[ Contents | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Sylvia
Date: 9/30/03
Time: 10:59:55 PM
Remote Name: 68.75.49.187
Hello! I am a graduate student in Dr. Schwartz's class. I hope some of this information will help you. I called a local dealership to get some information about a used car that they had for sale. I was very nervous before I even picked up the telephone. All these different thoughts were racing through my mind. I was actually trying to convince myself that this shouldn’t be that tough. All I kept thinking was that at least I didn’t have to face the person. I wrote out a list of questions to ask the salesman about the car before I called. The questions were written out so that I wouldn’t get distracted or forget what I wanted to ask next while I stuttered. After a little while I finally got the courage to pick up the telephone and call the dealership. During the conversation with the salesman, I remember thinking if I really sounded natural and believable. I did not want to over do it with the stuttering. By over doing it I mean in the sense of the salesman not being able to understand me or even worse laugh at me. I believe, that I as the pseudo stutterer had an advantage in this situation. I had an advantage because I had the power to control the stuttering. The salesman seemed like he was treating me like any other customer though. However, to my surprise the salesman did not keep me on the phone for a very long time. He did not even ask for my name or telephone number. When I was done with the whole thing, I was very relieved. I never once used the questions that I wrote out to keep myself on track either. I felt that it went much better then I anticipated though. Overall, I was glad that I did it. I was slowly getting prepared for the next step in our project which was to talk to someone face to face. However, I did not want to think about that just yet.