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Bad Manners and Brimstone
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#Post#: 24545--------------------------------------------------
When a customer gets the best of you.
By: MOM21SON Date: January 23, 2019, 7:22 pm
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I don't think I have ever spoken to an abusive as a customer
that I spoke with today. Normally I am pretty good at imagining
the rude person I am speaking with and sadly I imagine them in
not so pleasant situations. Situations such as has no friends
or family because they are so hateful, a man with a big gruff
demanding voice being 4 feet tall, stuff like that, nothing to
wish them harm.
This man today, I just couldn't come up with anything, I think I
was so shocked. He kept calling me "girl." "Girl, you are
going to do as I say." Girl, you better remove my late fee
NOW!." "Girl, who gave you permission to let XYZ company bill
my card???" :Girl, no one can use my card but me! Got It
Girl!"
Finally I said, :Sir, please stop calling me Girl, my name is
mom21." Holy smokes did that piss him off!
He then screamed. "GIRL, YOU ARE SOMETHING ELSE, WHAT A NICE
CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT. GIRL, YOU HAVE REALLY EFFED UP NOW!
GIRL, I WILL BE CALLING TO REPORT YOU. FU GIRL!" Then he hung
up.
My supervisor already knows about the call because I told her.
Her only advice was, "you don't have to put up with that, you
are fine."
How would others have responded to this person?
#Post#: 24547--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: Sycorax Date: January 23, 2019, 7:49 pm
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I'm not sure what you can do. Someone who's that awful on the
phone isn't going to suddenly become perfectly polite because of
something you say. If it's something your company allows,
hanging up is probably your best bet.
#Post#: 24548--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: gramma dishes Date: January 23, 2019, 7:54 pm
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I do hope you recorded the entire call. No one should have to
put up with that kind of nonsense. The customer is definitely
NOT always right.
#Post#: 24549--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: MOM21SON Date: January 23, 2019, 8:06 pm
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[quote author=gramma dishes link=topic=954.msg24548#msg24548
date=1548294875]
I do hope you recorded the entire call. No one should have to
put up with that kind of nonsense. The customer is definitely
NOT always right.
[/quote]
It is recorded. I just worry because someone on here reminded
me, the calls are to record me, most companies don't care what
the customer says. I just keep telling myself, he was really
mad at himself, for making late payments and being called out
for being dismissive.
#Post#: 24555--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: guest657 Date: January 23, 2019, 10:53 pm
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I think you handled it exactly right. That doesn't always mean
the other person straightens up. And it doesn't always mean you
walk away feeling good about the situation.
Abusive people are trying to make you feel awful. And you know
what? They're usually pretty good at it because they practice
constantly.
You're bound to walk away from an encounter like that a little
shaken. It's upsetting.
But you were polite, dignified, and clear. As long as you
ccommunicated the other facts and policies relevant to his
situation, you did everything you were supposed to.
If your company disciplines their employees for that kind of
encounter, I can't imagine how they could stay in business.
#Post#: 24559--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: Aleko Date: January 24, 2019, 1:56 am
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[quote]If your company disciplines their employees for that kind
of encounter, I can't imagine how they could stay in
business.[/quote]
Absolutely! A customer who abuses a company representative for
carrying out the company's procedures correctly and in a
professional manner is abusing the company, and the company
shouldn't tolerate that kind of behaviour, or require their
staff to tolerate it However, it seems that Mom21son's company
don't - the supervisor couldn't have said 'you're fine' if they
did - so hurrah for them.
Mom21son, it's absolutely natural for a polite rational person
to be shocked by a blast of irrational rudeness like this. Give
yourself permission to feel the shock. But don't let it make you
feel bad about yourself or worried about repercussions: if your
supervisor said you were fine, you were and you are.
#Post#: 24568--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: camlan Date: January 24, 2019, 8:18 am
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This customer was trying to bully you and shock you into doing
what he wanted. I'd guess about 75% of the really rude customers
I've dealt with *know* that what they are asking for is against
policy, but they are trying to intimidate the customer service
person into doing it anyway.
This guy tried to belittle you by calling you "girl." He tried
to order you to do what he wanted--to catch you off guard so you
wouldn't think of what your company policy is, but be
intimidated into doing as he said. So when you stood up to the
bully, politely, he knew his tactics were not working, so he
tried even harder to bully you by threatening to report you.
And all of his tactics did not work. You were polite, you asked
something reasonable.
I think you did great.
In similar situations, I tend to let the customer rant at me
without interrupting them. When they are finished, I repeat back
what the problem seems to be (See, Customer, I heard you!) and
then tell them the company policy, all in a calm, pleasant tone
of voice. Then they will rant again. When they stop, I calmly
repeat the policy and ask if they would like me to call a
manager. The manager is going to say exactly what I said, but
frequently getting to talk to a manager calms a lot of people
down. They feel as if they have tried everything they could and
have pushed the issue as far as it can be pushed. It's a
psychological thing, I think.
I have no problem getting a manager to deal with an unreasonable
customer. They get paid the big bucks to do that. I do not. And
getting the manager involved earlier rather than later means
that I get back to doing my job that much sooner.
#Post#: 24569--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: DaDancingPsych Date: January 24, 2019, 8:39 am
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I love your tactic of imagining the person in an unpleasant
situation. For someone to be so rude and so abusive, there must
be something going wrong in his life. While I hope that I have
never stooped to being that rude, I do know that I am probably
less pleasant, less patient, and less polite when life is going
in the wrong direction. If using this imagery technique helps
you to stay professional and not take things personally, then I
think that it is a great idea!
While I am sure that you manage to assist many people ever day
(I know I appreciate the magic things that CSR do for me!), you
can only assist those who are willing to assist themselves. For
some unknown reason, this guy was not willing to do that. You
did all that you could!!!
#Post#: 24575--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: sharonamo Date: January 24, 2019, 11:20 am
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It never fails to amaze me how many people don't understand (or
know) the phrase "you catch more flies with honey than with
vinegar".
Grandma Shirley taught me that early in life, and while it
hasn't always gotten me what I wanted, it sure made the
interactions more pleasant. I'm sorry you had to deal with such
an unpleasant person, but kudos to you for handling it very
well!
#Post#: 24583--------------------------------------------------
Re: When a customer gets the best of you.
By: camlan Date: January 24, 2019, 1:13 pm
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[quote author=sharonamo link=topic=954.msg24575#msg24575
date=1548350427]
It never fails to amaze me how many people don't understand (or
know) the phrase "you catch more flies with honey than with
vinegar".
Grandma Shirley taught me that early in life, and while it
hasn't always gotten me what I wanted, it sure made the
interactions more pleasant. I'm sorry you had to deal with such
an unpleasant person, but kudos to you for handling it very
well!
[/quote]
And if a customer who has a problem is being nice about it, I
know I will try to think of a solution for them--maybe not the
solution they want, but some sort of compromise. If a customer
is being rude or mean or nasty, I won't go to the effort of
finding out if there's anything else that can be done for them.
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