucial this trip was for him, she became a solid allied who did her best to find him a space on an already full plane.
Although David had attended a couple of stress management workshops, this time the airline operator managed the emotions of the conversation with much better skills than he did.
How good are you at dealing with stress in your everyday life?