It’s Okay To Admit You Need Help

I work at a well-known phone retailer in the US. While our main job in the store is to act as sales reps, we all are also capable of basic to intermediate phone fixes. A customer comes in and is greeted by my coworker.

Customer: “My earpiece speaker is awful! I can hardly hear anyone and I’m not sure what’s going on. There’s no water damage and this phone is brand new! I’ve only had it a day.”

My coworker takes the phone and looks closely at the speaker.

Coworker: “That’s weird. It looks fine. Here, let’s see if we can replicate the problem.”

He then takes out his own phone and calls the customer’s phone and tests the speaker. Sure enough:

Coworker: “You’re right. I can hardly hear what you’re saying. Let me look through the settings.”

My coworker then spends several minutes looking through settings and doing everything he can to troubleshoot, but he has no luck. 

Me: “Hey, [Coworker], do you want some help? I’m happy to take a look.”

It’s important to note that my coworker does not like to be “shown up.” If I could do something he couldn’t it would be absolutely embarrassing, especially since I’m female.

He looks at me like I’m stupid.

Coworker: “No, I’ve been through all the settings. I have no idea what’s going on. I’m just going to double-check with [Manager] before I order a replacement on warranty.”

He hands the phone back to the customer and comes back out with the manager. My manager takes one look at the phone and looks at [Coworker] with a “WOW, really?” kind of expression. Then, while maintaining eye contact with my coworker, [Manager] peels the plastic cover off of the phone and hands it back to him.

Manager: “Why don’t you try it now?”

In complete defeat, my coworker tests the phone, and to no one’s surprise, it works just fine. The customer laughs, thanks him, and walks out. My other coworkers, manager, and I are all practically rolling on the floor at this point.

Me: “You’re right. I’m SO glad you asked [Manager] for help on that! I don’t think I could have figured it out!”

Red-faced, [Coworker] stormed off to the back announcing that he was going on break.