User:Qvasi

Contact me

You can contact me on https://www.tiktok.com/@strindhaug (I'm not sure if you can DM me without being a "friend"; but I guess anyone can comment on my video.)

Musings and rants

Where I write about things I think about and things that annoy me about this neurotypical world.

Receptionists

I don't like receptionists, by that I mean the job not the people doing it. Especially receptionists that are placed in the middle of a noisy entrance hall in such a way that there is no way to pass them without being within greeting distance.

When I'm entering the office building on my way to work at the office occasionally; I transition from the noisy outside to a slightly less noisy (though usually terribly echoey hall) I'm usually still wearing my headphones listening to a podcast. I'm mentally preparing for a whole day of loud colleagues and uncomfortable office chairs; the last thing I think about or want is someone (usually super neurotypical) greeting me and expecting me to smile and greet them back. It feels like the greeter role of receptionists was invented by a neurotypical who needs their ego stroked every day by hiring someone who's job it is to greet them.

Also because of the usually terrible acoustics in the reception area and the fact that they are uncomfortably friendly (or "fake friendly"); when I do need to talk to them it usually ends up with a lot of confusion. I speak to mumbly* and often have no idea what to say. And they ask vague neurotypical incomplete questions that I misunderstand; and then they get confused and look apprehensive which feels like hostility which makes me want to run away; so often I end up giving up and not getting the help I need. Some times when the interactions go bad they try to be even more "helpful" by smiling even more and leaning forward and things I do intellectually recognise as friendly body language; but to me feels more invasive and make me even more uncomfortable. Other times they seem to immediately start to hate me and leans back and look at me annoyedly; though ironically I find it easier to having to pass a receptionist that hate me, because at least then they don't always bother to greet me which is one less worry when I'm going into work.

Ideally there should be two entrances into an office, one that bypasses the reception area for those who don't appreciate being greeted by someone who is paid to greet people. And one that goes past a reception desk that is in a smaller single-story room with carpets and furnishing and other acoustic treatments making it possible to hear people.

(* I mumble because of my auditory processing disorder; when I'm in even mild background noise I barely hear speech; so if I spoke loud enough to hear myself clearly I would almost shout most of the time. So I've become accustomed to talking just low enough that I don't hear myself well; which often ends up too low for anyone to hear me.)