People Being Rude To Customer Service

[EeveeElectro]

I serve some people and I just think "Why the actual fuck are you allowed to walk the streets without a handler? Why haven't you been sectioned?"
There is some serious mentally disabled people I'm sure I serve. That's the only reason I can think of why some people act the way they do.
I think it's also a case of "This person earns minimum wage. They don't deserve my respect!" which is a pretty shitty mindset to have. Also it's usually people who haven't worked a day in their life who don't realise how hard it is to deal with them day in, day out.

Make everyone who is able to work on a till for a few weeks and lets see them talk to workers like that again.

If you're reasonable and civil, I will help you out as much as you can. Even if someone is a bit arsey I'll try help them until they get unreasonable. No, you do not deserve free food because I didn't roll out the red carpet for you and lick your shoes clean. If there's a genuine problem, I'll help but if you pull a problem out your arse, you can fuck off.

The worst thing I've probably done is with some horrible, chavvy ***** who had unfortunately already started breeding. She was outright personally insulting me because she came in about 5 minutes before closing time and nothing much was left ("you probably ate it all, you fat *****" etc.)
I just said, "You might want to be more respectful to the people that work to give you your benefits and are paying for your children. Get out."
My manager heard, came up and told her, "Leave. No one here will serve you if you speak to our staff like that."

We're paid to serve you and be friendly, not let you take out your pent up frustrations out on us. People are so self entitled sometimes.

EDIT: I have to point out, it's not all bad.
I had some woman giving me all sorts of abuse, the lady behind her tapped her on the shoulder and told her, "She can't tell you this but I will. Fuck off!"
Another one stuck up for me when a customer was throwing a tantrum because I was taking longer than 30 seconds to serve people. She just told him, "Look, there's only two customers before, it's not going to take long. Why don't you leave if you don't want to wait?"

There's still decent people out there ready to stand up for the workers, (I always do when I can) hopefully it happens to other people too.

 

[TimeLord]

What about you guys? Do you have any stories like that?

I have too many.

I work in retail at my local Tesco and every day we get customers who think that being abusive and rude will get you anywhere. Granted I do get the occasional really nice person but a significant number of customers we get are there to cause trouble and throw abuse at us.

Now despite all of this, the manager kept his cool. He never lashed out at him, calmly apologizing...

Yeah, that's what we are trained to do. At least in Tesco in the UK we get a little training group where one staff member takes the roll of an abusive customer and you have to sort out the situation calmly and coolly without raising your voice or getting angry.

You can get angry all you want after the customer is gone. Just so long as it isn't on the shop floor

 

[Therumancer]

I have mixed opinions. It depends on the time, and the place, sometimes making a scene is the best way to get a response, sometimes it's not. In a case like the one with the guy and his fries it'a hard to really judge whether the guy was out of line without knowing if he had recurring problems with that resteraunt, and if his behavior was warrented.

That said if you ate your burger first and then complained, as opposed to bringing it up and showing the mistake, I personally wouldn't have refunded you. On the other hand I probably would have given the guy more fries, providing of course he had the thing of fries there to show me and hadn't been chowing down on them in the dining room. I have no problem correcting mistakes, but at the same time I wouldn't be handing out free product to everyone who said something. Exceptions might occur of course depending on the situation, but that's my basic principle, and also what I enforced on cases where I had to intervene as Security (when I worked at the casino and there was a loud customer complaint, oftentimes security would look into the matter if they were availible and a Food and Beverages manager was not).

 

[Therumancer]

Having worked in retail for some years, I can confirm that the general public are assholes.

There's an excellent Youtube channel called Meeperfish which has a series called Adventures in Retail and Adventures in Food Service which highlights this well. It's all very funny and I recommend you watch it.

It's double sided, you see stuff about horrible businesses, costumer service, help lines, etc... as well. In this equasion many pretty much expect the side opposite of the one your on to be a group of jerks ahead of time and act accordingly, becoming jerks themselves in the process.

