Customer Service

[Matthew T]

I'm sure a most of us have had to deal with the general public at one time or another during the course of our employment.

In my old job, this was almost always restricted to the telephone, but working in the hotel I've been astonished at how rude people can be over the most minor of things! On the other side of course, I do get to meet a lot of delightful people, but the 5% that are rude can really bring me down.

I've found that almost all of the people who are rude seem to be middle aged - i.e. from about 35ish up until 60. Younger people and old people are in general really nice.

So in this thread I'd like to hear your thoughts, opinions, and experiences of dealing with the general public. Who was the worst, most unreasonable person, and what happened? Do you remain cool or do you answer back?

[Alex]

When I worked at a snooker club back in the mid-nineties we had some hideous customers, really twatty types who'd give you hassle if you refused to serve them after last orders had gone. One even refused to leave one night, saying he wasn't going to listen to a word I was saying as he thought I was (actually I'll not repeat the rest because it's just too offensive). Fortunately my Sister (who also worked there for a bit) stepped in, gave him a mouthful, banned him from the club for the rest of the month and threatened to give his details to pubwatch. When he came back he was alright with me, but I was always wary of him. It did kick off their a couple of times there as well, in quite frightening ways (people being glassed, others getting hit with bar stools), till we got bouncers in and it mostly calmed down.

I'm giving it a bad image which I don't mean too, because 99% of the time it was fine, but sometimes it really was horrible. I've got to say though that unlike you Matt, it was the 18 - 25 year olds who caused the trouble, and all of the older customers were polite and respectful.

I also worked in my Student Uni bar in my first year, which was ok, sometimes people would get too drunk, but it was never in a violent way. I quit during the second year though, there were just too many 18 year olds away from home for the first time getting stupidly drunk and being sick everywhere...

[Matthew T]

That's a big problem I have here too, closing time! Our bar shuts at 12, it's not open 24 hours, even for residents.

One time this guy said I was a "c**t" and he was going to "smash my face in" because I was closing the bar. At the same time he was giving his mate some real grief, making him finish up his drink even though he looked ready to pass out! Of course the inevitable happened, and his mate threw up on the carpet. To give him a little credit however, he insisted on cleaning the vomit up so that I didn't have to!

I've caught people trying to break into the bar after it's closed several times too. Annoying!

[Si Hunt]

There was this one woman back in my old customer service days, she was so rude and unpleasant that it just.... I just felt above it all and so I made a snap decision to be as nice to her as a literally could. After her tirade, I just was so sympathetic and apologetic and helpful to her and it made her feel so bad that she actually apologised to me for complaining in the end! It was amazing. Ha!

On the other end of the scale, and bucking Matt's "old people are nice" theory, there was once this couple who seemed really nice, but then realised after I'd put their things through the till that they only needed to spend another 15p or something to qualify for some offer. So they asked me to 'tot up another 15p on the bill'. They couldn't understand that as far as the till was concerned, the transaction had gone through and finished. "I'm sure you can just tot it up" the old woman kept saying. I don't know what all this 'tot it up' business was about. In the end she got so irate she actually said "What kind of man are you? Why don't you stand up for yourself?". They were a nightmare.

Si.

[Matthew T]

With old people, I don't feel intimidated by them as I often do when some awful businessman or woman is ranting, because old people are often confused when they start complaining, and they seem to calm down when I flash them a winning smile, something which doesn't work with your full-of-self-importance businessman.

The worst was one guy who complained about his room as he was checking out. I did apologise, but his response was "you're not sorry at all". I replied (perhaps not the best reply in retrospect) "are you calling me a liar?", to which he went MENTAL, at first demanding to speak to my manager and then saying he was going to wait outside for me when I finished when he got no joy from her.

[Perry Vale]

I could write a book on it.....

A colleague of mine though, when customers used to complain that he was serving them "too slowly", would immediately apologise & tell them he'd go & get another assistant who would serve them quicker, obviously holding them up even further.

[Kinggodzillak]

It's always fun when they get personal. Of course it's my fault that an item they picked up downstairs doesn't have a barcode on / is mispriced / isn't available in the colour they want.

Another fun incident involved a couple of fakers wanting to return a Playstation 2 game, purchased back in 2005 (and, although I can't remember the full title of the game '05' was a part of it). Upon pointing out that this was now outside the 30 day return policy by a considerable amount of time (this only happened a few weeks ago, btw), the fun begins.

"Nah, that's wrong."

That's the date on the receipt / game. 2005. It's nearly two years ago, guys...

"Nah, that's wrong."

So, long story short, there was a phonecall made to the branch said game was purchased at, because it was bought in 2007, honest, and not 2005, no way. It transpired that not only had the store not stocked this game for just over a year, the woman who served them had actually been on maternity leave for most of that time.

"Nah, that's ****ing wrong!"




