In this fictional chat you shadow a listener called Morinda taking a general request. Morinda allows you to choose what to say to the member.
At least one of the choices will always be OK. Sometimes more than one of them might be OK.
You start the chat with 5 stars, but every time you choose wrongly you lose a star. If you lose all 5 stars the chat will end immediately.
- 2Q To get started, greet the member. Choose one of these greetings:
- 26 What advice do you need from me today? I can answer any question!
- 1 Hi! Welcome to 7 Cups! I’m Morinda.
- 25 I am so happy and excited to be able to chat with you.
- 2M Hi, I’m Bee.
- 1M I need some advice.
- 0Q Choose how to respond:
- 26 Wonderful! I can assure you that all my advice is the very best advice.
- 34 Oh, Bee my sweetie, just tell me what you need.
- 7 OK, Bee.
- 1I It’s OK to need advice, obviously…
- 0I …but let’s try to find out more.
- 0Q Choose how to follow up:
- 7 Advice about what?
- 28 Have you lost your job?
- 24 You must be feeling so confused and lost.
- 3M It’s my boss. She was my assistant until last month and now she’s been promoted above me.
- 1M And that was OK. She’s someone I have great respect for. She’ll go far.
- 1M But she’s been very nasty to me since she got the promotion.
- 1M I don’t know what to do.
- 1Q Choose how to respond:
- 27 What about going to her boss to complain about this bullying?
- 28 It sounds like maybe she is insecure.
- 3 You’re unhappy about how she’s treating you now.
- 4Q No reply yet, so try a closed question to try and capture the feeling.
- 35 Isn’t it just your imagination?
- 31 Are you bored by your job?
- 11 Do you feel she’s bullying you?
- 1M No, I don’t feel I’m a victim.
- 1M I’ve been doing this job a long time.
- 2M I just don’t know how to relate to her now.
- 1Q Summarize the situation, with a focus on how it feels for Bee.
- 26 You should make a formal complaint about her.
- 8 Your formal relationship has changed, so you don’t feel you can relate to her the same way you did before.
- 24 You must be feeling very angry.
- 1M Exactly.
- 1Q Show curiosity about the feeling.
- 4 Is that really true?
- 36 Can’t you just try to take your mind off it?
- 30 Is that really because you have emotional problems of your own?
- 1M Is what really true?
- 0I Oops, didn’t explain that well…
- 0Q Try to explain better.
- 33 She has turned nasty now that she’s got what she wanted from you.
- 8 That you can’t relate to her the same way you did before.
- 28 Well, it’s pretty clear she never did like you.
- 1M Haha! Maybe not.
- 0I Oops! That was bordering on being advice.
- 0I Better back off and see what happens next.
- 6M Maybe she still wants our relationship
- 0M In fact, maybe she still needs our relationship to be the way it was.
- 0I Sounds good, but let’s not push it.
- 1Q Express curiosity about what “the way it was” means:
- 28 Why do you think you are are being so hostile towards her?
- 4 What did you feel about your relationship before her promotion?
- 29 When are you going to confront her about her bad behavior?
- 1M I was very much her mentor.
- 2Q Try to reflect the feeling that Bee is implying:
- 28 You mean she was not very good at her job.
- 29 Is the real problem your resentment at losing that?
- 3 A mother figure, almost?
- 0I Maybe that was a bit of a wild guess.
- 1M You could say that.
- 0I Got lucky with the guess!
- 6I It killed the conversation, though.
- 0Q Get moving again with a closed question.
- 31 Does it make you wish you had been promoted instead?
- 24 Don’t you think you should feel proud for her instead of complaining?
- 11 Does that feeling you once had fit with how she’s behaving now?
- 2M She feels I’ve turned against her?
- 0I Seems possible.
- 1M Or abandoned her, at least.
- 0M I need to think about that.
- 2M She’s been pitched into a responsible position and has a lot of pressure.
- 1Q Stay with the member’s feelings and summarize:
- 28 All that pressure must be too much for her. You feel deep down that you’ve failed her.
- 8 Her nastiness has indirectly revealed things you need to think about.
- 28 She wasn’t ready for the responsibility. You were mistaken about her.
- 3M And maybe negotiate with her, yes.
- 0Q Let’s validate that idea.
- 26 Yes, and make sure a trusted third party is present as a witness.
- 25 I’m so proud of you for approaching it in such a mature way.
- 2 Yes, and negotiate with her.
- 8I Taking a long time. Maybe we’re done?
- 2M I have to go.
- 0M Thank you for listening to me.
- 0I Yes, we’re done.
- 1Q Wrap it up.
- 26 If you ever need more advice, remember I’m always here.
- 7 We can chat again another time, if you like.
- 29 At 7 Cups we can always solve your problems.
- 1M Yes, thank you, I’d like that.
- 1L OK
- 0L Take care, Bee.
- 1M And you.
Chats about work are almost never about the work.