Assumptions of Communication
Title
Assumptions of Communication
Date
10/03/2022
Text
One Saturday afternoon was the day that I volunteer at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden every week as the hostess at the Wings of Tropics. Which is a popular exhibit that many guests visit with their friends, family, and their significant other. I have seen many couples come to visit Fairchild and families that came in large groups. In Fairchild, the East side is very private as not many visitors head towards this area since there are no attractions or buildings in this area. There are dried-up dog feces in the grass as there is an event where visitors can bring their pets to the grounds and their owners do not pick up their pet’s feces, resulting in feces spotted on the grass in areas that not many people go to since it is troublesome for the staff to reach these areas to clean them. The Southwest side is very popular among visitors as most of the popular attractions, buildings, and events are housed in this area.
On one of my shifts, the adult supervisor accidentally pressed a button on the walkie-talkie that made it communicate in all channels instead of its designated channel for the Wings of Tropics exhibit. I was very confused and panicked trying to fix the radio by myself as the supervisor had left to take care of the backdoor since the person at the backdoor left. I was asked by workers about the radio but nobody could help me, a voice that sounded like an elderly lady tried to aid me and then told me that my tone was very rude since I was very anxious. But I told her that I just did not know how to fix the problem and apologized if I sounded rude. After that day, I asked myself if I sounded in any way rude, either I was anxious or if the lady just had a bad day. To this day, I was not sure how I sounded rude as I never had the chance to meet her.
After that day I did further reflection as there is a possibility that the lady did not like how I spoke informally. I was probably too emotional to realize that I was speaking in a tone as if I was talking to someone that was the same age as me, which she may have found to be disrespectful. It is very interesting how people expect a certain way in how you communicate with them due to their social hierarchy. An example of this is when we address people older than us as Ma’am, Sir, Mr, Mrs, or Miss. When we speak to these people who are at least a generation older than us, we talk to them in a respectful and professional tone. We do not talk to them as we do with our friends or classmates as this is to be expected since titles are embedded in our culture of basic mannerisms, it feels normal to address older people in a respectful way to recognize their experience and work.
However, I have been breaking this mannerism for a very long time and I have realized it only a year ago. I would call my uncles and aunts on my dad's side by their first names ever since I was little and still do. My uncles and aunts have never corrected this, so now I got so used to calling them by their first name that it felt weird trying to call them uncle or aunt. Nonetheless, there was one aunt who corrected me to say her title in Chinese when I was young, which was: ‘Mei yiyi’ (little aunt) because she was married to my youngest uncle.
Communication has been the biggest challenge since it is not a hard skill that can be taught in the classroom but is forced. For instance, in class, we had to present something to everyone and once it was my turn I did not want to do it so much that I hid under the desk. I eventually presented while looking at the clock that my teacher advised me to. I would also be nervous in front of adults as well, so I never was extremely friendly with a teacher but kept a line of respect as I did not know how to communicate with them. However, I saw that my classmates had a close relationship with my teachers and that they would text each other or invite them to parties even though they rejected the invite. But there was a teacher I had in my school that was arrested for inappropriate behavior with a student, so maybe not too close. Furthermore, in my theory of knowledge class, there was a participation grade in speaking your opinion in class so every now and then I would speak out my opinion or comment which helped me with my confidence in speaking. My English class would also have group presentations every month so I got more used to presenting in front of my class and communicating more professionally by observing a classmate that spoke very professionally. Eventually, I implemented what I observed and picked up when I spoke in my presentations though I still think there is always more room to improve.
At the end of my volunteer shift, the volunteer supervisor came and told me how to fix the problem with the walkie-talkie by pressing the same button that the supervisor pressed. Which made my anxiousness seem ridiculous but I learned about communicating without seeing them.
On one of my shifts, the adult supervisor accidentally pressed a button on the walkie-talkie that made it communicate in all channels instead of its designated channel for the Wings of Tropics exhibit. I was very confused and panicked trying to fix the radio by myself as the supervisor had left to take care of the backdoor since the person at the backdoor left. I was asked by workers about the radio but nobody could help me, a voice that sounded like an elderly lady tried to aid me and then told me that my tone was very rude since I was very anxious. But I told her that I just did not know how to fix the problem and apologized if I sounded rude. After that day, I asked myself if I sounded in any way rude, either I was anxious or if the lady just had a bad day. To this day, I was not sure how I sounded rude as I never had the chance to meet her.
After that day I did further reflection as there is a possibility that the lady did not like how I spoke informally. I was probably too emotional to realize that I was speaking in a tone as if I was talking to someone that was the same age as me, which she may have found to be disrespectful. It is very interesting how people expect a certain way in how you communicate with them due to their social hierarchy. An example of this is when we address people older than us as Ma’am, Sir, Mr, Mrs, or Miss. When we speak to these people who are at least a generation older than us, we talk to them in a respectful and professional tone. We do not talk to them as we do with our friends or classmates as this is to be expected since titles are embedded in our culture of basic mannerisms, it feels normal to address older people in a respectful way to recognize their experience and work.
However, I have been breaking this mannerism for a very long time and I have realized it only a year ago. I would call my uncles and aunts on my dad's side by their first names ever since I was little and still do. My uncles and aunts have never corrected this, so now I got so used to calling them by their first name that it felt weird trying to call them uncle or aunt. Nonetheless, there was one aunt who corrected me to say her title in Chinese when I was young, which was: ‘Mei yiyi’ (little aunt) because she was married to my youngest uncle.
Communication has been the biggest challenge since it is not a hard skill that can be taught in the classroom but is forced. For instance, in class, we had to present something to everyone and once it was my turn I did not want to do it so much that I hid under the desk. I eventually presented while looking at the clock that my teacher advised me to. I would also be nervous in front of adults as well, so I never was extremely friendly with a teacher but kept a line of respect as I did not know how to communicate with them. However, I saw that my classmates had a close relationship with my teachers and that they would text each other or invite them to parties even though they rejected the invite. But there was a teacher I had in my school that was arrested for inappropriate behavior with a student, so maybe not too close. Furthermore, in my theory of knowledge class, there was a participation grade in speaking your opinion in class so every now and then I would speak out my opinion or comment which helped me with my confidence in speaking. My English class would also have group presentations every month so I got more used to presenting in front of my class and communicating more professionally by observing a classmate that spoke very professionally. Eventually, I implemented what I observed and picked up when I spoke in my presentations though I still think there is always more room to improve.
At the end of my volunteer shift, the volunteer supervisor came and told me how to fix the problem with the walkie-talkie by pressing the same button that the supervisor pressed. Which made my anxiousness seem ridiculous but I learned about communicating without seeing them.
Collection
Citation
Katherine Yau, “Assumptions of Communication,” Everything Speaks To Me , accessed September 18, 2026, https://everythingspeakstome.com/items/show/178.