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What's the best way to deal with rude customers?

hanadeka2002

Oooh another thing I do...I never pack for someone who has been rude to me.Then if they ask for a bag I'll just point to them.Ha.

Then I go out the back and bitch about them.

Reply 21

NickNack

1

leah_0600

It's (unfortunatly) all part of parcel when it comes to these types of jobs isn't it?
If you work alongside someone (which i do) and you're quite friendly with them, if a customer starts getting arsey with me, i usually look and my co-worker and start laughing as if i don't care and we're actually both having a laugh about it! Hey, it works for me, and i hardly ever get annoyed anymore.

Then again, where i work, the employer is always right (our boss couldn't give a rats arse if he loses a customer!)

lol my boss is like that, a complete arse around customers

Reply 22

Oziris

15

Take the nearest object to you (preferably a heavy one) and hit them with it.

Then spit in their Coffee.

Or just laugh in their face. They will be expecting you to get angry or whatever, so if you just laugh at them they will be caught off guard (possibly the time to hit them with the aforementioned object?).

Reply 23

Purple-Sparkle

I get a lot of nasty customers where I work. I'm a part time sales assistant.

Once a customer dropped 1p yes ONLY 1p on the floor. She accused me of throwing it at her and started shouting. I told her I put it in her hand but that she accidentally dropped it. She carried on so I said "What are you going to do with 1p? It’s not worth much so why make a fuss and I do not expect this when I'm working". She expected me to get on the floor and look for it, I did and I couldn't find it. In the end the manager had to open the till and get 1p out.

I showed her up too by apologizing to other customers about her behaviour and the fact she was making the queue grow. When she did finally go other customers said she was rude and couldn't get over her.

Me and Michelle (one of the managers) laughed and bitched about her then.

I tend to get back at them in-directly in away that won't get me in trouble. I do try and remain calm though.

Reply 24

Ferrus

19

Urinate in their mouths.

Reply 25

Mad Vlad

19

Anonymous

My summer job involves a lot of customer service, which is fine, but sometimes you'll get a customer who is a complete and utter arse!!! For example, this old woman started having a go at one of my workmates as she was preparing her coffee or whatever it was, and generally had a bad, very condescending attitude. It makes me so angry. What's the best way to react when you're in this situation? I find myself getting worked up and being tempted to argue back, but yeah that would probably lose customers and after all the customer is always right....But surely it's not right to just stand there and take their crap? What do you think?

WHY IS THIS ANON?

Say the following:

Madam, the company does not tolerate abuse towards the staff. I must ask that you treat our staff members with the respect they deserve.

If she doesn't comply, pour the coffee down her finest beige dress.

Reply 26

alexcutts

Ignore them and bitch about them behind their back. Just give them the minimum level of service - its part of the job.

I seem to keep spilling coffee on the nice people - spilt a cup all over a womans CREAM wooly jumper the other day (she wasn't wearing it) and straight away she said oh, don't worry about it, it'll wash out - happens all the time.

Reply 27

1013

1

When I get rude callers I tend be over-the-top nice to them so they know I'm taking the piss but cannot actually accuse me of doing anything wrong. Or I shame them a bit by saying "tha's not a very nice way to talk to someone is it? I'm trying to help you and you're being very rude to me". Often, if you talk to them as if they are a naughty child, they'll get all embarrassed and shut up.

Reply 28

Segat1

16

I am just rediculously nice to them. Then they look like *****.

Reply 29

NickNack

1

remember that its up to you who you serve (esp in a bar), nd your perfectly entitled to refuse to serve anyone who is rude/abusive towards you or other staff, immature or drunk. Think im gonna take to not serving people until they say "please" to me now!

Reply 30

xoxo_GossipGirl

11

Segat1

I am just rediculously nice to them. Then they look like *****.

Same here, don't get wound up, just smile and be overly polite, treat them like you'd treat a child throwing a paddy.

I worked at a receptionist at my mums dental practice the last couple of summers and got so many horrible patients, usually if I got fed up I'd just hand them over to the head of reception or my mum, but I was quite good at handling most cases myself. Just be sickly sweet like butter wouldn't melt and some start feeling bad for being horrible.
It got even worse last year because there's such a shortage of dentists, people would ring up, sfter they haven't been for over 18 months and throw a fit because they were no longer registered.

Reply 31

FadeToBlackout

15

I just turn terribly terribly polite and brush it all off with a smile. Annoys the hell out of them even more because they realise how silly they're being.

Oh, and the massively polite "have a nice day, sir/madam" as they're leaving works wonders.

Reply 32

guccilittlepiggy

14

oh i had fun on my last day with them mwahahaha

Reply 33

x-Elaine-x

poke them

;yay;

Reply 34

indy_punk

1

My telefund raising job was hell because almost EVERYONE I spoke to was rude.hehe but would be working in a coffee shop again after summer and the best thing is to be polite to them but in a really sarcastic way or apologise to other customers for the person's rude behaviour in front of them :biggrin:

Reply 35

M'Lady

12

Anonymous

My summer job involves a lot of customer service, which is fine, but sometimes you'll get a customer who is a complete and utter arse!!! For example, this old woman started having a go at one of my workmates as she was preparing her coffee or whatever it was, and generally had a bad, very condescending attitude. It makes me so angry. What's the best way to react when you're in this situation? I find myself getting worked up and being tempted to argue back, but yeah that would probably lose customers and after all the customer is always right....But surely it's not right to just stand there and take their crap? What do you think?

I always use the overly nice technique. Smile sweetly and be as nice as pie, people don't know how to deal with this, but they can't make any complaint about you because you haven't been rude.

Reply 36

nettle7

Be insanely nice, as too many people have said. I find this is the best trick.

Reply 37

M'Lady

12

paintedfolk

Be insanely nice, as too many people have said. I find this is the best trick.

It's so funny aswell. People don't know how to react if you're overly nice and they have just been a total (insert expletive here). I work in a Lego shop and I've had a person throw a cup full of lego at me before, but I remained nice as pie and he didn't know what to do. (My manager also saw what happened and removed him from the shop.) :laugh:

Reply 38

matt bass

Apparently customer abuse comes with job while working at McDonalds. Just because im wearing a funny hat telling you that 'I'm Lovin It', which i am quite blatently not, does not mean that i am the scum of the universe and don't expect to be treated as such.

Chances are i have more qualifications than the average McDs customer, yet have to deal with utter crap about how your burger did not magically appear on your tray when you demanded 14 special orders in 10 seconds.

Can anyone tell ive just had a horrible 7 hour shift?

Mr 'Training Squad' Matt

Reply 39

leona

12

I totally just ignore them, if theyre making snidey comments or whatever. Winds them up even more.

What's the best way to deal with rude customers?

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