Customer accused my colleague swearing to him!

Flyboy152

GothicStirling wrote: »

In the license trade you can turn around and say the law states that I have the right to refuse to someone who is already tanked up. I think you're tanked up.

The trouble is, it has to be true and not a lie.

danothy

danothy wrote: »

I despair. If this genuinely is capitalism then maybe the Trotskyites have it right.

Just to clarify, my despair is over the general attitude that some people have towards those that work in the service industry and the treatment they give them and my interpretation of capitalism does not include the purchase of the right to abuse or be rude to someone (at least it doesn't in the retail context of this thread).

ajones28

Flyboy152 you're starting to sound like there's more to you as well, are you sure you weren't the abusive shopper? Obviously you are male otherwise you wouldn't have dismissed the abuse dished out by the customer,as though it was nothing. For a woman to be told she should be at home washing the dishes or to be called a !!!!! is totally unacceptable and you seem to think it's nothing. It's sexism full stop and nobody, man or woman, should have to put up with it.
I am not saying the woman calling the abusive shopper an idiot was the right thing to do, not at all. I have worked in customer service for years and have dealt with more than my fair share of abuse-mental and physical. I once had a customer saying they hoped my children got cancer and died just because I wouldn't put her some money onto her BT pay as you go phone service. I had even offered to put her through to the place she was desperate to call, as she told me she had to speak to the Hospital due to her boyfriend being rushed in. Unfortunately this wasn't what she wanted though, she wanted £10 on her moneybox, so I obviously had to sit there and take crap from her. I maintained my dignity though and did not allow myself to lose it with her, I remained professional during the whole conversation...and felt so much better that I had done this rather than put my livelihood at risk, for the sake of this horrible woman.
Unfortunately we live in a p.c society where the customer is always right. The best way to deal with abusive customers is to refuse to serve them. That way you keep your dignity but at the same time you get revenge on the customer for speaking to you like a piece of sh*t.

danothy

ajones28 wrote: »

Flyboy152 you're starting to sound like there's more to you as well, are you sure you weren't the abusive shopper? Obviously you are male otherwise you wouldn't have dismissed the abuse dished out by the customer,as though it was nothing. For a woman to be told she should be at home washing the dishes or to be called a !!!!! is totally unacceptable and you seem to think it's nothing. It's sexism full stop and nobody, man or woman, should have to put up with it.
I am not saying the woman calling the abusive shopper an idiot was the right thing to do, not at all. I have worked in customer service for years and have dealt with more than my fair share of abuse-mental and physical. I once had a customer saying they hoped my children got cancer and died just because I wouldn't put her some money onto her BT pay as you go phone service. I had even offered to put her through to the place she was desperate to call, as she told me she had to speak to the Hospital due to her boyfriend being rushed in. Unfortunately this wasn't what she wanted though, she wanted £10 on her moneybox, so I obviously had to sit there and take crap from her. I maintained my dignity though and did not allow myself to lose it with her, I remained professional during the whole conversation...and felt so much better that I had done this rather than put my livelihood at risk, for the sake of this horrible woman.
Unfortunately we live in a p.c society where the customer is always right. The best way to deal with abusive customers is to refuse to serve them. That way you keep your dignity but at the same time you get revenge on the customer for speaking to you like a piece of sh*t.

WHAT?!

Jebus wept ...

adouglasmhor

Next time a manager asks if one of your colleagues called someone an idiot, just say you did not hear that or you can’t remember hearing that. Don't grass them up.

viktory

Middy wrote: »

I think it's wrong to discipline colleagues when they were threatened by rude, inconsiderate customers.

I disagree. Front line customer service roles are notoriously difficult and there will always be rude, insulting, stupid customers. However, staff should be taught how to deal with such customers. Calling customers names is simply lowering yourself to their level. Further, you could then end up with a slanging match between the member of staff and the customer - and who wants to listen to that?

Front line staff do a really hard job (I should know, I am one of them!) but should never insult, belittle or denigrate a customer. I best my difficult customers by being polite and logical. The angrier they get, the politer I get. One difficult customer of mine has just got a nice letter from my manager as they were so rude to me. I pride myself on the fact that I did not rise to the abuse therefore I am better than them.

