I sometimes have the unpleasant task of telling people that they can’t do things they want to do when at work, since i’m responsible for everyone being compliant to stuff.
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I always am polite, professional but firm. I sometimes use humour too, if i think it’d work.
it bugs me that sometimes people don’t listen, but when i pull in my ang mo colleague, they listen.
why is this still happening in this day and age? I feel bad my ang mo colleague has to attend extra calls / reply to additional emails on top of his work just to get ppl to listen. but he’s super chill about it and happy to help.
what does he have that I don’t? We’re both equally skilled at our jobs.
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Netizens’ comments
- If my superior told me to comply with humor, I’d probably take it as something she said in passing rather than someone she’d want me to comply with.
- (OP) humour is a good way for ppl not to feel like they’re being talked down to. At the end of the day, everyone, regardless their level of seniority, deserve respect.
- You’re not wrong that everyone regardless of their level of seniority deserves respect. However, there are times to be humorous and times to be serious.
If you want to get a message across, using humour probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Imagine if rules and law were informed to others through humour. Probably wouldn’t work well. - While race might be an issue, there are many other possibilities that we should consider before defaulting to race as the reason why people are more willing to listen to your colleague than to you.
Have you observed the way in which he communicates the message to the other staff, perhaps you can try mirroring it? Does he make an effort to communicate with the other staff on matters other than work i.e., small talk(building a personal connection with people can really help to get the message across, and to stop associating your name with bad news)?
Communication is a skill, especially when it comes to communicating news that people likely do not want to hear.
It’s a worrying trend because after some time word will get around that you are a pushover and you will never be able to get them to listen. I know this sounds nasty but you have to “scapegoat” a few recalcitrant people and really throw down the hammer to show everyone you mean business.