I was thinking about this article at work today. Y'see, my current job is very people-related - I've been tutoring people in how to write good academic assignments. So I'm sitting right next to a student for up to half an hour, often telling them, in detail, how they got something wrong, and it occurred to me that I go out of my way to be nice about it.
There are several reasons.
One is, cold-bloodedly, that if they like me I'm more likely to be hired again.
Another is that I prefer having a happy person in the room, and cracking the odd joke, smiling, and listening to their woes, are small prices to pay for that.
The third is simply that happy, relaxed people learn better. And in the course of the day I read an article all about that with regards to nursing training - some folks did some research on clinical study (in the hospitals) for first-year nursing students and found that the single most important factor in their success was the friendliness, or un-, of their trainers.
I feel I'm justified in being nice to the kids.
That being said, I've never had to paste a smile on my face and take lip from an aggravating person. I know that my boss would back me up on this (and my co-workers would be pissed if I did, for encouraging poor behaviour). The average level of courtesy in my work-place is very high.
I guess my conclusion is that real smiles are very good. Being forced to fake them would be rotten.
Yep - real smile = good. It sounds to me like you are taking a very good approach to your job.
Why the atricle struck a chord was that in my workplace there are instructions about always smiling at customers and even a guideline telling people to smile when they answer the phone. Exactly the sort of thing this study says is bad for you.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 04:39 am (UTC)There are several reasons.
One is, cold-bloodedly, that if they like me I'm more likely to be hired again.
Another is that I prefer having a happy person in the room, and cracking the odd joke, smiling, and listening to their woes, are small prices to pay for that.
The third is simply that happy, relaxed people learn better. And in the course of the day I read an article all about that with regards to nursing training - some folks did some research on clinical study (in the hospitals) for first-year nursing students and found that the single most important factor in their success was the friendliness, or un-, of their trainers.
I feel I'm justified in being nice to the kids.
That being said, I've never had to paste a smile on my face and take lip from an aggravating person. I know that my boss would back me up on this (and my co-workers would be pissed if I did, for encouraging poor behaviour). The average level of courtesy in my work-place is very high.
I guess my conclusion is that real smiles are very good. Being forced to fake them would be rotten.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 05:03 am (UTC)Why the atricle struck a chord was that in my workplace there are instructions about always smiling at customers and even a guideline telling people to smile when they answer the phone. Exactly the sort of thing this study says is bad for you.