The Fucking Annoying Art of Customer Service

Hey folks, how many of you have to deal with the mobile faeces that seem to make up the public these days? I've been in customer service for around 3.5 years and in that time i've noticed a definate trend of rudeness, pettiness, lack of manners and complete lack of human decency increasing culminating with my 12 hour shift today. In total i received around 15 thank-yous and pleases after saying the same phrases myself around 2000 times. What the fuck is the deal? I serve people with smile and manners and occassionally it would nice to receive the same in return. I've had an absolute gutfull of people acting like uber shits, so much so that today i had to restrain myself from slapping the bevy of ungrateful mofos, most of whom would probably die if i turned around and acting in the sameway towards them. Sure there are so really nice people, but why oh why are these wonderful people in the minority? Personally i blame america for fostering the bullshit cult of the individual, revolting individual hedonism and stuff everybody else who gets in the way. Also the shitty paradigm that the customer is always right, also more of an introduced american idea, which has run so far out of control that people think they can act like complete cunts just because they're a customer. It just makes me sick to the bone! Anywhoo who else has noticed this, or just hates customers because of what they've done to you? Perhaps you could elaborate on what you've had to endure and what you'd do to customers who really pissed you off? Personally genital mutilation followed by cutting off their eyelids, then staking them out in the desert directly looking into the sun, followed by covering the bloody stumps of the genitals in honey and then releasing flesh eating ants into the nether regions. Ahhh that feels better
/end rant

There is only one thing wrong with the service, hospitality or sales industry.
The customers.
Wire.

use to work at maccas for 3 years
was glad when uni ended so i could leave

i can proudly stand up and say i'm one of those people who say please and thankyou when i'm being served by anyone in the customer service industry!
it's because i work in retail and have also worked in hospitality previously, and i know what its like receiving a thankyou or a please! it just makes you feel so much better!
but having worked in one of the biggest function centres in melbourne, i realise how many people out there are rude pricks!
thankfully my job now in retail, is a lot more rewarding, as about 90% of people are at least generally pleased and thankful for the work i do for them!!
my 2cents

I chronically thank EVERYONE who crosses my path in a given day, and always say please (I feel like I'm asking people to do me huge favours, even if it *is* their job to do what I'm asking of them) and it actually really pisses me off when other people don't do the same. I'm the sort of person who expects people to thank the bus/tram driver when they alight and say please when they're ordering a meal. I've never worked in the retail side of customer service, but I have worked in reception and it made my freakin day when people were chatty and polite when I spoke to them. It really is a crying shame that most people aren't like that.

OMG it's wonderful to know that others out there are going through the same painful experiences as me!!
I swear due to an asshole staff member and hundreds of customers not to mention other factors I went though hell today. Barely anyone says please or thankyou, sometimes after I don't get a thankyou I'll raise my voice and say thankyou a second time just to nudge people, but most idiots don't get the message.
Some people just have no manners...

Tabernacle: paragraphs are your friend

^^^ took the words out of my mouth.
I teach customer service, and I always say please, thankyou and generally have a nice demeanour when being served.
I know I’m going to get shot down for this but, you forget that from the perspective of the customer, they are paying for a service. I know it wouldn't kill them to have manners but you really shouldn't be surprised that they don't. To them you really are no more than a vending machine; they pay you and get something in return. The human interaction aspect of it is secondary to their immediate want.
It sucks, but it's a fact. The only thing you can do about it is remember when you are a customer to treat your servers the way you would expect to be treated. And really, what exactly do you expect. Customer service is dead; no wonder they’re pissed off by the time they get to you if there are fifteen checkout lanes and only four open. No wonder they’re angry after listening to some recorded message for twenty minutes then being transferred through eight other departments only to have you tell them you need to transfer them again. Half the time when being served, they’re served by somebody who’s had a shitty day and isn’t the slightest bit interested in them and is too busy worrying about what they’ll wear out that night or they have problems of their own and are just plain surly.
You are not perfect; never expect the customer to be. They may be running late, have things on their mind, their kid could be on drugs any number of things contribute to the demeanour of a person at any given second of the day.
If you work in the service industry, you get paid to put up with this shit (not enough, I know) but its par for the course.

