Sorry, but as usual, I’m going to be the fly in the ointment.
I have worked, in various fields, in customer service for over 15 years; every job I have had, honestly, has customer service components. I am convinced that unless you’ve worked either in retail or in food service (both EXTREMELY difficult jobs), you really don’t know what these people go through on a daily basis.
I used to work at a returns desk for a rather large (now out of business) computer store. You would not believe what I went through in that seven years:
- I’ve had a stapler thrown at my head. Why? Because the customer didn’t have a receipt to return their item. By the way, it SAID the receipt was required.
- I’ve been called seven different kinds of a bitch in seven different ways, of course. Once I was cursed out for 20 minutes because a customer wanted 2 cents – that’s right, TWO CENTS – back on his American Express card. Which I was in the middle of processing.
- I was once referred to as a “peon”. Excuse me? This “peon” is in charge of making sure you get your money back – I’d be nicer if I were you.
- Often, a smile and a cheery “hello!” net me – zilch. Zero. Nothing. One guy actually threw his items across the desk and growled at me to “hurry the hell up”. Well, good morning to you, too, jerk.
Do we follow through on any of the thoughts we’re having? Of course not. We smile, grit our teeth, and keep going even though all we really want to do is give you a good dose of what-for, which you very likely deserve. It’s afterwards that we’d go home and drink. And talk about you.
There are customers (undoubtedly like yourselves!) that were very nice, indeed, and those were the people we looked forward to the most. I had one lady come in every week, stop at the desk, and say hello even though she didn’t end up buying anything – the point was, she stopped to talk to me and made me feel just a little more human than usual.
I had one guy come in and leave me a fifty dollar tip. No kidding. Since when do you tip the counter girl at the returns counter?
My point is, it’s not always easy on the other side of the desk. If you go somewhere and they’re rude to you, ignore you, etc. – they may not be doing it on purpose. They may just be trying to help someone else at that particular moment, or just finished dealing with a person that’s given them a very rough time, etc. You just don’t know what’s going on in their lives.
Sure, if it’s blatant, go to the manager – I’m not saying that there isn’t a time to do that, absolutely there is. I’m as much a stickler for good service as anyone. But I do try to give them the benefit of the doubt – because I’ve BEEN there.