She is cute, I'll admit that. And she's not as thoroughly grating as that asshat from the Golden Corral commercial (I think that's the chain) who orders the fancy dinner "all for around $10" and then the waitress yells "SECURITY!!!!!!"
The customer is always...an a**hole.
- Thread starter T'Baio
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She is cute, I'll admit that. And she's not as thoroughly grating as that asshat from the Golden Corral commercial (I think that's the chain) who orders the fancy dinner "all for around $10" and then the waitress yells "SECURITY!!!!!!"
That guy from the Golden Corral ad deserves a savage beating. Even the customers in my store don't get as full of themselves as that guy.
You mean Justin Long? Trust me, the Golden Corral guy is worse.
To those griping about service attitudes:
Keep in mind that just because you are polite and the model of efficiency and patience, that doesn't mean the person in front of you was. Or the person in front of them. Or that the person behind you will be. All it takes is one bad apple to sour a good mood for the day, and if you get several of them, your patience can be shot.
I don't go out of my way to be rude to anyone, but if I've been bullied once or twice already that day, and already had some old creep smack my rear and lean in to call me honey, and picked up after some thieving, drug addled trash and her five screaming brats, I've reach my limit. I want to go home, but since that usually isn't an option unless I want a pink slip with it, I'll settle on just withdrawing into my 'protective shell'. At that point I might not automatically make eye contact or sing out a greeting, doing it fifty times in an hour is simply too draining.
However, you know what? If you simply walk up, keep personal space, and politely ask for my help, I'll jump to your aid. I'm not a bitch. I'm willing to assist. For the love of god, take into consideration what I DO do for you, not just whatever minor back pats you didn't get.
Service people are only human. Lower your expectations occasionally. Chances are that flustered, aggravated person will remember the ones who didn't badger them and go out of their way to be more polite the next time. The people who sulk and snit and complain because their ego wasn't stroked enough, though? Don't expect any better.
Keep in mind that just because you are polite and the model of efficiency and patience, that doesn't mean the person in front of you was. Or the person in front of them. Or that the person behind you will be. All it takes is one bad apple to sour a good mood for the day, and if you get several of them, your patience can be shot.
I don't go out of my way to be rude to anyone, but if I've been bullied once or twice already that day, and already had some old creep smack my rear and lean in to call me honey, and picked up after some thieving, drug addled trash and her five screaming brats, I've reach my limit. I want to go home, but since that usually isn't an option unless I want a pink slip with it, I'll settle on just withdrawing into my 'protective shell'. At that point I might not automatically make eye contact or sing out a greeting, doing it fifty times in an hour is simply too draining.
However, you know what? If you simply walk up, keep personal space, and politely ask for my help, I'll jump to your aid. I'm not a bitch. I'm willing to assist. For the love of god, take into consideration what I DO do for you, not just whatever minor back pats you didn't get.
Service people are only human. Lower your expectations occasionally. Chances are that flustered, aggravated person will remember the ones who didn't badger them and go out of their way to be more polite the next time. The people who sulk and snit and complain because their ego wasn't stroked enough, though? Don't expect any better.
Service people are only Human, true and the customer before me was likely an asshat (as someone else termed it), but I, the customer who did nothing, shouldn't get any sort of grief, or 'shell' because of it. Sure, I don't expect you to be overly chipper, but again it's not my fault in any shape or form if you had a bad experience with a customer just before me, or two hours before me. With that said though, I can generally let a lot go, and often do, because of that very thing. However, there was one time when we were at a rent to own place, and the lady behind the counter had delt with someone over the phone that didn't go so well, and when she hung up, she threw a pen and paper onto the counter and just walked off, expecting us to sign it without a further word (we being myself and my father making a final payment on something). Suffice it to say, we were not to impressed, and signed the paper because we wanted to complete our business. We have not been back sense, and to boot, she had been so rude, she didn't even print off our final recipt, someone else had to print it off and mail it to us.
I will give the store credit though, one of the guys called and apologized, but the damage had sadly been done. Again, I realize she is Human, and she makes mistakes, we all do, but there was no excuse for her behavior. The store lost a repete customer because of that (I had personally rented to own one or two other items through them previously).
Keep in mind, KiraDax (Cool name, btw), this was not directed at you, I get what you were saying, the issues you've listed would grate my nerves to. That said, I generally don't have high expectations other then that someone be polite, and if they are unable to assist me, simply direct me to someone who can.
