If they scream and yell loud enough....

[greensinestro]

I'm not sure why SC's are under the impression that if they yell at you loud enough, you will simply give in to their demands. One memorable call I had while at Adelphia was the lady who called about a missed appointment for installing her cable TV. Naturally, the technician's notes indicated this customer was not at home and needed to reschedule. In turn, this woman up and down swore she was at home (although she in between stated she stepped out for ten minutes to go to the grocery store), and how dare nobody call her. The entire time, this lady felt that either I was deaf and needed to be screamed at, or felt that if she continued to scream, a technician would show up in seconds to install her cable TV.

This yelling went on for probably five minutes. Each time I would ask the customer a question or provide disclosure information, her answers were always loud, obnoxious, and rude. (And this made me believe this was probably why her appointment was missed to begin with). I finally, while still keeping my patience and politeness, asked her if she had a good reason she needed to continue yelling at me. "Yes! Your moron technicians and you moron reps f***ed up my appointment and now I have no cable TV!" I had to tell her two things on this. Number one, I was not going to tolerate that language while trying to assist her, and two, screaming at me was not going to fix this problem. This only made her more upset (I was waiting for her to get a heart attack or stroke, but it never happened), yet she never once demanded a supervisor. Thankfully, I was able to schedule her a tech visit for later that day (although she was pissed that she had to stay home a little longer instead of making it to her BINGO game later), and thank God, the call was over. She not once thanked me for helping her, nor was she interested in any information that I provided that would prevent another missed appointment. The next day I checked the order and found her service was installed, yet the technician also had some not so kind words to say about this woman. I dealt with it on the phone, and I cannot imagine what they deal with face to face with bitchy people like this.

So, the morale of the story is: Scream! You'll get your way, but hopefully your health won't be affected.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

Yes, the screamers.
I had one once (face to face, unfortunately) over her debit or credit card not going through. Seriously, you would have thought that I'd taken a crap on her card by the way she was acting.
Though it's generally not in my nature to 'confrontate', I realized that she wasn't going to allow me to get in a single word, so I just stood there with my arms crossed until she finally shut up.
(Okay, not much of a confrontation, but it's as close as I get.)
After the screaming stopped, she snatched the card out of my hand and slapped a hundred dollar bill on the counter.

As soon as I had her transaction done, she said, "I want to speak with your manager."
Okay. I pointed to the guy right behind me and said, "That's him!"
She left without another word.

[mariamousie1]

At the moment, we're teaching my 2 year old niece that she's more likely to get what she wants if she asks nicely and says please and thank you, than if she screams. She's learning it quite well and often doesn't need to be reminded. This woman could take a few lessons, because my niece is more mature than she is already.

[Auto]

They scream and yell because they have learned from experience that it almost always gets them what they want.

If clerks and servers where free to stand up to them, with managers backing them up, they'd learn quickly enough that if you want something they better ask nicely.

Especially if what they want is a favor that the store is not obligated to give them.

[air914]

I only raise my voice or get short with someone if I've been round and round and round and feel that niceness is getting me nowhere - BUT I start with being nice and pleasant. It's only when I feel nothing is getting done that I escalate - and not for completely unreasonable things either..... just when someone isn't fulfilling the services I've paid for or something like that..... and then I've found that if you do start to raise your voice, things can change fairly quickly.

unfortunately, some people just assume they have to start off nasty to get something done..... usually not the best method.

[Andara Bledin]

These are the same people who, at 5 years old, would throw tantrums in stores to get their parents to buy them toys and candy. And their parents did it!

So, they've been trained that having a tantrum will get them what they want after someone has told them "No."

Nekojin's cousin has a young daughter. She tried to throw a tantrum once while we were visiting and the result? She got to lay and cry on the floor and be utterly and completely ignored. I have a cousin who could actually hold her breath until she passed out (not an idle threat, in her case). Her mother let her do it and only made sure she wouldn't hurt herself falling. So she ended up reserving that trick for when she was at school.

^-.-^

[Banrion]

I have a cousin who could actually hold her breath until she passed out (not an idle threat, in her case). Her mother let her do it and only made sure she wouldn't hurt herself falling.
^-.-^

That's the appropriate response too, as long as she won't hurt herself when she passes out, as soon as she does she will start breathing again.

[katie kaboom]

I have a cousin who could actually hold her breath until she passed out (not an idle threat, in her case).

My mom said i did that when i was a baby and it scared the crap out of her. She was young (24) and a first time mother so she was freaking out. She said she told my pediatrician about it and he told her to just ignore me when i did that because once i passed out i would start breathing again. What can i say, even as a little one i was fiercely stubborn.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I saw a video once (on YouTube or somewhere) of a little kid who was throwing a tantrum in the grocery store, so his mom got down on the floor and started kicking and screaming right along with him. He stopped right quick. (I don't know if this was staged or not but it was funny.) Don't you wish you could do that when the SCs start in?

[Jack7957]

I saw a video once (on YouTube or somewhere) of a little kid who was throwing a tantrum in the grocery store, so his mom got down on the floor and started kicking and screaming right along with him. He stopped right quick. (I don't know if this was staged or not but it was funny.) Don't you wish you could do that when the SCs start in?

I couldn't resist trying to find it....

here it is

[Shironu-Akaineko]

I saw a video once (on YouTube or somewhere) of a little kid who was throwing a tantrum in the grocery store, so his mom got down on the floor and started kicking and screaming right along with him. He stopped right quick.

I've seen it in action, but with a father instead of a mother.

I admit I admired him that day. He tried his best, but when talking didn't work, he took a desperate measure that didn't involve screaming or hitting the child. (Lord knows I wanted to tho).

I don't care what child psychologists say. Talking will not work every time. Sometimes you have to embarass the child into listening to you. They will say "Don't model bad behaviour, it will confuse the child and make him think it's allright", look, it won't ruin his brain for the next 20 years. It will shock him temporarily, show him how ridiculous he looks, and then, in the car, you can explain why tantrums are wrong. He had a visual example.
THERE.

[Dips]

Sometimes you have to embarass the child into listening to you.

<snip>

It will shock him temporarily, show him how ridiculous he looks, and then, in the car, you can explain why tantrums are wrong. He had a visual example.
THERE.

Or take it a step further and use your cell phone to record every precious moment of the tantrum...

It should stop them cold. And if it doesn't, you'll have some grade A blackmail material for life.

[Sliceanddice]

lol you guys are awesome

[Purple Monkey Dishwasher]

I couldn't resist trying to find it....

here it is

Of course, being the retail store guy, what's the only thing I thought about after that video?

Bitch, make your kid pick up that bag of chips!

Joe

[auntiem]

My sis is a director, so when her kids threw tatrums, she would just sit back and watch, then when it was all over she would say "you know I'm not really getting your motivation on that line reading" the kids stopped having tantrums at 4.