Is medicine ANYTHING like customer service?

[thirdunity]

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I'm worried about this:

I've had a history of trouble keeping customer-service jobs because I get singled out for minor infractions by the other coworkers. Usually it's some really PETTY thing that has nothing to do with how well I do the job. My perception is that it has to do with "not fitting in"; I usually don't have the same hobbies (not into parties or sports that much) and I don't go to church.

Usually no matter how hard I try at these jobs, I can't win. I've never even been able to *get* a job at a coffeehouse or restaurant, or *keep* any other kind of customer service job. I almost always end up with coworkers talking crap about me behind my back and trying to get me fired for some minor infraction.

I'm worried, how will this affect me? Am I going to end up like the other person in this community, the one who got fired from a residency, and be out a huge amount of money?

I haven't have any trouble with people at work when I've worked in older, more serious work environments where people are expected to be more educated - older people in fact always thought I was mature for my age, when I was younger. I have a serious/studious type of personality.

But for some reason, I have never done well at customer service (coffee house; retail; supermarket clerk) type jobs where the average person is... well, 18, and a very average person.

Is medicine ANYTHING LIKE customer service? I am just not bubbly, flirty or effusive. I am worried about getting far enough to even get a residency then having someone arbitrarily single me out for something, because this has happened to me on *every* "people/public" type job (except for executive recruitment; I can come off very "professional").

Is it okay to have a serious personality as a health care person? God, I'm hoping so... if people expect a doctor to be like I was expected to be as any kind of customer service clerk, it would come off as... "Hi!! (giggle, twirl hair) You've... like got cancer! Heehee! What are you doing Saturday night?".

I'm looking into various ways I can work in health care while in school... I hope *that* works out. I suppose I'll find out soon enough. We'll see how I do.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm looking into various ways I can work in health care while in school... I hope *that* works out. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

You really need to get some exposure to physicians and see if it's for you. A lot of the doctors I've interacted with are pretty collegial and laid back when they can be -- there is enough serious stuff going on already that they really try and dial it back a notch during down time, and so your being an always very intense serious person wouldn't necessarilly be an asset. Patients also probably respond better to doctors who can drop the guard and be a little less serious/clinical and a bit more human (I'm guessing). Start shadowing docs and volunteering and you'll see what's what.

 

[efex101]

Okay reading btw the lines here...and I may be wrong ...why are you getting fired so much? this makes no sense? do you have 4,000 holes on your face with earring protruding everywhere, and look like the Lizard man? medicine *is* about customer service in some ways. Patients expect certain things from physicians like "groomed" appearance, not too scary with hundreds of tattoos (although this is dependant on specialty of choice), good manners, respectful, etc...so unless you are a total jackass and come off as super strange there should be no problem.

 

[thirdunity]

Okay reading btw the lines here...and I may be wrong ...why are you getting fired so much? this makes no sense? do you have 4,000 holes on your face with earring protruding everywhere, and look like the Lizard man? medicine *is* about customer service in some ways. Patients expect certain things from physicians like "groomed" appearance, not too scary with hundreds of tattoos (although this is dependant on specialty of choice), good manners, respectful, etc...so unless you are a total jackass and come off as super strange there should be no problem.

Strangely, I made pretty good money and held onto jobs - in other industries besides customer service. Let me clarify that my customer service experience is pretty limited, given that for most of my adult life, I worked in computers - my customer service experience was confined to jobs at the mall when I was between 18 and 20, then a brief stint as a supermarket box clerk in some little town about six years ago.

I could almost tell how I was going to do based upon the age and education level of the people I'd be working with. If they were over 30, I'd be fine. If they were educated, I'd probably be okay. I have no trouble fitting into "professional" environments where I'm expected to be knowledgeable and serious, and generally I *am* very clean cut. I think I was too "nerdy" for those other jobs. Wow, I really thought we got over the "nerd" thing in high school...

You know what, I'm starting to laugh at myself. This sample is so narrow (mall jobs when I was 18), I'm 31, and this stuff is *so* long ago, that hey, why am I worrying myself silly over it? I mean, I actually had a *career* between those jobs and now.

 

[ernie]

you're probably not going to like medicine very much.