(Hope that made some sort of reasonable sense)
Who knows what the phone conversation was, whatever it was obviously -as you said didn't go well- you expect her to just instantly turn that off and turn to you with a smile?
As you said she's human. Emotions don't work like that.
^ I love the way you just blatantly add in your own interpretation of what other people expect and then attack it as if it is the gospel truth.
No, he did not say he expected to be greeted with a smile, I think he expected her to do her job and deal with them, not to sling the pen down and walk off. The other staff obviously thought it rude enough to call and apologize.
And you say you manage a department? Really?? So I assume you're OK with your staff walking off in the middle of a transaction and leaving someone else to finish it because they are in a bad mood. You sound like a great manager.
No, he did not say he expected to be greeted with a smile, I think he expected her to do her job and deal with them, not to sling the pen down and walk off. The other staff obviously thought it rude enough to call and apologize.
And you say you manage a department? Really?? So I assume you're OK with your staff walking off in the middle of a transaction and leaving someone else to finish it because they are in a bad mood. You sound like a great manager.
Way to live up to your name Captain Literal.
I give people the benifit of the doubt. And if she had just gotten off a phone call that had obviously upset her she can't just instantly shut-off whatever emotions that phonecall stirred up and not "vent" a little. Yeah, she took it out on the the wrong person, yeah she vented in the wrong direction, but you know what? She's human. Emotions don't just shut off the instant whatever stirs the emotion is gone.
So, this poster because this woman had one instant of emotion stops frequenting the business? Even after that business made amends? That's just silly.
I ask you, what was she supposed to do? Without speculating on what the phonecall was about, only that it had upset her greatly, what was she supposed to do when she got off the phone and has emotions surging through her?
And, yes, I am a good manager. If she was my employee and something similar happened I would have talked with her and made amends to the customer.
My questioning is why this poster stopped going to this business because this woman had a human reaction of emotion.
Perhaps it left a bad impression on the customer. There is a local restaurant chain I refuse to patronize. Why? Many years ago, while enrolled in a History class that met on Saturday mornings, we opted to celebrate the last day of class by all going to breakfast together. I had my son in two with me, who was two years old at the time. The waitress completely ignored him, not bothering to ask what I wanted to order for him to eat or drink. I didn't bother to leave a tip, and it irritated me that much that to this day, whenever I pass one of their locations, I get really ticked off. Should I have complained to the manager? Absolutely. But sometimes, human emotions plays both ways.
Funny, because you didn't use any of those words, and yet expect me to understand exactly what you meant despite not saying anything of the sort
Here's an idea, if you want people to respond to what you meant, say what you mean. Or go ahead and keep blaming other people for everything, par for the course it seems.
My mistake, sorry.
No worries 
And to answer your question, yes I do think it might be a bit over the top. When they called to apologise that probably would have convinced me to give them and her another go, personally. Mind you, i'm not that fussy, it would probably take more than one bad experience to put me off a shop permanently anyway.
And to answer your question, yes I do think it might be a bit over the top. When they called to apologise that probably would have convinced me to give them and her another go, personally. Mind you, i'm not that fussy, it would probably take more than one bad experience to put me off a shop permanently anyway.
No worries
And to answer your question, yes I do think it might be a bit over the top. When they called to apologise that probably would have convinced me to give them and her another go, personally. Mind you, i'm not that fussy, it would probably take more than one bad experience to put me off a shop permanently anyway.
I can't say I've ever permanently been put off a place due to bad employee experiences.
And here we have what separates the professionals from everyone else.
At my last job, I worked on software used by debt collection agencies. Customer support was one of my responsibilities. Now, most of the guys running debt collection agencies started off as collectors themselves. They know the game. They know how to goad and manipulate. When they called me for support, it wasn't unusual for them to threaten and intimidate--it's in their nature. It's how their business works, and it's their crutch when dealing with any situation where they aren't getting what they want. Some of them would get downright shitty with me.
Here's the thing, though. I never lost my cool with them--not once. Professionals don't do that. Sure, you can be pissed, you can want to throw things, you can want to hang up on them or tell them to fuck off, but you do not, under any circumstances, ever treat a customer that way. These people are paying your salary, and while they may not have the right to treat you like shit, you also don't have the right to be disrespectful in return.
If customer service is part of your job responsibilities, then it is also part of your job to remain calm and rational. You don't ever take it out on the customer. You can gripe with your coworkers, gripe to your boss, take a break, take the rest of the day off--do whatever you have to. But attacking the customer is easily the worst way to go about it.