Flyboy152

ajones28 wrote: »

Flyboy152 you're starting to sound like there's more to you as well, are you sure you weren't the abusive shopper? Obviously you are male otherwise you wouldn't have dismissed the abuse dished out by the customer,as though it was nothing. For a woman to be told she should be at home washing the dishes or to be called a !!!!! is totally unacceptable and you seem to think it's nothing. It's sexism full stop and nobody, man or woman, should have to put up with it.
I am not saying the woman calling the abusive shopper an idiot was the right thing to do, not at all. I have worked in customer service for years and have dealt with more than my fair share of abuse-mental and physical. I once had a customer saying they hoped my children got cancer and died just because I wouldn't put her some money onto her BT pay as you go phone service. I had even offered to put her through to the place she was desperate to call, as she told me she had to speak to the Hospital due to her boyfriend being rushed in. Unfortunately this wasn't what she wanted though, she wanted £10 on her moneybox, so I obviously had to sit there and take crap from her. I maintained my dignity though and did not allow myself to lose it with her, I remained professional during the whole conversation...and felt so much better that I had done this rather than put my livelihood at risk, for the sake of this horrible woman.
Unfortunately we live in a p.c society where the customer is always right. The best way to deal with abusive customers is to refuse to serve them. That way you keep your dignity but at the same time you get revenge on the customer for speaking to you like a piece of sh*t.

I see the usual MSE response to opinions that are either not popular, or just not agreed with, is safe and sound. Especially if they don't agree with the sainted and protected shop worker. If you don't agree with someones opinion, accuse them of being the person in question; always works, eh? :wall:

The remark of "hyperbole," was directed towards the OP, not her colleague. I also wrote that using such language was rude and abusive, but I guess you chose to ignore that. Another trait of the ones who want to stand holier-than-thou, in blind defence of something a poster disagrees with.

duchy

Flyboy152 wrote: »

The trouble is, it has to be true and not a lie.

No it doesn't.

In a pub or bar you can refuse to serve anyone -and don't have to give a reason. The only thing is it can't be on the grounds of race, sex or religion .

Moving on - A few years ago I worked in the Disney store at a very busy airport. The store was manic with queues at the tills (could get a bit stressful when people thought they might miss their planes). In the queue but not quite at the front was a little boy aged about seven. He stood there snapping his fingers for service right in my face as I served another customer (I can only assume he had seen a parent behave in this way) the first time I ignored it, the second time I gave him a "Mum look" the third time I said very calmly-"Please don't do that-it's rude". His well dressed and well spoken mother standing next to him (and had seen exactly what he was doing) pipes up "I don't think you should be telling my son how to behave" I looked right at her and said "I totally agree with you madam -I shouldn't " It took a few moments for the penny to drop with her and she then stormed off to find a manager. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: (The manager hated kids and let her rant -apologized and said he'd speak to me ........All he said to me was "I'd have done worse-well done for not strangling the little brat" )

I felt quite sorry for the child-despite his nice clothes and posh. accent -he'd never been taught how to behave in a shop. My son was the same age-if he had ever done anything like that he'd have been straight out the shop-Told exactly what was what-then brought back to apologize to the shop assistant. I did tell him about the incident later -and he asked me "Why did his Mum let him behave that way?" (Guess I didn't do a bad job raising him)

real1314

GothicStirling wrote: »

You wouldn't be interested to know that I've just published a paper on capitalism then would you?

Of course capitalism is the cause of the 'me, me, me' attitude in society. Oh, as well as Thatcher's 'there is no society, only individuals and families.'

I think you need better sources than Google, mate.

That's a pretty thin attempt at converting your statement into a justifiable description of capitalism.

Where has your paper been published?

danothy

duchy wrote: »

I worked in the Disney store ... The manager hated kids

These bits made me laugh.

In all seriousness though, it's perfectly acceptable to ask someone to stop doing something that is offending you, like snapping their fingers in your face or something.