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These 3 incidents happened with in 2 weeks. “C” is the wife of my boyfriends’ friend. She’s extremely passive aggressive, but more on that in other posts. (She and I also work together, so keep your eyes peeled for other stories about her in “Cursing out Coworkers”.)
A group of about 10-15 of us had stopped at a local sports bar last Saturday after a sale. We got there about 2:30pm so it was very quiet. Besides our group there were 3 ladies drinking beers at a table and 3 people seated at the bar. One guy was up front, waiting tables and bartending. It was slow enough so it wasn’t a problem. This guy also knew his stuff. He took our food and appetizer orders with out writing a single thing down. Not one thing was incorrect about the order when it was brought to us either. Kid even gave the “special” burger to the correct person with out having to ask who it belonged to. And talk about friendly! Bottom line being that it’s obvious he’s done this for a very long time and knows what he’s doing. (Boyfriend and I will so be back again, mainly because of him.)
He brought us another round of beers and told us that it would be a moment on the tomato juice (we were drinking red beer) because he was out, but he’d bring that over in just a sec. He bounced off to check on the customers at the bar and check with the kitchen people for the juice. After a few minutes C starts waving her husbands empty glass over her head in typical “I’m trying to show off for my group because I’m needy” SC fashion. Then she starts bitching to the air about the juice. Waiter sees her little performance and trots over to see if *she* needed anything. Quite curtly she demands our juice. Apologizing he started off to check on the kitchen staff again. C says, supposedly to us at the table or under her breath, but none to quiet either:
“Like what’s the problem anyway, OH MY GOD Bakers is totally right down the street dude. Like, go walk your happy little butt down there and buy some if you need to. Geeze, it is not that hard.”
WTF? She was not even drinking a beer; she was sipping on her Mt Dew! And the total time since our beers had been brought out to now? Less than 5 minutes!!!!! See what I mean about passive aggressive?
I looked up at her, completely stunned and quite embarrassed, and sternly told her, through clenched teeth and tight lips, “Knock that shit off C.” She was taken aback by that, since she is not usually called on her P/Aness.
“What? Being a bitch?” she fired back, with a wavering voice, nervous with the possibility of confrontation, which she despises so.
I replied in the affirmative, never taking my icy glare off her for a moment. She faltered, red faced and lost for words, making some indication that it was supposed to have been a joke. I waved my hand to shut her up, both of us knowing full well that it was not. “You don’t say things like that “C”, and you know better than that.” People at our table were giving me that “oh boy” look. Oh did I mention that C is 28 years old, not a snotty little teen? (no offence teens!!!) Like she’s ever waited tables before anyway!
Second incident. C and I have run to the local pizza joint to order up some dinner for the menfolk. There is one girl there (it’s a small place) and she’s about our age. (Mid 20’s) I order up three pizzas and some cheesy bread as per my sticky note. She looks tired, and maybe even a little self conscious of the ugly stained apron and dopey ball cap she’s forced to wear (especially when confronted with her peers). I’m going to brighten her day, I thought with an grin. In no uncertain terms, I inform her that she will have this all ready for us in no more than 10 minutes; after all, we are in a hurry! Her eyes widen and she oh so briefly gets this “you’ve got to be kidding me” look on her face before regaining her composure. I can’t take it any more and I crack up, grinning at her.
She puts one hand on her hip and saucily gestures towards the prep table with the other. “Do you want to come back here and make your pizza’s your self?” *grin* “No? Then you come back in 30 minutes!” By now she’s chuckling and I’m still giggling (the look on her face was priceless). I pay, and thank her and C and I leave. By the time we get back to the car she is fuming. Red faced and spitting blood.
“SOMEONE needs to learn some F**KING customer service skills!!!!!!!” C hisses.
Apparently, she was infuriated that the cook would suggest that we make our own food. “You NEVER say that to a customer!” Said the girl who has never done customer service. Dumfounded, I slowly explain to her that she was joking with me, as I had been joking with her. Not good enough, as that girl had better watch her self. SOME people might get offended by her “sense of humor”. Um. Yeah. Ok, what I then had to explain to C was that the girl is most likely smart enough to figure out who she can and cannot be candid with. (You guys get what I mean, don’t you?) The concept obviously over her head, C simply purses her lips and says nothing.