Yeah, people have pissed me off and treated me like shit. I always give them nothing but polite, calm, rational responses. That is your job when you're doing customer service. If you fly off the handle, insult them, treat them with anything less than the utmost respect and courtesy, you have failed at your job. It is a mistake and one you should endeavor not to repeat.
It's true, we're only human, but that never excuses treating a customer badly, no matter how irrationally or inappropriately they behave. If they're making a scene, you ask them to leave. If they refuse to leave, you call the police. Don't escalate the situation yourself or vent your frustrations at them.
One thing that (I understand) Disney has (and some places I've worked have adopted) are signs on all of the doors going in to public areas that simply read "On Stage". In other words, no matter what, you need to remember to at least act correctly. It's not a bad reminder.
Jan
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Amaris
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Agreed. I was doing that when I was 16 and getting screamed at by one customer. I was able to turn around and smile cordially to the second customer and help them with their needs. I wasn't going to let one total jerk run another customer's experience.
I've been dong customer service now for my entire adult life (about 17 years). @_@ Right now I do phone support for the barcode scanner industry.
The job was actually pretty glamorous when I first got in this company 7 years ago- they used to send us to Europe for training once a year. Our home office is in Europe, or was at that time. With the economy the way that it is now though, of course this hasn't happened in several years.
I don't resent my job per se, but I do feel that I am overworked. In addition to near-continuous phone calls I am expected to give training classes on products I was never trained on myself. I also prepare special data format sequences and programming sheets for barcode scanners which are critical to our customer's day-to-day operation, all the while being continually interrupted by phone calls. I can never tell whether I am going to have 1 hour or 5 hours during the day to work on these projects as the number of calls are totally random. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of some 40-50 barcode scanners and the company absolutely depends on me for answering certain types of questions, yet I am constantly called on to defend my actions as our every little email and call is audited and if someone complains (usually due to their own ignorance) all eyes are turned towards me to explain myself. This job has no real future unless it was management or sales, neither of which I am interested in. On top of that, ever since we switched offices three years ago, I can not seem to get a headset that works. The signal constantly breaks up like I have a bad connection. They've replaced it three times, and I'm the only one with this problem. I like to joke it was all the radiation I was exposed to as a child. Management in our department is lackadaisical and slow to respond to concerns, such as the headset problem I mentioned. I complained about it for two years whenever I could, but my "boss" would simply shrug and walk away at the end of the conversation. So I started asking customers to send me an email when they couldn't hear me so I could gather evidence that this was a real problem, but then I got in trouble for soliciting complaints from the customers. Now I'm left to ponder whether half-assed management is enough reason to warrant me searching for a new employer, and if I did, do I even want to continue working in this same industry?
Sorry for the ranty post, kind of went off on a tangent there.
The job was actually pretty glamorous when I first got in this company 7 years ago- they used to send us to Europe for training once a year. Our home office is in Europe, or was at that time. With the economy the way that it is now though, of course this hasn't happened in several years.
I don't resent my job per se, but I do feel that I am overworked. In addition to near-continuous phone calls I am expected to give training classes on products I was never trained on myself. I also prepare special data format sequences and programming sheets for barcode scanners which are critical to our customer's day-to-day operation, all the while being continually interrupted by phone calls. I can never tell whether I am going to have 1 hour or 5 hours during the day to work on these projects as the number of calls are totally random. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of some 40-50 barcode scanners and the company absolutely depends on me for answering certain types of questions, yet I am constantly called on to defend my actions as our every little email and call is audited and if someone complains (usually due to their own ignorance) all eyes are turned towards me to explain myself. This job has no real future unless it was management or sales, neither of which I am interested in. On top of that, ever since we switched offices three years ago, I can not seem to get a headset that works. The signal constantly breaks up like I have a bad connection. They've replaced it three times, and I'm the only one with this problem. I like to joke it was all the radiation I was exposed to as a child. Management in our department is lackadaisical and slow to respond to concerns, such as the headset problem I mentioned. I complained about it for two years whenever I could, but my "boss" would simply shrug and walk away at the end of the conversation. So I started asking customers to send me an email when they couldn't hear me so I could gather evidence that this was a real problem, but then I got in trouble for soliciting complaints from the customers. Now I'm left to ponder whether half-assed management is enough reason to warrant me searching for a new employer, and if I did, do I even want to continue working in this same industry?
Sorry for the ranty post, kind of went off on a tangent there.
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