Anna Russo
Intrapersonal Communication
Position Statement #5
I'm currently employed as a front desk, customer service representative at a local health club.
Working early mornings, I'm constantly kept busy welcoming people to the club and attending to
their needs. Upon entering, members hand me their ID card and I provide them with a daily
locker key and towels. This position has made me realize one of my strengths; I recollect names
and faces very easily. If a new face enters the club I'll accept their ID and make a mental note.
Nine times out of ten when this new member approaches the front desk to leave the club, I'll
recall his/her name before glancing at their ID and somehow personalize my salutation, "So, how
did your fitness appointment go, ________ " I never considered this a skill ,but I now know
that people appreciate being remembered. I find that I connect a face with a name as well as I
connect a name with a face.
In reading this article, I was interested in the idea of voice recognition. All week I tested
myself. Oftentimes regular members call the club to make sure a specific aerobics instructor is
teaching or will ask if his/her workout partner has arrived yet. Because I'm familiar with my early
morning regulars, I do usually recognize their voices and will connect it to them as a person. The
main difference is that it takes me more steps than name and face recognition. In assessing
telephone calls, I discovered that I:
1. Hear a voice.
2. Associate that voice to a face.
3. Connect that face to a name.
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Its a chain reaction so to speak and tends to take me a moment longer to process. I wonder if
other people experience this; I'll have to bring it up in our small group tonight.