JustADude
11-02-2007, 11:57 PM
I've noticed over the years that I, honestly, seem to have a much, much lower level of assholery among my customers than it seems like most people here have. That's got me wondering exactly why, and how I can offer suggestions on how to make their working lives better.
This is what I have, so far, come up with:
1) Be confident: Sucky Customers, like wild animals, can smell fear and weakness. If you look like you'll cave to verbal assault, they'll go after you like a wolf after a wounded deer. Conversely, an aura of confidence and competence will make many a SC back down.
2) If you can't follow rule #1, fake it: Yes, it's that important.
3) Maintain inner calm: Just let it go, be the eye of the storm, stay chill, whatever you want to call it. It won't affect how sucky the customers are, but someone who is calm and centered will shrug off the minor annoyances far more easily than one who is tense and stressing out over life.
4) Interview your management: Not so helpful if you're already hired, but be prepared to walk if the management at the store doesn't seem like they'll back you up. Having good management is all part of getting the customers trained. With a spineless, caving manager your job can become twice as hard thanks to all the entitlement whores.
5) Pre-emptive strikes are A Good Thing™: If a customer becomes abusive, or even starts to act like they might, try to talk them down first. Sometimes, just sometimes, all it takes is explaining things to them calmly and clearly, with apologies for any legitimate mistakes on your part, to keep a rightfully upset customer from becoming a Were-Wanker.
So there they are, all the ones I can remember after being up more than 24h. Please feel free to comment or add your own, as I'm sure this is a very good thing to learn and master.
This is what I have, so far, come up with:
1) Be confident: Sucky Customers, like wild animals, can smell fear and weakness. If you look like you'll cave to verbal assault, they'll go after you like a wolf after a wounded deer. Conversely, an aura of confidence and competence will make many a SC back down.
2) If you can't follow rule #1, fake it: Yes, it's that important.
3) Maintain inner calm: Just let it go, be the eye of the storm, stay chill, whatever you want to call it. It won't affect how sucky the customers are, but someone who is calm and centered will shrug off the minor annoyances far more easily than one who is tense and stressing out over life.
4) Interview your management: Not so helpful if you're already hired, but be prepared to walk if the management at the store doesn't seem like they'll back you up. Having good management is all part of getting the customers trained. With a spineless, caving manager your job can become twice as hard thanks to all the entitlement whores.
5) Pre-emptive strikes are A Good Thing™: If a customer becomes abusive, or even starts to act like they might, try to talk them down first. Sometimes, just sometimes, all it takes is explaining things to them calmly and clearly, with apologies for any legitimate mistakes on your part, to keep a rightfully upset customer from becoming a Were-Wanker.
So there they are, all the ones I can remember after being up more than 24h. Please feel free to comment or add your own, as I'm sure this is a very good thing to learn and master.