The ironic thing about the whole thing is that the same guys complaining about customers are usually just as bad when they are customers themselves, and just as judgemental of "patrons" when they are the ones working.

I really tend to go with the flow. To be honest I tend to be more tolerant of people simply making mistakes, or being slow at their job (due to being new or whatever) than cases where I feel a person doesn't belong there to begin with. Caee in point, I don't think someone who doesn's speak and understand english at a native level should be dealing with the public. Many consider it the height of political incorrectness, but to be honest if the guy taking my order or dealing with me on the phone or whatever can't understand me (or vice versa) that's ridiculous. Granted it's as much, or more, a fault of management for putting them there to begin with as it is theirs, but I still don't think I should need a translator to order some Chicken Mcnuggets, sadly I find this kind of problem becoming increasingly common.

 

[Liam Riordan]

I don't work at McDonalds but I've been in retail for a number of years, especially when it comes to handling warranties and games.

People can easily vent at customer service staff since unless you're independent, you have to sit there and take it. It's a part of the job. No choice. Others want to exploit the system and get free stuff.

Personally, I wish we could afford to just vent back at the customers and tell them to just sod off if they're very unreasonable. When it comes to item breakdowns and warranties running out I am sympathetic and do what I can to help as calmly as possible, but its still a no-win situation.

Retail/Customer services are for very patient people these days.

 

[Dr Bodom]

I work at a local pizza joint, and had a lady inquire about our sizes available. She wanted to know how many slices in each so I told her the numbers, but we happen to cut both the family and large size into 8. She then screamed "WELL WHATS THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE THEN YOU SMARTARSE". I informed her the family was bigger to which she said; " well cut it into more pieces then, doesn't that seem logical?, are you sane like the rest of us boy?" So with a smile on my face I cut it into 32 pieces and gave it to her. She left the shop without opening the box, damn I wish I saw her face though.

 

[Smolderin]

In my almost 13 years of customer service experience, I've deduced that some people are just colossal assholes. Nothing you can do about it if you're the employee... but as a fellow customer... well now, we're going somewhere.

Fist, I'm going to get something out of the bag: The customer is not always right. They are only always right about one thing: How they feel. It is quite possible for them to be blatantly wrong, like you pointed out with that elderly gentleman.

There's a saying: "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing".

During that whole exchange over deep-fried salted chopped up potatoes, you didn't say anything, and you could have, because his grand display of assholery disturbed you and made you feel uncomfortable, and you have a right to do something about being made to feel uncomfortable.

Next time you see something like this, Speak up, call the person out for being an ass-hat.

Last time I did, the manager refunded my meal price.

I get what your saying, but at the same time...Your not me. I am no good at defending myself or defending others, mainly in part to some things I have had to deal with in the past. I also have Asperger's Syndrome and a severe Anxiety Disorder, which trust me...would indeed hinder my ability to accurately express how I felt towards that man in a vocal manner. But I did not make this thread to discuss what I have could done...I made this thread to hear the stories similar to the one I had just told. To expect me to do something in that situation, given my circumstances is rather unreasonable.

 

[Legion]

What about you guys? Do you have any stories like that? Granted, I really don't want this thread to turn into a collection of stories about how Customer service was rude to them, rather I would like to hear stories about how they observed People being rude to customer service when really there was no reason for it.

Working in a newspaper/magazine section of a local convenience store, my job involved sorting out the newspapers/magazines in the morning, including putting them onto the computer system, updating prices, sorting out paper rounds for kids to deliver etc.

On a Sunday I was called down to the till by one of the operators to answer a query of an elderly man. This man wanted to know whether we had any copies of a newspaper known as the i Daily left. I politely explained to him that the newspaper he wanted did not have a Sunday edition, that it was only Monday to Friday (it was at the time, it now has a Saturday edition too, but anyway).

His response was basically to accuse me of lying, that he knew that it existed because he bought it last weekend. I again, repeated that he couldn't have possibly done so because the paper only sells Monday to Friday. He then claims that he went to another shop where they said that they sell it, but it was out of stock.

