Tone Of Voice @ MindSay 
Every Princess Can Sing
My voice has been having an interesting time of it this week.
It should be noted that, typically, I have a quirky accent, and my voice is much lower than I realize - unless I'm excited. The more unexpectedly excited I am about something, the higher my voice gets. I have no explanation.
I'm typically an alto, but with how I'm feeling right now, I don't dare singing outside of my car.
Yesterday was the most fun we've had so far. I've been in kind of a raspy low tenor in the mornings, but usually once I get to work, I'm okay. Nope. Couldn't project worth anything, and we alternated between being just fine, and being very, very breathy.
I've a friend who has a lovely tone and an accurate grasp of pitch - she's quite a talented musician, but singing with her occasionally drives me crazy, because she has the same quality in her singing voice. Not in her speaking voice, but - seriously, she really is lovely, you just can't hear her.
We're also experiencing very questionable breath support for the sax. Last night at Jazz, about half my phrases truncated two measures before Dan's. Which, really, is just as well, since my horn was cold, and all the lipping up I could do would not keep it from being hideously flat. First rehearsal of the year is always fun.
So, I'm a little interested to see what vocal adventures will happen today. Actually, I'm rather amused, and anticipating further entertainment. It's somewhat frustrating at work, but as long as I'm stuck with it, there's a lot of humor to be gleaned from it.
It should be noted that, typically, I have a quirky accent, and my voice is much lower than I realize - unless I'm excited. The more unexpectedly excited I am about something, the higher my voice gets. I have no explanation.
I'm typically an alto, but with how I'm feeling right now, I don't dare singing outside of my car.
Yesterday was the most fun we've had so far. I've been in kind of a raspy low tenor in the mornings, but usually once I get to work, I'm okay. Nope. Couldn't project worth anything, and we alternated between being just fine, and being very, very breathy.
I've a friend who has a lovely tone and an accurate grasp of pitch - she's quite a talented musician, but singing with her occasionally drives me crazy, because she has the same quality in her singing voice. Not in her speaking voice, but - seriously, she really is lovely, you just can't hear her.
We're also experiencing very questionable breath support for the sax. Last night at Jazz, about half my phrases truncated two measures before Dan's. Which, really, is just as well, since my horn was cold, and all the lipping up I could do would not keep it from being hideously flat. First rehearsal of the year is always fun.
So, I'm a little interested to see what vocal adventures will happen today. Actually, I'm rather amused, and anticipating further entertainment. It's somewhat frustrating at work, but as long as I'm stuck with it, there's a lot of humor to be gleaned from it.
My tone of voice
I am feeling very grumpy lately with people. I don't know why but I just don't have patience for stupidity and my tone of voice takes on an edge and I hate feeling that way, but come on people! I have a pretty pleasant voice and speak in a general upbeat and encouraging manner...so any edge or confrontation makes me feel ugly. But it's life sometimes.
Sprint customer service rep, after being transfered 4 times, JUSt to activate a new phone and de activate another.
Rep: What vision plan do you want?
Dawn: I didnt know I had to have that.
Rep: With your treo, you do. What plan?
Me: What plans are there?
Rep: One sec.
...........................................................................
Me. Sighs..are you there?
Rep: yes.. .one sec.. ok.. its 15.00 for one plan.
Me: What are the other plans?
Rep: Can I put you on hold for one minute
Me: If you have to. ( Tone is now engaged)
.........................................................................
........................................................................
..........................................................................
Rep: Dawn are you there?
Me: yes
Rep: Ok.. I was having technical problems.... are you still interested in activating the phone?
ME: ( BIG TIME TONE NOW!) Um, yes, I have been trying to for 15 minutes, why, just WHY would I change my mind? WHY?
Rep: ok, I was just asking!
Me: Please just activate the dang thing! ( Can you hear my tone now? All politeness is gone.. I am in a raging phone rage!)
We continued this game for 15 more minutes while she screwed up walking me thru the activation phase, then the phone had to reset, and she gave me instructions to do it MYSELF when it reset.
MYSELF! blather.
This morning.. I go to my regular Dr to find out why I retain water in my legs. Of course today they are much better than they have been. But before I see her, I am sitting there in the office after I signed in.. I had noted that the lady in front of me, signed in and her appointment was for 15 minutes later than mine.
