Coping with Complaints

In the work I do as a conference planner, listening to and coping with complaints is a substantial part of the job. I imagine there must be some lessons in this for me since I'm really not a complaining sort of person myself. I generally figure that everyone is doing the best they can and that there are elements in most difficulties that I neither see nor understand. So being the one who is on the receiving end of constant complaints, criticism and special requests can be exhausting. Even though I have gotten used to the fact that regardless of how much care, time and organization I put into things, about 30%-40% of the people are going to be unhappy in some capacity--it still wears me down!

Conference planning requires a certain thickness of skin--it can be tough to continue to be pleasant and friendly in the face of constant complaints--it is that old adage about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar that comes to mind. Strangely, it seems to be human nature that special requests and drama go hand-in-hand with complaints. All of these can be such triggers for me which I imagine is part of the reason I'm having to cope with these people and issues. As someone who is very stoic and independent and who has never asked for special treatment, freebies or harbored delusions of my importance--I find that I get quickly triggered by those who do. Of course, I get how it is my challenge to learn to cope with!

So, when people express how interesting they think my job must be, I know they have no idea how much of it is coping with unhappy people, special interest groups and complaints. Of course, anyone who has done this sort of work will understand--anyone who has done any sort of "customer service" work will likely get it as well. The chances of me getting 15 perfect flights, assigning rooms in such a way that will make everyone happy, having every workshop room perfectly lit and temperature controlled to keep all 60 participants happy, and myriad other details that people feel the need to complain about is nill. Even if there was a staff of 6 instead of just one person, the chances of making everyone happy would be nill. Still, I'm trying to get Zen; trying to learn not to get triggered and trying to appreciate those people who DON'T complain and request more. Unfortunately, it is generally the complainers that I hear from regularly--the other people just go about their business happily!