I then for the third time pointed out that this couldn't happen, as it didn't exist. He tries arguing some more and then storms out.

Although in itself this may not seem particularly rude. He was basically calling me a liar, and his tone of voice was one that'd strongly suggest that I was an idiot who did not know what he was talking about.

 

[Krantos]

For three years I was that manager.

Seriously, I worked as a manager at McD's for 3 years next to a major university campus. I have stories up the ass about rude and obnoxious customers.

Like the one that complained because the cashier handed her sauces to her instead of putting them in the bag. Or the one that threw a (filled) bag at one of my crew because their double cheese burger wasn't in the bag.

That last one, thankfully, I didn't have to ass kiss. McDonalds won't allow us to tell a customer off for verbally abusing our workers, but my store manager (who was a great guy, if not the best manager) considered it assault and had no complaints when I informed him that I told the customer he wasn't welcome in the store anymore.

 

[Krantos]

The ironic thing about the whole thing is that the same guys complaining about customers are usually just as bad when they are customers themselves, and just as judgemental of "patrons" when they are the ones working.

Not in my experience. From what I've seen, people who have worked in customer service for extended periods tend to be more tolerant and understanding of other customer service workers.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Eh rude customers use to bother me when I was a teenager... As I've gotten older I've grown more patient. Anytime there is even the hint of a problem customer I just call for the manager because, fuck, I'm not getting paid enough to get yelled at.

Just the same I have coworkers that will fight with those kind of customers and every time I'm just like... Why do you give a fuck? Okay fine, they're cheating the system of whatever but who gives a crap? It's not your company.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I've worked in both retail and fast food. I thankfully don't any more but for the most part if I see a customer getting overly unpleasant to an employee then I'll step in myself, as another customer, and set them straight.

For the most part. Sometimes employees are not blameless.

My local McDonalds, which I avoid if at all possible, has for-years-now seemed stymied about not putting cheese on burgers. Seriously, ask for a quarter-pounder no cheese and you'll get cheese on it. Eventually I got really sick of this and, having gotten my receipt and burger, both of which had cheese on them when they shouldn't (on the receipt it was in writing) I went back in to complain. I didn't shout or swear, just calmly explained to the manager that this wasn't the first time and that I was unhappy.

The prick tried to turn it around on me. Tried to imply it was my fault. That I can't stand. Own up to your damn mistakes. If it's not your fault I won't hold it against you, retail/fast food employees, but DO NOT try to shove the blame onto the person you've wronged.


Long story short, you get pricks on both sides of the register, though more on the customer side who genuinely have NO answer as to why they treat employees like they do but wouldn't treat another customer (i.e. me when I step in) like that. The uniform is not there to allow you to treat them as less than human.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

When it comes to the service industry, some people just can't seem to help but dehumanize the workers. I worked as a host at a restaurant a few years ago and one of the people I sat called me a peon and went on to say how it was OK because there is a place in society for everyone and how important peons are in the grand scheme of things. Other times (and at other jobs) it was just a matter of customers paying by taking their money and setting it on the counter between themselves and you (you're a cashier in this scenario by the way). Then they look at you and wonder why your hand is outstretched, palm up. Perhaps its just a lower class thing; I wouldn't know about it CERTAINLY.

As for a story to compare with OP's, I haven't really got anything else. Hell, if I were in the OP's place I would have asked to see that same manager just so I could give him a pat on the back and maybe a $5 or something. Personally I don't really get impatient waiting for my food at the local McDonalds. I do get annoyed when one McDonalds charges me $5.29 for 2 Chicken-Biscuits but another charges me $4.01...What the Hell first McDonalds?!

 

[Another]

I don't like most employee's. They walk up to you in retail stores all smiles and "How can I help you sir or madame?" But I know they are paid to smile, so I always get very cold towards people "just doing their job".

