Tweet
...when one look at the schedule for the day says no.
I'm helping up at the spa attached to the hotel I work at. One, it gives me a chance to learn something new, and two, they really need the help right now. Plus, as management I can pretty much step in and run things if necessary...and my own boss is currently covering as the spa manager as the actual spa manager is on medical leave.
Anyhow, not long after we opened yesterday and I'm still at the front desk getting things sorted for the day a lady comes in and says she's there for her massage at 9:30. I ask her name as she is not showing in that day's schedule so I assume at first that maybe she's wrong on her dates. It happens from time to time.
There is no sign of her in our booking system. I looked her up via phone number and email too and there is still no sign of her. The spa guest services agent who was there with me also checked on her computer just in case mine was being stupid.
The lady is nowhere in the system at all.
I then asked if she received a confirmation email - of course she didn't. She said she spoke to somebody on the phone last week to make the booking. And then she said she used the chat option on the website and spoke to somebody that way.
I had to explain to her that unfortunately we have no record of her in our system and that I had also checked our chat program to see if we had any record of her.
She started stamping her feet and yelled, "What am I supposed to do now?! I'm here now so you should be able to give me my appointment! When I spoke to somebody last week they told me I couldn't get a hot stone massage and an Indian head massage back to back due to spa policy! This is bullshit!"
Now, we have no such policy so I knew she couldn't have spoken to anybody here. I explained to her that anybody here wouldn't have told her that, and at most would have said there was no room on the schedule to do both services. And I asked if maybe she scheduled with a different spa but thought she booked with us.
Cue a temper tantrum on her behalf. I told her that if we had space in the schedule that I would happily get her in for either service she wanted but that we were booked solid for the day, but if she wanted to book for another day that I would happily help her out with that.
She continued to carry on about how she booked an appointment blah blah blah. And she wanted a manager. I grinned and explained that I was the manager (I was that day because my boss was out sick!). I then had to explain once again that as she is nowhere in our system that she if she did book it wasn't with us, and that we couldn't just cancel an appointment to get her in just because she was there.
That's when she pulled out "I thought if I claimed I had an appointment you'd just give me one! That I could blame it on somebody not giving me the right info!"
I know I arched my eyebrow at her, and apparently it was enough to make her leave with her head bowed down. I don't know what she thought she was doing, but I wasn't going to let her win.
I looked at the girl with me behind the spa desk and shook my head. Then I looked at my empty mug of coffee and sighed. Not enough caffeine in the day to make idiots like that any easier to deal with.
The girl with me is fairly new and she was asked if this sort of thing happened often. I had to tell her that customers will try anything they can to get a walk-in appointment when we do not actually offer them, and they will think nothing of trying to throw somebody under the bus to get their way. It's her first job, but I hope it doesn't scare her! I am also teaching her that the customer is not always right, but to give them the benefit of the doubt until you can prove they're lying through their teeth. And to not be rude back to a rude client because it's just not worth the blow-out, that it is better to smile and be sweet as it pisses the client off more but they can't complain because you're being disgustingly nice.
I'm helping up at the spa attached to the hotel I work at. One, it gives me a chance to learn something new, and two, they really need the help right now. Plus, as management I can pretty much step in and run things if necessary...and my own boss is currently covering as the spa manager as the actual spa manager is on medical leave.
Anyhow, not long after we opened yesterday and I'm still at the front desk getting things sorted for the day a lady comes in and says she's there for her massage at 9:30. I ask her name as she is not showing in that day's schedule so I assume at first that maybe she's wrong on her dates. It happens from time to time.
There is no sign of her in our booking system. I looked her up via phone number and email too and there is still no sign of her. The spa guest services agent who was there with me also checked on her computer just in case mine was being stupid.
The lady is nowhere in the system at all.
I then asked if she received a confirmation email - of course she didn't. She said she spoke to somebody on the phone last week to make the booking. And then she said she used the chat option on the website and spoke to somebody that way.
I had to explain to her that unfortunately we have no record of her in our system and that I had also checked our chat program to see if we had any record of her.
She started stamping her feet and yelled, "What am I supposed to do now?! I'm here now so you should be able to give me my appointment! When I spoke to somebody last week they told me I couldn't get a hot stone massage and an Indian head massage back to back due to spa policy! This is bullshit!"
Now, we have no such policy so I knew she couldn't have spoken to anybody here. I explained to her that anybody here wouldn't have told her that, and at most would have said there was no room on the schedule to do both services. And I asked if maybe she scheduled with a different spa but thought she booked with us.
Cue a temper tantrum on her behalf. I told her that if we had space in the schedule that I would happily get her in for either service she wanted but that we were booked solid for the day, but if she wanted to book for another day that I would happily help her out with that.
She continued to carry on about how she booked an appointment blah blah blah. And she wanted a manager. I grinned and explained that I was the manager (I was that day because my boss was out sick!). I then had to explain once again that as she is nowhere in our system that she if she did book it wasn't with us, and that we couldn't just cancel an appointment to get her in just because she was there.
That's when she pulled out "I thought if I claimed I had an appointment you'd just give me one! That I could blame it on somebody not giving me the right info!"
I know I arched my eyebrow at her, and apparently it was enough to make her leave with her head bowed down. I don't know what she thought she was doing, but I wasn't going to let her win.
I looked at the girl with me behind the spa desk and shook my head. Then I looked at my empty mug of coffee and sighed. Not enough caffeine in the day to make idiots like that any easier to deal with.
The girl with me is fairly new and she was asked if this sort of thing happened often. I had to tell her that customers will try anything they can to get a walk-in appointment when we do not actually offer them, and they will think nothing of trying to throw somebody under the bus to get their way. It's her first job, but I hope it doesn't scare her! I am also teaching her that the customer is not always right, but to give them the benefit of the doubt until you can prove they're lying through their teeth. And to not be rude back to a rude client because it's just not worth the blow-out, that it is better to smile and be sweet as it pisses the client off more but they can't complain because you're being disgustingly nice.
Comment