soma

Right now I'm interning full time during the week, but I'm considering picking up a job on the weekends to work on my social skills. I'm thinking of going into retail because I'll be encountering people all the time.

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

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jewels

How about one of those perfume sprayer people from the department stores?

You have to force yourself to approach and converse with strangers. Very social, oui?

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Ustwo

Waiter + trendy restaurant (TGI fridays type).

Social skills and women to be had a plenty.

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Willravel

... especially one near a decent college or sports arena.

allaboutmusic

Bartender. Bouncer. Tour guide. Charity volunteer soliciting donations on the street.

Walk around on the street offering free hugs to everyone.

Plan9

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Whatever you can carry.

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PonyPotato

You can do just one weekend a month and two weeks a year!


Personally, I vote for receptionist or retail. You'll certainly have more pleasant interaction with people than you would as a server, especially at a super busy restaurant.

You also don't want to become one of the underpaid servers who come to TFP to complain about horrible customers and crappy tips. Might make you dislike people more than learn to interact with them.

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whatever1

It really depends on the retail store. In this day and age of Walmart and that crap, they have little customer service. You can try a more trendy retail store. What is your ULTIMATE goal?

Halx

Most face to face salesmen I know are very skilled socially. If I wanted to improve my social skills, I would definitely try selling something. That's what social skills are, actually - selling yourself. In many deals, the product isn't what's important, its the image of the salesman. One real story I know consists of a man who took a job selling xerox copiers JUST to train himself. He ended up a rather wealthy business and property owner because of the social skills acquired by doing this.

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soma

My Ultimate Goal: Ok, my skills with the ladies and people who are ... cool are not so good. I'm kind of intimidated by those types. So I was thinking of going down the trendy retail store route. Yeah... I don't know if this will all help, but it will definitely get me out of my comfort zone.

I was also thinking of doing some volunteer work here and there so I'm forced to interact with people for a longer time than say a customer. You know?

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Plan9

Hey, I was actually being serious.

The US Army literally forces you to work, live, and communicate with people from all sorts of eclectic backgrounds in situations you've never been in before! You get spoiled suburbanites looking for adventure to real life cowboys to inner city kids dodging a life of gangs and drugs. You'll get yelled at and yell at others all the time. You'll suffer together and come out a more assertive person than you ever imagined. Just remember to talk first, throw hands second.

Probably not what you're looking for but I figure I'd throw it out there.

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Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

PonyPotato

I actually was, too. OP was looking for a weekend job. But not necessarily an all-expenses paid trip to the desert to go with it.

:P

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"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

allaboutmusic

Find some cool people and ask if you can hang out. Tell them your situation and say you're looking to make some changes in your life and would appreciate their help. Offer them some value, for example something you're good at that could be of benefit to them too, so that they know you're not just a leech.

genuinegirly

I worked weekends at a coffee shop for a year. Taught me how to make small talk.

Eventually you get to the point where you can guess a person's drink as they walk in the door. I also recommend - stay away from the shops that sell massive quantities of blended beverages. The summer-time blended beverage rush gave me partial hearing loss.

Some of the higher-paying options mentioned earlier in the thread seem more worth your while, like bartender. Though I think there's schooling involved with that one.

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whatever1

Not sure where you live, some ideas

coffee shop job

volunteer for a local ambulance, gain compassion, confidence and ability to help people

retail job

classes on public speaking

I will say this, my life is fucked up beyond words. I lose jobs every 18 months due to my anti-social ways, BUT, I can sell ice to an eskimo. I love to sell, I am good at it!

One story, I had my own public safety business for 6 years. We sponsored a conference and I had to speak for 15-20 minutes to safety folks. My biz partner and I worked on my speech for weeks. It was nicely on note cards, all layed out. As I stepped up the steps and approached the podium, I tossed all the cards in the trash and just winged it. It was awesome!

Randerolf

I'm going to second vote for waiting tables. Unless you are working at hooters, you're going to need to develop a great personality. I started off as a shy kid with no self-confidence. Now I'm engaging and interact great with people for the most part. Also, these a whole culture of people who work at night; there are many parties to be had.

snowy

Working the floor at big box retailers, and working in foodservice, helped to polish my social skills.

I have worked for two big box retailers and really enjoyed my work experience at both places, as well as the experience I had working in a brewpub. Keep in mind you'll not only be socializing with customers, but also with your coworkers, and depending on where you work, you may struggle to find things in common with your coworkers. I've had this problem at a couple of workplaces.

If you go into retail, an important first step is to know as much as possible about whatever you're selling, whether it's lunch meat or hair dryers. And when you see a customer, always make eye contact, smile, and say, "Can I help you find anything today?" or some opening to that effect.

I kind of miss working in that kind of extremely social environment; I find my social anxiety gets far worse when I spend less time around people.

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777

Definately go with Retail. Especially if you wear a tie or a suit while on the job.

To start, don't say what every retail person says when they approach a customer, "Can I help you with anything?" Why, that's a question that 90% of the time, people are going to say "No" to. Try something open ended, such as:

"What are you looking for today?"

"Who are you shopping for?"

"How's your old (insert large product here, like TV, car, sofa, stove, etc.) doing?"

The second one ("Who are you shopping for?") is my personal favorite. I thought of that one while working selling men's clothing, which is mostly female shoppers looking for something for their SO. I wanted to know which gals where single, while still apearing like I'm working (rather than hitting on her). After a time, I ran into a gal that said she was picking out a dress shirt for her brother's birthday. "Cool, she might be single" ran through my head. Gorgious asian woman too. And to make a long story short, she asked for my phone number

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Roger Zelazny

Charlatan

I hated working as a waiter and making small talk with customers. I also hated working at the Gap and having to happily greet people about whom I couldn't give a toss...

I wasn't really cut out for customer service. Of course it could have had more to do with working jobs I wasn't a happy working.

That said, I had a lot of fun with my co-workers at the Rep Cinema I worked at (and some of the customers too). I also had a lot of good times when I was working as a film and television salesperson. I became friends with a number of my clients.

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Lubeboy

IT Help Desk. You'll learn how to deal with people and grow to hate them.

Bear Cub

Bartender.

Even if you're not talking to people, it's very easy to recognize the do's and don'ts of social interaction.

777

Bartender, hmm... I may give that one a try...

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"I don't know that I ever wanted greatness, on its own. It seems rather like wanting to be an engineer, rather than wanting to design something - or wanting to be a writer, rather than wanting to write. It should be a by-product, not a thing in itself. Otherwise, it's just an ego trip."

Roger Zelazny

World's King

Phone sex.

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allaboutmusic

Social, not sexual skills.

soma

Heh heh, I'd hate working as an IT help desk. I worked in a related department at my old job and it just seemed like a very frustrating job. Heh heh.

Well, I'll go application finding this weekend and hope to land something good.

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Having Girl Problems?

Corneo

Cashier. You have to talk to people and you might even have to touched them to give them money!

allaboutmusic

Unless it was a really hot girl, I'd be a little creeped out if someone touched me while handing me money. But cashier is good for starting conversations.