I assume half the people that are being nice towards me in retail are the same kind of people that were bullies towards me in school. If I want help I'll fucking seek you out!

*cough*

I agree with this. Thats why I make it a point to show my real feelings in my tone of voice and on my face when working. I frown and act very hostile towards rude customers and tell them off when they do something they're not supposed to. I hate that fake smile crap.

Psht, I wish I could have done that when I was in retail.

Back when I worked at Target I got written up for not smiling enough. They didn't like that my face, when at rest, has a bit of a frown to it.

When I worked at Safeway I had a similar thing happen to me. Apparently there was one of those secret shoppers who I didn't smile at and she took offense to it. Except that the location of my slip up was the parking lot where I had been pushing carts for an hour in 100+ degree weather. I couldn't smile because I was practically dying. Still got pulled aside and yelled at for it though :/

 

[TakerFoxx]

True, some people are rude for no reason.

It is funny tho because I am planning to go to my local electronic store today. I have a Samsung S advance smarthphone. It started showing problems with battery life after a month. It lost all of its charge in a single night on flight mode. And about 60% if I turned it off completely. Now I'm not a retard so I noticed that this isn't normal. I tried a few diagnostics myself to come up with the conclusion: the shit is broken.

I went to the store. They told me: yea, your shit is broken. We'll send it to samsung helpcenter for repairs. I was happy. 3 weeks later I got it back.

The shit was still broken. This leaves me to conclude that the samsung IT repair service is actually a shelter for the mentally challenged. Which is admirable: trying to give those people a place in society. But it does NOT HELP ME. Today I am going to the store and I am going to yell at whomever crosses my path until they either give me my money back or a new phone. I feel this is completely justified and they should be happy I don't start breaking shit. Kratos wouldn't have to put up with this shit so neither should I!

Yeah, uh, instead of being an asshole to the people who aren't at fault (the people working in the store who weren't responsible for fixing your phone), why enlist their help in contacting the people who are at fault (Samsung IT) and file a complaint? Because the store people did their job in sending it to be fixed. It's not their fault it wasn't.

 

[Callate]

I think some people feel so powerless in their own lives that they feel the need to take it out on people in service positions, given half a chance. That's not an excuse, mind you- having both witnessed and borne the brunt of such behavior, I find it utterly despicable- but it's an explanation.

There's a time and a place for planting your feet and insisting on getting the treatment you deserve, but that's after polite means have failed. Taking your rage out on powerless people who are doing the best they can to please you just makes you a jerk.

 

[Iron Criterion]

I work in retail and I occasionally have to deal with ass-hats, though nowhere near as often as you'd think. Though this one recent experience with an angry customer has been stuck in my mind because of how low it made me feel.

A customer had a laptop charger which was faulty and he wanted a new one, the laptop was two months old at this point. He wanted me to open a new laptop and get him a charger out, something I was unwilling to do as that laptop would then be unsellable. I told him I could send the charger away for repair or get in touch with the manufacturer, he wanted me to do the latter so I did. The manufacturer couldn't help without the laptop's serial number (he only had his charger with him), so I told the customer he would need to come back in with the laptop or its documentation. He wasn't very pleased, so trying to be helpful I gave him the manufacturer's number and pointed out that if he preferred he could call them from home. At that point his wife (who had been completely quiet thus far) uttered "we're not doing it ourselves, that's why little, insignificant people like YOU exist, so people like US don't have to bother". She said it in such a cold way, and looked down on her noise at me. It kinda threw me; I can take customers shouting at me out of anger, but it hurt that someone would actually treat me as a lesser species just for doing a particular job.

 

[Iron Criterion]

Just the same I have coworkers that will fight with those kind of customers and every time I'm just like... Why do you give a fuck? Okay fine, they're cheating the system of whatever but who gives a crap? It's not your company.

Because some people have morals? I refuse to let the customers I serve cheat the system, I'm not rude and I'll try to find any convenient alternative, but I'm not going to completely break the rules to help someone who just doesn't give a shit about the rules.