You “get it”, don’t you? The exchange between Pizza Girl and I? It’s the kind of humor that someone in customer service would get. Right?
Anyway, our boss got new furniture, and her recliner was backordered since January. It came in last week and she was telling us how excited she was to go pick it up. Boss mentioned how she was a little bummed as they were not able to offer free delivery since she’s been waiting since January. C pipes up in her “helpy helperton” way and asks boss if she requested to speak to a supervisor about that. Boss says she didn’t see any reason to. She understands why they can’t offer free delivery, and that’s that. C states that she would have talked to a manager, just to cover her bases. You never know what you can get for free from a manager, she tells the boss. Boss shrugs and said she is so used to dealing with people like that in the past, that she doesn’t want to be one of “them”. (Boss came from a call center and has CS background). C maintains that she would have bitched until she got her way, on and on with the SC-isms. Gives a few details of what she would say to the store clerk to get her way. Boss says that she’d never ever do that, since she’s been on the other side of it enough times and knows first hand how it feels. I agree with her. C starts to back pedal because her little attitude wasn’t the crowd pleaser she thought it would be. (This is common behavior for her, to act one way and when people don’t fawn over her and her ideas, she changes to go along with what ever the popular opinion is.) She says that the she never used to demand a manager, but her brother does it all the time. Her only explanation is that he gets some “really cool free stuff” just by complaining, so now she does it.
“Let me let you in on a little secret C,” I said, “When you are getting free stuff, it’s not because you are right, it’s not because you’ve been inconvenienced, and it’s not to keep your business. It’s to get you to go the hell away so they can deal with the customers that are actually buying something. If you are complaining just to 'see what you can get', it's no different than stealing.”
Like the incident with the waiter, she was stopped in her tracks. You could hear the gears in her head turning, trying to formulate a response.
Moral of the Story:
I’ve done customer service for a very, very long time and I’ve seen the best and worst of people. You have never worked in a service position of any kind. Do us all a favor and shut up.
A group of about 10-15 of us had stopped at a local sports bar last Saturday after a sale. We got there about 2:30pm so it was very quiet. Besides our group there were 3 ladies drinking beers at a table and 3 people seated at the bar. One guy was up front, waiting tables and bartending. It was slow enough so it wasn’t a problem. This guy also knew his stuff. He took our food and appetizer orders with out writing a single thing down. Not one thing was incorrect about the order when it was brought to us either. Kid even gave the “special” burger to the correct person with out having to ask who it belonged to. And talk about friendly! Bottom line being that it’s obvious he’s done this for a very long time and knows what he’s doing. (Boyfriend and I will so be back again, mainly because of him.)
He brought us another round of beers and told us that it would be a moment on the tomato juice (we were drinking red beer) because he was out, but he’d bring that over in just a sec. He bounced off to check on the customers at the bar and check with the kitchen people for the juice. After a few minutes C starts waving her husbands empty glass over her head in typical “I’m trying to show off for my group because I’m needy” SC fashion. Then she starts bitching to the air about the juice. Waiter sees her little performance and trots over to see if *she* needed anything. Quite curtly she demands our juice. Apologizing he started off to check on the kitchen staff again. C says, supposedly to us at the table or under her breath, but none to quiet either:
“Like what’s the problem anyway, OH MY GOD Bakers is totally right down the street dude. Like, go walk your happy little butt down there and buy some if you need to. Geeze, it is not that hard.”
WTF? She was not even drinking a beer; she was sipping on her Mt Dew! And the total time since our beers had been brought out to now? Less than 5 minutes!!!!! See what I mean about passive aggressive?
I looked up at her, completely stunned and quite embarrassed, and sternly told her, through clenched teeth and tight lips, “Knock that shit off C.” She was taken aback by that, since she is not usually called on her P/Aness.
“What? Being a bitch?” she fired back, with a wavering voice, nervous with the possibility of confrontation, which she despises so.
