#communication200

Last lecture started the beginning of group presentations and there was a lot to look forward to.  We briefly talked about the midterm and it was cool to me that Professor Barber gave us some freedom in how our midterm would be conducted. I think we ended up deciding that we would choose a video format like a movie or a television show which works out for me because I voted for this. I liked how class was set up today because after the quizzes she started with a lecture and then let one of the groups present. It gave us some background knowledge going into their presentation, so it was a nice primer and it got us ready for their material. I’m looking forward to the midterm because everything that we have learnt thus far has been interesting material.

The group that did perception did a good job particularly with the group activity they had planned for us. Thinking of an example of something we perceive or judge without knowing the truth we do every day. For me it was easy to relate to this and our group used it as an example of work and not being able to show up to a meeting. I work overnights which is unconventional to most students, (I pull it off though) and often times they do not understand that I run differently because of it. I may oversleep on a day we are supposed to meet, or maybe will not be able to meet in the evenings at all. Most people cannot understand this until I tell them and of course they are quick to judge me via text or email to remind me of how irresponsible I’m. These days I make sure I establish what I am and I’m not capable of. If you establish this and tell them your realistic flexibility things should be ok.

The group that did emotions knocked it out of the park and I was surprised by their level of showmanship. I think they did an awesome job connecting the content to the class and they broke it down on a level that we could all understand. Their use of skits was something that I admired and thought of a fun idea to make the presentation more engaging. I could really connect with the idea of the job interview and how being confident and prepared can make the difference between landing the job or not. (But not McDonald’s). When they did their bit about the crush and not having the guts to talk to her, it reminded me of when I went through similar experiences in middle school.

On the chapter of emotions I could relate to the fear of disclosure very well. At work it is very difficult for me to express my emotions to my bosses thinking that they will judge me on it. If I’m having a bad day or I had a bad day in class going into work I’d rather not express it at work and keep it to myself. I feel like this can sometime be bad because I tend to act differently when I’m angry and maybe I can come across as being an ass-hole or passive aggressive. Making myself vulnerable is already hard enough with people that are close to me, let alone my boss…(whom I secretly hate). If I need to get something across to her that is emotional I cloak it in simple terms like ‘I feel sick’, or ‘I have a headache’. What this really can mean is ‘I’m behind in school’, ‘I don’t want to be hear all night’, etc.

Reading about emotional contagion was so funny to me because again, I related it back to work. I feel that I and the boss that I work with “kind-of-sort-of” hate our jobs. She gets payed salary and therefore a lot more cheese, but she still comes in a bad mood a lot of the time and unenthused. It’s funny because I can come in like this too after a long day of class or after a long day without much sleep. There are days however when I come in focused, and ready to work and her negative emotion rubs off on me! This is vice versa because I feel like my emotions also rub off on her. I’m pretty conscious about this even before reading about emotional contagion…this was just validation. I try and make changes to my emotional state so it doesn’t rub off on her because I know nothing good can come from being in a crappy mood. Instead I try to act serious and stern instead of in a lethargic or annoyed mood.

I thought the idea of self-talk was also pretty cool because it is the way we monitor how we feel. We all do it and it is primarily how we interpret the things that are said to us. Relating this back to work. When we have a busy night sometimes my manager will say something like “I think we are behind”, I interpret this to meaning that she thinks I’m doing a bad job and this will most likely make me angry inside. It makes me angry because she thinks we are behind but is unwilling to suggest any solutions. She would rather just tell the team leaders that ‘we are behind’ rather than come up with some functional solutions. Especially in the retail world I interpret their jargon very well and I can tell when someone is telling me something negative guised in a normal word or statement.

The second week of intercultural communication was very fun and also equally informative. We got the opportunity to learn about one another with the two assignments we had due for the day which were ‘my life is a lie’ and ‘who I am’. Both these assignments were really personal and gave us a look inside to who the person is really like. It was interesting for me because I really have always just kept to myself my time in college and to have this simple, fun activity was refreshing. I appreciated all my peer’s openness during their presentations and the compliments we left on each others projects were heartwarming and inspiring. I thought about how simple the project was but I also appreciated the genius behind it that is breaking down walls, making yourself vulnerable to people so facilitate intercultural communication and for that I appreciated Professor Barber. I know the focus for these projects is on the class and understanding one another but I would have liked Professor Barber to join in! I’m sure she’s got some interesting lies she could have shared.

           I’ve got to say putting together my ‘who I am’ project was a good time. I haven’t worked on something so personal and artistic since I was in high school and it was fun getting together the materials to work on my sort of collage that I had going on. Making the poster’s we identified how we saw ourselves be it good or bad and for me it was weird to put the defects on their. It was weird because we still do not know the class very well but through these sorts of projects we start getting a better sense of who they are without even communicating. I enjoyed people’s pictures and experiences as well as their insecurities. It makes you remember that we are all not that different and we share many of the same ideas about ourselves. If we learned to be open to one another we could make more meaningful relationships that stretch beyond the classroom. (Or not) J

           When I presented my ‘my life is a lie’ project I feel my peers got a feel for my sense of humor. Normally they would just think I’m quiet, serious, or uninterested. But in actuality my mind is a terrible thing to waste and I’m always wondering about something in my mind. (Like I’m sure others do to). Though I may have come off a little ‘cold’ or ‘mean’ with my jokes I feel it was all in good spirit and I hope they appreciated my honesty for all my examples were genuine. I know some of my classmates took advantage of their imagination and fabricated scenarios, but for me it was not the case and you got the raw, uncensored dose of la Vida Loca. Saying that, I think a theme that will continue in my blogs and maybe even class discussion will be my job. I’m a full time employee so I spend a great deal of my life at work and there is so many scenarios and learning experiences to be had and expanded upon. Somehow I always find a way to connect what we learned in class to my job, which I think is normal.

           When we spoke about the self-fulfilling prophecy in lecture it really got me thinking about all the moments I set myself up for this. I work overnight shift and it is really easy to come in with a negative attitude and feel like I’m going to go through the worst night right now. I find that whenever I come in with these thoughts I actually do worse and I get more forgetful about things. I start flooding my mind with thoughts like, ‘I hate this job’, ‘I can’t wait till I graduate so I can quit’. ‘I’m so underpaid for what I do’, and the list goes on. These thoughts can be toxic for the self and will lead you down the wrong direction when trying to accomplish your goals for the day.

When thinking about someone having a self-fulfilling prophecy on me I right away thought about my manager. I feel like she isn’t exactly happy with the job she has, she moved overnight from day shift, from a less demanding department, now finding herself in the business of overnight merchandising. It’s not a walk in the park to do our job because we are sweating, catering needy team members, breaking up fights, you name it. It is a strange realm where the only reason people are working there ‘passionately’ is because the absolutely need the shift (such is the case with me). But I digress, since she is not a big fan of her current tittle my manager finds ways to take her frustrations out on me and I feel like every time we come in she is coming in with the attitude that I will do something wrong tonight and she will let me know in the manner that she does (which is annoying to the point of giving me a minor brain hemorrhage).