She called the other woman up to the counter..talk talk talk.. she comes back and sits down.
In comes a woman with 3 noisy kids. She is half an hour early. One is reading OUTLOUD while I am trying to watch the winner of Top Chef make her grilled cheese and portabella sandwich on Today Show... I get up and walk over and turn the volume up 2 notches and sit back down. Her kids are running all over this tiny ..TINY waiting area... and switching seats.
I deeply sighed... ( Tone IMPLIED)
"Oh..are you trying to watch this show?" The woman asked me.
My eyes widened.. "yes actually, I was, that is why I walked in FRONT of you and turned the volume up to hear it. " (Big time tone now, feeling a little guilty, by now, but so aggravated by the whole process)
So she is now talking louder than the kids, blah, blah, I tell her, really they are fine RIGHT where they are, they are settled down now.. no ..really its fine..
What did she do with that mushroom, what was that ingredient.. oh shucks, I will just have to get it online.. thoughts interrupted by the receptionist, who looks like she is 14...
Dawn?
I go up there, she hands me my forms, asks for corrections.
I look at the clock. 9:57
I said to her: "It's 10 am.. my appointment was for 9:30, and YOU are just getting to me? Now I will have to wait how long before I even get back there?" ( Slight tone , yeah right!)
She whispers... I asked her to speak up please, I cant hear you.
"I had to take care of the other lady"
Me: The other lady's appointment is AFTER me.
The recep then looks at the sign in sheet, and points at the times, and then takes her hand back when she realizes I was right and just says, "your co-pay is 15"
I give her my card, but have to say something else right? "My time is important here, why did I have to waste half an hour, when there is only one other person that you took care of out of order and the lady waiting for her flu shot? I do not understand why it took you a half an hour to greet me and I get to pay 15.00 now for that opportunity." ( Loaded tone)
She never answered me. THAT always infuriates me more.. lol... so I sit down .. yet again..now I am trapped.. I have PAID for this fun.
I take some deep breaths, close my eyes, pray to God that I can stop being so aggravated and have a good day and be my usual cheery self.
It is probably because this month I have had so many dr appointments and tests, and everywhere I go it seems people just dont care ( you have heard my pet peeves about lack of customer service) and then the ones that DO care are stomped on by rude customers...so it feels like the whole thing of customer service is spiraling out of control and I dont know what it's going to take to get it changed. But perhaps in my situation this is what could have happened:
When I signed in, she could have smiled and said Hello. Perhaps even taken care of me right there. If not, she could have said... I will be right with you. Something like that.. or later on..if I had sat there the half hour, she could have just smiled, and apologized...
Apologies diffuse many situations. Smiles go even further.
Dawn ( in a better tone of voice now after the rant)
oh.. yes.. I got my flu shot today too.
Sprint customer service rep, after being transfered 4 times, JUSt to activate a new phone and de activate another.
Rep: What vision plan do you want?
Dawn: I didnt know I had to have that.
Rep: With your treo, you do. What plan?
Me: What plans are there?
Rep: One sec.
...........................................................................
Me. Sighs..are you there?
Rep: yes.. .one sec.. ok.. its 15.00 for one plan.
Me: What are the other plans?
Rep: Can I put you on hold for one minute
Me: If you have to. ( Tone is now engaged)
.........................................................................
........................................................................
..........................................................................
Rep: Dawn are you there?
Me: yes
Rep: Ok.. I was having technical problems.... are you still interested in activating the phone?
ME: ( BIG TIME TONE NOW!) Um, yes, I have been trying to for 15 minutes, why, just WHY would I change my mind? WHY?
Rep: ok, I was just asking!
Me: Please just activate the dang thing! ( Can you hear my tone now? All politeness is gone.. I am in a raging phone rage!)
We continued this game for 15 more minutes while she screwed up walking me thru the activation phase, then the phone had to reset, and she gave me instructions to do it MYSELF when it reset.
MYSELF! blather.
This morning.. I go to my regular Dr to find out why I retain water in my legs. Of course today they are much better than they have been. But before I see her, I am sitting there in the office after I signed in.. I had noted that the lady in front of me, signed in and her appointment was for 15 minutes later than mine.
