Endless - Georgia Straight

KEVIN LANGDALE ILLUSTRATION
WORK WITH ME, PEOPLE
CUSTOMERS GOT YOU STRESSED? FIGHT BACK
BY PIETA WOOLLEY
| GEORGIA STRAIGHT MIND BODY SOUL | | FALL 2005 |
22
are 300 rowdy folks in the audience on
There Friday night at Yuk Yuk’s, and they’re
there for a reason: they need to laugh. Some are
angry at their wives; some are frustrated with their
bosses; and some are flat-out bored. It’s seasoned
comic Peter Kelamis’s job to turn all that around. No
pressure.
“Every time you go on-stage, you’re trying to look
natural while performing the most unnatural act,”
he told the Georgia Straight. “They’re not hoping
you’re going to be funny. They’re expecting you to
be funny. That’s the reality of the situation….Sometimes
they heckle or stare blankly, and that gets you
feeling pretty shitty.”
Work stress is one thing if your coworkers are your
only concern. But when you work with the public—
like Kelamis does, as do Vancouver’s waiters, nurses,
bus drivers, police officers, baristas, and other brave
folk—it’s a whole new level of panic. These people
have to deal with you every day. And your type can
be real jerks.
Most of us have seen the surly bus passenger who
wants to board without paying; the customer ordering
food at a counter while talking on
his cellphone; or the emergency room
patient who demands to be seen first,
though her injuries don’t warrant it. Then
there’s the classic example of parents
who trash a teacher because their child
failed a test.
The public can be a handful, but pressure
comes from the top, too.
“People on the front lines are always
caught between the public and their
bosses,” explained counselling psychologist
David Granirer. “Some of the public’s
demands are reasonable, others are
not. But the managers are saying, ‘Just
get it done, and get it done faster.’ ”
Anyone who has witnessed a Monday-morning
espresso lineup, with
barking, annoyed customers waiting
for their extra-hot soy half-caf latte on
one end of the counter, and a manager
with steam coming out his ears on the
other, has firsthand knowledge of that.
Granirer knows that work stress is no
laughing matter. A social worker and a crisis-centre
help-line voice for years, he understands what it’s
like to be caught in the middle. Not only that, frontline
workers don’t often get to benefit from de-stressors
like staff retreats. The public, and most frontline work,
are by nature just bloody stressful.
That said, Granirer believes the best way to handle
stress mentally is to laugh.
“The more powerless you are, the more you need
a sense of humour,” he said. Granirer also delivers
company seminars to hotel staff, Wendy’s employees,
health-care workers, and civil servants. Throwing a
rubber chicken into a fast-paced, tense situation can
make all the difference, he argued.
“We need a psychological mechanism that acknowledges
the frustration, but shields you from the
psychological effects of the stress. That’s exactly
what humour does.”
Especially sick, black humour. Imagine the TV
show M*A*S*H without the comedy, he suggested.
It would be pretty bleak. Granirer explained that
humour can create a fast, tight bond with coworkers,
something that’s indispensable when working
Make my day
Counselling psychologist David Granirer’s tips for making frontliners’ lives less stressful
For customers
+ A smile works wonders and changes the mood immediately. Humour
doesn’t have to be funny; it’s just “acts of surprise that create good feelings”.
Small acts and a kind word have a huge impact.
+ Acknowledge the staff person. They notice who doesn’t.
+ Learn how to complain without humiliating others. When you approach
someone aggressively, it triggers a fight-or-flight response, and you’re less
likely to get what you want.
For managers
+ Your role is to give the people on the front lines a chance to express their
sense of humour. In meetings, ask, “Who’s got a horror story for this week?”
Everyone’s got one. Or make a Top 10 Annoying Things Customers Do list.
Just don’t let anyone outside the workplace see it!
For workers
+ Pay attention to morale at your workplace. Do your best to ensure your
coworkers don’t dread coming in each morning.
in a psychologically crushing environment.
Still, it’s not a panacea. Humour is great for distracting
workers from their stress, like Kelamis’s audience
members. But ultimately, the work stress is still there.
There’s no humour in the effects stress can have on
the body.
Kitsilano-based naturopathic physician Lorne Swetlikoff
estimates that 80 percent of his patients come
to see him with an illness caused by stress. It’s a trigger
for the serious stuff, including cardiovascular disease.
Plus, watch out for chronic fatigue, irritability,
depression, insomnia, stomachaches, migraines, ulcers,
colitis, anger, and anxiety, because they can all
be triggered by work stress, according to the Web
site of Alberta’s Anxiety Centre.
“It’s the way the body protects itself,” Swetlikoff
told the Straight. “You get sick, so you can’t do much.
On a temporary basis it’s managed this way, but on a
chronic basis, it’s not.”
When you’re stressed, your adrenal gland creates
more than 50 hormones to combat it, Swetlikoff explained.
Over time, when stress is perpetual, those
hormones wear down, or wear out. Normally, stress
hormones are in their best shape between
the ages of 20 and 35. After that,
they fade.
good news is there are ways to
The fight back. Although Swetlikoff
warned that every person experiences
stress differently and should see a professional,
he said that licorice root, ginseng,
ashwagandha, and maca are usual
prescriptions for a stressed body and
mind. In addition, vitamins C and B5 help
the body make cortisol and adrenaline.
Generally, taking good care of your
body is a great start, he said. Cut sugar,
eat more protein, cut carbs, and eat
more frequently to stabilize your blood
sugar. Get at least eight hours of sleep
per day. It sounds simple, but Swetlikoff
emphasized the importance of not
pushing your limits.
“It’s really important to identify what
the stress is, and find strategies to combat
it,” he said. “You can’t say, ‘Well, I