Bad Customers

I agree. It is not until I encounter someone rude or idiotic that I tend to turn into the mad beast. Before that, I am politeness personified.

It is so true that you catch more flies with honey than shite.

Truly obnoxious people (customers and staff alike) should be recorded and their behavior - all 20 seconds of it or so - should be played for the entire store several times over so they can be mortified by the stares of the other customers/staff and see for themselves what complete idiots they are.

oohh.. that is a great idea Heeven...!!


I dont find myself running into many rude sales/service people.
Probally because I am a chatty generally happy person anyways and before I even submit a verbal request for what I am in the store for.. Im gabbing away about something else.
An example-
I was thinking , about a year or so ago, that maybe having a part time job in a floral dept of a grocery store would be fun. Seemed simple enough and I do love plants..
So i took myself to an Albertsons store and had every intention of just filling out an application and being on my way. Well, I approached the older man who was the head of the floral dept and just.. started gabbing . Mostly about seed stock. When all was said and done, this man had shown me the ins and outs of the store, the dept, where they kept their seeds AND had given me 2 plants that were saveable, but not sellable..
No, he had no openings.. but WOW. he was an amazing ' customer service' person. No wonder he got that job..
And here I was, just a regular customer asking questions, probally not above and beyond the types of questions he got all the time, but he went WAY out of the way to help me.

Oh yeah, i absolutly agree 100 THOUSAND % there are ass hole customers everywhere. And they are probally the biggest reason that people in the service industry can be rude, short, and just all around butt-holes..

Mmmm, that reminds me of the time I worked in a florists. Most fun job I ever had. Also most physically hard-working too.

I worked with two other girls who were about my age and we chatted to customers all day long. Most guys coming into store had no clue what to buy, what to say on card and so we would get the "story" off them about why they were sending flowers and help them pick/say something appropriate. Some of our suggestions were given jokingly - like the guy who came home with his shorts inside out and his girlfriend thought he was schtuffing someone else. We did a flower arrangement in a pot wrapped in white boxers with red hearts on them and a balloon that said "I'd only drop my shorts for you and the loo". Now I could see shewolfnm doing something like that, yes!

My job as a portrait photographer is really built on establishing long term relationships with my clients so I will usually bend over backwards to make sure that they're happy.

Once in a whle though, someone comes along that is so unreasonable and so rude that I "fire" them.

I don't do it often and it always costs me a pretty penny to fire a customer but it is such a wonderful luxury that it is worth every cent.

Yeah, firing a customer is a tricky business.

As for schmoozing on the phone, I'm horrible at it. I just want to call up, transact my business, and get off the phone. Politely, but businesslike.

T, on the other hand, can talk 'em into anything 'cause she's warm.

We're on the same wavelength, boomer. It's a rare thing, but it can be sooooooo satisfying! Here's a lesson I learned a long time ago...

Always give your worst client to your biggest competitor.

I hope you referred them to Wal-Mart.

That is exactly what I mean, shewolfnm. Sometimes as a customer if you chat some one up a bit first, maybe because they get such rude customers in the first place, they tend to go out of their way for you and you end up with better service.

I know one person started a thread about children and restaurants. This can also apply. If you have your children under control and they act appropriately, I have found that the service people tend to give them little goodies - maybe a special drink - like a Shirley temple with the little umbrella and cherry. Or a free desert. I have had these happen to us before.

bm

Not only do you get better service, but you leave that person feeling good.. and that feeling effects the next customer.. and so on and so on.
Essentially, you are giving to customers when you treat the 'service person' with respect.

Mmm, that warm tingly feeling.

Did you sit on your pager again?

I'm going home to do some laundry and sprawl all over the washing machine during the spin cycle!

ok, NOW your tellin the men WHY we choose to do laundry.
now they know it ISNT important to seperate colors
now they know that STAIN removal doesnt happen with products


now they know the truth

our lives . .. have now changed thanks to you diclosing the secrets of the " off weight" spin cycle.

It is also why I have to wait around for the (preferably hunky) repairman to fix it when I've wrecked the thing.

Anybody got any dirty clothes that need washing?

i prefer feather pillows..


talk about off balance.

>siiiiigh<

I'm usually friendly with clerks/reps, ect.

Today someone from the cable company called me on my cell phone to follow up on a recent install, to see how it went.

For one, she caught me at a bad time, and second, she just blasted right into questioning me without asking me if I had a minute. Third, the company has sucked, they've had to make multiple trips because every box they've put in has had a problem. This pissed me off, and I was a dick.

She asks me the first question, and I tell her I'm not happy with the company at all. She ignores this and goes into her next question, then the next question....so I cut her off, "look, I don't even understand why you didn't ask me if this is a good time, and right now, you've caught me at a bad time." Except I was pretty close to yelling at her.

I really don't miss working in customer service.

I had a summer job when I was sixteen, and had the best time of my life.
It was working for the butchery department within a larger store (but still small, by American standards) located in a large village/small town.

I knew most of the customers, me being conceived, born and bred in the area, so my job of serving them was made pretty easy from the word go.

The butchery manager had a great sense of humour, and was always looking for ways to have a joke with the customers, including all the old ones like "I'd like a pound of lean bacon please"....."which way would you like it to lean, madam?".....or "What can I do for my husband tonight?"(thinking recipes)........"It depends on his preferences madam, personally I like a cold beer handed to me by my wife wearing a negligee"

It went down very well, and the whole queue would end up laughing. One way of ensuring customer loyalty, I suppose. My absolute favourite was the leg of lamb, which I learnt to a tee and became very convincing with, over those few weeks.

"I'd like a leg of lamb, please"
"Certainly, madam....left or right?"
"Pardon?"
"Left or right, madam....which one would you prefer?"
"Is there a difference?"
"Oh yes madam, the right leg is shorter and more rounded"
"Really?...why is that?"
"Well, you see madam, all of our lamb comes from Wales, which as you know, is very mountainous. The weather system is predominantly from the west, and as sheep like to face into the wind, it means that the right leg has to be shorter on the hillside, so that they remain level. Therefore, the left leg is longer and thinner, and the right is short and plump. What size oven do you have, madam?"
"A small one, actually"
"May I suggest the right leg then, madam....it will fit better than the left"
(this is done whilst pointing to two trays of the things, separated into long ones and short ones, purely for this story....finger points at short legs)
"Yes please, I'll have a right one"
"Very good madam, but always remember to specify when buying one in future, as you could get home with one that won't fit in"..........

I would say that one in four customers were so well trained, that they would ask for either left or right.

Don't even ASK me about the eyeball races.........