A big part of my job is customer service and with that is a lot of talking on the phone and interacting with people. The office opens at 8:30 in the morning and by 9am I am already dealing with town emergencies and handling situations. This month we have had one of our properties broken into, the beach vandalized and alarms going off in buildings causing the police to come to my office to the rescue. That is a lot of chaos before finishing my first cup of coffee in the morning!

Some days I am very chipper on the phone but when it comes to Friday I am exhausted and my patience is depleted. Being nice is just part of my personality. It always has been. There are times when people call my office very upset and need someone to blame. I have been yelled at for leaves on the ground, ugly electrical wires hanging in the street, and for the lack of parking in a square mile town. It is a lot of concerns and being yelled at to just grin and bare it. But no matter how I complain I always take it like a good sport and answer the phone happy as always.

By using my own connections and networking I am working on a very cool project with my job that involves fundraising. Working for a nonprofit ~*fundraising*~ is like a magic word that brings joy to all involved. I was CC’d on a few emails of having my name, contact info, and agenda forwarding to different people higher up in the company. Which is amazing when I kept getting emails of my name being forwarded! But I noticed something that took away this deserved excitement. I was introduced as a “Very sweet, nice young lady trying to do good for her job…”. Is that how I am viewed to others? Do more experienced people in their field only see me as nice and sweet? I do not want to be nice and sweet when I am negotiating a deal or contract. I want to look ambitious and like a powerful businesswoman that I went to school for.

For the first time, my personality which, I have always viewed as my charm, is actually more of a fault and hurtful in my career. There is no solution to fixing my personality but I hope to see my work presence being more powerful than a sweet young lady one day.