When is it okay to be rude?

[Becks]

You were right. And awesome.

[Difdi]

I tell him, "You need to calm down. If you can refrain from shouting or name calling, I'll let you check out. Otherwise you can leave."

Oh, he very definitely had that coming. If anything, I think you were more forgiving than the asshat deserved.

As to your question, I'd say it's only ok to be rude to service employees who are themselves rude first. Yelling obscenities must be reserved for situations that actually warrant it. Like, say, the employee in question just punched you. For anything less, such behavior is unacceptable.

[Fiyero]

I went to KFC on my way home from the theatre last night so it was pretty late (about 10). I was a bit unlucky that 4 other people walked straight into the store before me, otherwise there would have only been one person in the queue. In behind my walks a man with a little girl (about 7 I'd guess).

The man started off angry about the queue and was shouting things like "5 minutes or its free hehe" and shoved me to get me to agree. Now I have had a long day and did not want to talk to an angry possibly drunk man. I gave a nervous smile and turned back around. The person at the counter ordered a bucket and was told there would be a 9 minute wait for chicken but they could have some other things (they were fine with that). The man shouted "well that's F***ed it up for everyone then.

The lady serving then took the next 4 orders (including mine) while someone was starting the orders. After my order she went to finish all the 4 orders. The man went straight to the counter and shouted "4 mini fillets", there was nobody at the counter and it was obvious they weren't ready for the order.

I was just sorry for the little girl. There was no need to be rude, and he saw the queue as soon as he went in, there are about 3 other places right nearby that could do fried chicken, one is only 3 doors down.


I would NEVER be rude to someone serving me, I will make it clear if they screw up but not be rude about it, just want it corrected.

[edible_hat]

If telling someone in a calm way to simmer down (or anything else they don't want to hear) is rude, then we have let the SCs win.

I was once on the receiving end of this:

"Don't you tell me to calm down! I'm the customer and I'm always right and if I want to have a tantrum I will!"

She was so enraged (I think about our inability to instantly manufacture a product that we never carried and may not have even existed) that she didn't realise how dumb that sounds.

oh and her next line, directed to myself, my manager, and four customers:

"STOP LAUGHING!"

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

It is not okay for a customer to be rude to a service worker unless perhaps said service worker was rude to them first. I can only speak for myself but if I was treated rudely for no apparent reason I probably wouldn't be as polite as I normally am to service workers in general. In life, you get what you give.

There is nothing rude about asking a customer to calm down.

The reason people do it is because it occasionally works. Either the employee caves in and gives the rude customer what they want, or a manager is summoned who caves in and gives the rude customer what they want.

[karath]

Ok, that guy was a total jackass. You were polite and calm even in the face of the very essence of SC, neither he (nor any true SC) has any reason to be rude. Admittedly if you get a SCSR some rudeness may be justified; everyone has their limits, after all, even sane people like us.

...well, ok, MOSTLY sane. (I'm looking at you, person with the biting sig! )

Now,

I was once on the receiving end of this:

"Don't you tell me to calm down! I'm the customer and I'm always right and if I want to have a tantrum I will!"

She was so enraged (I think about our inability to instantly manufacture a product that we never carried and may not have even existed) that she didn't realise how dumb that sounds.

oh and her next line, directed to myself, my manager, and four customers:

"STOP LAUGHING!"

If you haven't already posted the full story behind that one, we need to hear it

[edible_hat]

If you haven't already posted the full story behind that one, we need to hear it

That's basically it. SC had a tantrum over something trivial, I said something like "Calm down and we'll sort it out...", she asserted her right to have a tantrum if she wanted to, everyone in the store laughed at her, she told us all to stop laughing. After a while she realised that tantruming wasn't going to get her anywhere, so she left.

Another funny SC tantrum ended with "I'm never coming here again!" followed by the SC stomping out, getting as far as her car, coming back in, yelling "DON'T SAY A WORD!" and grabbing the car keys that she'd left on the counter.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Good job.


I was a restaurant manager in college and when SCs had tantrums and became abusive, starting yelling and cursing at one of my employees, etc they were asked to leave immediately. They didn't leave, the police could be found right across the street at a little neighborhood precinct.

I always loved the shocked look on their faces after they realized that their little tantrum was not, in fact, getting the desired reaction that night.


Anyway, good on you for being a good manager who stands up for his staff.

[Skarredmind]

Rudeness... lol

I often wonder where these people actually worked when they were younger that they were never on the other side of the counter.

The OP was totally right. In my shoes I would have given the guy a little more leeway from the story as posted. But I wasn't there. The Pwnage was beautiful tho and in the end deserved. I also don't think he handled anything rudely... rude would have been spitting on the sandwich, then asking if he still wanted it...

As far as being rude as a custy? I won't say never, I've been rude, when the situation called for it, sometimes it is the only to get what you need done, done. Typically though the person getting the rudeness has either been rude to me first or has been asking for the issue (refusing to pass me on up the chain).

In most of my dealings with stuff like this, if I am really upset, I tell the employee that something is making me unhappy, and that I know its not necessairily their fault, and try to work with them to resolve the issue... and I never get mad if I see that they are working to resolve the issue... as was said earlier, sheet happens, and we have to live with it.... being nice only gets my stuff taken care of faster anyway, as the employees always know that stuff is going slow already, and are probably working to fix the issue (no one likes long lines or issues on either side of the register...

I guess the point is the employee is almost always the person who can FIX my problem... pissing in his cheerios doesn't do anything to help the situation, even if he deserves it... besides thats what supervisors are for.

On the other side when I was a supervisor, I ALWAYS told my employees that if they had ANY problems with SC's to get me, immediately. That's why I get the extra $.02 per hour lol.