Reflection on an Interpersonal Communication Issue

Regardless of what language one speaks, it is easy for interpersonal communication to fail and lead to misunderstandings or even worst consequences. Interpersonal communication failure can happen anywhere at any time to anyone. An interpersonal communication issue that I encountered was during my work experience at a hotel.

The hotel that I had worked at had both hotel block rooms and individual villas. The villas are built in a way that it was separated from the main hotel block and surrounded by trees to give it a more secluded environment. Due to how far the villas were from the main hotel block, there were buggies available to get thru and fro.

One of my job scope, during check-in, was to escort guests to their rooms and give a room orientation. For villa check-ins, I would ride the buggies with the guests to the villas. There has always been an unspoken rule where the bell boys that drove the buggies would wait for us to finish the tour before driving back to the hotel. 

On one particular day, to my horror, I was left at the furthest villa by a new bell boy and to make matters worse, it was raining heavily. I was not only unable to walk back on my own, but I was also unable to call someone to pick me because I was not equipped with a walkie talkie. I was later reprimanded by my supervisor as she believed I had deliberately hid to avoid the peak check-in period.

The root cause of this problem would be the lack of communication. I did not verbally communicate to the new bell boy that he should wait for me to be done before going driving back. This interpersonal communication failure issue could result in a lack of productivity and tension in the workplace.

Have you encountered something similar before? And how would you suggest I could have done to solve this?





Commented on the following blogs:
Delvine
Laura

Comments

  1. DelvineFebruary 22, 2019 at 11:22 PM

    Hi Hannah, thanks for sharing your experience with us. While I have not encountered something similar , I understand how issues like unspoken rules and behavioral norms in an organisation can be tricky to internalize, especially when one is new. It was definitely an unfortunate lesson for you.

    I guess we can all learn from this incident to be more mindful of explicitly communicating certain expectations, especially towards the newbies in the workplace. It also taught me that we shouldn't take communication for granted and we should be careful not to make assumptions about things, but rather, pursue clarity in our interaction always.

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  2. LauraFebruary 25, 2019 at 4:39 PM

    Hi Hannah,

    Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

    Although I have not encountered something like this as I have no hotel background, I understand how frustrating it can be when you were left behind. Additionally, being falsely accused is never a nice thing to experience.

    May I ask if the bell boy was doing his first rounds that day? Or did he leave everyone behind that day? Also, is it always necessary to carry around a walkie talkie? Or did you forget to bring it along with you?

    I would suggest that if you realized that he had left while you were showing the guest to their rooms, you could call the front desk using the in-room phone quickly. This way, your fellow colleagues would be aware that you're stuck and unable to head back without help.

    I am looking forward to hearing how things turned out (:


    Cheers,
    Laura

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    Replies
    1. HannahFebruary 27, 2019 at 2:07 PM

      Hi Laura,

      Nope. It was not his first round, hence, he might have left others at the villa. Yes, it is necessary to carry around a walkie talkie. However, on that day there was not enough so I was not able to carry one with me.

      Regards,
      Hannah

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  3. HannahFebruary 27, 2019 at 2:05 PM

    Dear Delvine and Laura,

    Thank you for your thoughts regarding my interpersonal communication issue. I really appreciate that you have taken the time to leave comments.

    I think I should have verbally communicated to the bellboy to wait for me and not make assumptions like what Delvine said. Thank you, Laura, for your suggestion on borrowing the in-room telephone to call the front desk to send someone to pick me up rather than staying there until someone chance upon me.

    Overall, I feel that this experience had taught me that having verbal communication is important and that one should not assume that another has the same thoughts.

    Regards,
    Hannah

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  4. TriciaFebruary 27, 2019 at 3:54 PM

    Hi Hannah,

    Thank you for sharing your experience on your blog. We cannot relate to your experience however it must have been quite horrible to have all these circumstances against you and later getting blame on it.

    In this case, we would have approached your supervisor using the DRB technique. After being reprimanded, you could have apologised first and let them know that you understand where you may have gone wrong. However, you should have explained your side by informing them that the new bellboy left you behind - not to sell him out but to make sure they also know he is unfamiliar with the protocol. Do inform them that you had no intention of hiding from your duties but the lack of resources, such as the walkie talkie also hindered you from returning to your work.

    Overall, do not take this incident to heart because after all, this is just a learning experience.

    Love,
    Christine, Sarah and Tricia

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  5. Brad BlackstoneMarch 9, 2019 at 2:31 PM

    Dear Hannah,

    Thank you for sharing this interesting scenario. In it you give a clear and concise description of the problem issue. I'm happy to read all the feedback you've received, and I'm glad to see that the review team mentioned the DRB technique in terms of you offering a full apology. It certainly must have been a learning experience for all involved.

    I appreciate your effort here.

    Cheers,

    Brad

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