She called the other woman up to the counter..talk talk talk.. she comes back and sits down.
In comes a woman with 3 noisy kids. She is half an hour early. One is reading OUTLOUD while I am trying to watch the winner of Top Chef make her grilled cheese and portabella sandwich on Today Show... I get up and walk over and turn the volume up 2 notches and sit back down. Her kids are running all over this tiny ..TINY waiting area... and switching seats.
I deeply sighed... ( Tone IMPLIED)
"Oh..are you trying to watch this show?" The woman asked me.
My eyes widened.. "yes actually, I was, that is why I walked in FRONT of you and turned the volume up to hear it. " (Big time tone now, feeling a little guilty, by now, but so aggravated by the whole process)
So she is now talking louder than the kids, blah, blah, I tell her, really they are fine RIGHT where they are, they are settled down now.. no ..really its fine..
What did she do with that mushroom, what was that ingredient.. oh shucks, I will just have to get it online.. thoughts interrupted by the receptionist, who looks like she is 14...
Dawn?
I go up there, she hands me my forms, asks for corrections.
I look at the clock. 9:57
I said to her: "It's 10 am.. my appointment was for 9:30, and YOU are just getting to me? Now I will have to wait how long before I even get back there?" ( Slight tone , yeah right!)
She whispers... I asked her to speak up please, I cant hear you.
"I had to take care of the other lady"
Me: The other lady's appointment is AFTER me.
The recep then looks at the sign in sheet, and points at the times, and then takes her hand back when she realizes I was right and just says, "your co-pay is 15"
I give her my card, but have to say something else right? "My time is important here, why did I have to waste half an hour, when there is only one other person that you took care of out of order and the lady waiting for her flu shot? I do not understand why it took you a half an hour to greet me and I get to pay 15.00 now for that opportunity." ( Loaded tone)
She never answered me. THAT always infuriates me more.. lol... so I sit down .. yet again..now I am trapped.. I have PAID for this fun.
I take some deep breaths, close my eyes, pray to God that I can stop being so aggravated and have a good day and be my usual cheery self.
It is probably because this month I have had so many dr appointments and tests, and everywhere I go it seems people just dont care ( you have heard my pet peeves about lack of customer service) and then the ones that DO care are stomped on by rude customers...so it feels like the whole thing of customer service is spiraling out of control and I dont know what it's going to take to get it changed. But perhaps in my situation this is what could have happened:
When I signed in, she could have smiled and said Hello. Perhaps even taken care of me right there. If not, she could have said... I will be right with you. Something like that.. or later on..if I had sat there the half hour, she could have just smiled, and apologized...
Apologies diffuse many situations. Smiles go even further.
Dawn ( in a better tone of voice now after the rant)
oh.. yes.. I got my flu shot today too.
(no subject)
testing the waters with my tippy toes......I dialed the guys work voice mail in the evening to see at least what he sounds like. the voice, the delivery, the tone....the rate of speech, all can tell a whole lot y know. hehe. it could be an attractor or the kiss of death, or anywhere in between. well nothing turned me off so i'll go for it. nothing ventured nothing gained right?
so tell me your take on this whole fiasco. today at work we all ordered lunch from Chipotle. (i should get commission for mentioning them so much in my blog..hehe...love the chipotle.... ANYWays!!) There is a fax-in menu, it was passed around the office and it found it's way back up to me. I was the last one to jot down their order and so I faxed it in.
at first, someone else offered to pick up the food if a 2nd person was willing to go with her. well she got bogged down with work, I was going to be that 2nd person ....i offered to go on my own without her cuz it was a nice day, i didn't mind parking and walking, and i was super hungry, i wanted my food now! lol.
well most of us finished lunch and was going back to work, i was out of the lunch room by now. here ENTERS ms. DOO doo brown. (a.k.a. Junior. for being a mini size of our evil supervisor. brown noser, brown everything really. she's way far up there in my supervisor's ass. she is her wonderchild and she can do no wrong. rather she is perfect and anything she complains about needs attention immediately....even if someone else might have brought the same exact problem up and it was brushed off rudely).
