A Curious Psychological Phenomenon

[Bee]

I've been noticing something lately, and a visit to Dutch Bros tonight has cemented it. It has to do with people who work in jobs that require you to be highly social, highly polite, and highly perky. If you've worked in customer service, you know what I mean. You deal with people in anything but the most relaxed of family/friend contexts and you hear the change. The rise in pitch. Your face hurts because you're smiling too widely, more like a facial tic than a genuine emotion. You sound helpful even though you're not helping anyone with anything. And you can't stop.

I've been noticing something about when I run into other customer service people. They can't stop either. We spur each other on:

She talks perky to me.

I talk perky to her.

She ratchets up her perky a notch, reflexively.

I take my perky to a new level, as though some challenge has been issued, as though we must escalate our perky to see who is the Perky Champion of Smiling Customer Service.

She takes her perky up to eleven.

I take my perky beyond the impossible.

She backs down. I can hear it in her voice. It drops. She is speaking almost normally again, while I have a psychotically happy grin plastered across my face.

Because I always win the perky challenge. I have an advantage: I naturally sound like a cheerleader who has just snorted her second line of crack.

But this happens to me everywhere. The exchange of perky. The escalation of perky. The inevitable defeat and retreat of my opponent.

Where does it end, you guys?

[seraaches]

When you carve off their face with a butcher's knife.

Also HHEEE. You totally sound like a cheerleader. *loves on your customer service fake out skills* This is how you shall take over the world.

[Callypso]

Haha, I know what you mean. The "perk" becomes etched into your face in certain situations and can become quite nauseating... As someone who has transitioned to "customer service" to more of a "behind-the-scenes" office person, it just doesn't really stop until you're out of that customer service position. I'm still polite;etc on the phone and everything, but the "perk" eventually went away.

I think it probably has something to do with certain jobs focusing on presentation versus getting-the-job-done in how high your level of "perk" is. I bet there's some sort of relative equation for it... XD

[Kitty]

The perky ends when .... *dun dun dun* You run into that person that, no matter how perky you are or how helpful you try and be ... they are an utter and complete douchebag with no other purpose but to piss someone off.

The people who are lucky you have self control at the work place cause, really... you'd love to break their face. =3

[Lauryn de Vampyre]

Unless I'm having a really bad day, I can't turn off the perk.

I've even worked at call centers so you should hear what my perk sounds like on the phone. It's even more perky, since the other person has to be able to "hear" your smile.

I can always tell what customers I have that also work in Customer Service. We laugh a little when we both realize we're doing the same thing.

It has made me a great customer though. I always say please and thank you, even in drive thrus.

Oh, and for those people who inspire me to want to put my fist through their face - it gets worse. Instead of losing the perkiness I turn it up to an unGODLY level and tell them loudly and with the biggest smile I can manage to HAVE A GREAT DAY!!! Which of course, y'all know what that really translates to.

[Harpsdesire]

A similar thing happens to us computer programmers. But I almost never win teh battle of talking Nerdy.

[Shinigami]

The same sort of thing tends to happen to me on my flights, but I try to access theatre training so I actually look happy, rather than just perky. I also crack the occasional joke. *grin*

But now that I think about it, whenever a passenger comments on how cheerful I seem (often despite the ridiculously high temperatures inside the cabin), I always try to perk up all the more. *thoughtful*

[Lucca]

...man, y'all are making me wish I still had a job....>_>;; But yeah, I totally know what you mean...I had to be perky and fake-happy at work too, and it ended for me when the guests at the zoo were just being such complete morons...although eventually I even learned to be polite no matter what haha.

[Lauryn de Vampyre]

Whenever I come across someone whose customer service is lacking, I just want to smack them over the head and teach them how to do it right.

[Ry]

I have a large resounding mental YES echoing around my head with every sentence I read, and an insane desire to figure out how to dial area codes, so's I can see if I can outperk Bee. *snort*