 

[jpro]

you're probably not going to like medicine very much.

I don't agree with that. Medicine has several different fields and you will find your place. Getting as much exposure to medicine is a great idea, but make your experience a diverse as possible. Oncology, Pathology, Surgery, Neurology, Pediatrics, PM&R, Dematology, Cardiology, Radiology, ect....

You can see where that list is going. Every specialty attracts different types of people, and I'm sure you will find where you "fit in"

 

[efex101]

Yeah, do not worry because your sampling is quite small. Medicine *is* very conservative though (as you well know) and although there is a lot of variability among who enters different specialties for the most part I do think that conservatism is the norm.

 

[Febrifuge]

I think those jobs in your history are better classified as "retail" or "point-of-sale customer service," not "customer service." If you did well as an executive recruiter, then you probably did fine with the deeper customer service skills, like listening, asking questions, eliciting information, and building rapport. Those skills are actually really handy in medicine, but slingin' pretzels or cargo pants at the mall doesn't exactly create a showcase for talent.

Sounds to me like you were probably just too intense for those crowds. If you've ever been comfortable chatting with co-workers about last night's TV shows, or having a beer with colleagues after a day at the office, you should be fine. If you've been able to lead and to follow and you've done both somewhat well, you should be fine.

You might become the resident everyone thinks should lighten up, in which case you have some options. Typically, what seems to happen is the serious one endures a little teasing from the more Beavis-like residents, then acts stupid at one Xmas party, and everything is good. Or, they can stay intense and become an attending that uses the ol' intense/eccentric/intimidating triad as a teaching style. This can be very effective as well.

 

[DebDynamite]

I think those jobs in your history are better classified as "retail" or "point-of-sale customer service," not "customer service." If you did well as an executive recruiter, then you probably did fine with the deeper customer service skills, like listening, asking questions, eliciting information, and building rapport. Those skills are actually really handy in medicine, but slingin' pretzels or cargo pants at the mall doesn't exactly create a showcase for talent.

Sounds to me like you were probably just too intense for those crowds. If you've ever been comfortable chatting with co-workers about last night's TV shows, or having a beer with colleagues after a day at the office, you should be fine. If you've been able to lead and to follow and you've done both somewhat well, you should be fine.

You might become the resident everyone thinks should lighten up, in which case you have some options. Typically, what seems to happen is the serious one endures a little teasing from the more Beavis-like residents, then acts stupid at one Xmas party, and everything is good. Or, they can stay intense and become an attending that uses the ol' intense/eccentric/intimidating triad as a teaching style. This can be very effective as well.

This is good advice. Remember, we're talking about medicine here. Your average classmate, even if they are young, blonde, whatever (allowed to type this as I am blonde), made it through organic chemistry & admissions interviews. Acting like a ditz isn't cool in med school. And you do already sound awfully seriously hard on yourself in some ways- so you should fit in to a great extent! Just be prepared to possibly have some of your classmates think you are a stick-in-the-mud, and ignore them. If you go to a big enough school, you'll find others just like yourself. The other thing is this- there are really no "minor breaches" of protocol during your academic years, so you aren't going to be terribly tempted (unless you have a hard time with a dress code for clinicals etc). The only real "breach" would be cheating and your wouldn't do that. So I don't think you will really have any problems.

 

[thirdunity]

DebDynamite and Febrifuge,

Thanks for the input. Yep. It was retail. The *customers* never complained, I always seemed to end up knowing some of them by name.

It was the coworkers who complained, saying I seemed too curt (even if customers never thought so), and somehow I couldn't jump in when they were talking about boys and parties and dating every new opposite-sex coworker who jumped on board. And as an adult, when I've tried to work retail, it's seemed like the same thing all over... only the people are older!

Somehow I could never even *fake* that kind of thing. That's just not my vibe.

When I worked in executive recruiting, it wasn't a big deal. I didn't have any problem with interviewing people. I worked there for a solid year and a half before I moved out of town. And I've made friends at most places I've worked in the computer industry.

Maybe I'm being a little hard on myself for stuff that happened when I was barely out of my teens. I'm going to end up getting some type of health care job, so I'll see how it goes.

Thanks, guys.
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