[vianneychevalie]

I disagree, emotional work is work, and « positive energy » sums it up quite well.

Edge cases exist, but when I’m sad, I just stop being sad at work, because it’s been clearly stated, from the first interview, that positivity was a requirement of performance.

One edge case: colleague lost her mother last year, of course we didn’t expect her to perform excruciating emotional work.

[phillu]

This sounds like a company I would never want to work for.

No one is positive and happy all the time and having to fake it "as a job requirement" sounds wrong on so many levels.

[shanusmagnus]

I don't know anything about coinbase, but you're taking the least-generous possible interpretation of this. A really simple re-statement is that your bearing has consequences for other people, and if you're having a shit day and feeling miserable, you can either conduct yourself in a manner that poisons everyone around you, or you can try to keep yourself together. "Positive energy" is, I'm guessing, one way to get at this idea, though it's not how I would frame it myself.

As an aside: I assume that you know this from your own life, and appreciate when people behave in a manner that cares for the emotional commons of wherever you are. Is your objection to it here the fact that it's a giant stupid company ostensibly trying to curate your feelings, and that's annoying and (probably) hypocritical? Or do you really object to the premise?

[thrav]

I’m sure you already know this, but don’t ever do sales.

[atlasunshrugged]

Strong disagree, I did sales (I would like to think successfully) for a long time as someone who struggled with depression and anxiety, there's far more to it than just having a fake smile plastered on; people like those who can empathize with them, understand their needs, etc. and sometimes a no-bs straightforward approach talking pros and cons directly instead of a fake used-car salesmanesque over the top approach is far more effective.

[wccrawford]

I did non-commission sales for a while as well, and made no effort to appear more happy than I was. People appreciated my candor and knowledge, rather than being won over by my charm. I sold a lot of stuff, and there was even a time that a customer found out I wasn't in that day and decided to come back another day instead of dealing with anyone else, even knowing there were no commissions.

My proof that I did well at it was that management constantly told me I need to upsell more and tried to scare me into it, but at no point did they ever actually move to take me off the sales floor. They knew I did really well, even without their extra BS items to push.

[tmountain]

The most successful salesperson I know has a pretty flat affect but knows her product super well and is excellent at needs analysis. There’s definitely a lot more to sales than glad handing people with a smile.

[a4isms]

I was a successful retail and enterprise salesperson earlier in my career. I also suffer from lifelong depression.

I did not fake "happy happy joy joy," but I also did not allow self absorption to inject my mood into my business. My model is that sales is a career that involves having structured communications.

That was a lifesaver for me when feeling depressed, because I could focus on the structure of what needed to be accomplished rather than the unstructured touchy-feely business of "getting along with people."

I suggest that "YMMV." Salespeople are not all the same, and some break preconceptions and stereotypes hard while being successful at what they do.