Praise for a customer!

barbiedoll

I work in community midwifery which has more in common with the retail sector than you may think. We often have women or their partners calling our office, shouting and (quite rightly) complaining because they haven't seen a midwife since their baby was born 6 days ago, or whatever. Our office staff get quite annoyed but as we tell them, these people are usually tired, overwhelmed, sometimes a little scared and they have good reason to be annoyed with our often inefficent NHS procedures. I have had fathers screaming down the phone at me telling me that midwives are lazy and don't care about his wife and baby. I then have to go to their house! :eek:

But...if I apologise profusely on the phone, go to their door with a big smile, tell them that I'm sorry, and that their baby is very lovely, etc etc, they usually end up apologising to me for being rude! When I worked in retail, I found that most customers were rude because they were expecting to get a raw deal if their item was defective. Of course, you will always get the ignorant ones who think that because they spend a few quid on a piece of junk, they are entitled to the red carpet treatment but on the whole, most customers will treat staff with a bit of respect, as long as they are treated likewise.

Morglin

Shouting at shop staff is unfair and pointless - they are just doing what the management have told them to do.

I aways go in politely, and if the assistant isn't helping with whatever it is, I just quietly and firmly ask to speak to the manager.

That way, no one ends up losing their temper.

Lin

PZH

Morglin wrote: »

...they are just doing what the management have told them to do.

Unfortunately, in some cases, the shop staff have not been trained to handle anything and therefore simply do not know what to do...

Morglin wrote: »

I aways go in politely, and if the assistant isn't helping with whatever it is, I just quietly and firmly ask to speak to the manager.

And again, in some cases, the shop staff simply refuse because they know they are in the wrong and do not want to look stupid in the face of their managers.

Morglin wrote: »

Shouting at shop staff is [STRIKE]unfair and[/STRIKE] pointless

Totally agree - whatever the case may be it is totally pointless and not needed. ( Not sure about unfair :rotfl: )

ailuro2

I own up!! I'm a little disappointed when I get things replaced / refunded with no problem... I aim to start off nice and pleasant and then be ready to turn a bit more severe if they don't do what I expect... but NICE and PLEASE and THANK YOU always seem to work, and there's me secretly ready for a bit of a ding dong at the returns desk when they are obstructive!!:rotfl:

The only time it didn't work was the service staff at Newark - but you can't go having a ding dong with them because the security guys come and cart you off!!:o

plainjayne1

My job isn't face to face customer services i'm on the phone and the abuse i get is terrable.Some customers start screaming from the off, if i can see they have good reason i will start by doing everything i can to help ,quite often this is all it takes they realise i'm going to help them they say there sorry,if they carry on i will only do what i have to.There's others who don't have good reason there just after a quick buck,i won't put up with any of there abuse,will only do what i have to and i can end the call if they get to bad.There is also are regulars who lets say arn't well :Dthe call is terminated on them.
Being nice makes all the differance