It also continually amazes me just how thoroughly stupid people are. Witness this:

"Excuse me, do you have a stationery department?"

"Yes, just up the stairs. *points* Or there's a lift over there that you can take. *points again*"

"And how do I get there?"

"...there's the stairs, and there's the lift."

"No, no...I mean, how do I get to the stairs or the lift?"

"...Well, common practice is to employ a somewhat revolutionary new technique known as 'walking'. It involves the complex but ultimately rewarding art of placing one foot in front of the other, thereby achieving a state that scientists have named 'forward motion'. Historians believe that this method of travel was first employed by tribes of primitive cavemen many thousands of years ago, You could also try to use rollerskates, but I'm not sure that the wheel is a concept you'd be able to grasp at this stage..." *

* Note - I may not have actually said all that. But I wanted to.

[Pip Madeley]

My dad went into Sainsburys petrol station the other night, just before 10pm, for two pints of milk. The girl behind the glass told him (in these exact words) to "f**k off" as they were closing.

That's Sainsburys customer service for you.

[Philipnet]

I've worked in IT support for a number of years now and it's the same where ever you go.

You're polite to the customer over the phone/in person/email, but the moment you put the handset down, they leave the room, you hit "Send", you insult the crap out of them!

[Kinggodzillak]

"Excuse me, but when does this DVD come out?"

"You mean the one you're holding in your hand?"

"...yes."

"........"

[buglass]

"The customer is always right."

...is always a mantra of those who like nothing more than to treat people like scum.

They're close though.

It certainly rhymes with 'right'...

[Kinggodzillak]

I'm in a mood.

"I'm sorry, madam, but I'm afraid there's something wrong with your card. I'm getting a message on the screen that says 'Card Invalid'."

"Yes, it did that at the last shop we went to. But it's not my card, it's your machines, and the customer is always right, so what you gonna do about it?"



And today, oooh today, I am so angry about about this. A woman came in having spent £20+ yesterday, and she apparently handed over a '£5 off when you spend over £20' voucher, which wasn't scanned through by whoever served her so she didn't get the saving. Having now noticed this, she wants the saving. Fair enough. But the only way to do that now is to do a complete refund and put the money back on the card, then resell everything.

"Can't you just give me the £5 in cash?"

In an ideal world, maybe. Perhaps. But no, not here. And since you haven't brought any of the stuff with you, I'll have to grab a basket and pick it off the shelves again. Yes, it'll take a while, but that's the only way to do it.

Kinggodzillak runs around two floors to find all items she bought. Money put back on card. Items resold. Woman has saved £5, hooray. Or not.

"I do think some sort of apology is in order."

I pulled this face, question mark and all.



Then I thought that she must mean some sort of apology for my hapless colleague's not scanning the voucher through. I suppose that makes sense.

"Oh, I don't mean that. I mean the way you've kept me standing here waiting for ten minutes. Absolutely disgraceful."

So...let me get this straight. You came in here wanting to save yourself £5. I spent ten minutes running round like a headless chicken trying to find all the stuff you bought yesterday, I got you your saving...and I owe you an apology?!?!?!?

(There is a swear filter here, isn't there?)

Right, what the flying **** have you got crammed up your arse, you senile old bitch? If this was so damn important to you yesterday, you should have made certain the saving went through then - not come back today in a foul mood and taken it out on someone who had bugger all to do with it in the first place. There was no other way to get you that money back except the way I did it.

I don't really care that I didn't get a thank you. I'm used to that. I'm used to people chucking their stuff onto the counter and snatching it back without a word. But to do all I did and then be told I owe her an apology because I did exactly what she wanted the only way I could do it...

[MacNimon]

I remember that when I had a part-time job in BHS back in my college days, one lady and her husband arrived at a check-out with their purchases (about £22/23 worth), and then paid for the items in full with pennies. Yes, one pence pieces. On a busy Saturday afternoon, of all times! When the checkout lassie called for the manager, he said that because it was legal tender there was no good reason to knock back the sale. But I'm sure that he had a smile on his face when he said that there was no-one spare to help double check that the amount of pennies was correct, as another checkout would be opening shortly. As the couple had already emptied quite a few of their money bags on the counter, they had no choice but to wait while the poor girl counted out all those pennies. Needless to say, they weren't impressed when it took her half an hour or so to count it all out. They walked out of the shop complaining about the terrible customer service, saying that they wouldn't be back there in a hurry!

[Si Hunt]

Right, what the flying **** have you got crammed up your arse, you senile old bitch?

I love this! If PS can be a good sounding board for venting pent up anger at work, then all the better for it!

Si.

[Arisia]

I notice every time I'm nice to someone providing me with service, I get the same treatment in return. I also try my best to notice beforehand if I'm asking for something too difficult to deal with at closing time or something, so I try to come back the next day instead. I have a feeling I'm an exception.