well she starts whining and complaining that no one asked her if she wanted lunch. that she would have wanted chipotle.. she goes back and bitches to her office mate (my former office mate Jill...who tells me everything. too much maybe for my own good) that we did it again...., we completely left the 2 out when ordering lunch. I hadn't heard any of this until later on in the day.
well here's the infurating part.....my supervisor comes up to me when i got back from lunch and asks..... "did you ask the back office if they wanted to order?" i was flabbergasted by this question. first, it wasn't my freakin job to gather the lunch order, and why the hell is she coming to me with this? i responded by saying first of all Jill hates chipotle, and [Ms. Doo doo brown], i don't know about and i waved my hand like it really wasn't my concern. my supervisor then says well it would have been nice to have asked them. wait... FREEZE. am I suddenly in kindergarden?????? I told her that I wasn't in charge of the order taking, someone else had initiated it and it was just passed around, and that she needed to go talk to whoever that was. i only faxed it in. period. she walked away.
now everytime we order something, someone always gets left out either because they are behind closed doors with patients, or they just get plain forgotten. yeah sucks,. but it's all just circumstantial....nothing personal. believe me, i've been at the short end of that stick. they have had birthday cake celebrations for employees and I would only discover it as I passed by and saw a half eaten cake.
naturally Ms. doo doo brown was blaming me for this oversight because it's not a secret that I have been disliking her the past couple of days.
i tried to smooth things over by telling Ms. doo doo brown that i'm sorry that nobody asked her, i wasn't in charge of ordering and definitely not to take it personally, and that if she was hungry she could have my leftover half in the fridge.
i needed to tell her this also b/c i'm sure she has told my supervisor that i've been hostile to her the last couple of days. and I am also sure that she didn't tell my supervisor why I might have been hostile towards her and that I had grounds to be extremely upset. that's a problem that needs to be dealt with separately!!! don't blame me for your poor baby being left out of lunch. i have no obligation to be nice to her. every single one of those 8 people who ordered had the opportunity to ask Ms. doo doo brown if she wanted in. why i am the target.......blah.... it is all so unnecessary.
i don't know how to deal with issues i have w/ ms. doo doo brown. people keep telling me not to discuss it with my supervisor like i want to because it will just totally backfire on me. i don't know what else to do....besides being super direct with her and when another incident occurs where she gets me really upset, making sure to confront her out in the open so there's no chance of her manipulating details and having things misconstrued. i'll tell you about this recent incident but later on that. i'm going to try and shut her out of my mind and have a decent weekend!
okay. sorry guys for ranting and raving about this. i need an outlet and for that i am thankful for having a blog!
good night.
so tell me your take on this whole fiasco. today at work we all ordered lunch from Chipotle. (i should get commission for mentioning them so much in my blog..hehe...love the chipotle.... ANYWays!!) There is a fax-in menu, it was passed around the office and it found it's way back up to me. I was the last one to jot down their order and so I faxed it in.
at first, someone else offered to pick up the food if a 2nd person was willing to go with her. well she got bogged down with work, I was going to be that 2nd person ....i offered to go on my own without her cuz it was a nice day, i didn't mind parking and walking, and i was super hungry, i wanted my food now! lol.
well most of us finished lunch and was going back to work, i was out of the lunch room by now. here ENTERS ms. DOO doo brown. (a.k.a. Junior. for being a mini size of our evil supervisor. brown noser, brown everything really. she's way far up there in my supervisor's ass. she is her wonderchild and she can do no wrong. rather she is perfect and anything she complains about needs attention immediately....even if someone else might have brought the same exact problem up and it was brushed off rudely).
well she starts whining and complaining that no one asked her if she wanted lunch. that she would have wanted chipotle.. she goes back and bitches to her office mate (my former office mate Jill...who tells me everything. too much maybe for my own good) that we did it again...., we completely left the 2 out when ordering lunch. I hadn't heard any of this until later on in the day.
