Working with Difficult People
Posted by Gabe Graumann on April 21, 2008
Whether it’s the customer service rep for your cell phone company, the fellow employee a few cubicles down from yours, or that one person you avoid calling at all costs, we all have to work with difficult people eventually. For me it would have to be those people that are looking for a problem to argue about, and on the property management end of my development business there are a few of those out there.
This past weekend I received two emails (actually I was CC’d, as the letters were sent to every homeowner of a condo association we manage) from one such person who wanted to put their latest gripe out there for the world to see, and in so doing made several “not so pleasant” references about my company. Now if this person’s gripes were based on true accounts or actual mismanagement I could completely understand their frustration, but as I read their rant it was clear that this was basic slander coming from an angry person. The HOA board of that property actually rallied behind my company rather quickly and responded using the “facts” of situations being debated to show we were acting exactly as requested by the board.
The whole process made me realized once again that regardless of how much effort I exert, problems I find a solution to, or clients I am able to please, there will will always be those people who I cannot satisfy. There will always be people that I am unable to please even after giving my best effort to do so. Sleep is a valuable commodity in my home (especially considering I have two children under the age of 2 years old!) and it’s not worth losing that commodity over something beyond my control. An angry person looking for an argument is definitely beyond my control. At that point all I can do is dust off my hands and get back to work.
