Customer Service... despite being an aspie!

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I am curious as to who else is working in a position that is not typical of the kind of job we are more prone to excelling in.

I myself have been managing a restaurant for the last year, and have been working in hospitality for the last 9 years.

I cooked for the first 6. This wasnt bad. The nice thing about working with cooks was we were all different from the rest of the world in some way or another. My fellow cooks were much more accepting of my quirks than any other position ive ever been in.

After that I wanted to try FOH (front of house). I spent some time bartending, but working in banquets went well for me. While the staff management side was very difficult, This is where i started learning more about human interaction, and started developing my "formulas" for smalltalk.

After that i began serving tables. While some might find it overwhelming, I took alot of comfort in being able to follow a routine with tables. seat, greet, waters, drinks, order, punch in apps, fill waters, drop off apps, punch in salads, etc etc. The "witty banter" was something you didnt often get with me, unless I was able to work in something i was good at, and often a conversation would end rather abruptly when there was nothing left to say, just awkward silence, then walk away. but good prompt friendly service was never in short supply. This job was also a big factor that reinforced the facts. "I dont think the same way as these people"

The last year has been very difficult on the staffing side of things. I dont understand these people very well, and constantly hiring and training new staff is very emotionally and physically draining on me. The guest side is where I excel. Ive observed them for years and just like a farmer and his livestock, i know there are certain "formulas" that work out when followed to get the exact result you want. Almost every time.

Im hoping there are others who are in jobs that dont neccesarily suit their personality traits, but excel and enjoy them anyway. It would be nice to discuss corporate structure/interactions and staffing with another manager with AS.

I'll admit, this scenario is a good learning experience (as long as stress and pressure are low). I started out as being a staff member at a local historic site. It was typically slow there, so when i wasnt helping customers, i was reading a book of mine (several if it was REALLY slow). I then worked my way up to a restaurant, maintaining the place's trademark buffet. That made me nervous for a while because of the whole "Hurry up" issue, but i eventually got into the pattern of things. After that was the big one . . . working for Wal-Mart (not something i would recommend to other aspies). I'll try not to go into a rant, but that place will make one of us pull our hair out. They have their own set of rules, but there is supposedly one rule that overrides them all . . . "The customer first." Trust me, i always found it insulting that i would say a product couldnt be returned due to federal/state laws, then some manager gives it the ok. And it gets better, they blame shrink (loss of company money) on us when its returns like this contribute . . . that and blaming associates for theft (not catching the people doing it, etc). So, for me, this was a high stress because i couldnt understand the bigoted nature of the managers i had to work with. Not to mention there is the "customer you cannot please" scenario . . . you still get blamed, and perhaps even written up. The only thing i did enjoy was working in the electronics dept., and helping people understand some of the newer technologies coming out. Im guessing its easier for us to handle co-workers since they'll be there on a fairly regular basis whereas customers change daily (easier to handle something thats constant rather than changing).

Nutshell: You did the same thing I did. Nice

I was food service (waiter!) for all eight years I spent in college. What many don't realize is that this sort of thing is EXTREMELY script-driven. You're not there to sit down and socialize with the tables, after all.

1. Recite standard greeting, mention special
2. Suggest one appetizer (if dinner), take drink order
3. Bring food
4. Check back
5. Drop check when people have either pushed away from the table, thrown napkin on plate, or all occupants look around about every 20 seconds.

That's it. Contingency scripts cover things like "customer has dropped their dinner" or "beer is 1/4 full".

I found this time to be an INCREDIBLE wealth of knowledge and information on normal human social behavior. I studied it intently. You really get to be the "fly on the wall".

Cautions:
Restaurant work IS high stress -- but more often from the co-workers/management (most often) or when something runs out (infrequent).
You must be an Aspie who can maintain at least brief eye contact while reciting a very short script. You don't need eye contact for the unusual situations, just for the intro script. Order taking can be done while looking down at your notepad.

Thanks for the interesting view of waiting tables. That said, I don't think I'll try it. The bit about having to deal with more than one thing at a time in a fast-paced environment would overload me in a hurry.

I do very limited customer service work -- email technical support for the company I work for. I answer the ones I can, get help on the ones that are slightly beyond me, and pass along the ones I don't understand. Email interactions give me time to formulate my responses, and time is a very important element for successful communication for me. I do not do well at all on the phone or in person.

Unfortunately, my standard email signature had my phone extension in it. Had. I took it out after the second time some email person called me. (I didn't *want* a phone at all, but that's another story.) I just don't think well enough quick enough to be able to talk to people in real time. Still, I've gotten two more calls from people who have tracked me down anyway. This is not good.

If you are working at a service job, my usual idea is to write down a script verbatim and repeat it over and over again. Modify the order of the script in accordance to situation.

Customers don't expect much help, so they think you are doing your minimal you need anyway..

I've made the comment that while I don't like people, I've done well in "customer service" jobs.

I'd say the main reason is that in customer service work, it's about doing what you can to help the person you're dealing with.

Just making an honest effort to do that seems to make most customers happy and gets you good performance ratings.