Poll of the Day > How does one become more assertive?

(+) Yeah! (+)

This deals with the mask policy at work.

If somebody doesn't have one on I will say something, but I never say anything to the hoards of people who wear it under their nose. That is at least a handful of people every couple of hours who you'd need to tell to wear their mask properly, and there is a chance they could get upset.

I just....never have been that assertive. But I am manager occasionally now, and I certainly need to be able to do this if i see the employees under me do it from time to time. The hang up is a lot of people get upset about being told to wear their mask properly in a pandemic. Just today we had somebody who just straight up walked out after being told. He didn't even buy anything, he just left. People have cursed at us and pretty much the whole nine yards in relation to a) wearing them and b) noses hanging out.

This is something I definitely need to get better at if I am to "level up" as a manager. I can be assertive in some situations, but the nose issue is pathetic on my part. I will defend employees who ask and get hassled to some degree, but I never say anything myself if I am waiting on them or see one in the store.

How does one gain this skill? I know I am 100% in the right for asking people to cover their nose, but even so I struggle with this.

Take a lesson from Plankton

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T pose

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You can do it kinda subtlety if you wanted. Like call their name/get their attention and do the gesture of putting on or pulling mask up. Hopefully they'd be able to take the hint.

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This is in reference to masks but I need to learn this skill overall. I can be assertive if i need to but with strangers I struggle.

We had a guy who used to work for us(and retired early because of people cursing him out over masks) who would ask people three times to pull the mask up and wear it properly, and if they still didn't do it, he would kick them out. The old GM let him do it. I actually like this idea but man I don't have the nuts to be like that.

Download more ass.

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Be willing to state something that you know is true in a brief and direct fashion, and patiently abide the response or silence that follows.

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Yes! I know hesitating is bad, and the second you say "ah, or uhm" it generally means you have failed.

I like that. Shoot words from your mouth....with conviction!

Mead posted...

Be willing to state something that you know is true in a brief and direct fashion, and patiently abide the response or silence that follows.

Second this.

One of my commercial managers taught me this back in 2014, still use it to this day. Very useful tactic for being assertive. The fact that youre conscious about what youre doing makes it easier to deal with the silence too if youre usually somebody whos averse to awkward silences. Cant recommend this enough.

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Passive aggressively make an announcement over the intercom every time a customer walks in without a mask

"We'd like to remind all our LOYAL shoppers...."

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That sounds like a really good piece of advice, and I am going to work on that.

I've gotten to that point before in some altercations(like, I have become direct and assertive, but not at the start) and that helps a lot, so it makes sense if I can work on beginning a potential altercation that way the whole interaction will be better.

Oh that's easy, simply realize that the only way you can feel normal again is to bring people down to your level.

I guess you could just put a sign up.

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Mark these people as your territory.

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First I whip it out! Then I thrust it with great force, every angle it penetrates, Until with great strength, I ram it in! In the end we are all satisfied.

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Confidence in yourself.

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If you've got a sign up that shows how the mask should be worn, fucking call them out on that. If you feel nervous, explain that it's policy and that you could get in trouble if it's not followed so you'd be forced to ask them to leave. And then if they don't do it, toss them out.

argonautweakend posted...

Just today we had somebody who just straight up walked out after being told.

That's fine. It's better than having him not listen and walk around the store, at which point you're forced to do something else. Frankly, if everybody would leave without buying something, your state would be better off for it.

argonautweakend posted...

How does one gain this skill? I know I am 100% in the right for asking people to cover their nose, but even so I struggle with this.

This isn't about being assertive, it's about being consistent. After you put your foot down with the first few, you're going to feel compelled to do it when you see new rule-breakers. And if you don't fucking stick to a policy, you might as well not have that policy.

And if you don't feel like you can enforce your store's basic policies, maybe you should step down and let somebody else take over.

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