My Reflections

My name is Linae Morton. I am from Richmond, Virginia but I live in Farmville because I am a student at Longwood University. I grew up in a single-parent household, so my mother has to work twice as hard to provide for my sister and me. There were times where she worked two jobs, and other times where  we would struggle to make ends meet. My mom has been working ever since she was 14 years old. And ever since then, she’s never had a problem with getting or keeping a job. I believe that I have acquired most of mother’s  work ethic skills from observing her all these years. I have been working since I was 16 and like my mother, I have not had an issue with finding a job since. My first job was working at an ice cream parlor back home. This really put me head first in the costumer service business.  I really enjoyed my job because I liked seeing the smiles on people’s faces when i handed them their ice cream. This encouraged me to gain good customer service skills and be nice to the costumers. I am very professional and empathetic to customers at whatever job I am in so they can have a nice visit. I am a strong believer in the golden rule: do unto others as you want others to do unto you. So if I want to be treated with respect and feel welcomed at a facility that I am paying good money, then I will treat others that way as well. She responds well emergencies and tough situations like an angry costumer. I try my best to empathize with the costumer and try to understand why they are so angry. They could be having a really bad day and receiving the wrong order might have set them over the edge. It doesn’t necessarily make it okay for a costumer to get angry at me(a person they’ve never met before) but it is better to kill them with kindness. So when an angry costumer has a complaint, I start by empathizing with them by saying “I understand your frustration about x, let’s figure out a way to resolve this issue by doing z. Does that work for you sir/ma’am” This method has worked countless times for me and I believe it will help me even more when I continue my education to become a mental health counselor. Being a mental health counselor requires being empathetic and guiding clients to become the best versions of themselves by developing life skills and coping mechanisms to get them through hard times.  I will continue to work on my costumer service skills so I can be a good mental health counselor.