[Matthew T]

I remember that when I had a part-time job in BHS back in my college days, one lady and her husband arrived at a check-out with their purchases (about £22/23 worth), and then paid for the items in full with pennies. Yes, one pence pieces. On a busy Saturday afternoon, of all times! When the checkout lassie called for the manager, he said that because it was legal tender there was no good reason to knock back the sale. But I'm sure that he had a smile on his face when he said that there was no-one spare to help double check that the amount of pennies was correct, as another checkout would be opening shortly. As the couple had already emptied quite a few of their money bags on the counter, they had no choice but to wait while the poor girl counted out all those pennies. Needless to say, they weren't impressed when it took her half an hour or so to count it all out. They walked out of the shop complaining about the terrible customer service, saying that they wouldn't be back there in a hurry!

Under the coinage act 1971, a shop can legally refuse to accept more than 20p worth of copper in a transaction!

I had a guy pay for his hotel room in £1 coins once (2 nights, £134!). He'd won on a fruit machine at a service station on the way down to us.

[Kinggodzillak]

"Excuse me, but I wonder if you can help me. Yesterday, my sons went shopping, and it wasn't here, but they bought some wooden swords in a toyshop."

"Right..."

"Yes, and I was wondering...do you know how I get them through Customs?"

"...are you asking if we've got any sort of packaging to put them, perhaps?"

"No, no...I was just wondering if you were familiar with the security procedures at the airports?"



Anyway, I had a nice customer today. A little girl (very little, only about 4 or 5) with blonde hair in pigtails came up to the counter to buy a pencil case, and she was just the sweetest thing ever. After struggling to pass me the case, cos she was that small, she stood back and smiled adorably, obviously very pleased with having reached over the counter.

"I've got nits!" she suddenly declared proudly.

"Have you really?"

"Yes!"

And that was that. Couldn't get another word out of her, but I so desperately wanted to pick her up and hug her cos she was just so sweet.

Even with the nits.

[SiHart]

I've had some right shits in my time working with the public. You really wouldn't believe some of the abuse you get working in a library. Honestly you'd think that it was my fault that people can't remember to bring their books back on time and have to pay the fines! I was once told to shove the £1.92 fine a customer had accrued up my arse because that was the only way he was going to pay it. I had a row with one person who claimed that we didn't make it easy for people to renew items, despite her being able to do it in person, over the telephone and over the internet and I've had numerous rows with people who claim never to have had certain books, depsite them ofetn being taken out at the same time as the ones they're bringing back.

However, those are the minority, becasue the bul of the customers I deal with are really friendly, lovely people. I've got to know quite a few of the customers over the years and it's really nice to know that we do a good job for them and all the rest who never complain. I live having the chance to have a bit of a chat to the customers and help them find new things to read and all that kind of thing.

Good customer service isn't difficult, when you have good customers. Most of the trouble I've encountered is from people who come in spoiling for a fight. Sometimes even the best of us can't deal with them!!

Si xx

[MacNimon]

Under the coinage act 1971, a shop can legally refuse to accept more than 20p worth of copper in a transaction!

I had a guy pay for his hotel room in £1 coins once (2 nights, £134!). He'd won on a fruit machine at a service station on the way down to us.

I always wondered about that. The manager at the time was a young guy and a bit of a joker: this was probably right up his street!

[Captain Tancredi]

I had a guy pay for his hotel room in £1 coins once (2 nights, £134!). He'd won on a fruit machine at a service station on the way down to us.

The flip side of that is that one of my cousins once went to pick up about £85 in lottery winnings from her local newsagents and they could only give it to her in pound coins.

[Kinggodzillak]

A few copies of the book Casino Royale turned up a week or so ago. They were intended as part of the pre-order deal when the DVD came out - preorder the DVD from us and get the book free - but nobody took us up on the offer at the time, so I was just told to offer these books for free to anyone who bought a Bond DVD from now on.

Up comes a lady with a boxset containing all the Sean Connery films, and so I offer her the book.

"No thank you." she says. "Connery's the only Bond for me." And that was that.

Now, two points:

1) It's free! Take it! Free book! FREE! It's worth £7.99! You can sell it on! Free money! Ker-ching!

2) Even though Daniel Craig graces the cover of the book, I doubt that Fleming opens the story with the line "James Bond walked into MI6 HQ. He looked nothing at all like Sean Connery whatsoever..."

[Jeff]

Feel free to send me a copy in the mail.

[Pip Madeley]

My customer service skills are excellent. But my patience is sorely tested when the customer doesn't say please or thank you. I'll erupt one day and lamp one of the rude buggers.

[Antony Cox]

I'll erupt one day and lamp one of the rude buggers.

[Dirk Gently]

@Ant. Very good.