I don't know if I would call it something extrasensory, but I can very quickly read a person's emotions, personality, and current mental state and
then I am immediately able to craft the most appropriate way to approach and speak to the person.
I work in a large library and it is my main function to help people navigate the building and find the materials or information they are looking for.
The hard part is that people are often not sure what exactly it is they are looking for. Quite often I help customers who are very anxious or stressed
out (ie: looking for income tax forms as the last minute, looking for information on a health problem they may be having, trying to use the computer
to file for unemployment, needing to write a 10 page term paper in 3 hours time, etc.).
Over the past 12 years of my career, I have just had an uncanny ability to know precisely what kind of librarian each person needs me to be, and then
I am able to fine-tune my voice, my body language, and other non-verbal cues in order to become their own personal library assistant, tailor-made to
suit their particular needs and expectations. I can intuit what it is a person is looking for or what kind of information they need very quickly,
sometimes almost before they have finished telling me.
I am especially good at soothing and comforting those who are very high strung or upset. Sometimes, I feel more like a psycotherapist than a
librarian. My co-workers are aware of my ability and they often pass the customers who are in a very agitated state to me to deal with by giving me
the "Please rescue me!!!" look. Sometimes if the customer is especially difficult, my co-workers will just walk away from the service desk and leave
me there to step in and help the person, and that's okay with me.
As I said, I'm usually not aware of what I'm doing, and the whole thing happens very quickly and subconsciously. It might be that I've simply become
highly attuned to non-verbal communication, or perhaps it is just my normal five senses working very quickly and efficiently in concert. I am very
grateful to have this abilty. It is extremely rewarding when a customer who is clearly emotionally overwrought comes to me for help and I am able to
comfort them, make sure they have a good library experience, and send them home with whatever they came to the library to get. Sometimes it can get
very emotionally taxing. There are days when I come home after work and cry for a couple of minutes in order to "shake off" the accumulated emotions
of the day.
I am able to use the ability with my co-workers, friends, neighbors, and others as well. I hesitate to say that I can read minds or psychically tune
in to their emotions, but it does almost feel like it sometimes. It is interesting to note that my ability works best in face to face situations and
does not work quite as well on the phone. Whatever it is, I am glad be able to use it in a positive way.
edit on 31-1-2011 by dalloway
because: (no reason given)