We've all heard the stories. A community interpreter faints at a doctors appointment. A VRS interpreter has a 911 call on her first day, or worse, her first call. An educational interpreter walks into the high school and is assigned to Latin VI. Okay, so the last one I made up, but the first two really happened, just not to me. A friend of a colleague had to interpret a 911 call on her first day (or maybe it was a friend of a friend). Another colleague almost fainted while interpreting a doctor's appointment. Interpreters are almost infamous for their stories from the trenches, but I'll let you in on a little secret...
At least 98% of the time, all these scary things that we hear about during our interpreting classes and internships, don't happen! But why do these urban legends persist in our profession? I suspect that many of the storytellers had good intentions- "Let me tell you what happened to me a while ago, but will probably never happen to you so you'll feel better about interpreting." And in all honesty, I am probably guilty too. I heard stories and was scared by them. Once I had a story or two, I proceeded to share my experiences as well. The thing is that all interpreters have a story or two, but these stories are not daily occurrences. In the course of my work, I am constantly going to new places, meeting new people, and learning new things. Most of my work blurs together and fade into distant memories. As a result, a handful assignments stand-out. Some of them are memorable- in a good way, such as a particularly engaging presenter or a fabulous team. On one hand, I can count the experiences that stand-out in a not-so-good way. When I have a bad day, instead of dwelling on the negative, I try to remember all of the good days and why I love my job.
There will be bad days, difficult consumers, annoying teams, and 'CHA' vocabulary that you don't know. But guess what? The good experiences exponentially outnumber the bad ones. Keep your chin up and don't let the horror stories scare you.
I need to keep telling myself this. I had one assignment that ended badly (my own fault) and it put me in a funk for two weeks. Then I remembered how many times clients have left satisfied and the few times I've had requests.
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