The hair just naturally grows that stiff and coarse, that's why I need a haircut again to not look like a q-tip. They called it hemp rope in the military when shaving it.Originally Posted by sbbds
If I see a problem, I don't pause to think much about it but just immediately get hands-on with it. Like if I see something wrong, broken or out of place in my opinion, I go ahead and make it the way I like without thinking whether others have an opinion about it. If I see someone doing something wrong, I watch them for a bit but if they keep struggling, then I'll just jump in and do the job myself for them. Like someone writing too slowly or making a lot of mistakes, I might get in, grab the keyboard and write it correctly. Or if they can't figure out how to do something, I'll just walk behind the counter to look at their screen and point it out for them. These are examples from work or customer service experiences. I'm very persistent in getting things done quickly and the way I want them to, pushing people to do it in a friendly but firm manner.
One real-life example:
I found out a suspension noise issue in the car I had recently bought, rattling/clunking over potholes at low speed and low temperatures, caused by air suspension bladder movement inside the suspension strut. I wanted the car dealer to pay for new ones (as according to our consumer protection law) and took the car to a service center. They didn't have suitably bad roads in the vicinity so they couldn't reproduce the noise, and thus according to company policy they could not recommend a replacement. I then told the tech firmly that I know what the problem is (the air suspension struts) and that he should just write in the work order "These parts are to be replaced" without any further discussion on whether the issue was noticed by the tech or not. He did it, seemingly happy that I told him exactly what to do and write on the report.
The next issue after that was to bill the car dealer directly (again due to incredibly rigid Tesla policies), they would only accept credit card on premises and would not send invoices. I didn't want to whip out my own card and deal with the hassle of getting the dealer to pay for it later. So I approached the customer service rep in a friendly but firm manner: "I understand this is your policy and you're bound by it, but let me help you do your job (implying: to serve me)". She then fetched the workshop manager to help her. I asked the manager for his work phone, used it to call the car dealer and handed the phone back, telling him to talk to the car dealer to sort this payment issue out. They did, and everybody was happy.
This is difficult to convey in writing, but in all these cases I don't see acting in a "Te" manner, rather in every interaction I try to be friendly and "sugar-coat" the request instead of bluntly bossing people. I find that people are much more likely to do as you want if you act like you're on their side, agreeing that their policies are stupid but understanding that they're just cogs in the machine that don't want to get in trouble. Being kind of conspiratorial but still very firm, not even expecting a refusal. Then if this approach completely fails, I'll get blunt and hostile. Like in another case where they said they would refuse to release my car without doing a software calibration (liability issues, but nothing I cared about personally) first but that it might fail and take days to resolve. Then I told the guy that it's my car and I'm taking it now whether he likes it or not. In that case they solved the software issue quickly and there was no need for conflict - we parted in friendly terms, with me thanking him for a job well done (as it truly was). But I don't take no for an answer.
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