ahh theres nothing better then a shit of a customer, as you can wipe them off the bottom of your shoe with a smile and say to yourself that stinks.
i'm a manager and i have to put up with them and a rude boss. of one the things my parents told me, was that 'treat others the same way you would like to be treated'! well since customer they treat me like shit i return the favour, ie; the shit under your shoe, u wipe it off and get on with life, and stil be polite about it. there is a fine line when they are rude to you or just absorbed with themselves, as when they are downright rude. I had one customer say to his wife dont talk to 'that' (me), they are the worthless end of the universe, well that leave anyone rome for comment but i smiled and told him that "manners account for everything in my world so would you please do the kindest thing to humanity and take your husband to the closest natural de-selection center" madam, her reply "no i'll leave him in the garbage tonite!" and laughed, so did everyone else in the shop.
at least knowing that if your still polite and freindly back to them no matter how they feel, they cant really say anthing but something nice or nothing at all. at least you dont have to drop to thier level, or be as friendly as they are. thats what we get paid for, so yu have to do your job. though my boss is jut as rude, you 'do' something 'wrong' shit hits the fan, but thats why im there cause i can do it and he cant, as i know what is what.
i share you annoyance and congrats for starting a thread like this, it'll become one of those gripes threads. hope this lasts.
Se a vida é
[ 07 February 2003: Message edited by: frootcake ]

Well i'm back at work, waiting for the next front of cocksmokers to wake from their slumber, and make my day hell. Some interesting replies here, including psychokitten, who appears to playing devil's advocate. (check it- a paragraph, yay!)(nobody give me shit for it not being grammatically correct or i'll slap your face off)
Customer service is dead huh? I'd say in those situations that you mentioned kitten that customer service is dead because simply in the eyes of large retail chains etc it is an obstacle to max profit taking as customers must be dealt with as little and as quickly as possible. However i do not work in any such situation, newsagency is much more community oriented, people come in for a paper and stay for a yarn. That's fine, if there are many customers i'll allow the person to continue the conversation after the others have been served. I don't however say "your taking up valueble space which another paying customer could take, so fuck off!"
As for being a vending machine, what kind of vending machine smiles innocently whilst listening to their moronically inane stories and helps old ladies to their car? Maby i should apply to be a pokie (no hang on that would mean being vomited, pissed on and having to smell the stench of such parlors). And if i threw piles of change in 10c and 5c increments at these people as they do to me then most would lose it. As for their immediate want, half the time the just don't know what they want and it's my job to decipher what the hell they want based on the stream of unintelligable garbage customers seem so adept at spitting. Customer service is an amalgam of both, based upon manners and treating the customer as you would want to be treated. It's a two way computation, if the customer treats the server well then of course the server is more inclined to give the same in return, rather than simply unidirectional means-end scenario. Maby customer service is dying because of a general trend of bastardisation from the public.
As for the ethos of the user pays, therefore they can act how ever they please- well that kind of thinking seems to me to reek of capitalistic american bullshit that seems to pervading every aspect of america junior, um sorry, australian society. I pay for my uni course, yet i can't tell my lecturer to stuff organic chemistry up his arse, cause i'm the customer and i can do whatever the fuck i want because i'm paying. This dog shit taco of a mentality just allows further scope for rich people to act more like arseholes than they already do.
I don't expect customers to be perfect, i expect them to behave like human fucking beings, not like self righteous, arrogant consumers (fuck economic rationalism and all this fucked up free market crap). Maby it's naive to expect customer to act like decent human beings, i should just work less than 50 hours a week, that way i don't have to put up with being treated like shit for less than half my waking life, wherein a far majority of my frustrations must come from.

I feel your pain.......

