maandag 18 januari 2016

My experience today.



Today started as such a good day at work. I did a lot of phonecalls and I was very pleased with the results. I felt like I was on a roll today.

Sadly enough, sometimes things happen that can ruin your day. It can be something small, but it can also be something big. I don't even know if mine was big or small, I just know that my whole day was ripped to shreds just because of one comment.

Normally I don't write about these things. I want to keep a positive vibe on this blog. I don't want to complain and I don't want to be negative, because that won't help anyone. 
But I really feel like I have to talk about this. I need to talk about this to get it of my chest. But I also want you to take a look into my life. Into my stories. Because sadly enough it's not only rainbows and butterflies. 

So what happened?

I had to call a client to ask if she wanted to bring some documents to the office. I needed them to make a good price offer for her car. 
I called her a couple of times but she didn't pick up the phone. After a while she called back herself and I started to explain everything. I blocked. Not a big blockage, not a blockage that worried me or had me stressed. Just a small blockages that sometimes happends and goes away after 1 second. That 1 second was the worst one yet. This woman didn't let me finish. 
From the moment I blocked all she kept saying was 'Hello'. Hello Hello Hello. It was like a train rushing by not leaving me any space to talk. Because this stressed me so much, I couldn't get anything out anymore. This woman was so stressed herself that I couldn't calm myself down. 
She decided to come to the office so that I could explain it to her in person. 

When she came to the office I felt worried. I don't know why, I just did. I didn't feel like talking to this person anymore. 
I tried to gather my courage and explain everything to her again. From the minute that I paused between my words this woman started it all again. 'You're doing it again. Why can't you talk fluently? I thought there was a problem with the phone, it's not the phone ... it's you. If you can't talk to me fluently, I can't understand you'. 
These words cut me like a knife. At first I didn't know how to react. I didn't know wether to explain it all to her or just leave it. This woman wouldn't understand it either way. 
'Sometimes I have problems speaking fluently' I said to her. She looked at me with this grin on her face. I couldn't figure out why this seemed to be so funny.

I tried to get to the point again and asked her if she wanted to get me the documents. 
After a while of talking she finally started to leave. But before she left, she needed to ask me the one question that I always hate. 'So what's your name?' ... Seriously, why couldn't this woman just leave me alone for the day? Maybe I was overreacting but at that point I wanted to be alone. Away from everyone. I took a deep breath and tried to get my name out. She gave me about 3 seconds before saying 'see, you're doing it again' ... Again with that grin on her face... I breathed out and said my name. She didn't listen.  'My brother couldn't talk fluently either, he got therapy. You know you can get rid of it right?'. I tried to stay as friendly as I could ... I told her that I'm doing therapy and that I'm trying my best. I didn't want to say more. I didn't want to explain how hard I work every single day to get where I am at this point. 

She left. And with that I shut the door, took my seat and started crying. 
Why did this woman get to me like that? I started wondering why I was so upset about it.
It's not that she told me to get therapy, it's not that she had that grin on her face or called me influent. It's that she never gave me the chance to talk. She never gave me time or space to say what I needed to say. And ofcourse that grin and called me influent made my blood boil as well. 

I have done a lot of phonecalls and I have seen a lot of people. I never had anyone react like this in the 1.5 year that I work in the office. I've always been given the time to say what I needed to say and I've always been able to say what I needed to. 

I can't get it out of my head. I still need to see this woman and talk to her. And right now I really don't know if I can do that.

But tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to show this woman that I'm amazing at my job. 
She knows that I have this problem, so I have nothing to hide anymore. It's out there and that's actually a good thing. 
She's just one person out of a million. One person in 1.5 years who has said something negative. 
She's like a needle in a haystack and I'm not planning on giving her comments any more attention. 

I also want to make clear that I'm not saying that she is a bad person. I only know her from this experience. I'm sure she didn't mean it in the way that it came across.
I don't think she is a mean person. I'm just saying that it's not okay to act like this around people who have a stutter or any other type of problem.
Respect is a very important part of life.
I just think that people should choose their words more carefull sometimes.


I'm sorry to post something that's a little bit more negative but this was my experience today and I felt like sharing this with all of you. I might seem like a positive person (atleast that's a comment that I get a lot) but that's not how I am all the time. Sometimes I break and I have a hard time. It's all part of it. 


Love,
Natasja 

4 opmerkingen:

  1. I applaud you for your courage in talking about this, it's not easy to discuss the negatives of stuttering. Though we try to have a smile on our face and act as if everything is grand, there are moments where life just plain old sucks. Very well written, made me tear up, and you're absolutely right respect is very important as it defines who a person is.

    Keep on writing, your experiences will reach someone and they will most likely get the courage to share their experiences, both good and bad. A stuttering doesn't define who we are, merely it makes us feel that there's more to life than outward appearence.

    Regards,

    James

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    Reacties
    1. Hi James! Thanks for being so kind. I'm glad you liked this post. Like you said, we try to act positive but sometimes it just gets too much. This was one of these days.

      Eventho this experience sucked, I'm glad that it happened. Maybe it can help someone in the future :)

      Thanks again for you lovely message (and e-mail)! I hope we stay in touch!

      Greetings,
      Natasja

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  2. Nice post and blog. If only I could have expressed myself so openly about my disfluency when I was young. It's something that I'm only now coming to terms with.

    It doesn't take much does it? No matter how good your speaking victories, it only takes one incident like this to make you feel like such a failure. This person sounds like a complete jerk. I can tell from that grin that she's thinking how she can toy with you. It's sick how someone has a sick need need to trample someone underfoot to make them feel better about their lives. You are right to have felt angry. I would have flipped out on that person and it would have been a confrontational encounter, but that's not very productive. I guess the best way to deal with someone like that is to avoid or educate as best as possible. Stay strong, though it's okay to be negative once in a while. You can't bottle up those bad feelings forever. It's good to express them like you do here.

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  3. Thank you so much for this nice comment.
    It's very hard to come to terms with it but the most important thing is that you try. It doesn't matter how long it takes, you will get there.

    Like you said, people like that are sad. I can't imagine having to put others down to lift yourself up. It's sick. But we're not going to let people like that control us.

    Good luck with everything and if you ever need to talk, you can always reach me!

    Thanks again!

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