Listening Skills, Does Anybody Have Them Anymore?

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I've worked jobs all my life which require me to PAY ATTENTION to what people say and get the details correct. I expect other to extend the same level of professionalism and listen to what I'm telling them. Apparently this is no longer particularly important to much of the working population. I give you these examples, all from the past month.

I recently slide off the road and hit a dead tree with our Equinox. The impact was hard enough to activate the seat belt pre-tensioner, which is a small explosive charge, but was not hard enough (thank goodness) to blow the airbags. I told the GEICO insurance adjuster on the phone and in person that the belt tensioner was activated and there was an issue with the airbag system. He did not put either in his estimate.
When the Equinox made it to the body shop a week later, I told the shop estimate writer the exact story I told the GEICO guy. Three rounds of added repair estimated later my SUV is supposed to be done. I call the day after it was to be ready and am told, lo and behold, they discovered the seat belt pre-tensioner had deployed and they airbag computer was fried! DUH- I told both the adjuster and the shop writer.

Next, I call my Dr. to ask them to send in new scripts form my insulin to CVS Caremark. I told them I had a week left. A couple days later, I call back and ask about the script and they have no record of my calling. So, I explain what I need, the nurse pulls up my info and submits the script. Two more days, and I get an email from CVS stating they can't process my script because they need an authorization form from the DR. Another call to the Dr. and I explain it all again and tell them about the PA form. Thursday I get another notice about needing the Dr. to fax the PA to CVS, so I stop at the office in person, go through the whole shebang again. This morning, I get a text message from CVS that they are still holding the script until the Dr. submits the form. Call the Dr. again this morning, they are "looking into it" and I have to pick -up a sample to tide me over. Yikes never had these problems with them until their new crop of under 30 nurses and assistants took over.

Example three, from Friday. The wife and I went out to eat dinner. The waitress gets the side dishes on my wife's chicken dinner completely wrong. She ordered home fries with chicken gravy and cottage cheese in place of a salad. She got french fries with no gravy and applesauce!

Example four, from Saturday. We went to our favorite diner to eat lunch. The waitress got my wife's order just fine, but mine was a complete screw-up. I ordered a half pound burger done medium well on a pretzel roll with lettuce, tomato, Swiss cheese and sauteed onions. Side order was homemade chips and a salad with Italian dressing. What do I get? A 1/3 lb burger on a Kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato,Swiss, raw onion and mayonnaise, french fries as the side and ranch dressing on the salad! I ask if I got someone else order, but no, that's what the waitress wrote down.

Darn, I know I still speak plain English, so is there a secret wink or something I'm missing. End of rant:eek::mad::confused:
 
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I found in business one of the traits that served me well was really, really listening carefully to customers, and taking lots of notes. People tend to be very happy customers when you give them exactly what they ask for, or explain carefully and respectfully why — e.g. schedule, cost — maybe they want to alter their request a bit, but leave the choice to them.
 
It reminds me of the exercise where you start by telling one person a specific set of things( of whatever) and they must pass it on verbatim to someone, then they repeat it to someone else, etc., etc..
By the time it returns to the original message maker, it's usually nothing like the original message.
It's amazing though that it happens with someone actually writing down the original message! How does that happen?
 
I call it listening comprehension. And YES it is a lost skill/art. In LE it was critical for an officer to have the ability to understand and recall information being given to them often under very stressful situations. Although I have the utmost respect for 911 call takers, sometimes talking to them is exceptionally frustrating for someone that knows what needs to be reported and how. In the old days if an LE would call they could immediately ID themselves and ask for the "mike man". You were automatically put through to the person in direct radio communication with the patrol units. Avoided miscommunication and the time it took for the call taker to "drop the slip" and the information to get to dispatched. Apology for the reminiscing. There is a lot of blame to be shared for the communication skills of today's society. Parents, teachers, technology, the news media, I could go on but you get the drift. There was a news article last week about grade school age children not being able to write cursive to the point they could not even sign their name. I guess we are headed back to just making a "mark" instead of a signature. Rant over, maybe..... hardcase60
 
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My old boss always told me if it's not in writing it doesn't exist (so write everything down) ....talk is cheap and no one listen anymore...and my favorite is if your talking your not listening

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Sorry to hear about your accident. :(
Hope your alright.

Seems the only protection from those careless folk, is to keep looking until you find people that take pride in what they do, then support them.

My husband and I regularly write to corporate management, to note good service received.
 
As a pro musician and guitar shop owner with a minor in English, I have relied on my hearing, comprehension and listening skills to make a living.

Deciphering sounds, tones and intervals is one thing but listening to a customer explain exactly what is wrong and understanding exactly what they want done to their five figure instrument is crucial. Don't pay attention and things can turn sour.

If one takes the time to listen, this old world has a lot to say.
 
During my last ten years of corporate imprisonment (which ended about ten years ago) my job duty was 'training'. The most popular class I offered was "Listening Skills". The class was filled once each quarter with employees that were nominated by management. Some attended more than once. Near the end of my tenure the training was required for all new employees as part of their orientation process. Listening is a skill that has been deteriorating for years. Facebook, Twitter, and the like are rapidly deteriorating the skill further. People don't listen any more, they text / FB/ Tweet / etc. Sooooo much is lost in written communication that can be conveyed easily with decent speaking and listening skills.
 
During my last ten years of corporate imprisonment (which ended about ten years ago) my job duty was 'training'. The most popular class I offered was "Listening Skills". The class was filled once each quarter with employees that were nominated by management. Some attended more than once. Near the end of my tenure the training was required for all new employees as part of their orientation process. Listening is a skill that has been deteriorating for years. Facebook, Twitter, and the like are rapidly deteriorating the skill further. People don't listen any more, they text / FB/ Tweet / etc. Sooooo much is lost in written communication that can be conveyed easily with decent speaking and listening skills.

I am not so sure that I agree 100%. Written word is essential and every word has a meaning so I am not sure that soooo much is lost in written communication that is more easily conveyed in spoken word. There is a reason we have written contracts, agreements, policies, procedures and laws. We evolved from the spoken word to the written word to the electronic word.........we just need to teach folks how to get their thoughts from their minds down on paper or to whatever medium we use. The skills of written word or as we used to call it writing is a very lost art.
 
Two old observations.

My father used to say: "You can't listen with your mouth open."

A district supervisor who worked for me used to tell his agents: "if it is not in the report it did not happen."

I found both to be words to live by.
 
I go on several photography forums and say:
  1. I'm in the market for a 500mm mirror lens.
  2. I'm on a small budget.
  3. I know all of the limitations of mirror lenses.
  4. I've owned and used a 500mm mirror lens in the past and it met all of my reasonable needs.
What do I get in reply?

  1. You won't like a mirror lens.
  2. Mirror lenses have a lot of limitations.
  3. You need to spend $800-$3,000 on x conventional lens (as opposed to $119).
 
They just don't listen they can't remember anything either, where I worked the was a Wendy's not far away, the help was all old people, the youngest person working there was in their early 60's, in the summer the old people wanted the summer off, they would hire a bunch of HS kids, they would take your order and walk away, then come back and look at the register and put a burger on the tray, then come back and look at the register again then put the fries on the tray, then come back and look at the register and put a cup on your tray, the old farts would have you sitting at a table a minute after ordering.
 
I swear all 911 call takers these days are trained to read back what you told them incorrectly to check if you got it right the first time. It's that or they weren't listening the first time, pick your poison.
 
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