I work at a register at Target.....you've basically put what I feel into words.
I just hate the general condescending attitude of the majority of customers I interact with.....like those that try to remain dignified while trying to negotiate 30c from a pair of shorts that costs $4.
[ 08 February 2003: Message edited by: evilcalvin ]

i thankfully am on a 3 month break from my retail job... while i do work experience for my uni course, but i will be back to being a customer service rep as soon as uni starts again...
i know that i ALWAYS say please, thankyou, hello, how you doing etc to every customer service person that i interact with. this is because i know exactly how it is to be treated like dirt. I generally find that people are more responsive to you as a customer service person if you keep a happy and positive attitude. i know that it is an absolute bitch a lot of the time, what with bitchass managers, irate customers demanding bullshit things and doing their best to discredit you and your opinion in front of anyone who will listen.
you just have to put up with and remember that karma is a bitch, and that one good turn deserves another and other crap cliched cliches that i can't think of right now
aaah thought of one: treat others as you would be treated yourself...
eh anyway...
just one thing i would dispute:

customer service is dead because simply in the eyes of large retail chains etc it is an obstacle to max profit taking as customers must be dealt with as little and as quickly as possible
this is absolutely untrue where i work - Grace Bros. we have recently been going through a whole huge new customer service initiative. it is not about getting as many customers through as possible, its more about giving every customer the best quality of service that you can, so that they come back to the store and buy more stuff, or tell their friends about that great service that they got at GB's or whatever. i think its a pretty good policy as far as department stores go and it works pretty well for my store...
anyways, i will end my ranting now
CB

Click to expand...

i am always polite and use my manners with everyone and i teach my son the same...everyone comments on what a polite young man he is all the time *proud mum* :D

Top Thread,
i have worked in hospitality for two years and i know exactly what all of you mean, manners are dying. i myself always use them wether its a check out op, or a taxi driver.. Manners are wicked things and make people feel better without any personal cost.. Bring Polite Society Back.

I dont work in customer service, infact i dont even have to deal with people apart from doctors and medical secretaries at my job, but i was once a receptionist for a good long while, and i know the way some people can be real shits and pretend to be waaaay above you.
bad manners piss me off. when people dont thank the bus driver, i get pissed off, when people dont thank the person on the end of the phone for sorting their problem out, i get shitty.
i dont care how long you have been on hold for or what a shit of a day you have had, please and thankyou are what you should say, because if there wasnt anyone there to help you with your enquiry, then it wouldnt get done now would it? its not like you could do it yourself, and even if you could have, you chose to ask someone else to do it...
so have some manners you ingrateful shits!
I am a compulsive "please" and "thankyou" and "would you mind..." type person, thats how i was raised. Manners should be taught in schools... cos not too many people have any!
Andromeda

i tend to be very polite to every non-friend or family member i meet:
'please' 'pardon me?' 'thank you' etc.
but i make up for it - im relentless with the others though =|
anyone of my friends will tell you so.

Having worked in retail for 7 years (casual & part time) i do think its one of the shittiest to be in . . . for the amount of work you do/what u have to put up with Vs the amount u get paid, its not really worth it.
I got in to retail cos i liked talking to people and its a good industry for that, but what absolutely shits me is when u approach a customer and they totally brush you off and look at u with disdain as if you are just 'the help' or something. And its not like i am trying to sell them something, i usually go up and say 'hi how r u' because its my job to be friendly to people, so its quite offensive when the response is 'no thanks' or 'im not interested' . . . its really fucking rude actually! so i make a huge point of being nice to people who work in retail, always chat to the people at coles, they aren't robots, they are real people!!!!

I'm going to join PsychoKitten here in playing devil's advocate.
Maybe you should get a job doing something else because you appear to feel resentful about having to serve people.
Think back to a time you've lost it with a sales assistant. Guess he/she would've felt just like you

I know it's tough to do, especially after several hours on shift with the masses, but all anyone wants is to feel special. If you can make a customer feel that what they want is important to you, and that you want to help them get it, then life can be bliss. The window of opportunity is finite, most people decide how they will react to you within the first seconds of seeing you, based on body language, voice etc.
Customers won't change, all we can do is try to make them comfortable during that short period of time we share. It's an awkward situation that society has put both of you in, no-one likes to give money to strangers.
Of course there are always some people who want to be more special than others. If you believe in Karma you can be safe in the knowledge they'll get it back. If you can be Zen about it, you know if a tree fall in the forest it might hit them. Above all else remember your job is to get the money from their pockets into your register, try to make it as easy and painless as possible.
Remember it's that same money that pays the bills and buys the pills.
p.s.- Just once I'd like to see a manager tell some asshole "sorry there's plenty of other customers out there, you're not worth the hassle for me and my staff please leave"