Happiness and Hearing Well

I’m in love! With my new headset, that is.
I do a LOT of phone work, and recently more and more I’ve had people saying, “could you repeat that?”  “What did you say?” and so on — especially when I’m leading group calls, where we also have to factor in the Echo Factor, ambient noise, and other auditory clutter.  I tested myself on a few recordings and, sure enough, my beloved headset is apparently having senior moments — fading away, dropping bits of sound, and the like.  I’m very sad, because it is damnably difficult to find a headset that meets ALL THREE of my criteria:

1. I must be able to hear with crystal clarity on my end.
2. The party/parties on the other end must be able to hear ME with crystal clarity
3. It must be comfortable to wear for 5-6 hours at a time

You’d be amazed how rare it is to find all three.  If it’s comfortable, no one can hear me.  If the sound quality is great on both ends, my ear feels numb after wearing the thing for 20 minutes.  Aargh.  I approach shopping for a new headset like I imagine some people look forward to a root canal.
I began my quest a month ago, and have quietly purchased, played with, and subsequently returned a series of inadequate headsets.  It always failed on one of the above three counts.  I even tried a bluetooth headset for my office phone.  That was a riot.  I think it crossed signals with my microwave oven.  Long story there…
Today I stopped by a new office supply store and they displayed some Plantronics headsets I’ve not seen before.  Of course, it’s impossible to test these things in the store — the only way to see if they work is to buy it, test it, then return it quickly.

The Plantronics MX500i (sounds like a sports car, doesn’t it?) is proof that if you keep looking, you’ll eventually find what you want.  First, it’s very light. It fits UNDER my ear, so it does not interfere with my glasses — this is a surprise benefit!  It has a simple Mute switch so I don’t have to always worry about knowing the Mute code when I’m on a teleconference.  It has a volume wheel built into the cord.
And best of all, I can hear beautifully, and all the people I spoke with this afternoon said, “it’s like you’re standing right next to me, Jim!”  Woohoo!  I can’t wait till my next teleclass!
I’m so psyched.   This is almost like finding the perfect dark chocolate bar after tasting a bunch of losers.
Workplace happiness does not take much to achieve.  Just give me a meaningful job, enough autonomy to do it my own way…. and the proper equipment to do it well!  This was the best small investment I’ve made in my business in a long time.  Simple things make me happy! 🙂