Ah, the smell of SC in the morning...

[Getoutofmylobby]

I had forgotten how selfish and rude people can be.

A lady came down to the lobby to use our computer and even though clear directions for its use are posted next to the monitor, of course she has problems getting it to work. And she's doing this while talking on her cell phone. And, as is normal, she has these problems as I'm helping another customer who got charged the wrong rate...

Lady (yelling since the computer and desk are about 20 feet away from each other) Hey you, behind the desk. How do I get google on this thing?
Me: Ma'am, just press control alt delete and enter the username and password on the card nex...
Lady: (pressing random buttons) Aw hell!
Me: No control alt.. actually if you give me a second to help this gentleman I can help you.
Lady: (presumably to the person on her cellphone) They don't know how to work this s***.

I can understand that she doesn't know how to "get google" on a strange computer. I get that. What I don't get is that the directions are right there! Right in front of her face! And here we see the common denominator of SC's; its always someone else's fault.

I wrap up dude's billing issue all the while this lady is making a big show of how she is frustrated, staring at me, sighing loudly. At one point she banged the mouse on the desk a few times. She got off the phone saying "I have to deal with this, call me back later."

I go to the computer and wordlessly sign her in and start up IE (which, poetically, someone had set the home page to Google).

Me: If you have any more problems let me know (smile).
Lady: You could make your computers more ack-cess-ible to your customers.

Now I'm sure i could have handled this a bit more tactfully, but hey, i'm rusty. I've been working in a world where people thank each other for help.

[Slytovhand]

Lady: (presumably to the person on her cellphone) They don't know how to work this s***.


"Yep - you're right - sorry - can't help you there, you're on your own. Perhaps you should ring our tech support - 13 GFYS".

I'm a really crap 'customer service' representative. I can be patient - but tact is getting less and less....

[Sheldonrs]

Maybe you could direct her to the nearest remedial reading class.

[Evil Queen]

Gak, I've had customers like that. I once kicked the customer (guest as this was another hotel gig) off the computer and told them to leave the office because
1) they cursed in front of me --If I'm not allowed to curse on the job, you're not allowed to curse in my lobby.
2) They cursed in front of a 6 year old being checked in with his parents and
3) The guest was a general ass.
I wrote my boss; Mr. Freaks-out-at-everything a note about this guest's attitude and mine, our conversation, verbatim and included the name of the family I was checking in and their signatures as proof.
The next pay period, I got .25 an hour raise. :D

[Tito]

Lady: You could make your computers more ack-cess-ible to your customers.

Okay, maam, and you need to learn how to read.

Now I'm sure i could have handled this a bit more tactfully, but hey, i'm rusty.

I see nothing wrong with the way you handled it. You were alot more patient with that bitch than I would have been!

[chainedbarista]

maybe it's just me, but typing in www.google.com pulls it up for me.

that and she's a raging moron. gah! needs remedial reading and communications skills.

[marasbaras]

I'd simply refuse to help anyone while they were glued to their phone.

[Kyree]

Yeah, I think you were a lot nicer then a lot of us would have been. :p If I had been with a customer, I would have just yelled back, "Ma'am, the directions are taped to the side of the screen. Try those."

[Sharsarannon]

See, for me, the convo comes to a screeching halt right when she starts with:
"Hey, You, behind the desk-"
"Madam. I would appreciate being addressed properly." *ice-snark glare*

[thehippie777]

Feel your pain. We also have directions of use by our guest computer. Had a guy the other day ask me "if there is a special way to get on the computer to use the internet". I thought he was on the login screen, so I told him to select "Guest" (since he is one), and he said there was no "guest" to select. I get over there....and....the friggn internet browser was already pulled up & ready to go. Someone just prior to him left the browser open. Yay for having to be the resident tech support along with everything else right?

[SpyOne]

In these situations, I'm a big fan of making it painfully obvious that I'm just reading the directions.

I walk up to the machine and say, "Let's see here: it says step one is to press the control, alt, and delete buttons. done that. Then type my name into this field."

That usually defuses any attempt on their part to make their failure my fault, since it obviously wasn't any "special" knowledge I had that wasn't available to them that caused the machine to work.