I replied in the affirmative, never taking my icy glare off her for a moment. She faltered, red faced and lost for words, making some indication that it was supposed to have been a joke. I waved my hand to shut her up, both of us knowing full well that it was not. “You don’t say things like that “C”, and you know better than that.” People at our table were giving me that “oh boy” look. Oh did I mention that C is 28 years old, not a snotty little teen? (no offence teens!!!) Like she’s ever waited tables before anyway!
Second incident. C and I have run to the local pizza joint to order up some dinner for the menfolk. There is one girl there (it’s a small place) and she’s about our age. (Mid 20’s) I order up three pizzas and some cheesy bread as per my sticky note. She looks tired, and maybe even a little self conscious of the ugly stained apron and dopey ball cap she’s forced to wear (especially when confronted with her peers). I’m going to brighten her day, I thought with an grin. In no uncertain terms, I inform her that she will have this all ready for us in no more than 10 minutes; after all, we are in a hurry! Her eyes widen and she oh so briefly gets this “you’ve got to be kidding me” look on her face before regaining her composure. I can’t take it any more and I crack up, grinning at her.
She puts one hand on her hip and saucily gestures towards the prep table with the other. “Do you want to come back here and make your pizza’s your self?” *grin* “No? Then you come back in 30 minutes!” By now she’s chuckling and I’m still giggling (the look on her face was priceless). I pay, and thank her and C and I leave. By the time we get back to the car she is fuming. Red faced and spitting blood.
“SOMEONE needs to learn some F**KING customer service skills!!!!!!!” C hisses.
Apparently, she was infuriated that the cook would suggest that we make our own food. “You NEVER say that to a customer!” Said the girl who has never done customer service. Dumfounded, I slowly explain to her that she was joking with me, as I had been joking with her. Not good enough, as that girl had better watch her self. SOME people might get offended by her “sense of humor”. Um. Yeah. Ok, what I then had to explain to C was that the girl is most likely smart enough to figure out who she can and cannot be candid with. (You guys get what I mean, don’t you?) The concept obviously over her head, C simply purses her lips and says nothing.
You “get it”, don’t you? The exchange between Pizza Girl and I? It’s the kind of humor that someone in customer service would get. Right?
Anyway, our boss got new furniture, and her recliner was backordered since January. It came in last week and she was telling us how excited she was to go pick it up. Boss mentioned how she was a little bummed as they were not able to offer free delivery since she’s been waiting since January. C pipes up in her “helpy helperton” way and asks boss if she requested to speak to a supervisor about that. Boss says she didn’t see any reason to. She understands why they can’t offer free delivery, and that’s that. C states that she would have talked to a manager, just to cover her bases. You never know what you can get for free from a manager, she tells the boss. Boss shrugs and said she is so used to dealing with people like that in the past, that she doesn’t want to be one of “them”. (Boss came from a call center and has CS background). C maintains that she would have bitched until she got her way, on and on with the SC-isms. Gives a few details of what she would say to the store clerk to get her way. Boss says that she’d never ever do that, since she’s been on the other side of it enough times and knows first hand how it feels. I agree with her. C starts to back pedal because her little attitude wasn’t the crowd pleaser she thought it would be. (This is common behavior for her, to act one way and when people don’t fawn over her and her ideas, she changes to go along with what ever the popular opinion is.) She says that the she never used to demand a manager, but her brother does it all the time. Her only explanation is that he gets some “really cool free stuff” just by complaining, so now she does it.
“Let me let you in on a little secret C,” I said, “When you are getting free stuff, it’s not because you are right, it’s not because you’ve been inconvenienced, and it’s not to keep your business. It’s to get you to go the hell away so they can deal with the customers that are actually buying something. If you are complaining just to 'see what you can get', it's no different than stealing.”
Like the incident with the waiter, she was stopped in her tracks. You could hear the gears in her head turning, trying to formulate a response.
Moral of the Story:
I’ve done customer service for a very, very long time and I’ve seen the best and worst of people. You have never worked in a service position of any kind. Do us all a favor and shut up.
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