What to do if people at work are the reason you want to leave.

No matter what you do for a living or whether your do it in Geelong, Ballarat, Melbourne or beyond, you have 2 types of customers; Internal and External. Internal customers are who we work with and external customers are who we work for.

Interacting with internal and external customers daily certainly comes with challenges and our tolerance for humans and their quirky ways can diminish over time; it did for me.

During the last few years of my 16 years of employment with one of the big four banks, I had developed a bad habit. I'd get up in the morning, put on what I thought was invisible armour (a resolve to not be affected or infected by other people's negative behaviour) and head to work.

Unbeknown to me, my armour was not invisible.

Customers who didn't know me and who had a complaint, saw my armour as evidence they had to push harder to get what they wanted. And push they certainly did. Co-workers and customers who knew me well, could see I was struggling. This armour that I held onto so tightly, was making me a part of the problem. The energy required for me to keep the armour in place, was wearing me down.

What was this armour? It was body language that swayed between ‘don’t mess with me’ and ‘I have so much to do” and a tone of voice that was either direct or overly apologetic. I was sending out confusing messages and wondering why people were pushing back or side stepping me.

If you have reached a point in your career where you find internal and/or external customers are causing you to feel anxious, frustrated or annoyed or you dream of a job with no interaction with people, then take a deep breath and consider this;

How you think impacts how you feel.

How you feel impacts how you behave.

How you behave impacts everyone

After much soul searching and some eye opening career counselling, the best choice for me was to resign from the Bank. It became clear that I no longer enjoyed the Banking environment (not just the people aspect of the job) and I was ready for a career change but I made a promise to myself; I will never be a part of the problem again - no more armour for me. 

I took control of my career and can report that with the right support and knowledge, you too can turn it all around. And when you do, you will wear something to work that no-one complains about and is a great weapon against other people's negativity; a genuine and confident smile. Once that’s in place and you feel in control of your career, leaving may not be required and for some, staying is the best option. Staying with positivity changes everything.

If you (or anyone you know) is considering resigning because the ‘people part’ of the job is getting you down, then my book is a safe place to go first. I've packed it from A - Z with everything I've learned and you need to know, so you can stop avoiding and start enjoying people at work. 

No matter where you work, you will have to work with people so before you look for new jobs, check in to make sure you're not part of the problem because if you are, then you will be taking part of the problem with you.

You can download the first Chapter for FREE.

By Cate Schreck - "I love what I do so Frontline staff can love their job too"