well here's the infurating part.....my supervisor comes up to me when i got back from lunch and asks..... "did you ask the back office if they wanted to order?" i was flabbergasted by this question. first, it wasn't my freakin job to gather the lunch order, and why the hell is she coming to me with this? i responded by saying first of all Jill hates chipotle, and [Ms. Doo doo brown], i don't know about and i waved my hand like it really wasn't my concern. my supervisor then says well it would have been nice to have asked them. wait... FREEZE. am I suddenly in kindergarden?????? I told her that I wasn't in charge of the order taking, someone else had initiated it and it was just passed around, and that she needed to go talk to whoever that was. i only faxed it in. period. she walked away.
now everytime we order something, someone always gets left out either because they are behind closed doors with patients, or they just get plain forgotten. yeah sucks,. but it's all just circumstantial....nothing personal. believe me, i've been at the short end of that stick. they have had birthday cake celebrations for employees and I would only discover it as I passed by and saw a half eaten cake.
naturally Ms. doo doo brown was blaming me for this oversight because it's not a secret that I have been disliking her the past couple of days.
i tried to smooth things over by telling Ms. doo doo brown that i'm sorry that nobody asked her, i wasn't in charge of ordering and definitely not to take it personally, and that if she was hungry she could have my leftover half in the fridge.
i needed to tell her this also b/c i'm sure she has told my supervisor that i've been hostile to her the last couple of days. and I am also sure that she didn't tell my supervisor why I might have been hostile towards her and that I had grounds to be extremely upset. that's a problem that needs to be dealt with separately!!! don't blame me for your poor baby being left out of lunch. i have no obligation to be nice to her. every single one of those 8 people who ordered had the opportunity to ask Ms. doo doo brown if she wanted in. why i am the target.......blah.... it is all so unnecessary.
i don't know how to deal with issues i have w/ ms. doo doo brown. people keep telling me not to discuss it with my supervisor like i want to because it will just totally backfire on me. i don't know what else to do....besides being super direct with her and when another incident occurs where she gets me really upset, making sure to confront her out in the open so there's no chance of her manipulating details and having things misconstrued. i'll tell you about this recent incident but later on that. i'm going to try and shut her out of my mind and have a decent weekend!
okay. sorry guys for ranting and raving about this. i need an outlet and for that i am thankful for having a blog!
good night.
language that doesn't need words (-54)
I recently got into a discussion with someone about body language. Which, come to think of it, is a rather strange topic to discuss when one is conversing online, especially since we both agreed that we rely greatly on those little nuances of facial expressions and slight movements of body to really understand someone.
But that discussion brought up something that I hadn't thought about for some time. Many years ago (relatively speaking...to pinpoint, it was only a decade ago), I remember a lesson where we were asked to make "pie charts" dividing up how much one "hears" in terms of what words are actually spoken, the tone of voice, and body language.
Naturally, we assumed that actual words took the biggest chunk. Then tone of voice (because being preadolescents, we knew the importance of a snotty tone being seperate from a respectful tone, even when saying the same words...such as, "Mom, what's for dinner?" Voiced one way, she will answer, "Your favorite, darling." Voiced another way, she will say, "You will eat and you will like it or you won't get any"). The last snippet of the pie was "body language"...because, after all, we were discussing what people say, and you don't speak with body language.
Hah.
It turns out, we were exactly wrong. Body language actually consumed the majority of the pie, followed by a close second with "tone of voice." The last, final slice, a percentage somewhere in the low teens, was the actual words we speak.
This was a startling concept to us junior highers who thought we had all the answers. Slumped down in our chairs, with our arms folded across our chests, we stamped our feet and scowled. We couldn't possibly be wrong, right?
With a wink and sly grin our leader pointed out the simple truth, and we sheepishly hung our heads and glanced uncomfortably at each other.
Was it really true that our actions spoke louder than words?
Time would tell that a smile would garner more than a scowl, arms gently relaxed at one's side (or open wide for an embrace) would gain more affection than stiffly crossed across one's chest (or stuffed self-conciously in one's pockets), and the ability to look one in the eye instead of embarassingly glancing at the ground would express more confidence than one thought one had.
A gentle, squeezing hug and a delicate, tender kiss would speak volumes more than a mere "I love you."
These lessons learned in youth are continually learned anew.
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Re: Nah. - I'll schedule accordingly. Otherwise, I'm cool to park free on the weekend?
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