Dysfunctional Planner

What’s something most people don’t understand?

Working in retail and now with local government I have spoken to hundreds of people in my life time. Complaints is a really tricky one and people offloading is often difficult to listen to, but everybody just wants to be heard.

People complaining about personal issues product issues, it’s just about some one understanding rather than someone agreeing.

During covid a stressful time for all of us a friend reached out complaining about her new cat, it had fleas and she couldn’t cope. She went on and on and suggested to get rid of the cat. My own cat has disappeared a few years before and her sounding so willing to rid of a cat for fleas just angered me. I didn’t speak to her for months.

But I wasn’t listening.

Laura would never get rid of a cat because of a small problem.

It took me a few months to actually hear her pain and ask the question, what’s going on?

And she told me, there was an incident with her ex partners mother and she was distraught with worry. Of course she was. She isn’t a bad person, she had a lot going on in her life and I apologised for not hearing her distress because I was thinking about myself.

We all just want to be heard, and the world has changed so everyone can share their own thoughts and opinions on social media. This is great for some and a bit too much for others but it’s still out there and it’s still a release.

So when people start acting out of character, really listen to them, when people are frustrated they generally just need to be heard but never put yourself in danger, never be to polite, make sure you are safe before you reach out.